Be careful what you ask for, vehicle edition

We stayed at Lake Havasu a day longer than planned because it got windy with gusts up to 55 miles an hour.  Wind like that makes RV driving no fun. So we hunkered down an extra day, then headed further south.

Now we're at the Desert Breeze Travel Camp at the Yuma Proving Ground, a military base 25 miles north of Yuma. After we arrived, we did some long-neglected chores, like laundry and rig cleaning. Then we took our tow car to the local Honda dealership as the engine was hesitating when the key was turned. Jim thought it was a starter problem and it turned out we needed a new one.  Since the car wouldn't be ready until the next day, the dealership offered us a loaner from a rental agency. 

The car rental place picked us up at the dealership in a shiny, brand new, freaking big pick up truck. Jim kiddingly asked the driver if we could rent the truck. After some paperwork but no further discussion, we were handed the truck keys.  Guess Jim's kidding nature did not come across clearly. That truck seemed as long as our motor home.

Good news, though:  After we paid $750 for a new starter and retrieved the tow car, we decided to spend our spare change on a beer in downtown historic Yuma -- and discovered the brand new Prison Hill Brewing Company. There is always a silver lining.

Lake Havasu on the day we decided to sit out the wind instead of driving to Yuma.  

Jim standing between the loaner truck from the Honda dealership and our rig.  We could have used it as a tow car, with the truck pulling our motor home instead of the other way around.

Jim and his Prison Hill IPA at Yuma's Prison Hill Brewery, which opened the end of August.  The brewery's name comes from the Yuma Territorial Prison (now a museum) which held murderers, polygamists and more from 1876 to the early 1900s. Then it was a high school whose nickname was "the criminals." The new brewery/restaurant is across the street from another place we like: a pub called the Pint House.