The 3:10 to Yuma

When we finally headed east from I-15 in san Diego to I-8, out of the Southern California in mid March 2013, we set our clocks in H2 to arrive in Yuma, Arizona, at about 3:10. We were off by an hour or two, but after all..we weren't coming by train anyway! The drive along I-8 is an up the mountain, down the mountain affair that winds right along the U.S. Mexico border. The most interesting part is that almost the whole way, you see fields of produce like lettuces, asparagus, artichokes, and citrus fruits. I thought Yuma was a sandy border town, and it is once you get away from the agri areas that are visible from both sides of the highway, about as far as you can see! Once you get into town, there are refrigeration warehouses everywhere along the roads, with convoys of 18 wheelers waiting to pick up their loads at all hours of the day and night. It's a major industrial farming hub. We never realized the California produce machine extended this far into Arizona. Yuma is also a major snowbird area and is one of the most RV centric places we've been to. In winter the town swells to two or three times it's usual size. There are dozens of huge motorhome parks all over town which cater to the snowbird crowd, a large percentage from the Western half of Canada. Food wise, Yuma's a blank on our rating scale. The few times we actually tried to get something local were pretty much a disaster. One Saturday night we ventured in to a local pub that we noticed always had a big crowd. We stayed after looking inside at the crowd, even though our instincts told us to run. Lots of overweight, pasty looking folks who usually frequent places like this. Anyway...we stayed! I ordered a Kobe Beef  burger. Yep, that's what it said right on the menu, and they wanted about ten bucks for it, so I fell for the marketing. When it arrived, it looked ok, until I bit into it...FE! It tasted like a cow patty burger! Mary Ann was smarter and stuck to a plain salad. She must have been hoping I'd say "Let's beat it out of here," but when I didn't, she hit her auto pilot and opted for something safe. The salad was a bunch of iceberg lettuce with a few wilted tomatoes and some bottled dressing...FE again. Well, we were hungry again the next day...and stayed close to our own kitchen! Even the local Mexican places were pretty dismal, at least by our standards. Their "Salsa" would best be described as tomato flavored water..yechh again.

What passes for Salsa..Tomato Water!

 When we did finally venture eating out again, it was the local In N Out or Chipotle. If it hadn't been for a decent Frys Grocery and our imported stash from Whole Foods and TJ's, we would have needed to move out faster. As it was, we stayed in Yuma about a month until it began to get hot in April. We visited the old army fort, which was there for settlers moving west toward California in the mid 1800's. The Colorado is at it's narrowest there, so it was an easier place to cross to head west. There is also still a key Navy Air station in Yuma, and it is one active military base! Los Algodones

When not visiting the dentist in Los Algodones

is the little Mexican town on the other side of the border. It's famous because there are hundreds of dentists and pharmacies within a few square blocks in this little town. People come from all over the country, mostly for dental work at very discounted prices. No one we spoke with who had been there complained of shoddy medical care. In fact, most everyone said they'd been coming for years and they all had a "favorite dentist" to recommend.  The best part of staying there were the amazing citrus fruits we ate almost every day. They claim that about 98 percent of our winter lettuces and a great percentage of citrus also come from this area to all parts of the country. We're still in the habit of slicing oranges or grapefruits every day, even though we've been gone from there for months. For you Date lovers, this is also the major source of almost all of the Medjool and other varieties available. A really fascinating place in this amazing country of ours!

             M A among the Artichokes