March 14th to 20th - Yuma

Mar 14th - Fri - Yuma
Rick had new tires put on his truck this morning so we picked them up at the tire shop and went to a nearby WalMart. Then we dropped off Rick’s truck and our shopping and headed to the Paradise Casino after lunch. I went up and down at the casino, Terry just went down and Pat won a few dollars. We stopped at a grocery store on the way home. We used some of the wonderful prawns that we brought frozen from Mexico to make scampi with Cointreau and then watched a movie on TV.

Mar 15th - Sat - Yuma
Today was pancake breakfast here at the RV park - pancakes, sausage patties, scrambled eggs, juice & coffee for $4 each. Nice change once in a while.
The weather has turned cooler and windy. We went to the “other” swap meet this morning which is close to our RV park. It is mostly used, yard-sale type goods and some produce stands - nothing that we were interested in. Then we went back to the Arizona Marketplace as Pat wanted to buy a new recliner type lawn chair. She got her chair and then we went for lunch at Applebees. I put a pasta salad together for a shared dinner so it could sit while we had our nightly “relax with a drink” ritual.

Mar 16th - Sun - Yuma
Started out going to the Bealls store which is a clearance/overstock type store like Ross or TJ Max. Then we had to go to the large shopping mall. Wandered through a few stores but didn’t buy much - shopped out I guess. So we decided that we needed to check out the Cocopah casino. Terry had just got ahead a few dollars when we told him we had to leave in order to get ribs cooked for dinner.
We had such a wonderful baby back rib dinner that I think Terry forgave us for dragging him from the casino.

Mar 17th - Mon - Yuma
We received a big batch of forwarded mail this morning which took awhile to go through. Then Terry cleaned the truck while I did some chores and had a nice long chat with Ella Mae (Terry’s mom). We ate a late breakfast and then headed out to run some errands. I have been wanting a sewing machine almost since we started traveling so we decided to get one. I ended up getting a Singer Inspiration model at Sears which is right down the street from the RV park. Then I needed some thread and stupidly did not think about going directly back to WalMart but tried to find a fabric store using the GPS. After about 4 tries I remembered WalMart and we got the thread!
When we got back I had to try the sewing machine right away and especially the needle threaded that I wanted. I could not get the needle threaded to work! I finally threaded the needle manually just so I could try sewing something.
We all went for a corned beef dinner (St. Patrick’s Day) put on by the RV the park. The time listed was 5 to 6:30. We walked in about 5:45 and a guy outside told us that we were the last 4 and everyone was waiting to serve us. We had to buy tickets ahead of time so they knew how many had showed up. Pretty good dinner - lots of food. The chocolate cupcakes for dessert had the weirdest tasting frosting so we came back to our rig for ice cream.

Mar 18th - Tues - Yuma
Rick & Pat had a repair guy come by this morning to work on their oven so I used the time to shorten a new pair of shorts & mend some old shorts for Terry on my new sewing machine.
We went to old Yuma as a neighbor told us there was a street market there on Tuesdays. He had told us about a bike route to get there (about 5 ½ to 6 miles) but it sounded kind of tricky with spots where you had to walk your bike through sandy spots or down/up ditches. So we decided to drive. The street market was not very large so we wandered through it and some other stores and had an ice cream cone.
We figured it would be fun to kayak on the Colorado River so we checked out a park where we could take out and then went looking for a spot to put in. We drove quite a ways along a gravel levee road and got our newly cleaned truck all dusty but did not find a spot to put kayaks into the river.
Pat had put dinner into her now working oven before we left so we didn’t have much to do to fix dinner. In fact, I had nothing to do!

Mar 19th - Wed - Yuma
Terry took our truck in this morning to get a recall/advisory done. The gauges can (and ours did) all stop working and then start again. We got the notice when we had our mail forwarded in January and made the appointment when we first got to Yuma. We were over the stated max mileage but the dealership here waived that limit and Chev replaced the entire instrument cluster at no cost to us. Terry is very happy to have it done.
Rick & Pat and we went to Algadones, Mexico after Pat fixed us a nice breakfast. There were a lot of people leaving when we got there about 11 and we wondered how early they arrived. We parked on the US side and walked across the border. After wandering around the shops for a about an hour and a half, we discovered why people go and leave early - there was a LONG line to get back across the border. It took us an hour to get through the line. Most of it was shaded by an awning over the sidewalk so it wasn’t too hot.
We went to the Paradise Casino in Yuma for some lunch and a little gambling before we had to pick up our truck. On the way back to the rig we stopped for diesel, Strawberry Daiquiri mix and to get the truck washed. After a daiquiri with Rick & Pat, we all went for a swim in the heated pool here at the park. Sat in the hot tub for a bit and then went our own way for dinner and the evening.

Mar 20th - Thurs - Yuma
We had some time before our 11:22 tee time so I tried shortening Terry’s second pair of shorts while Terry cleaned one side of the 5th wheel. I messed up the sewing so ripped it out and put it aside for later.
Our round of golf was at an 18 hole par 3 course. It was quite warm by the time we finished but it only took us 2 hours. It was fun and humbling - shows how much we need to practice our short games!
We dropped off the clubs, washed our sweaty faces and went to Quiznos for lunch. Hit the grocery store and then the swimming pool. We cooked steaks about 7:30 since we had a late lunch. Terry & Pat went to the casino. I tried to finish my blog and checked email before sitting down to read with an ice pack on my ankle - it still swells and hurts after golf!