You need "stuff" on your walls to make the place feel cozy. Thank you, Pat, for the lovely needlepoint, and thank you, Chloe and Marshall, for your beautiful smiles.
These help to bring a little bit of home on the road.
These help to bring a little bit of home on the road.
Today was a day of military style sights. The most amazing, unfortunately, were not caught on film (I guess I should say memory card). The park we were in for the past four days is not very far from the Yuma airport, and even closer to the Marine Corp Air Station. Surprisingly enough, we rarely heard planes fly over. However, as we were leaving the park this morning, I heard a plane sounding very low and close. I looked out the passenger window (I was driving the car, and Robin was in the motor home just ahead of me) and saw a huge cargo plane (?) flying very low and dropping, banked at least 45 degrees and heading towards the Air Station. As we turned in the same direction, we saw the plane lift up again and continue west, then as we were approaching the gas station, it came back around again from the west, low and banked as before, swooped around and then headed south. While we were at the gas station feeding the behemouth, I noticed the plane land at the Air Station. Also, while filling up, a couple of fighter jets took off and flew right overhead, and then just as we were pulling away, another large military plane flew overhead. A bit of research leads me to believe that what we saw banking and swooping and, I suspect, scaring the bejesus out of a lot of people, was in fact the Blue Angels support plane, a C-130T Hercules called Fat Albert, that is currently using the airspace over Yuma for training.
Once that excitement was over, we hit the road heading east and then north on Hwy 95. When we were just on the outskirts of Yuma (still heading east) we noticed something "floating" above the mountains to the north. As we turned north, the "object" was still there and holding steady. Soon, we were driving through the Yuma Proving Grounds, where they test out all kinds of equipment and artillery. The "object" continued to hang in the sky and finally, after travelling about 50 miles, we reached the site where the "object" was anchored. From what I have been able to learn, ... the enormous helium and air filled blimp, when in use, floats two miles above YPG about fifty miles from Yuma. The blimp uses radar continuously to scan the area along the border, looking for low-flying aircraft drug smugglers use to bring drugs into the United States. The 208-foot long blimp is tethered to the ground by cable, and the sensors on board can detect activity in distances of up to 230 miles.
We learned yesterday that not only is the big Rock and Gem show going on in Quartzsite right now, but there's also the big RV show, and the ever-present Flea Market. So, when I started phoning RV parks in Quartzsite, I was repeatedly told "we're booked solid". We did manage to find a spot just east of Quartzite about 15 miles, and have settled here for the next four nights. We thought about joining the desert boondockers, but weren't too sure, so decided to go commercial. When we drove through Quartzsite, it looked like a bit of a gong show, so it might be a bit quieter out here than right in the thick of things. And the park is really nice, with large spots and wide, paved streets.
Until next time dear followers, remember, not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.