Arizona's Profilers

Seven adventurous camping units descended upon the River Front RV Park right on the Colorado River in Yuma, Arizona on April 1^st. No fooling!

This is a large park and completely filled during the winter months with long term visitors. We find that by April, many have decided that the snows back home have melted enough for them to return. Thus the park was only about tree quarters full. Some of the sites were occupied by folks who have returned "home" but pay for the full year and leave their unit setup on their favorite site.

On arrival day, our wagon master/hostess, Shirley had setup a sandwich and chip/dip buffet to lessen the work of setting up and preparing a meal individually. It made such a pleasant afternoon, that there was an impromptu hot-dog grilling later on in the evening.

Our first morning we ventured to the Yuma Crossing State Historical Park. The only one to get lost on the way was the car pool with this editor, who missed the sign which said "Quartermaster" (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it). This delightful historical park hosts several period buildings and photos and history of the Yuma Crossing complete with steam boat parts, bridge parts and even a section of the old plank road across the sand dunes.

With some time before te group meal, several folks checked out stores and services in the area. Later in the afternoon came the pot-luck and this one scored a 10.0 This is the 93^rd consecutive 10.0 pot-luck. This talented group of cooks just can’t make a bad dish!

Later in the evening we settled into the park clubhouse and batted around possible destinations for the next camping season. Our 9 dates now are loaded with 12 choices. The May campers will refine these suggestions and select wagon masters.

Under way on Thursday morning we visited the ALSCO linen plant. This facility provides linens and uniform service for many of the restaurants and auto service facilities from Brawley, CA to Gila Bend, AZ. Fred, the plant general manager gave us a nice tour and explained how a commercial laundry system works to fill the needs of the customers.

We find that their really big washing machines, each holding 500 pounds of clothes or linens washes with specially developed detergents and solvents and a soft water temperature of 170 degrees. Many hand operations take place to feed the clean materials into the pressing and folding machines. With three sorting procedures, the individual’s uniform clothes are processed and returned to the correct wearer.

Following the plant tour we returned to the edge of town and visited the famous Yuma Territorial Prison. There were only 42 successful escapes in the short history of the facility, yet we came in and left with out being detained.

Food facility in Yuma.... The Happy Greek Chef. You name it, it’s on the menu.

Out once again to the factory tour. This day to the Dole lettuce processing plant. We were introduced to the many mixes of different greens that make up the bagged lettuce found in your favorite super market. Processes are super clean and closely monitored. Up to 100,000 lbs of bagged lettuce products are shipped from this plant each day in the harvesting season.

During our last two days the air was filled with smoke and when the wind was right, fly ash from a "controlled" burn. Seems that several years some agency decided that introducing salt cedar trees would help to stabilize the river bank. Now they find that introducing non-native species is a big mistake. Thus the idea is to burn the salt cedars and replant with the correct native grasses and plants.

An afternoon visit to the Sanguinetti House Museum produced even more historical information of the early days of the city presently named Yuma. Our tour guide had been working with the house for the past 23 years and was very well versed in the history and changes of the Colorado River crossing area.

All too soon our time in the park came to an end and we had to bid farewell to each other. Some will be able to camp in Flagstaff in May, while, alas, others have conflicts that will prevent them from enjoying yet another fun filled adventure.