Quartzite to Yuma, with a cemetery in each
On Tuesday, November 19th, my daughter and I visited the Hi Jolly Cemetery at Quartzsite, then made the easy 85-mile drive to Yuma, where we visited the grave of one of the Yukon’s best-known early characters, “Arizona Charlie” Meadows. See an interactive map of the basic route here.
At 7:00 I got a photo of our motel in the lovely morning light. I gave it 5 stars at Google for meeting our needs very well: “The highlight here is the staff – every one was very friendly, professional, and anxious to help with anything you might need. The room was spotlessly clean, and little touches like having a night light in the bathroom are appreciated. The complimentary breakfast is very basic but suits my needs. Being away from downtown Quartzite is good, and the soundproofing is effective.”
The lobby was a nice place to have a bite to eat before starting the day.
We wandered around Quartzsite for a bit but didn’t find anything interesting so went to the Hi Jolly Cemetery just after 9:00. Find A Grave lists 582 graves and memorials here.
The grave of soldier, sailor, and movie actor George Washington “Buck” Conner (1880-1947). Originally buried on family property behind a truck shop, Buck and his son were moved here in 2008, and this memorial was built in 2021. The memorial plaque uses the spelling Connor in most places, but that is apparently not correct. There were no photos of this memorial at Find A Grave, so I added these two.
This monument to the cemetery’s namesake, Hi Jolly (born Hadji Ali, later Phillip Tedro), was built by the Arizona Highway Department in 1935.
The plaque on this monument, built in 2020, tells a bit about the cemetery but is mostly about Hi Jolly.
The grave of Enos Bolton Ring, 1887 – Feb 16, 1957.
By 10:00 we were southbound on Arizona Highway 95, passing vast areas set aside for RV parking.
The mountains to the east of the highway kept getting more and more spectacular, and at 10:20 I pulled over and shot the next three photos. I expect that books have been written about what’s back there – perhaps some day I’ll see for myself.
Six minutes further south.
After seeing signs about the Yuma Proving Ground, we came to the access road at 11:00. Covering 1,300 square miles, with 2,000 miles of restricted airspace, this is one of the largest military installations in the world. At any given time, there are about 280 military members, 426 family members, and 2,100 civilians and contractors living in base housing. The 220mm gun in the photo weighs 103,720 lbs and can fire one projectile weighing 204 lbs every 4 minutes. It has a range of almost 7 miles.
There must be thousands of these signs surrounding the base.
We drove through a vast agricultural area immediately east of Yuma. The photographic potential was huge, but I told myself I’d come back before leaving Yuma for a specific shoot. That never happened, and I kick myself now. The people in the fields, the worker housing, the buses towing outhouses that take them to the fields – especially with what’s going on in the States now, the story of these hard-working people needs to be told at every opportunity. The next two images are from Google Maps.
Our first stop in Yuma was a huge cemetery with over 25,000 graves. I was looking for a specific one – that of Yukon pioneer Charles “Arizona Charlie” Meadows. Although we didn’t know it at the time, there are two cemeteries at this location. The Yuma City Cemetery, of which the Pioneer Cemetery is part, is owned by the City of Yuma. It is located beside the privately-owned Desert Lawn Memorial Park. The surface of the City cemetery is sand, Desert Lawn is well-maintained lawn – a sign at the entrance to Desert Lawn says something about “perpetual care.”
The next photo was the first one I shot – it shows the Catholic section of the City Cemetery. Andrea and I were both shocked by the condition of it.
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows has a large section (at least I assume that’s what “IOOF” means).
The northeast corner of the City Cemetery.
This section is for burials by the County. One of the headstones in this photo says “Unident. Male. YCSO. 2001-009225.” (Yuma County Sheriff’s Office).
On to the Desert Lawn Memorial Park.
It was clear that I had no chance of finding Charlie’s grave, so went to the Johnson Mortuary office and inquired there. The two women in the office got me started in the right direction, but then they called their Family Service Counselor Kovia Lown, and she brought a golf cart and led me to the correct area. We were soon able to find the grave I was looking for. Huge thanks, Kovia!
Charlie’s marker ends with the statement “Remembered by historians and the citizens of Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada. February 15, 1986.”
Here’s an article about that grave marker, from The Whitehorse Star of February 17, 1986.
For lunch, Andrea found The Garden Cafe. My 5-star Google review said “I would give The Garden Cafe 6/5 if I could. It’s the most unique cafe I’ve been to in a very long time. Wonderful food, staff, and atmosphere – birds everywhere, with sparrows flying free and lots of budgies in a huge enclosure. Propane heaters for those days when the temp drops below 75 and the locals get a chill 🙂 “
We checked into our motel, the Historic Coronado Motor Hotel, just before 2:30.
Andrea said she would like to get matching tattoos to commemorate this trip, and suggested a saguaro cactus. I added a blazing sun to the idea, and after Googling nearby shops, we headed into historic downtown Yuma, to the Black Onyx Empire.
Tattoo apprentice Marilyn soon took our concept and turned it into a stencil (or whatever they’re called), and this is how mine looks this morning. This was a very special trip, and I’m extremely pleased that we did this – it’s Andrea’s seventh tattoo, my first 🙂
For dinner we decided to walk a block to the Yuma Landing Bar & Grill. Well, the bar was a block away, but we got turned around and walked much further before finally realizing our error! On my Google review they got docked a star: “The food and service were excellent. With all the lights on in the room being used that night, the atmosphere was not at all the “bar & grill” feel we expected.” That was 5 stars each for Food and Service, 3 for Atmosphere.
I got a photo of the sign as we left at 7:45.
Our motel used to get great reviews (which is why I booked it) but they’ve been going downhill fast recently. The only negative for us was a fight in the room beside us at 02:30 – a woman somehow kicked a guy out and he was raising hell to get back in. I was about ready to call the police when it stopped.
Our plan for Wednesday was to go to the Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park, then drive 160 miles to Ajo for the night.
About The Author
Good days, that was a nice piece of Yukon historical stuff, Arizona Charlies gravesite wowza, YOOP, this connection of such distance’s back in the days of no BMW travel, amazing indeed, your tripping trip is wonderful, tattoos, cemeteries and desert sands with your off spring, Skookum indeed eh, 🇺🇸👍🇨🇦
Thanks, Paul. After a tough 5 years, I can’t even describe how good it feels to be back doing this, or how important it was to do with my daughter.