3:10 to Yuma

10/26 Monday we didn't have to be out of the MCCS until noon and Patrick wanted to try his hand at paddle boarding. For five dollars for four hour rental, it was easy to say yes to. He managed to stay up for a long time until mom came down to watch then he promptly fell in the water and blamed her. 

After a shower for Patrick and lunch, we headed south again towards Yuma. We had to pass out of the Proving Grounds and watched the C-130s circle overhead for the jump training that goes on. They test most of the military equipment here at Yuma before it makes it to the troops.

As we got closer to Yuma we started passing lots of farms. More than 230,000 acres of rich Colorado River bottom is farmed in Yuma making it America's capitol for winter vegetables. Up to 50,000 acres each of head lettuce and romaine are cultivated each year, comprising a large portion of the half billion dollar revenue generated by lettuce in 2011. According to 2008–2009 agricultural statistics, the Yuma area also grows about 12,000 acres of broccoli, 3,500 acres of cauliflower, 6,800 acres of spinach and 3,000 acres of other vegetables. Orchards and vast melon patches stretch across the landscape. Not only is Yuma County Arizona’s top producer of lemons, tangelos, and tangerines, it is also tops for watermelon and cantaloupe cultivation.
 The Yuma area grows more Medjool dates than anywhere else in the world. Native to the middle-east, Medjool offshoots appeared in Nevada in 1927. Yuma County also produces approximately 40,000 acres of wheat, 95% of which is desert durum. Much of this wheat is exported to Italy to be made into premium pasta! Yuma County

 Because the farming relies so heavily on irrigation, they work hard to make sure that the fields are well prepared. That includes laser leveling and grading using GPS.

The next stop was Yuma Territorial Prison. A prison that was called a hell hole and made famous through television and film, most famous the 1953 (remade in 2007) film 3:10 to Yuma. The temperature the day were visited was 93 so it was easy to see that this prison was probably a real scorcher. The prison operated for 33 years from July 1896 to 1909 when it was shut down due to over crowding. The people who lived in Yuma called it the Yuma Country Club because the prison had things that the town did not have such as electricity, forced ventilation, sanitation including two bathtubs and three showers, a library with 2000 books, an enlightened prison administration and a band. But not all was comfortable in the prison as prisoners were stacked six to a cell that was just large enough for two sets of bunk beds and a chamber pot. The men and women put up with lice, ticks, bed bugs and other insects, snakes, vermin and of course the heat and disease.

 The Union Pacific built this bridge called the Sea to Sea Bridge and to put in the track to it, they tore down half the prison. The people of Yuma decided to make the rest of the prison into a park.

Below the bridge was one of the few ferry operations across the Colorado.

 This is one of the original guard towers. The stone underneath is a water tower that store water pumped up from the river. They built the wooden structure over top of it and it eventually became guard quarters as well as a watch tower.

Cool Hand Becky

The prisoners had workshops that they used to make things and earned money selling them. In their free time they were allowed to make crafts for themselves. Becky was really impressed by this gentleman's hard work.

 After the prison closed and the local high school burnt down in 1910, they moved the school into the prison. The team played the Phoenix high school and beat Phoenix. The Phoenix kids were so upset about it that they started calling the Yuma kids "criminals." Yuma High School adopted the name with pride and are still called the Criminals today.
After a stop at the grocery store, we hopped on I-8 and motored off to Gila Bend and the Air Force Auxiliary Field. We stayed at the FamCamp. It was a decent place to stay for a night.