Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   Rancho Rialto RV Resort, Yuma

January 6, 2020

Temperature 62 Degrees

Lettuce is King

Benjamin’s RV Wash

Yuma Crossing and its Importance

How about that sign!  I just think it is so neat.

We keep passing this sign and I finally remembered to snap a picture of it.  It is an advertisement for JVSmith.  A little digging on the internet reveals the following:  JV Farms started in 1988, is an agricultural company that grows lettuce, broccoli, and other intensively farmed vegetable crops. It was formed by John and Vic Smith to grow crops in the vibrant and growing agricultural community of Yuma, AZ. The diversified ground base for the farming operations includes Yuma Valley, Gila Valley, Wellton-Mohawk, and Bard, CA.

Now to today.  Unfortunately, you are not allowed to wash your rig in this park.   Graybeard, though, was definitely in need of a bath.  Especially after sitting just the other side of the scrap yard in the UMOM parking lot.   What to do?  Walking around the park last week I spotted this van

at another site.  Could this be the answer?  I made a call, arranged for an 8 am appointment for today – yeah, what was I thinking, 8 am – and figured they would be late.  Guess who was knocking at the door this morning at 7:45 am?  So much for being late.

They are totally self-contained bringing their own purified water and a small pump that feeds a pressure washer.

They wasted no time, starting with the roof.

They then started on the passenger side.  They spray on a cleaner/wax mixture first.

Then they scrub with a soft bristle brush.  Whatever they use, it removed all of the dirt and many of the streaks that I had been unable to remove before.

 

Finally, a good rinse.

I really appreciated their attention to detail.  They made sure to clean all the nooks and crannies.

They made sure to squeegee each window.

The driver’s side from the slide back is done and looking spiffy.  Within an hour they had Graybeard looking better than he has in a long time. In my opinion it was well worth the $100 spent.  An additional benefit?  It confirmed that there are no leaks anywhere.

Once they were done I became so inspired at how good Graybeard looked outside, I went inside and started cleaning.  I washed all the windows, dusted and vacuumed.  Now we are spiffy inside and out.  Yipee!

OK, let’s talk a bit tonight about the city of Yuma itself.  Where does the name come from?  What role in history did this Southwestern city play?

Yuma in 1854 was originally called Colorado City.  It was renamed Arizona City in 1862 and finally became Yuma in 1873.  It is believed that the name probably came from the Spanish word humo, meaning smoke, because of the local Quechan Indian practice of creating smoke clouds to induce rain.

What place in history does it play?

To understand its significance in history one first needs to understand that the Colorado River was once a sometimes free-flowing, often raging, uncontrolled river that was extremely difficult to cross.

 

So the question back then was always the same, How to get across?  And Where?

Yuma became The Gateway of the West. 

All trails led to Yuma.

In the beginning the way across was by rope ferry.  The traffic was steady but never really that significant.  Until . .

Then came the Gold Rush.

Yuma and its crossing became a National Historic Landmark.

Now, we come to today.

 

The picture above is of the river back then.

The river at the Yuma crossing today.

All of what you see here would have been underwater.  The sad fact is the Colorado is nothing like it used to be.  It no longer flows the 70 miles from Yuma to the Gulf of California.  Also, due to several past lean snow years at the headwaters of the river it continues to drop.  Both Lake Mead and Lake Powell also continue to drop at an alarming rate.

That is the beginning of the story of Yuma.  There is more to tell and hopefully in the coming days I’ll be able to share what other factors fashioned this unique city known today as the sunniest spot in the whole United States.

Another day is in the books for the two of us traveling along on The Road of Retirement.  The day started with Graybeard getting a needed cleaning.  The day ended with me at the dentist – to whom I return again tomorrow.  Yuck.  So be it.

Thanks for coming along with us today.  As always we appreciate your company and your comments.  Till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before

See you on down the road!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   Rancho Rialto RV Resort, Yuma

January 5, 2020

Temperature 70 Degrees

Cloud Museum – Finishing Up

I never get tired of the beautiful blue sky that seems to be the norm in these parts.  As I look around today the sun is shining bright, there is not one cloud in the sky and the sky is a bright, shimmering blue.  Sweet.

Let’s go back to

The Cloud Museum and finish our tour of this delightful place.  There is just something so neat about this place.  Like others I find all the older vehicles – original, restored, and unrestored – beautiful in their own way.  They also speak to me of a simpler time when with just a few tools you could fix almost anything.  I also see in them the march of technology.  No computer to worry about nor power this or that.  They were basic transportation.  Not that I would want to have one today for my daily driver.  Just saying when I look at them I’m just amazed at how far we have come.  And I marvel at the minds of those great individuals who have brought us this far.

Let’s get started.  Let me share with you some of the pictures I took.  No way, unfortunately, I can  include them all.

This is a 1924 Ford C Cab truck.

This is a 1927 Ford Stake Bed truck.

This is a 1924 Ford Model T Runabout Roaster Pickup.  

This is 1927 Ford 4 Door Sedan

Simplicity itself.  Steering wheel, gear shift on the floor, gas – brake – clutch and an emergency brake.

This was Johnny’s Dad’s truck, a 1927 Ford closed cab truck with a stake body bed.

Did you know that Chevy produced a Model T Truck? 

The 1922 Chevrolet Truck was built from the 490 passenger car chassis. It came with a three-speed selective gear transmission and a four-cylinder overhead-valve engine.

Moving over to Building Two

Cars, cars and more cars up and down each side.

This was a favorite of mine.  The woodwork, the style, I really liked it.

Imagine a nice day, sun shinning, and the top down.  Wow!

This little touch caught my eye.  Someone’s way of making the car their own.

What is it?

 

There are two cars that Johnny keeps licensed and insured and takes out on occassion.

My son being a Sheriffs deputy I just had to snap a picture of this.

There were more than cars and trucks, for instance

If you ever attended a Shriner’s Parade you would recognize the above.

A parade like this that we cane upon in Lubec, Maine.

Miniature trucks and cars of all sorts are part of their parades.

Then there were what I would call garage parts.  For instance,

Want to guess what this is?

How about this?

Give Up?

There were cases and cases of all kinds of spare parts.

Need a carburetor?

There were also

Of course a Museum about cars and trucks had to have a display of

Just four, there were many more all over the yard.

And we’ll end with this.  In Memory of my Dad who loved Fire Engines and always wanted one of his own.  I wish I could have bought one for him.

A 1947 Chevy Fire Engine.

Now we’re going to say goodbye to

Johnny and his

poor man’s museum.  We really had to dig to found this Museum but are so glad we did.  The Museum is fantastic and getting to spend time with the man himself was priceless.  If you ever find yourself in Yuma take a day and go visit Johnny.  You will not regret spending a day there.

Another day on The Road of Retirement has come to a close.  We just kicked back, Barbara read a book and I watched footballs play off’s and wrote this blog.  That’s about it for us.  It was another beautiful day from beginning to end.  Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure this wonderful life we live together hand in hand is real.  Thank you Lord for this life and each day you have given us.

Thanks for being a part of our day.  We’re glad you could come along.  Feel free to leave a comment or ask a question.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before

See you on down the road!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   Rancho Rialto RV Resort, Yuma

January 3, 2020

Temperature 71 Degrees

Cloud Museum

We were told we would get bored if we went to Yuma.  We were told there was absolutely nothing to do in Yuma.  We were told there was maybe one attraction worth visiting.  Where they ever wrong.

After today I have enough material for a good weeks worth of blogs.  In time I promise to share everything we’ve discovered to date with you.  I wish I could do it all as we go along but it takes so much time to sort through all the pictures and digest all that we’ve discovered.

  It was another beautiful day with another absolutely stunning sunrise.  Breakfast was cheese potatoes, orange juice and a couple of cups of coffee.  Just my kind of breakfast and just the king I’m going to have to start cutting back on next week.  Till then. . .

Time to get going.  Today we were off to yet another state.  We would go first through Winterhaven, then to Bard.

I jokingly said to Barbara Let’s find a rest stop and take a nap, then we can put another state sticker on our map.  She just laughed.   Suffice to say I didn’t get to put California on our state map.

On our way to our destination in Bard we

passed acres and acres of all kinds of lettuce and other leafy vegetables.  In the beginning it was only iceberg lettuce that was grown.  Now it is a 50/50 mix of iceberg and Romaine.  Crops grow in north-south rows to ensure that the amount of sun each row receives is equal.  Fields are laser leveled, and satellite and GPS systems are used to lay out the rows.

Throughout the area there are about 30 to 40 thousand workers in the fields daily.  Many come from Mexico on a daily basis.

All of this is made possible

by a complex irrigation system that provides water to the fields.  The 7 farm operated irrigation districts have the oldest water rights on the Colorado river.  Water, however, is becoming scarce leaving a lot of questions about the future of farming in this area.

We also passed numerous

date farms.  Though you can’t see it in this picture, each pod of dates on each tree is surrounded by a mesh net.  The net keeps the birds from stealing the dates and also prevents them from falling to the ground when they are ripe where they could also be stolen.  Medjool dates are one of the most popular – known for their large size, soft texture and rich flavor.  Dates have become popular in this area because it has a large amount of sunshine year round and stable, descending air and high pressure – perfect conditions for growing dates.

A few more twists and turns, a few more bumpy roads and

we were at our days’s destination.

 Items at the museum are the personal collection of

Johnny Cloud.   A long time Bard, California resident who began the collection in 1989. The collection includes cars, trucks, tractors, power tools, hand tools, household equipment, boat engines, wheels, items from local businesses including the old Bard Post Office, plus many more items too numerous to mention.   He told me he calls his Museum The Poor Man’s Museum.  Indeed, there is nothing fancy about it.  However, now having been there I can tell you first hand that the collection is vast, overwhelming, well organized, and incredibly impressive.

As you enter through the front gate

a shrill whistle goes off and Johnny himself comes rumbling up on his ATV.

Once inside you are confronted with this rather interesting sign.

Past the sign you see the yard and you begin to try and comprehend the size of this place.

You also begin to realize that this could quite possibly be the largest collect of Model T trucks.  And we’re not even to the back lots or buildings.  We came intending to spend a quick 30, maybe 60 minutes here.  Yea!  I believe we wandered around for a good 2 hours.

Here’s some of the more unusual items I discovered.

This was at one time a runner and was actually someone’s home on wheels.

With that propane tank out in front I definitely would not want to run into the back of anything.

Time to go inside.  There’s the refrigerator.  Easy enough to grab a cold drink from the front seat.

Only one seat, the drivers.  If you wanted to come along as a passenger you brought your own seat from home.

Looking from the front to the bunk room in the back.

There was a kitchen of sorts with a propane stove and oven.

A kitchen sink with running water.

The water closet.  I would not want to be sleeping in the bottom bunk with my head at this end!

A second sink across from the toilet.

I do believe it would need a bit of work before someone could move in.

Need to move some mulch or dirt or maybe even snow around your place?

A 1926 truck that cost around $500 new.

I really wonder how much weight this could really haul?

Forget modern hydraulics – you want to dump a load in the bed?  Grab that handle and crank it on up.

Need that motorhome towed?  Well, maybe not with this.  Perhaps a Model T or A.

Now we know its town and state of origin.  A little digging on the internet revealed that this is probably a 1920s-30s, Manley antique wrecker tow truck 3 1/2 ton boom crane, made in York Pa. for an old tow truck.   The idea it seems for a tow truck originated when a local mechanic  named Holes was asked to pull a customers crashed Model T Touring car from a creek.  It took him a day and a half using a block and tackle hanging from a tree to get it out.

Afterward, so the story goes, he started thinking about this experience plus other calls he’d had to fix cars with broken axles on the side of the road. Broken axles were common and working on the roadside was dangerous, but necessary. After all, the cars couldn’t be easily moved to a repair shop with their axles snapped.

The story goes that Holmes, who had 13 years’ experience as an auto mechanic, decided he could design and build a machine to make it easier to handle disabled autos. He made a working drawing to get a patent, then took the drawing to local foundries and machine shops to get his “auto crane” built.

The first Holmes wrecker was assembled in the fall of 1917. These machines were essentially small cranes that could be attached to motor vehicles. In 1917, Holmes rigged one up on the chassis of a heavy auto and used it quite successfully around Chattanooga.

See that large handle?  It was said that if you let it get away from you and kick back it would break your arm.

One more for tonight from Building One.

That’s it for tonight.  More to come in the days ahead.  There are so many wonderful, unusual and interesting trucks, cars, tools, bikes and just about everything else here.  It is well worth a visit.

Our day on The Road of Retirement is now coming to a close.  Once again we had an absolutely fabulous day.  Nothing to do around here?  Posh!  One needs only to open their eyes to all the history, the museums, and everything else that is in this area and they will never be bored.

Thanks again for joining us for our day of adventure.  We’re glad you came along.  Feel free to leave a comment or two if you want.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before

See you on down the road!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   Rancho Rialto RV Resort, Yuma

January 3, 2020

Temperature 68 Degrees

Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area – Colorado River State Historic Park

United States Army Quartermaster Depot

We Have Lights

What an absolutely beautiful morning we awoke to.  The sky was bright blue with not a cloud in sight.  The sun, oh that sun, when it comes up from behind the mountain is simply breathtaking.   I leave the one blind open in the dinning room in the morning because that is the first window that it comes streaming in through.  I just sit in my chair and let it fall across my lap and warm me through and through.

Tonight we’re going back to

and we’re going to take a tour of the park itself.

From 1865 to 1883, this site served as the headquarters

for the Yuma Quartermaster Depot, an Army Depot that stored supplies that arrived here from San Francisco.  Clippers would sail down the coast of California, around the Baja Peninsula and up to Yuma.

Settlement of the West depended upon the Army’s ability to protect settlers as well as supply it’s far flung posts.

This is a model of the original Depot.

This is the original storehouse.  In 1904 it became part of the Bureau of Reclamation’s Yuma Project Office.  Today it is a special exhibit hall.

From the Depot in Yuma supplies were shipped by steamboat and overland routes to various forts along the Military Supply Routes shown above in Arizona, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas.

The Quartermaster’s Building

Captain’s Uniform, US Quartermaster Corp.

Inside of the Quartermaster’s Office.

Continuing on our Self Guided Tour

 

And I thought a bird was a problem, how in the world did they ever get any sleep.

I believe I’ll keep my current tie sneakers.

To the next stop.

So we’ve come to the end of our tour of the Quartermaster Depot.  But not to the end of all that we found there.  We’ll cover the odds and ends in future blogs.

Now to matters around our home.  We once again have lights on Little Graybeard when connected to Graybeard.  It appears it was the perfect storm of events.  Somehow, somewhere the wires inside the plug on the rig pulled loose.  In addition the plug on the car got a bit smashed when the connector for the safety cable got bent down.  I have no idea when or how any of this happened.  I guess I’m just going to have to be a bit more vigilant going forward.  The important thing is, the issue is resolved.

I also spent several hours taking all the documents I’ve collected from all the places we’ve been and scanning them into my computer.  I managed to put a dent in the pile but I still have hours to go.  A little each day and sooner or later I’ll get it all done.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  It began with a beautiful sunrise and ended with an even better sunset.  We were able to get household chores done around the LV.  We were able to resolve our lights issue.  Not a bad day overall.  So the day is now a wrap.

Thanks again for coming along with us.  We always appreciate your company and your comments.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before

See you on down the road!