Wednesday, March 6 - This may be the last posting for awhile, as we think we'll head into the interior of California, and may not have much access to the internet. Today being the 6th of March, we have three and a half weeks to get to B.C., so are trying to plan around the weather in the north, in order to avoid freezing temps at night. And we are also looking at doing a route that takes us to new places, rather than the coastal route we did three years ago. So today is a planning day, and since it's quite warm, some time at the pool and hot tub will be in order.

A word about our park, West Winds. It has over 1,000 sites, many full-time prefab homes, but also a large number of spots for people like us. But if you figure two people to every site, there are close to 2,000 people here during high season. It's like a small town, with a grid of streets that totalled nearly 10 kms when I rode them all on my bike. They have everything here one could ask for, if looking for a community that provides a variety of activities: shuffleboard courts, bacchi courts, pickle ball, 9 hole par 3 golf course, library, ceramics room, 10 pool tables, a crafts room, restaurant and bar, swimming pool, and the largest hot tub we've ever seen...you can swim in it.

Yuma has to be the r.v. capital of the west, as there are literally 20 or 30 large r.v. parks in the area around and in the city. So guess what the main industry here is!! Keeping the tourists happy and collecting their dollars. Lots of Canadians are here from Alberta and B.C., and from the northern states. A few from Ontario as well. This is a nice change from some of the more basic parks we've been in, but not something we would want for too long.

So we'll depart tomorrow, now that we have our grand-daughter safely away to San Diego. We hated to see her go yesterday, as we've really enjoyed having her with us for these past three weeks. She was so easy to be with and we had a lot of fun with her. But she's off on her adventure, which seems to have started well, from reports received so far.

We enjoyed our three days in Ajo, as we like this small town stuck out in the southern desert. We took in the Saturday market, did some walking about, but nothing too strenuous. I did a good bike ride out into the desert, and we enjoyed looking at the murals local artists have produced, as well as a pretty good photography display of desert photos.

Yesterday after getting Anna on her bus, Gail and I rode the bike trail along the Colorado, about 12 kms of okay riding. Shopping, planning, hot tubbing, having a beer by the pool...that's about it. A couple of interesting encounters. As we were boarding Anna on her bus, a little old guy carrying an oxygen tank and a big backpack had just descended, and asked if we could call him a taxi. He was quite desperately in need of getting to a medical appointment, having just come from Las Vegas. Long story short, we ended up driving him to his appointment. Preacher John is his name, and he'd just come back from a conference of the CMA. Christian Motorcycle Association. He's had three strokes in the past three months, and was due to get medical opinions as to what treatment was next.

At the pool last night, Gail spotted a man wearing a t-shirt that said "Clan Fraser...je suis prest". Gail is reading the first of the Outlander books by Diana Gabaldon, about Scotland in the 18th Century.  The hero is named Jamie Fraser. The fellow in the t-shirt turned out to be a Fraser, Kevin Fraser, a close friend of Diana Gabaldon. He is the prototype of the main character in the book, tall, red-bearded, large of stature, whom she had met at a book signing. Someone had come up to him and asked him to sign the book, as he looked so much like the main character of the novel. As a result he got to meet Ms Gabaldon, and they became fast friends, travelling often to Scotland together to do research. He also coordinates Scottish festivals, which are very big in the U.S. Quite a coincidence that we would meet this man who is so close to the writer of the book Gail is now reading.

Finally, an image from the market in Ajo. Two groups are working to provide water stations for migrants who make it across the border into the desert or Arizona. Since 1999, more than 2,000 people have died in the desert because of lack of water. Rather shocking!! Both groups had maps of southern Arizona covered with red dots, each signifying a place where people had died. As volunteer groups, they are trying to set up dozens of water sites in the south to help prevent such tragedies.

All for now. Who knows when we shall post again. Meantime, stay well, stay tuned, more later.