WETLANDS DRIVE AND SUPERBOWL.

Just below the prison, an area known as East Wetlands stretches up to the base of a mountain range along the Colorado River.


Wetlands suggest birds to me, but we didn't see any. I expect we would during the great migration from Mexico and South America.


Much of the water here is provided by the Colorado River and flows through man-made canals.

The terrain changed from low brush to high brush and later to the growing fields under lease or private ownership on what was signed as BLM land.


Now that's green and we saw miles of it.


A group harvesting lettuce are probably not interested in Super Bowl Sunday. The boss of this crew whistled at me and indicated that I should not to take pictures of them.


I got to see all that green I was longing to see.


Various colors of green as in broccoli.


Kale.


Purple lettuce, too.


On our previous stay in Yuma, we had grapefruit just like this hanging over the motor home where we were parked. Oranges, too.


This bougainvillea doesn't compare in size to the one we walked past every morning, but there are many beautiful bushes in bloom to enjoy around town.


After our drive, we returned to town and stopped at the VFW to have a beer and a peek at the Superbowl.


We wore our grubbies, knowing we'd have to wash what we wore and take showers to get rid of the smoke. People are nice. Jim befriended Cathy Shrader in the weeks before I arrived and wanted me to meet her. Nice gal, fun to talk to. A widow like me, hesitant about on-line dating as I was.


The VFW was set up for a party, but the game hadn't started.


I jokingly asked a woman who she was rooting for. Her answer was this. We visited for an hour and left. We never did see anything but pre-game talk on the big screen television. Before going to bed, I called my kids to see who won.

YUMA TERRITORIAL PRISON.

If you drive by the prison, cells gouged from the south wall are visible from the road, along with the Mission Church Steeple and the two famous bridges that cross the once mighty Colorado River. Though we visited the prison on a previous visit, we decided to do it again.


The prison is now a state park and when you look over the edge from above, the territory around the river is wild;  sand, river bed, desert stretching all the way to Mexico and even horseback riders on this day. Three-Ten to Yuma was filmed here.


Inmates built the prison cell block by cell block after the first building was built in 1875, approved by the legislature as a territorial prison, since Arizona was not yet a state. This edifice was actually a well, once covered by planks, then later electricity was used to pump water. Later still, Covered over and a guard tower erected on top of it. The well and electricity gave the place a reputation as being a country club.


While true, the prisoners were also correct in calling it a Hell Hole.


Still, inmates desperate to escape, tried many times to do so. Some made it. Most failed.


Territorial law was harsh.


Otherwise law abiding citizens, yes, but no prostitutes were arrested, the type of woman men appreciated.


The sister, who was single, was not arrested.


As consenting adults, we take our freedoms for granted.


After many times serving in solitary for breaking prison rules, and two escape attempts, inmate C.E. Hobard finally settled in and served his life term for murder.

He worked all day in the quarry, building more cells; during his spare time he made beautiful lace. Several shops on the grounds gave inmates the opportunity to make and sell things. If they couldn't make a tin cup, for instance, they did without a cup. Draconian.


There were some real bad guys. Leslie worked with Wyaat Earp at the Oriental Bar in Tombstone. He killed Billy Clairborne of the Clanton Gang. He killed his girlfriend in a drunken rage. Earp claimed Leslie was the only gunman who could compare with the speed and accuracy of Doc Holiday with a six-gun.  Yet, he only served 10 years of his life term.

The original bunks were wooden, but lice and bedbugs were so endemic, they changed them to metal.

Adding to the hell hole of discomfort, hard metal beds, open cells like this were ventilated during Yuma's hot summers, even if metal doors heated up to the point you could burn yourself to touch one. But during winter, you froze at night. Other open-on-one-end cells were deadly hot in summer, but a bit warmer at night and winter. A perfect lose, lose.


Punishments, if obeyed by administrators, were simple but also harsh. The ball and chain confinement in a solitary cell, or the Dark Cell. An unlighted area, no toilets, no change of clothing, multiple people chained to the steel grid on the floor at the same time, with no light nor ability to lie down. One man served 102 days in this cell and came out a model prisoner. Two women served time in this cell for breaking rules.  Stinkin' brutal.


The prison is a fascinating place to visit. They have a gunfighters gathering on the grounds the first two weekends of January that was a wonderfully costumed competition we attended in 2011, I believe. It is worth planning your visit during that event.
When the prison closed, it was used by various organizations, most notably, a High School, and later a home for people displaced during the depression.


The High School Mascot was the Crims, for criminals. Don't miss the historic Territorial Prison tour when you visit Yuma.

MEET ANDGREET WITH WINS.

From Palacios, Texas, we drove north toward Wadsworth where a bunch of WINs were camping on the Colorado River for a few days to go kayaking. WINs  stands for Wandering Individuals Network, a singles group Jim  belonged to for ten years.

When we arrived, the WINs were out, but Jim recognized their rigs.


We wandered down by the fishing docks and watched people fish. This woman said she was fishing for catfish.


Her husband hoped to catch a bass. He got one earlier but had to throw it back because it was too small.

On the next dock, this group said they were hoping to catch trout.


While standing there, the wind blew a plastic container with potato chips off the railing and into the water.


This young woman managed to snag it and drag it back up.


These two guys said they were hoping to catch some time away from home.


When the WINs returned from their daily excursion, we met them for cocktails at 4:00. It is a tradition to bring your drink, and snacks, and have a chat. Ellie is an old-time pal of Jim's who has been on the road for over ten years full-time. Next to her is Paul, a newbie. Originally from Michigan, then a Californian from Modesto. Just retired and is a full timer.


Pat still keeps a house in Oakdale but travels in her rig for months at a time.


The group celebrated another Pat's birthday. She is trying the lifestyle out. She is on the left. Arlene, on the right  is from West Virginia.


Garth, at the end of the table, is a retired school teacher and also new to life on the road and enjoying it.


The WINs are huggers and in the mornings they meet with MUGS and HUGS.  They start every day together and end it together before reporting to the privacy of their rigs. No one is required to take part in any planned activities. Ellie is the volunteer leader of this group traveling together as they move East. They plan their stops together and figure out where to dump and water and stay. There is something for everyone in this type of travel. I admire these women who have the guts to go it alone on the road in their respective rigs. I don't know if I could do it by myself, even with the comfort of a group.

LANDMARK LUTES AND BIKING THE COLORADO RIVER

This beautiful old St. Thomas Church sits on the site of the Purissimo Conception Mission site, built by the Spanish Padres in the 1700's. The original mission was burned by the Indians and replaced by this church. On our "two state" bike ride along the Colorado River yesterday, we crossed the Ocean to Ocean Bridge and briefly entered California and then back to Arizona. The mighty Colorado River is the border between the states in this neck of the woods. It was a beautiful day for a scenic bike ride of about 8 miles and good exercise as well. Of course, the beer I drank afterwards probably used up any calories I expended.
Lutes Casino is a well known restaurant and bar in Old Town Yuma. It's no longer a casino but in its rip-roaring heyday, it served as a brothel, a casino and now a down town hot spot. Good food, good beer, and the atmosphere is colorful with all manner of memorabilia hanging from the ceiling and covering the walls. Famous people over the years have their photos and autographs about the place. Ya gotta go to Lutes, is what people say. So, we did.
Hasta La Vista

QUARTERMASTER'S DEPOT

The Quartermaster's Depot sits on the banks of the Colorado River and was a Western Outpost for the military. The grounds, buildings and artifacts are now part of a State Park. The museum holds many, many wonderful old pictures and the most complete set of drawings of Civil War Uniforms known. The drawings were commissioned at a time when few leaders really thought it was important to record the various changes in uniforms over the years. Luckily for us, a very valuable history was preserved.
The depot was located near a shipping company on the banks of the Colorado River. The company brought paddle wheelers upriver to deliver goods as far up as Utah for $40 a ton. When a competitor went into business, the price dropped to $20 a ton. That is the devil in private enterprise and the savior is competition. It all came to a halt when dams impeded river traffic and the Pacific Railroad became the new "savior".

Travel is nothing if not educational and I will soon have to forget something to make room for all this new stuff I'm learning. At the museum, docents worked at weaving. This woman has a special loom called a shawl loom. Others made lace and turned cotton balls into weaveable threads.
Hasta La Vista

OCEAN TO OCEAN BRIDGE AT FIRST LIGHT

In the Northern U.S. when it snows, the white coverlet erases all faults and provides beauty. Here in Yuma, especially in the poor part of town, water is scarce and people don't have lawns. The dirt blows, they still crop dust here and the air quality is suspect. But, in the early morning light, all hard scrabble is erased and the half light provides beauty just like the snow.
We traveled to the Ocean to Ocean Bridge at first light for this photograph of the historic Yuma Crossing. This bridge was built in 1915 as the first bridge that allowed travel by car from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean by the southern route. Early morning moonlight reflects on this narrow section of the Colorado River. In territorial days, even without a bridge, this was one of the only places to get across this wild and raging river, which is now tamed to a low flow. It's just a trickle by the time it reaches Mexico.
The weather is beautiful, Jim the snowbird is chirping a happy song and all is well on the western frontier.
Saw, and recommend, A Civil Action, with John Travolta, which we saw last night.