Lake Havasu, Az

Sunday, Feb 24

As much as I liked staying out in the desert isolated from the world, I was outvoted and we "up-anchored" and headed North.

We eventually ended up on Interstate 8 headed toward San Diego (not where we are headed).  We soon get off.

We have a pretty strong crosswind (winds out of the North and we're headed West).  According to the weather service, it's up to 30 mph.  This makes for a bit of a challenge driving 30,000 pounds, standing 12 feet high like a billboard.

We stop for lunch at Painted Rock Petroglyph Site

The "Big House" and "Little House"

Painted Rock Petroglyph Site.  These drawings are hundreds of years old. 

 

For Evan and Anna:  We stop for lunch at a neat place just a little ways off the Interstate, the Painted Rock Petroglyph site.  The O'odham people have called this area home for thousands of years.  The petroglyph designs that are here are evidence of a vibrant and interesting culture of the past.

The petroglyphs are in a rock knoll that consist of a granite outcrop overlain by highly weathered basalt boulders.  The dark basalt have experienced a long period of weathering.  Over thousands of years desert winds, rain, and alkalies have gradually covered these rocks with a dark shiny coating known as desert varnish.  The dark varnish provided an excellent medium for petroglyph artists.  When the dark coating was pecked away, it revealed a lighter color basalt below, making the images stand out.

Tonight we stopped at Sundance RV Resort, whose motto is "Enjoy the active lifestyle".  It has quickly become one of less favorite stops.  It is pretty obvious that a lot of people from Northern climes choose to get out of the miserable Northern weather in the winter and come to this area.  Who can blame them!

This RV resort is one of many in this area and they appear to be much the same.  Some amenities, like pools, shuffleboard, etc, and all types of "homes" crammed in one on top of the other.  I believe if there was a loud snorer in the next site, we could hear them.  A vast difference from last night when we were quite alone.  Oh well, we'll move on tomorrow.  This isn't even worth a picture.

Monday, Feb 25

We gladly leave the “RV Resort”. Ain't our style, but obviously lots of people like it because there are lots of RV Resorts here and they all seem to be full.

We are headed North on Hwy 65. There are stretches of highway that are 20 miles that don't have a curve.

Jan takes the helm

We pass through Quartzsite. This is a place that I have often read about in RV magazines. It's in the middle of the flattest desert I can imagine and it obviously is a place of many RVs. We pass quickly on the way to Lake Havasu.

Wow! What a nice surprise. This area is beautiful. We are still in the desert, but there is actually some green and some flowers. Must be the recent rains.

The "Big House"

Tonight we are camped in an Arizona State Park, the River Island State Park which adjoins the Colorado River. It is absolutely beautiful.

River Island State Park from the top of the cliff

For Anna and Evan: Try to find the origins of the Colorado River and follow it to the Pacific Ocean. Your Dad will be able to help you find the origins because it is near where he was a camp counselor in Colorado. It also goes through the Grand Canyon.

Right across the river by the campsite is California. We plan to stay here at least a couple of days then go into California.

Tuesday, Feb 26

After a slow start we drove the 25 miles to Lake Havasu City. I don't know what we expected, but what we got was not very impressive. The town was founded in 1974 and doesn't appear to have a city center. It's just miles of franchise food, houses, condos, and commercial development. However, it is located in a beautiful location.

I remember hearing something about the London Bridge having been torn down, relocated and rebuilt somewhere out west, but didn't realize it was Lake Havasu City. Of course we had to see it. Quite disappointing – it looks like an ordinary bridge built out of rocks, much like the bridges along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Anyway, we had lunch at a restaurant looking at the bridge. It reminds me of something I think was said by P T Barnum of Barnum of Barnum and Bailey Circus. I think he said “there's a fool born every minute”. In this case the first fool was the guy who paid to have the bridge relocated. The second fool is people like us who actually go to see it thinking they'll see something. Oh well.

Lunch at London Bridge

Bill and I took another hike from the RV park to the top of a cliff that literally goes straight up next to the park. It's one of the more beautiful hikes we've taken. The scenery around the park is truly impressive. And tomorrow we're on the way to California. We've made reservations at Twenty-Nine Palms Marine Base. This is the first time I've felt compelled to make reservations on this trip. It seems the closer we get to California, the more crowded it gets. We'll be near Joshua Tree National Park, one of the places I'm interested to see.

The big cliff on one side of the RV park. Jan and Clara actually got up early to hike to the top this rock.

working on a jigsaw puzzle

The Colorado River at the RV Park

Wednesday, Feb 27

After a short hike to the top of the cliff overlooking the RV Park, we departed for California, which in reality is just across the river from the campground.

We thought we had seen long straight road and isolation, but this part of California takes the lead.  We went for 75 miles and never saw any sign of life. 

We have reservations at 29 Palms Marine Base RV Park.  After quite a bit of hassle, we are settled into this desert RV Park on base.  This is quite different from any place we've ever parked.  Each site has a covered car port and nothing else but sand.  It supposedly gets up to 120 degrees in the summer.  Right now it's in the 30's at night and around 70 in the afternoon.

Bill has some problems with the rear slide on his RV.  Curiously, it won't go out all the way.