Cocopah Bend RV & Golf Resort, Yuma, AZ

From San Diego it’s a beautiful drive along I-8, up from the coastal plain and into the National Forest near Alpine, CA.  From here the terrain turns rugged with arid mountains of huge boulders along both side of the highway and beautiful vistas to the south.  From sea level at San Diego, I-8 climbs to over 4000 feet in elevation before beginning a fairly rapid decent – arriving 51 feet below sea level at El Centro, CA.  This is the former Sea of Cortez valley which was once connected to the Salton Sea.  At El Centro the evidence of irrigation from the Colorado River becomes apparent as you are surrounded by agriculture – lettuce, figs, broccoli and other leafy vegetables.  These fields extend all the to the Salton Sea on the north and the Mexican border to the south.  Past El Centro the desert landscape returns until arriving to the lush green fields around Yuma.

Cocopah Bend RV & Golf Resort

We’re once again parked at Cocopah Bend RV & Golf Resort, site #547.  This isn’t a great site. Both sites behind us have permanent fencing which encourages leaving dogs outside (and barking) all day long.  We’re not sure we’ll be back to Cocopah – there appears to be very little in the way of upkeep happening in the park and obviously no rules about the amount of junk that can litter the sites. In some places, you can barely drive down the narrow lanes. On Sunday we explored some of the foothills RV parks.  As we found on our first visit to Yuma, The Palms is still one of the best, and most expensive! Right next door is Sun Vista, an older resort that has been very well kept.  And, with rates around $30/day on monthly, it’s a great value!

Sun Vista RV Resort, Yuma

Even with a shortened stay in Yuma this year, we spent an afternoon over the border at Los Algodones and checked out some of our favorite Yuma restaurants including a new brewery “Pint House” downtown on Main St.

One of the many farm products grown in Yuma is the delicious Medjool date.  Prices in grocery stores generally range from about $4-$8/pound. Buying “farm direct” at the Imperial Date Gardens just outside of Yuma, we picked up 11 lbs for $22!  Plus, we sampled wonderfully decadent chocolate covered dates with pecan filling…yum!

Medjool Date Farm

From Yuma we’re headed north along the Colorado river to the Lake Havasu area where we’ll spend one week at River Island State Park and another week at one of our favorite parks, The Islander.  More from Lake Havasu…

 

 

 

Yuma and Apache Junction

After leaving Lake Havasu, we spent 2 weeks at Cocopah RV & Golf Resort in Yuma.  We were here in Yuma last year and we’ve returned to take advantage of dental care across the border in Los Algodones, MX.  The small town of Algodones, an easy walk across the border from California, has the worlds largest concentration of dentists, with over 350 offices!  We found Simply Dental last year based on good reviews and have returned this year for additional services.

While dental care took priority, we once again enjoyed the burgers and brews at Prison Hill Brewery, the wonderful breakfast at Broken Yoke and a new find – El Charro Café – an excellent choice for great, homemade Mexican food!

The Superstition Mountains, Apache Junction, AZ

After a bit of a “challenging” departure from Yuma due to a hydraulic leak, we have arrived at Campground USA in Apache Junction, outside of Phoenix.  Campground USA is a newer park in Apache Junction with construction starting just 3 years ago, and the pool/clubhouse complex just completed last year.  It provides nice wide sites, pull-throughs for “short term” visitors and back-in sites for longer stays.  The pool and hot tub area is very nice along with one pickleball court.  The clubhouse seems a bit stark, but well equipped with a kitchen area, a TV area with comfy couches and chairs and several game tables.  Off the main room is a billiards room and a workout room with a weight machine and a treadmill.  The laundry is modern and clean, 6 washers, 6 dryers, but 3 washers were out of service.  $2.00 each.  There’s no park WiFi, but the connection available in the clubhouse runs along about 70MB.  This is a nice park, the only downside being it’s proximity to Highway 60 which contributes to the constant background noise of traffic – worse in the early mornings as the commuters head toward downtown Phoenix.

Snow! Campground USA, Apache Junction, AZ

Campground USA, Apache Junction, AZ

With a delayed arrival in Apache Junction due to our hydraulic problem, we’ll only be here 1 week before parking the camper at friends and flying to South America for a 12 night cruise aboard the Celebrity Infinity.  We’re back to the Phoenix area near the end of March when we’ll hit the road for Texas.  More from there…

Off to Buenos Aires, Argentina