ONE OF THE LARGEST MILITARY INSTALLATIONS IN THE WORLD…YUMA PROVING GROUND.

Tuesday, February 7 – We continue our sightseeing around the Yuma, AZ, area.  Our second stop of the morning was the Yuma Proving Ground. The Proving Ground is used for testing military equipment and encompasses 1,307.8 square miles in the northwestern Sonoran Desert.

Two very large howitzers predominately displayed at the entrance welcomes visitors to the Proving Ground. The Proving Ground conducts tests on nearly every weapon system in the ground combat arsenal. There are about two dozen pieces of artillery, tanks, and missiles on displayed in the nearby field that have been tested here at the Proving Grounds.

The outside museum is free. We walked around and view the weapons. There are informative placards at each piece telling us about the weapon. We felt the amount of information was minimal wishing for more insight about the displays. For example, it would be nice to display the shell fired by each of these large guns to get a perspective of their destructive power.

M107, 175MM Self-Propelled Howitzer. Wt. 174 lbs. Used during the Vietnam War.

M386, Launcher 762-MM Rocket, truck mounted launcher. Self-Propelled base for launching surface-to-surface, large caliber, fin-stabilized, free flight rockets.

M42A2 “Duster” Antiaircraft, Artillery, Self-propelled Twin 40-MM Guns. Used extensively in Vietnam.

M112A1 Armored Personnel Carrier. This unit is capable of amphibious and air-drop operations. Used extensively in Vietnam and Saudi Arabia.

Once a boy, always a boy.

Unfortunately, Paul failed to put our updated truck registration in the glove box (It's there now.) so we were not permitted to enter the active military base to see the additional museum displays. Regardless, we enjoyed our visit and when back in the area, we might finish our visit to the military base.

Our third and last stop for the day was the St. Thomas Mission. It was dedicated in 1922. Its design replicates the Mission Puerto de Purísima Concepción, which once stood on the site.

This gentleman was working on the bell.

Located next to the Historic Yuma Prison, we found the Mission locked. We were able to walk around outside, but missed the opportunity to see the inside. Darn!

Gorgeous doors.

We spent the remainder of the day relaxing in the beautiful Yuma sunshine. We've been lucky since entering Arizona. The area suffered some unseasonable nasty weather in January, but the customary 70-80 degree weather has welcomed us.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

AMAZING MUSEUM….THE CLOUD MUSEUM

Tuesday, February 7 – We had three stops around Yuma, AZ, that we wanted to visit today. First up was the Cloud Museum.

This is one of those unbelievably strange stops that have you saying over and over again, “This is amazing!” Situated on over 2 acres in nearby Bard, California, the Cloud Museum includes nearly 150 Model T's and Model A's, antique farm equipment, motors, small appliances, and other collectibles too numerous to mention.

The museum's owner, Johnny Cloud, drives around on his four wheeler answering questions. According to Johnny, he personally drove each of these cars into his museum, and all the cars will run if you add a battery and a little gas. To prove his point he cranked one of the nearby cars a couple of times and sure enough it started right up.

Model “T” Classis Pickup. 1917-1923. New: $365.

Marsha found one she would like to take home. She couldn’t believe how little the pedals are.

1920 Ford Model “T”. Deliver Van Conversion. Johnny said this was his dad’s truck.

Just one of the nine buildings.

Ford “A” Pickup. 1930-1031

We spent a couple hours strolling through the yard and over nine buildings containing a never ending number of antiques.

Anyone remember owning a light like this one? Us neither.

This is the one for Paul.

A person could easily spend all afternoon in the museum and not see everything. The price of admission is $5 per person. The experience is well worth the price!

The drive out to Bard, AZ, is also interesting. About 30 minutes out of Yuma, we drove through acres and acres of farms growing lettuce, cabbage, onions, garlic, and other products included in the “Yuma salad bowl.” It is an interesting drive to see the fields being prepared, flooded, and the vegetables being picked. Millions of heads of lettuce and other vegetables! There are over 20,000 migrant workers employed working in these fields doing jobs we can't imagine anyone being able to perform all day long.

After harvest.

We will show you are other two stops in our next post.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

OUT AND ABOUT IN YUMA

Monday, February 6 – We walked on the East Wetlands Trail this morning in Yuma, AZ.

This is a nice walking/biking trail that runs along the Colorado River. It appears to be a work in progress. Much of the trails, benches, informative signage, etc. is complete, but they continue to do work in the area expanding and improving things. A pretty nice park for the people of Yuma.

Herb Guenther Scenic Overlook.

One attraction along the path is the Prison Cemetery. It is in memory of the inmates who lost their life while serving their sentence at the Arizona Territorial Prison at Yuma. Of the 3,069 sentenced to the Prison, 111 met their death by disease, accident, murder, suicide and escape attempts.

Another historic site is the Ocean-to-Ocean bridge built in 1915. The Bridge was the first highway span over the lower Colorado River. It proved to be the crucial link that made a southern transcontinental highway possible.

Car bridge on the left; railroad bridge on the right.

After our walk along the river, we drove over to Old Town Yuma.

Many of the store fronts are closed or out of business, but the restaurants and bars seem to be doing a pretty good business.

Hotel Del Sol built in 1927, originally called the Hotel Ming, closed down in the 1970’s. It has fallen into disrepair and has been occupied only by squatters.

Hotel Del Sol (Hotel Of The Sun)

The Roundabout in the center of town.

There are several short plazas that led back to shops and wineries.

We stopped at the Prison Hill Brewery for a beverage and a little lunch. A nice place and pretty busy on a Monday afternoon.

There is artwork on many of the corners.

We met up with RV friends for dinner at Lutes Casino.

Not really a casino anymore, but they are famous for their good sandwiches. We weren't disappointed! Very good food and the interior of this place is nearly indescribable. All kinds of old movie posters, antiques, and one of a kind memorabilia. Stuff hanging everywhere.

First we have to get our photo taken.

We had a great dinner and a wonderful time with friends.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!