Lettuce See!

Mary is no longer available for RV traveling, but we remain good friends.
Because we have 4,000+ postings, I’ve invited her to continue posting entries on this blog.

I’m currently in my 22nd year of full-time RVing and my lifestyle is changing, For more info click Here

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The motorhome is parked at the Paradise Casino in Yuma, Arizona. I was expecting to leave here recently, but I’ve changed my mind. I currently have reservations at Thousand Trails in Palm Desert, California, February 13th. Between now and then???? For the moment I remain in Yuma.

 

 

I just love the ability to change plans at a moments notice. As I tell everyone…All my plans are firmly etched in Jello!

 

 

Today’s subject: Lettuce See…

Since I’ve been coming to the Yuma area for a number of years during the Winter, I’ve explored the area pretty thoroughly. Rather than re-visit each place again, I’ve decided to show photos I’ve taken in the past. All these places are within about a one-hour drive from Yuma.

 

 

Today’s Blog was first posted in January, 2014.

 

Agriculture is BIG BUSINESS in this area. For many miles around Yuma, AZ are beautiful growing fields. Among the items grown are: cotton, hay seed wheat, barley, corn, black-eyed peas, safflower, lettuce, romaine, cauliflower, broccoli, cantaloupe, potato, spinach, watermelon, honey dews, grapes, pecans, lemons, grapefruit, oranges and dates. It’s a 1.5 billion dollar industry…

 

 

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the above photo, Iceberg Lettuce is being harvested. On the right is a trailer of unopened boxes which will be fed along the conveyor belt as needed. Next to the left are the workers picking the heads of lettuce and putting them on the conveyor belt which is moving in a left-ward direction. To the left on the upper level, workers are opening shipping boxes which are transferred to the lower-level workers where they are packed. The process continues on the upward sloping conveyor belt where the fully loaded boxes are deposited on a truck which takes them to their shipping point. It’s a most interesting process to observe.

 

 

Every day during the winter several large (100+) railroad cars stacked with two-high shipping containers loaded with area winter produce leaves the area for market…

 

 

To see some really neat video about the lettuce industry in the Yuma area, click this link…

http://

 

 

Here’s a neat drone’s view of  just a little of Yuma’s lettuce fields…

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the photos and videos.

 Yesterday was mostly sunny and 66 degrees. Forecast for today is mostly sunny and 66 degrees.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of Arizona. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

My current travel rig is a 2006 Fleetwood 26′ Class A Motorhome and a towed 1986 Ford Bronco II, Eddie Bauer Model. This photo was taken in the desert at Slab City near Niland, California…

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 700 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://get.google.com/albumarchive/110455945462646142273?source=pwa

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original works copyrighted – Jim Jaillet -2017

BLACKBERRIES TRUMP RAIN.

Windows you cannot see out of greeted our morning, but Jim wanted to go to Mt. Vernon and find blades for his razor and pick up some drug store type items while I stayed and did some computer projects with a sloooow signal.

The rain lightened up and since I don’t melt, I decided to pick some blackberries we had scouted out the night before. I came back drenched but triumphant. And, I caught Jim  by cell and requested he bring home vanilla ice cream. Made a great lunch. My container filled six berry baskets.

I had mail to pick up at Anacortes Post Office, so we stopped at the Eagles for a beer before the Farmers Market opened. New friend, Johnny, claimed he stopped the rain just for us. Anacortes Erie is one of the friendliest clubs. Johnny told me he is a full-blooded Quinault Indian and he had great stories to tell.

The market opened at 4 o’clock and the first thing I saw was round eggplants…

…white eggplants…

…and varigated eggplants. I love buying them just because they look beautiful in my fruit bowl. And, I like eating eggplant, though Jim doesn’t touch the stuff. I bought the odd ones I’d never seen before.

Everything is so fresh and beautiful. I bought carrots, lettuce, tomatoes and peaches. I love farmer’s markets.

Another thing I like about the markets is the food. There were ten different dinner plates you could buy, different types of Mexican, Greek and salads. Another booth featured grilled sausages and hamburgers. At this stand a woman sold nothing but corn on the cob. If you like, she dresses it with whipped cream and cheddar cheese,  or chili. We were planning on a veggie burger at the Eagles and neither of us were hungry at that point.

A young musician serenaded the shoppers next to a “cafe” area of tables and chairs for people to sit and enjoy the food and music. Only one person was eating. It was only about 4:30.

The pecan tart looked tempting.

Home baked, the woman told me she makes her blackberry tart with a strong egg yolk crust and a crumble top. The desserts go before the entree  food offerings. I wonder why that is?

Flowers, at $5 a bloom can be like this one,  the size of your head.

The colors and size just knock you out.

My friend Pam gave me a foldable vase for the Motor Home, but space is limited and we only used it once. If the weather was nice, I could put a bloom on our outdoor table when we stay in one place for a week.

We went back to the Eagles and it turned out they were having a big barbeque this weekend, grilled silver salmon,chicken or ribs with home-made pies. They canceled their regular dinners to prepare the big feast. They suggested the Island Cafe close by. We passed this picture of Rudy Malland, Banjo King, father of Bev Malland, a good friend of Jim’s. He loves Anacortes and claims if he had to park and live permanently some place, this would be his choice.

When we returned to the motor home, the tide had just come in next to our camping spot.

A could see a light blanket of fog coming in too, and within ten minutes the whole area, including the camp grounds, was swallowed in mist.

 

 

 

 

Lettuce See!

The motorhome is now parked at the Paradise Casino in Winterhaven, California right across the Colorado River from Yuma, Arizona. I’m here with others…hanging out and enjoying the nice weather.

Mary is tending to business at home. She has made her flight reservations to rejoin me on January 28th.

Since I’ve been coming to the Yuma area for a number of years during the Winter, I’ve explored the area pretty thoroughly. Rather than re-visit each place again, I’ve decided to show photos I’ve taken in the past. All these places are within about a one-hour drive from Yuma.

Agriculture is BIG BUSINESS in this area. For many miles around Yuma, AZ are beautiful growing fields. Among the items grown are: cotton, hay seed wheat, barley, corn, black-eyed peas, safflower, lettuce, romaine, cauliflower, broccoli, cantaloupe, potato, spinach, watermelon, honey dews, grapes, pecans, lemons, grapefruit, oranges and dates. It’s a 1.5 billion dollar industry…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

In the above photo, Iceberg Lettuce is being harvested. On the right is a trailer of unopened boxes which will be fed along the conveyor belt as needed. Next to the left are the workers picking the heads of lettuce and putting them on the conveyor belt which is moving in a left-ward direction. To the left on the upper level, workers are opening shipping boxes which are transferred to the lower-level workers where they are packed. The process continues on the upward sloping conveyor belt where the fully loaded boxes are deposited on a truck which takes them to their shipping point. It’s a most interesting process to observe.

Every day during the winter several large (100+) railroad cars stacked with two-high shipping containers loaded with area winter produce leaves the area for market…

To see some really neat video about the lettuce industry in the Yuma area (preceded by a 30 second commercial), click this link… http://on.aol.com/video/lettuce-harvesting-in-yuma–arizona-517501765

Yesterday was a mostly cloudy day at 71 degrees.  Forecast for today is sunny and 72 degrees.

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of California. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 500 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver?feat=email

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2014

Harlingen, Texas – Day 18

The motorhome is parked at Tropic Winds RV Resort and is scheduled to be here until January 10th.

Yesterday Mary and I took the Bronco for a tour of the Rio Grande Valley since she has never been here before. By time we got back to the motorhome we had covered 160 miles.

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

Along the way we saw lots of fertile soil with green stuff growing…

and grapefruit trees…

First stop was at the old Hildago Pump Station that was used for many years to pump water from the Rio Grande River to irrigate the growing fields. It operated from 1909 to 1983. The station was closed on a Saturday so we didn’t get to take the tour. You can read about it by clicking this link…
http://www.texasescapes.com/SouthTexasTowns/HidalgoTexas/Hidalgo-Texas-Old-Hidalgo-Pumping-Station.htm

Also at the site was a World Birding Center which you can read about by clicking this link…
http://www.theworldbirdingcenter.com/Hidalgo.html

It was so cold we didn’t try to catch a photo of the many birds we could hear but we got these nice flower photos…

Being right on the Rio Grande River, the Border Patrol was to be seen everywhere…

A few more miles down the road we stopped at the La Lomita Chapel which was also closed on a Saturday. You can read about it by clicking this link…
http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/tx/tx15.htm

About one mile down the road is the remnants of an old mission on the grounds of a now Catholic Academy. Of course the gates were locked…

By then it was time for lunch. We stopped at the small El Rodeo Restaurant. I had the Chalupa plate…

Mary had the enchilada plate…

A couple of strolling musicians stopped by to sing a few songs for tips…

Then onto the only hand-pulled ferry left remaining on the Rio Grande River. I was here in 1997 when all there was the ferry at the end of a narrow road with a small Border Patrol Station. Here’s a photo I took in 1997…

Because of 9/11, there is now a huge Border Patrol Station. Everything was shut down because of high fast-flowing water on the river so the ferry was not operating. We walked alongside the chain link fence to get down to the river. It has an interesting history and you can read about the ferry by clicking this link…
http://www.wintertexansonline.com/ebanosferry.htm

Final stop of the day was at the only Costco in the Rio Grande Valley for some groceries.

Enjoying the many attractions of an area is another joy of the full-time RVing lifestyle!

The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of Texas. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2013
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

FOOD CENTRIC HOLIDAY

With Thanksgiving coming soon, I’ve looked at recipes that can be made ahead and keep well. The jellos, cranberries,  and some desserts  can be made two days ahead. Even the stuffing, if  made outside of the turkey, can be made two days before and heated in the microwave. Salads, to retain their freshness, are a bigger challenge. I found three that do well.

Joe Carcione’s Stuffed Iceberg:

1/4 th cup grated carrot, 3 tbsp. sour cream, 1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp. lemon juice, 1/4 tsp. salt, 3 tbsp. minced fresh tomato, 3 oz. pkg. cream cheese, 1 tbsp. minced green pepper, 1 tbsp. minced green onion, 1 tbsp minced celery, 2 tsp. minced parsley, 1 large head of iceberg lettuce, 1/2 cup pomegranate berries.

Blend cream cheese, sour cream, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and salt. Add minced veggies. Hollow out the core and center of the lettuce. Stuff with carrot filling. Wrap lettuce in foil. Chill over night. At dinner time, slice crosswise and serve on a pretty plate with a  sprinkling of pomegranate berries. Serves six.

Tomato Green Bean Salad.

1 lb  fresh green beans, halved. 3 medium tomatoes cut into chunks. 1/3 cup basil olive oil. Salt to taste. 1 tbsp. minced fresh garlic.

Cook green beans for six minutes in boiling water, drain and rinse to cool in cold tap water. Dress with half the basil olive oil. Dress the cut tomatoes with other half of the basil olive oil, or to taste. Lightly salt both. Cover and refrigerate. Just before dinner, arrange green beans and tomatoes together on a plate, sprinkle with minced fresh garlic and serve. If there are basil leaves left in the garden, cut a few slices with a scissors to garnish. Serves  six, generously.

I like both of these salads because they don’t take up much room in the refrigerator like a huge green salad does. The beans can conveniently be marinated in a plastic bag in the crisper and kept off the shelves.

Red Apple & Cabbage Slaw.

1/2  large red cabbage, sliced medium fine. (Food processor does this well.)  1/2  medium yellow onion, minced. 1 stalk celery finely sliced. 1/4 cup cider or red wine vinegar. 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/3 tsp salt, 1/2 cup plain or walnut flavored olive oil, 3  crisp red skinned apples, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts.

Make dressing with  oil, vinegar and seasonings. Pour over  cabbage, onion, and celery and cover in the refrigerator the day before. Before dinner, core and dice the red apples. Add them and the chopped nuts to the bowl before serving.

One of these can help spread the  preparation time over several days since food is central to our American Thanksgiving celebration.

TANAKA ORGANIC FARM APPEALS TO KIDS

Aunt Kristanne thought the cousins would enjoy a visit to the only organic farm left in Orange county, Tanaka Gardens. Watermelon season, Pumpkin Patch and Christmas Tree events are very popular here, but strawberries and spring veggies? Lets see…

It was hot and our boys, Theo, Austin and Owen don’t look overly enthused as they waited for the farm wagon.

Kristanne was undaunted and we loaded into the wagon.

This scarecrow, one of many, was a hit. The fields so beautiful, one could consider them growing art in action. They learned the difference between a fruit and a vegetable. Fruits, like snap peas, have seeds. Carrots are root vegetables. Scarecrows keep the seed theft to a minimum and onions between the strawberries discourage some bugs from attacking the crop.

Carrots, snap peas and spinach freshly picked and handed to them for tasting by the tractor driver were the best any of us had ever tasted. They were a little dubious about raw bok choy and fresh maui onion sets, though but were willing to try anything at this point. Austin ate all of his bok choy.

Strawberries were a definite hit. Each of us were allowed to pick a one pound plastic container full of strawberries to bring home and to eat all we wanted while in the field. Yup! They loved it.  And, so did the adults.  Later in the day, we cooled off in the pool before dinner.