This morning I took off a couple hours after sunrise on flight 35:

I flew east to visit active mining near the Padre y Madre Mine, which was first worked in the late 1700s.  The modern mine is a pit mining operation.  The massive pit is to the right, and the sandy terrain under me is all tailings:

The Cargo Muchacho mountains rise up to the north. I briefly entered the canyon that contains the massive American Girl pit mine, now idle, but I was concerned about unstable air coming up and over the mountains, so I decided against going over there:

This brown butte was also interesting:

I passed by (and over) all sorts of off road vehicles heading out to explore the area:

We had a full day of homeschool today, including B’s math lesson with Trish:

Trish and B made hamantashen:

M and B collected and chopped up a couple dead ocotillos for firewood:

Trish made a doll hat for B’s doll:

In the late afternoon, the kids and I went for a bike ride to explore abandoned mines in the area:

On the way home we found half a car in a wash:

The kids love doing their campfire, even though it’s in the mid 70s when we do it:

Trish created some Purim art based on the artistic style of Keith Haring:

This morning we left Paradise Casino and did a bit of food shopping.  We then stopped at a Laundromat, where we did the laundry and M appears to have attempted to jump start his modeling career:

Leaving Yuma, we drove about 15 miles west and north to find a location to camp until the warranty approvals for RV work have been received by the dealership.  We passed some old mining structures in the Ogilby Hills:

We finally found a spot with the right amount of seclusion, phone connectivity, and flat enough terrain to launch my PPG.  The cactus my parents purchased for us in Borrego Springs a couple weeks ago is doing quite well:

The ocotillo here are in bloom:

M and B found a couple jumps to ride their bikes over:

I set up my PPG and decided to go for a flight:

Liftoff of flight #34:

It was a lot of fun flying out over the area and seeing all the RVs.  There must be over a hundred of them spread out over a pretty big area.

M practiced his kiting:

B gave kiting a try for the first time:

We were treated to an amazing sunset:

The kids dragged over a dead ocotillo and we had a nice campfire:

We’re looking forward to spending about a week out here.