Palm Desert, California To Yuma, Arizona

Mary is no longer available for RV traveling, but we remain good friends.
Because we have 4,500+ 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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Yesterday I drove the motorhome 151 miles from Palm Desert, California to Yuma, Arizona.

 

Most of the first one-half of the trip was on California Highway 111 along the eastern shore of the Salton Sea and directly atop the San Andreas Fault and 200 feet below sea level…

 

 

 

 

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…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The drive to Yuma is in a southeasterly direction meaning most of the time you are driving right into the sun…

 

 

 

 

 

The Chocolate Mountains on the left of the highway…

 

 

 

 

 

I enjoy this drive because there is very little traffic for about 30 miles along the shore of the Salton Sea…

 

 

 

 

 

When you get within about 75 miles of Mexico you start to see Border Patrol checkpoints. This first one stops vehicles heading north only…

 

 

 

 

Heading east on Interstate Highway 8 about 15 miles west of Yuma, Arizona you cross the six-mile wide Algodones Sand Dunes which you can read about by clicking this link…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algodones_Dunes

 

 

 

 

 

The dark line at the base of the right tower is the border fence between the United States and Mexico…

 

 

 

 

 

Approaching Yuma, Pilot Knob on the right is a visible landmark which you can read about by clicking this link…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_Knob_%28Imperial_County,_California%29

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s my parking spot at the Paradise Casino where parking is free for as long as you care to stay. I’m expecting to be here for a while hiding out from the cold weather. Yuma is the sunniest place on Earth. I have a number of friends in the area…

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s usual dinette window photo…

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the photos.

Forecast for today is mostly sunny and 60 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 at Rogue River, Oregon, October, 2017…

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 600 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver

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 2017

South Jetty Road – Florence, Oregon #1

The motorhome is parked at Thousand Trails South Jetty RV Resort in Florence, Oregon. I’ve been here several times before. I plan to depart from here June 5th. I’ll slow my pace and spend most of June along the Oregon coast. Then into the State of Washington for the summer.

Mary is dealing with her over-flowing to-do list plate which can only be handled by herself. I’m hoping she will be able to rejoin me sometime after July 4th.

Today’s subject…the South Jetty Road – Florence, Oregon…

Less than one mile south from the City of Florence, the South Jetty Road takes you out to the Pacific Ocean.

In the below Google Earth image, TT marks my location …

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…

Sand dune buggying is big here. Here’s my neighbor’s buggy…

 

A short distance west of my campground the staging area allows riders access to the dunes and beach of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation which continue south of here for 40 miles…

There’s a wide variety of sand dune buggys…

 

 

 

 

 

A mile or so west you come to the first beach parking area and climb this rise…

Heidi has apparently claimed this beach…

A 180 degree view of the beach from the top of the rise…

The sign says no motorized vehicles beyond this sign…

Young people having fun in the sand…

About two miles north you come to this pier along the Siuslaw River. The guys at the end are waiting for crabs to enter their pots…

The view from the pier looking south back towards Florence…

Looking north the Pacific Ocean is around the bend to the left…

A channel marker…

makes a nice resting station for the seagulls…

More tomorrow…

You can read all about Florence by clicking this Wikipedia link…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence,_Oregon

Yesterday was a cloudy with showers day at 55 degrees. Forecast for today is cloudy with spotty showers and 57 degrees.

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

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

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…

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

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 2015

ROCKPORT HARBOR AND ART.

We had heard about the only “blue beach” in Texas and we went to see it. It is chained off from vehicles, and doesn’t look like that is going to change anytime soon.

It is a pretty beach. I guess I was expecting some kind of blue sand or something. It turns out the blue is for a blue diamond rating given beaches by a coalition of beaches organization, assisted by each state or country in keeping with the US  Environmental Protection Agency standards.  This one is considered the cleanest beach in Texas. Clean means safe bacteria levels and kept free of debris and so on.

Across from it is this pretty saltwater lagoon.

And, nearby is a pretty harbor.

One area has the fancy sailing boats and yachts.

The other side has working boats, the fishing fleet and small individual boats.

I liked the small fishing boats best. They seem to have more character.

They have a beauty of their own.

Here’s MARGIE cozying up to the bait shop.

A hardworking boat, with a patch or two, but still working. Needs a little TLC.

The whole harbor seems like a work of art to me. I guess if you live here and see it every day, it may not look special. The Rockport Maritime Museum is nearby as is the Community Arts Center. Jim went to the Museum and I chose the art center and drove to a couple of galleries on Broadway. Broadway, the main street, is short and sweet with a host of galleries and kitschy shops. And, a good restaurant, La Luna. At least, in answer to my question, “where would you go to lunch…?  But, I knew we wouldn’t be going anywhere in town for lunch this day because the American Legion serves oysters from 2:00 pm. on Sundays, until they run out.

At the Community Art Center, this was my favorite piece. I could just see that bird dancing in the shallows and showing off her feathers. Here they allow you to vote for a favorite and the artist that wins the People’s choice, gets to show in their merit gallery. Everything is for sale here.

I like fabric art and this one wasn’t great, but I took a picture because of the little motor home in the corner. You don’t see many motor homes in art work. It was entitled See America, and that is what Jim and I are doing.

 

I love the many dune pictures I’ve seen in the galleries, representing spring and summer when the dunes are at their most beautiful.

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Then this fish, kind of a decorator item. I tend to take pictures of fish facing right because my friend, Dave Olsen is convinced that all fish are portrayed facing left in art.

Hey, Dave, here is another.

In another gallery was this cute little beaded critter. This is for Sharon who is a beading nut. There were at least a dozen different critters in this place on Broadway and several more galleries I had to miss. We are only here for a day and everything opens late on Sundays, and the oysters are ready at 2:00.

We got there before they ran out, but it was a long wait in line. A dozen oysters on the half shell for $5.

I found out you can eat a lot of oysters if you don’t have anything else for dinner. A dozen fried or baked $5.50.  Such a deal. I wanted to go back for the baked, but we got there about 2:30 and by the time I decided to try the baked, they were out of oysters. Yummy! People look at us kind of funny when we take pictures of our food but we kept company with a couple from Illinois and they understood perfectly.

OREGON DUNES AND WATERFRONT DEPOT

Where we are parked is near the north end of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. Its interesting topography, with sand and wind formed plants. Low bushes looked carved; tough grasses sway with the wind and hold the soil. Swampy salt marshes mingle with dunes. Much of the area is over burdened with the invasive Scotch Broom again. Here it is absolutely monstrous in spots, showing the effect it has on crowding  native plants. It doesn’t detract from its beauty, though.

We hiked up to the top of one dune. It’s still cold enough to discourage swimmers.

We drove to the South Jetty area and hiked out to watch a guy wind surfing.

By the time we got close enough to take a picture, he was out of the water with his loyal dog nearby.

Various views reminded me of picture post cards.

Then we went to town for an early dinner at the Waterfront Depot and the “promised” good food. Not disappointed. The crab encrusted halibut in a cream sauce with a caesar salad was every bit has wonderful as promised. The sauce wasn’t overly rich and dependent on gobs of butter. It had a slight tang and sweetness that was new to me. For appetizers Jim and I shared steamer clams and mussels in a garlic butter broth with bits of fresh tomato and parsley. Again, the butter was reserved rather than overpowering. They have an extensive wine list, and good beers as well. Desert lovers praised deserts here and our waiter tempted us with a thin slice of a Mexican chocolate cake, but we managed to resist.

The menu changes depending on what fish is in season, but I saw an order of ossa busso come out of the kitchen and regretted that we would not be spending another night here. The entire menu, by the way, is on the chalk board. You can click on it to enlarge it.

From our window seat in the restaurant, we could see these kids playing in the sand and water. The cold never daunts kids. They just go for it. In a sense, that is what I’m doing with my life right now. Seeking nature, and changing places. I’m  glad I’m not sitting in front of a television in my warm comfortable house cursing the news.
I took 35 pictures that can be seen at:https://picasaweb.google.com/106530979158681190260/201159DunesWaterfrontDepot#