#18 Goodbye America, hello Mexico…or is it?

Crossing the California border into Arizona through the Imperial Sand Dunes gave us the feeling we were travelling through the Sahara desert, or maybe we were on Mars, we did pass a few moon buggies after all! No, we hadn’t transported to another land, we had entered Yuma, Arizona, the sunniest city on earth, so they claim!

We fell in love with Yuma! Although a dry climate and with very little rain to be had, there is a lot of water to be found! The Colorado river being its main source! Marshlands, lakes and ponds scatter around the city, offering excellent birdwatching and fishing opportunities, and we got to experience it all firsthand…you’ve got to love America’s free camping!!!

We also made the most of Boondockers Welcome in the area! Our last one! Everett and Linda were the perfect hosts…the space that was allocated for our overnight stay (which ended up being four nights) was equipped with water, electric and sewer! And they had us connected to their speedy wifi too!  (Always a bonus when having to upload YouTube videos)! But practicalities aside, they were wonderful people!! We enjoyed nights jamming around the campfire and sharing excellent food! Their knowledge about Yuma had us exploring Yuma’s territorial prison, shaking dates at the local date farm…(well, drinking the delicious date shakes that is), and magically stepping into a fairytale dream…Yuma’s playground was paradise for Zoe!

Christmas was approaching and we also got to get those last minute presents sorted at Yuma Palms shopping mall! The whole city had a laidback vibe, it’s definitely a place we would return to!

Before going to Phoenix for Christmas, we had a little bit of time to kill and thought we’d go check out Tucson and Tombstone!

Having visited Tucson and it’s impressive Saguaro National Park before, we decided to do something new! And on our way back from the local library, we stumbled upon Pima Air and Space Museum!  This place was enormous! You could spend hours exploring the old air force planes, jets and choppers; they even had a hall of fame!

On our quest to see all ghost towns in the States (just kidding, although it does feel like it sometimes), we absolutely had to go to Tombstone, Wyatt Earp’s town. A must for every fan of the Wild West! Horses and carts roaming through the town, boutiques with corsets and cowboy boots, and saloons left, right and centre, yep it’s one for the tourists! But we weren’t complaining! We soaked it all in, enjoying the western festivities, including one of the best gunfight shows we have ever seen.

We kicked off the Christmas season with our very own Christmas tree, a giant Saguaro in the middle of the Sonoran desert. Decorated with tinsel and bells it set the scene for our Christmas edition on YouTube, where we cooked a hearty rib-roast in our Dutch oven. (If you haven’t seen the episode, here’s the link, it’s a good one!)

But of course you can’t beat a proper Christmas experience with presents under a pine tree, and we were fortunate to be able to make that happen in Phoenix with Roland and Denise! It was Zoe’s second Christmas and this year she was much more aware! Having a place for Santa’s delivery was a wonderful bonus and the great spectacle of lights in the surrounding neighbourhood made it all the more festive!

Thank you Roland and Denise and to your friends for letting us share the goodwill and cheer of Christmas and New Year!

We were slowly wrapping things up and getting ready for Mexico. Every spare minute was spent working on the camper, ordering things on Amazon and reading up on our new upcoming destination (using our new Christmas present of course – ‘A guide to Mexico’).

We did however procrastinate a lot…well you’ve got to make the most of it right! It seemed like we didn’t want to leave the USA, and waiting for this pandemic to end here in Arizona seemed like a very good idea to us. Most businesses were operating at normal speed and there were very few restrictions in place! It certainly made our life as Overlanders very comfortable! We are all about freedom after all!

Even though we have been here time and time again, we never run out of places to see, places such as Prescott with its notorious ‘Whiskey Row’, Lake Havasu and its famous London Bridge, Oatman on the route 66, Wickenburg and the Jail Tree (Yes! It was a thing!), and Quartzsite; everything RV!

And because we are all about ‘meating’ people, we couldn’t miss the opportunity to meet up with Pim from Idaho again. He was on a roadtrip himself to Texas, and we persuaded him to come camp with us in Quartzsite. We had so much fun sharing laughter and good food, that he then pursuaded us to follow him out east, we made it as far as places such as ‘Globe’ and ‘Miami’, and yes folks, we hit another ghost town: Goldfield!

Our very last week of the past 17 months in the States (crazy right?) was spent on a tiny little lake in Yuma (we told you we’d return!). Lake Fortuna. This place was beautiful!

Whilst Zoe was playing with the ducks and having fun with the cattails, Richie was getting those last-minute preparations done. We got ourselves a few extra locks on the camper and completed fitting our newest addition to our home on wheels; the diesel heater. We have heard that in Mexico, it is a little more difficult to refill U.S. propane bottles, so we now have a great alternative for those cold nights. Our diesel heater will greatly reduce the overall amount of propane we use. We still need propane for the fridge, when cooking, and for that lovely hot water! Or maybe we’ll be switching to cold showers down the road! Eek!

Well despite the mixture of apprehension and excitement that we are feeling about Mexico, we feel prepared. Our last night was spent just outside Calexico, grilling American burgers. We wanted to leave in style after all. However, when the day finally arrived, we got stuck in the sand! Can you imagine! We had to use our Maxtracks for the very first time to get us out and it appears that from that moment on, the day was doomed! We were about to get ourselves into a lot more trouble, but you’ll have to wait for that story, because we really can’t write in handcuffs!

Thanks for reading and we’ll meat you around the world!