Yuma Arizona

The FAMCAMP at the U.S. Army Proving Ground is 21 miles north of Yuma and it's out in the desert with nothing around it. The nearest Wally World is 26 miles away. The base doesn't have more than 75 full time Army personnel so needless to say most everything is closed. The FAMCAMP is mostly gravel but at least it does have full hook ups. This is the type place to stay for a short period but not for a long time, too far from everything and nothing to do on the base.

We drove into Yuma to see the "Old Town" but since we're between seasons everything was closed. We were there early September and things don't open till sometime around mid October when the "snow birds" arrive. We did tour the old Yuma Prison and it was real interesting. There isn't too much of it left but what is left is just like it was back in the 1800's. The Colorado River runs right along side and the area around it is nice and green. Since the entire of Yuma is in the desert, this looks like an oasis.

On one of our tours we came along a date grove. They place large plastic bags over the dates and shake the trees to harvest the dates. All the farms use an irrigation system that takes water from the Colorado River. You can drive by a farm that is just being planted and come back three weeks later and see crops beginning to show.