Back to Yuma Jan 27

Why the camel on the Quartzite sign as you enter town?

Hi Jolly's Tomb

Quartzsite, Arizona

In 1856, Secretary of War Jefferson Davis (later President of the Confederacy) had a novel idea: transporting freight and people across the desert Southwest on camels. He eventually imported over 70 of the beasts. Along with the first batch came a Syrian caretaker, Hadji Ali. His American masters called him Hi Jolly.

A plaque on Hi Jolly's tomb says of the camel experiment: "A fair trial might have resulted in complete success." But the Civil War intervened, Jefferson Davis changed jobs, and without his support the project was abandoned. The camels were set free to fend for themselves in the desert near Quartzsite.

Hi Jolly remained, living into his seventies. The locals were so fond of him that, after he died, they spent several weeks building Hi Jolly a special pyramid tomb, made of multicolored petrified wood and quartz. It was dedicated on Jan. 4, 1903. Thirty-three years later the Arizona Highway Department came along and cemented a bronze plaque to the tomb, telling Hi Jolly's story, and topped the pyramid with a metal camel silhouette.

In those long-ago days the Quartzsite cemetery was remote, just bare ground and a few scrubby sagebrush at the edge of an obscure desert outpost. Now you have to drive through the very busy Quartzsite flea market to get to Hi Jolly. Still, his tomb is the biggest thing back in its tiny patch of desert solitude.

The camels, by the way, outlived Jefferson Davis, Hi Jolly, and even the cementing of the plaque. Their last reported sighting was in 1942.

More on Hi Jolly and the camel corps: Neil Morrison, director of the 11th Armored Calvary Museum at Fort Irwin, California, said that Hi Jolly had two wives simultaneously, and that there was a second middle-eastern camel trainer as well, "Greek George" (There were originally ten, but the other eight quit when the Army refused to pay them up-front). Greek George eventually settled in southern California. One day he innocently helped a Mexican bandit who had been injured in a fight, was later tried and found guilty of aiding a criminal (even though he spoke no English or Spanish), and was hanged -- so no monument for George.

The monument in the grave yard built for Hi Jolly

The plaque at the entrance to the cemetery

We have moved back to Yuma for a few days to hang out with out friends before we depart for Mexico. 

Last night we had a nice bonfire and our neighbours, Josee and Judes from Ascot Corners QC, David and Cynthia from Lynhurst On, Ron and Eady from Kamloops, and Lois, from Cincinati Ohio.  Great Evening.

Quartzite Jan 25

 

Quartzite is a town with a population of about 3500 during the summer and 250,000 during the winter. They get about 2 million snow birds that visit every year. It is located in the middle of vast stretches of BLM land that offers free 14 day camping or 6 months for $180.00. Almost free.  They host a huge rock and gem show where people come from all over the world to buy finished or unfinished stones to take back home to make jewelry etc.  They also host the RTR gathering that lasts about 10 days ( Rubber Tramp Rendezvous), a week long RV show and then a flea market.  Some vendors stay for all the shows so it is a fun way to spend a few days. 

The RV show had lots of rigs on display as well as every type of accessory and gadget that you could imagine. This Dometic beer cooler fits in the under carriage of the big Class A and some of the 5 wheels. 

It comes complete with two beer taps . We hadn't seen this toy before.

The Flea market was pretty much what you would expect 

It took us a whole day to just walk it once. The one thing that was very different was that when we were here two years ago there were a lot of booths selling Trump T shirts etc. This year there was only one that had a couple of items but they had quite a few items with "Lets Go Brandon"

We did not see one person wearing either product.

Not far from where we are camped we saw a van with Ontario plates on it so  we dropped by for a visit. We discovered it was a lady about our age travelling alone for the winter in the sunny south, but the most interesting part was that her home is in Watsons Corner , about 1/2 an hour from our home in Almonte.

Cotton Plant Jan 23

 We decided to just have a quiet day today, so we went for a walk. By the time we came back we had walked 15 klm. It was just a perfect day to be outside, sunny and 23 degrees with a slight breeze, perfect for walking.

On our walk we found a cotton plant that is almost in full bloom. I had never seen one close up at this time of the season before.

The green bud is a cotton ball that has not opened yet

Cotton ball fully opened

Los Algodomas Jan 22

We picked up my teeth at 12.00 . About 15 minutes for a bit of final fitting and it was all done. So far they are really comfortable, no tender spots. Time will tell but I am really optimistic.

While we were sitting in the waring room we met a couple from Gogama Ontario (Sudbury area). They have travelled to Mexico by car three times so we were quite eager to hear about their adventures. They had traveled extensively throughout the mainland and only had good things to say about it. 

They recommended a Mexican restaurant down the street so we decided there was no better place to try out the new teeth.

 

A wood  fire and a grill made from rebar. 
The chicken was delicious

They even had a singing cowboy

Don and Helen Beauchamp , the couple we had met at the dentist turned up so they joined us.

VFW   

One of the walks we often do is along the irrigation canal over to the next BLM camp site. Just out side of the camp ground is a VFM  hall. "Veterans of Foreign Wars"  It would be similar to our legion

Just out side the entrance is this tractor made out of beer cans

Every Saturday afternoon the music starts an a good crowd turns up for some country music and dancing.   They always look like they are having a great time

This camper was in the camp site at the FFW. Pretty cool. There is a stairs from the inside that takes you to the viewing area on the roof where you can sit to watch a concert or event. They were here 2 years ago as well. All the way from Alaska.

Los Algodones, The Molar Capital of the world Jan 21

 Los Algodonas is a town of between 5 and 6 thousand people in Baja California, Mexico. On the map it is where Arizona, California, and Mexico touch.  Approximately 33,000 people cross this border daily. I am assuming that the number of people is 1/2 that as most people go over and back in one day. I have read that 12,000 workers cross the Mexican border daily to come to work , but not all would be at this crossing. Most people drive to the parking lot and walk across. Parking is $5.00 , we paid $8 for the gypsy wagon. It is a 5 minute walk and you are in the center of town. 

The crazy thing is if you walk across, you do not go through customs. You just walk along a side walk that is fenced on both sides and you are in center town, Cars must go through customs. If you wanted to, you could walk across , meet a friend and head for Cancun, no questions asked. Coming back is another story. The line up at the border yesterday was 1 1/2 hours, yes standing in a line up. We have been up to 3 hours a few times in the past.

The famous Trump Wall

It was interesting, all of stool pigeons pigeons on the wall were looking at the American side.

23 degrees and this vendor had long sleeves and a vest. It must have been the cold drinks he was selling .

Bargain hunting at its best.   I bought a good leather belt that started at $30 and ended up at $10

There are over 350 dentist in Los Algodones. The reviews all claim that you save 50 % or more and get great quality work. The dentist I went to was recommended by a couple from Alberta who have been coming to Yuma for 30 years.  Ron is 83 and Eady is 80, wonderful people,  and they are traveling in a class c similar to ours. They have just been every where in Arizona , California, and quite a few trips to Mexico. Eady has been going to this dentist for I think 16 years. I phoned made an appointment and that was it.

The waiting room when we arrived. State of the art. 

Dr Ernesto and his assistant Marie.  I explained that I had a broken tooth that needed repairing and that two teeth had broken of my upper plate, He suggested that since the broken tooth had already had a root canal, that the best solution would be an implant ,$750.00. That is a great price , but I figures that that would work out to about $30 per year for the rest of my life , now that is a bit rich, even for an optimist. LOL.  We settled on a filling for $50.00. and a cleaning for $20.00. The plate was an interesting story. $400.00. They took the impression and asked me to come back in 40 minutes. They had built the plate with the actual teeth out of wax and they were ready for the 1st fit. They got them to fit pretty well and took and impression of the lower teeth so they would be able to work on the alignment and fit with the lower teeth and asked me to return in an hour and a half.

Rose is faking it. That was my margarita, I don't want any one to think she fell of the wagon.
Those are the absolute best, I have waited 2 years for that one.

Our Mexican lunch

Fun place to come for lunch, great margaritas and live Mexicana music

An hour and a half later we returned and they had completed the plate , although only out of wax, Another fitting, and when they seemed to fit perfectly, he took a final mold of the roof of my mouth to get the proper suction fit. 

They had the upper plate attached to this apparatus with a mold of the bottom of my mouth so you cold see the alignment and what the final a fit would be like. Pretty cool experience. Now they will make the final product out of resin , and be ready for pick up tomorrow morning. My appointment is for 2 pm. 

This is where we lined up for 1 1/2 hours to cross the border.

Food production along the Colorado River Jan 20

Irrigating the Desert

The Colorado river supplies most  of the water to the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego as all of the other smaller cities in California and Arizona. On top of the the cities it also supplies the water to grow the 1000's and 1000's of acres of vegetables in the desert. 65 % of all the US fruit and vegetables are grown in California and Arizona.  Where we are in Yuma they only get 3.5 inches of rain a year. Most of this area gets less than 10 inches per year and the evaporation rate is higher than the rain fall.

Lake Mead' which  feeds the Colorado river is at approximately 1068 feet, at 1050 feet they enact level 2 restrictions which reduces the amount of water available to this area. They predict that the level will drop another 22 feet in the next few years.   

We walked along this field, and when I tried to pull a plant the earth was so dry and hard that couldn't even break it with my foot. 

The field are watered on a schedule . When watered the systems run for about 1/2 a day and give them a good soaking

There is a very complex system of ditches, canals and dams the moves the water from the Colorado to the fields and cities. The water that goes to Los Angeles and San Diego flows through open canals to get there. 

The water is ordered according to demand by the foot acre. enough water to cover an acre of land 1 foot deep . 43280 cubic feet. Notice how the water is dammed in the channel.

The water is then pumped from the canal into the sprinklers in this case,

These tanks add fertilizer to the water as it is feed into the sprinklers

A crop usually takes about a month to mature, so the piping system has to be installed and removed for each planting.  100's of miles of piping

In some cases they just trench around the field and flood the entire field

This field has about 2 or 3 inches of water on it

I don't have a picture but in some cases once planted they will flood the entire field but the water level will only fill maybe 1/2 of the trench , so the plants will not be under water.

 

Yuma Jan 19

 We have spent the last few days relaxing around the camp site and doing a bit of hiking. We are camped on BLM land so it is free camping, about 10 miles out side of Yuma, and about 6 miles from Foothills , a community just out side of Yuma. 

When we arrived we chose a spot, and discovered  we were camping beside David and Cynthia Holte, a couple from Lynhurst near Kingston that we had met here 2 years ago. 

There are a few other Canadians  in the park, 2 couples from Quebec, one from BC, a single guy from Alberta, and another couple who were originally from Ottawa but now live full time on the road. One of the couples from Quebec also live full time on the road.

We did a 7 kilometer hike to top of these hills.

A view of our campsite taken while we were hiking

That's the gypsy wagon in the center with the slide out

This was a view of the vegetable fields taken while we were hiking. The field in the center of the picture is being watered . There are thousands of acres of vegetables grown in this desert and 100 % of the water comes from the Colorado River.  

This is the type of sunset we see each night from our campsite