Back to Yuma for Bed Repairs! Feb 8 & 9

We're back on the road to Yuma by 9:30 after dumping. Fortunately the bedroom slide came in ok. Another beautiful day. We stopped just outside Yuma to eat at the Dirty South BBA House on the side of the highway. It's delicious. They also sell vintage clothing and memorabilia.

The young guy that took our order is also the "Pit Master" and working since 10:30 last night running his smokers.

There is an old suspension bridge Ray noticed while driving by here previously, so he took a short walk for a picture.

Yuma's 'bridge to nowhere'

7/7/2020

By Kathy Cline / ADOT Communications

The year was 1928. Antelope Bridge, built in 1915 over the Gila River near Yuma, was sustaining damage with nearly every flood. Repair bills were mounting. The state decided to abandon the bridge completely. 

Arizona State Engineer Lamar Cobb decided to build a long suspension bridge over a ford in the river at Dome, about 15 miles east of Yuma. It would be named McPhaul Bridge, in honor of Henry Harrison McPhaul, a Yuman who served with the Arizona Rangers. 

In January 1928, the Arizona Highway Department contracted with the Levy Construction Co. of Denver to build the structure for $152,454 (that's around $2.28 million in 2019 dollars). Although highway department engineers had outlined the bridge's location and span, Levy engineered the bridge with the assistance of nationally known consulting engineer Ralph Modjeski(link is external), a pioneer in the design of suspension bridges.

Construction began in mid-1928 and was completed in December 1929. McPhaul Bridge carried traffic on US 95 until 1968, when it was deemed unacceptable for modern, heavier cars. A new dam was built upstream that rerouted the river, along with a new bridge to carry the highway, leaving the old bridge metaphorically and a bit literally high and dry.

The bridge is in reasonably good condition today; one can even see the wooden spans under it. However, due to safety concerns because of its age, you can no longer walk or drive across the bridge. Because it sits in the middle of the desert (check out the map below to see its location and proximity to US 95 and Yuma), some on the internet have taken to calling it Yuma's bridge to nowhere.

Back in the coach we drove the last 45 minutes to the Cocopah Casino, where we planned to stay the night. They charge $10 per night. Their RV lot is large with about 50 sites which are quite large with space between neighbours even when your slides are out. A nice area of green grass to walk your dog between the RV lot and the casino. The lot is very noisy being right beside Hwy 195 and on the flight path of Yuma Airport. Being on the flight path is great for Ray, as fighter jets are frequently passing overhead. Unfortunately the casino allows smoking, so we did not try and eat there. Ray ended up ordering a pizza and picking it up.

We arranged for friends of ours, Mike and Grace Nistler to meet up with us here. They didn't arrive until 9:30 pm, so we'll have to catch up with them tomorrow.

Up early Thursday morning and on the road by 7:30 am for our appointment at RV Decor to get the bed fixed/replaced. They ended up rebuilding the whole bed frame from the bottom up and realigning it onto the rollers for the slide. They originally installed the actuators incorrectly, placing them on top of the slide rollers. They also noticed one piece of wood on the box frame is longer on one side than the other causing it to jump up onto the roller on one side. They took everything apart and started again with a lot more support for the bed box. No one thought it would take all day but they started at 8 am and did not finish until just before 4 pm. A long day doing nothing.

We went for breakfast again at the Broken Yolk and then back to RV Decor and read our books. Ray arranged to meet up with Grace and Mike at the Lemon Grass Asian Cuisine restaurant for lunch. What a great visit. 

Before leaving RV Decor I tried the bedroom slides multiple times and they came in perfectly. Finally!

We fuelled up the car at a Speedway gas station .... one whole section for trucks was closed, I wonder why? lol

We were so happy once we got back to the Casino and the slides deployed perfectly. Yeah! We all met up about 5 pm for Happy Hour sitting outside our coach. Now back to our planned travels.