THE STAMPEDE IS ON

When I lived in Missouri you could follow the changes of seasons by the colors of the leaves. Now that I live in Yuma, AZ, in the middle of the Sonoran Desert there is a different way of telling when fall comes. It's the thunder of huge RVs (costing hundreds of thousands of dollars and getting eight miles to a gallon of gas) that descend on this town bringing "winter visitors" upon which the city depends to exist. Every October thousands of retired folks running away from Northern cold thunder into this town of about 85,000, more than doubling its population from October through March. That stampede. much as I envision the annual migration of Wildebeests in Africa, has started and the senior community where I  live (which I'll call The Community) is springing to life again. It's an exciting time for the small group of Desert Oasis residents who are permanent residents (myself included) and have lived through four or five months of triple digit temperatures. All kinds of entertainment and activities are opening up. Just this past week residents were entertained for a couple of hours watching a returning winter visitor trying to back his fifth wheel camper into the drive next to his house. Desert Oasis is returning to its winter glory so fast that the first potluck dinner is scheduled for this weekend. As things get even busier I hope to, in this blog, pass along observations of what it means to be a winter visitor in Yuma (and a senior citizen). Now that I'm not a winter visitor I can make fun of them all I want to and I will in this blog. I hope you'll tune in now and then to see what is happening in Desert Oasis. I guarantee it'll be pretty much like a soap opera.