Saturday, January 26, 2013

Yuma proving ground


One of the largest military installations in the world covering around 837,000 acres just north of Yuma in the Sonoran desert. The site is used to test military equipment in the course of a year over 4,000 planes leave for combat missions, 36,000 parachutes are dropped, and 500,000 mortar and missiles are fired on the grounds. (Thank you wikipedia) Which explains
 the large booms that can be heard when camping around the area. Just be sure if you are camping in the area you know the proving ground's boundaries missiles and shrapnel are not you friend!

 Candy hiding from the booms.
 Entrance to the grounds
Maybe another source of  booms. Poor unsuspecting critters.
 Anti Aircraft gun trailer.

 Sherman


 Missiles
 Heli
Beyond the proving grounds into California.
Imperial Dam from a distance
One of many canals leaving the dam. This one is the All American Canal, its been called the most dangerous body of water in the U.S. With waters rushing up to 30 miles per it has killed over 550 people from 1997 to 2010, most of them illegal immigrants. The Canal irrigates 640,000 acres of land that used to be one of the driest spots on earth, the canal eventually drains into the salton sea. Thanks for stopping by. Good Day!


5 comments:

  1. Poor Candy! What a sweet picture. Is it pretty loud?

    While we were off Ogilbe Road, aircraft buzzed us. We were amused.

    The strafing wasn't as funny.

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    1. No its not that bad where I am at, but she seems to think its terrible.

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  2. you on your way to the slabs??

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  3. I had a unique experience here lately. I thought I would treat myself to a motel room after being cramped up in the van for 2 weeks. I got the room for $26 via Priceline.com. The room is normally $67 a night. Any way its a major motel chain that has free breakfast with lots of people coming and going. I then decided after that night to just stay / sleep in the motel parking lot since there was no security. Although Im no longer a paying guest Ive been walking in every morning with my lap top and button up shirt eating their free breakfast. I know what your thinking and that is "thief". I dont feel that bad because I do stay in a motel twice a month anyway so NO it doesnt bother me to eat their $1 breakfast. If I were to get caught I would simply say that I didnt think check in time was until 10am. If they did call my bluff then I would simply register, pay and stay that night. Breakfast at most places is 6am to 9am with a shift change at 7am. I only do this 3 days in a row at a given motel so that no one gets suspicious since the average person / tourist only stays for 3 days. Ive never been caught yet so if you do try this make sure you have the money to back up your bluff which I always do. Do I feel bad about it? No. Sooner or later they get the $1 breakfast back anyway. If your nervous about doing this then simply reserve the room on Priceline.com with the confirmation number, then print it out so that you have that if approached. Dont worry because your charge card hasnt been charged yet. After breakfast 20 min later, once in your van you cancel the reservation and theres NO charge. I dont care for the smaller places because all they serve is cold cereal & gravy that looks like plaster. The bigger chains have self serve eggs, bacon oj etc... I always take some fruit & tea bags with me when I leave so that I can have free lunch later.
    Sticking it to the man!

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