Cocopah RV Resort | Chretin's

Yuma, Arizona: We left the Temecula area just after 9:00 a.m., heading south on I-15, then taking a left and headed east on Interstate 8. We left the green lawns and palm trees of the San Diego suburbs and climbed to a 4000 ft. pass, stopping at Sweetwater Vista, where we could see to the Pacific (if it were not so hazy).

Sweetwater Vista

Then the highway skirts the US/Mexico border, passing through mile after mile of hills of huge boulders, then through mile after mile of sagebrush desert, before passing through mile after mile of nothing but sand. We'd see a Border Patrol car, station or helicopter every few miles and signs warning of "sands blowing across the freeway". Not a hospitable part of the country. (And it would probably not be advised to pick up hitchhikers.)

Just west of Yuma, we stopped at a strange "rest area" in the median strip between the east and westbound lanes of Interstate 8. Portable toilets and dirt (well, actually sand). You just find a spot to park - if you are lucky, it will be under a shade tree. No parking lot, no nothing. I really felt like we were a little in the middle of nowhere, though on a 4-lane interstate super-freeway... I think it was the only place where there was a tree, so the highway department put in a portable toilet and put up a "Rest Stop" sign.

We pulled into Yuma around 2 p.m. and headed toward Cocopah RV Resort and Golf Club. It is your run-of-the-mill RV Park, with many winter-season live-ins in park models (small mobile homes). There is an 18-hole, par 70 golf course running through the 900-space campground. At this time of year, the place is deserted, as the "snow birds" have not yet arrived. Though the temperature was well over 90, we decided to give a go of their 18 holes. However, their 18 holes were under "reseeding" so they offered a variety of the open 9 holes, beginning at 17, then 18, back to 1-4, then over to 7-8, finishing on 5 (Goldie is conveniently parked on the 5th fairway)... it was a bit confusing. I played terribly but had fun, assuring myself that this round would not "count" and I was just "practicing". DT played two balls and played well, though also "practicing". He tried to test the strength of a NIKE golf ball against the strength of the roof on a park model - with a resounding CLUNK... the evidence could not be found, the roof seemed intact and it did not disturb the cocktail hour occurring under a near-by patio (scotch and water) and he was forgiven. On the golf course we saw roadrunners, quail, rabbits and overhead fighter jets from the Yuma Marine Training Center. The group playing behind us found a flicker with a broken wing.

After all that excitement, we went into town for dinner. Our "Fodor's Arizona 2000" suggested Chretin's - "a Yuma institution", (NOTE: Chretins has moved to a strip mall!) and even warned "don't be put off by the nondescript exterior or the entryway, which leads back past the kitchen and cashier's stand". Thank goodness I had read that sentence, or we would have passed the restaurant by, thinking it had been closed for years and years. The front of the building was completely boarded-up - if not for the completely packed parking lot, we still may have thought the new guidebook was outdated. Seriously, you enter Chretin's at what most establishments would call their "service entrance", not exactly kept in tip-top condition and must literally walk through the kitchen to the dining rooms! (In Oregon, we call this type of entryway "A HEALTH CODE VIOLATION".) Chretin's is not fancy, not particularly clean, the service is not particularly friendly or fast, but the food was great. The menu had the usual Mexican fare - but everything, down to the chips and tortillas, was made on-site. You could smell the aroma from the tortillas, hear locals greeting each other and read the hundreds of signs, photos and posters covering the walls. It was an interesting meal and incredibly inexpensive. (A mug of beer was $1.25.) It was a very casual restaurant, most of the patrons were in shorts and men wore their baseball caps and cowboy hats. So, I suppose if you were to spend one day in Yuma, Chretin's would be the place to have dinner. We could not help starting up a conversation with the man and his son at the table next to us (3-inches away) as he was wearing an "Arizona Wildcat" hat and t-shirt, and they are playing the Ducks tomorrow at Autzen Stadium. They assured us of plucked Ducks. The son was a golfer and had been a member of the #2 state high school team from Yuma and was now attending the University of Arizona in hopes of becoming a Border Patrol agent. (From our observations yesterday, it is obvious the Border Patrol must have an entire army of employees.)

Before going to sleep, we sat on our little patio and star gazed - the desert sky is chockablock with stars and we were able to clearly see the Pleiades. 

RV Park: Cocopah RV Resort and Golf Club. Site #1190. 50-amp, full-service site.