Leaving Mittry Lake

2/13/10 Saturday
This morning we broke down camp at Mittry Lake and headed into town. Goodbye Ducks. I told Thomas that at every place we have visited so far there is at least one thing I will miss. In Pilot Knob (Yuma, AZ) it was the blazing sunsets and to a lesser extent the sunrises. From here it will be the faithful little ducks to wake us each morning.

On the way we paused to take some photos of the workers harvesting heads of lettuce from the fields. This is really backbreaking work. It is amazing that they can straighten up after bending over all day. Many thanks to the workers who do the work that we don’t want to do.

The first stop was at a local farmers produce stand. Here we bought avocados at 7 for $2, kiwis, blood oranges, romaine lettuce and an Oroblanco. Oroblanco means white gold in Spanish and it is a sweet grapefruit hybrid that is a pummelo-grapefruit. Will let you know how it is after we try it.

Next on the list was to rinse off the dust and mud off the truck and trailer. Then on to fill up with gas, propane, groceries and do laundry. This is mainly a routine day to prepare to travel on.

We arrived back at the Quechan Casino at around 4:30 pm. Off to one side were Indians preparing to walk in to the Casino. Tonight and tomorrow is their celebration at the Casino for their 1 year Anniversary. The Indian parade was right in front of us as we drove into the Casino.

Due to them expecting a large crowd, all the RV’s had been told to leave the parking lot and not return until Monday morning. Shoot! Now what? They pointed to an area that was a good hike to the casino or either unhook the truck and drive back. We opted to park here, have supper and then depart for Pilot Knob to spend the night before traveling on. Fire works were at 9:30pm so we could leave after those.

The man that we parked in front of was driving a 1968 large bus. He works in Alaska as a carpenter during the summers and fills his 3 freezers with salmon and other local game meats then heads out to the south in the winter.

Thomas didn’t want to unhook the truck and then have to reconnect it a couple of hours later. He also didn’t want me to push my knee and try to walk up to the casino. But finally I persuaded him that I would be ok and wanted to see the events that we could only hear from our parking area.

By the time we got there, the main events were over outside. We did look at the few remaining booths and watch some of the entertainment. Inside the casino, it was full. It amazed me that this casino only has slot machines and card tables – no roulette or craps tables. For this to be an anniversary party, the games seemed very well occupied but no one was really winning anything much – no one seemed very happy because of big hits or wins. At 9 pm, they drew a name of someone to go into the Cash Machine. The man whose name was drawn got into the machine and in 1 minute was able to grab $1800 and put into the holding box. He seemed to be the big winner of the night.

The fire works were good and well worth the stay. They lasted about 30 minutes and there were many that we had never seen before.

Now to hobble back to the truck. Then it is a fast trip through the inspection station and to the next exit and Pilot Knob. At Pilot Knob, we only paused to make sure we were basically flat and then went to bed.

Another long day…………