Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Lake Havasu

Well, our ‘undetermined location’ turned out to be Lake Havasu, and Craggy Wash turned out to be our camp spot again.  Temp was 84F as we rolled through town – as you may be able to see on this sign?

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But really, there has not been anything going on at all that rates getting a blog post.  Mostly, we’ve just been hanging out, watching more hummingbirds, picking up broken glass, and trying to capture bugs and lizards (Hailey).

Of course, Spring Break is underway here, but it seems the only action is at the ‘channel’ by the London Bridge. CIMG4274 CIMG4356

When I drove into town, I was not sure that spring break was actually underway – till I saw the planes towing huge banners across the sky in front of the beach areas.  That’s a sure-fire sign, if you will pardon the pun.

Then the weather took a bit of a turn and actually rained one night, which made it a bit cooler since. 

This provided a good opportunity to do some maintenance work, and a chance to slag the maker of my rig – Forest River.  They apparently designed and built the drawers in the rig to withstand the rigors of being empty - while parked!  The rear of this set of drawers is hanging from a couple of inadequate connectors – no screws, no glue, and no support from below!  And all the drawers in the rig (16 of them at last count) are put together with staples and not one drop of GLUE!  I know they want to keep the weight down, but glue is not heavy, and would have increased the strength by 10 times.  Come on Forest River – how about a little quality construction? I have been adding glue to all the drawers – even the ones that have not fallen apart yet.  Don’t get me wrong.  Overall, I have been very pleased with the rig, and it is called an ‘ultralight’, but there is no excuse for some of the shortcuts that reduce the quality without increasing the weight.

 

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Anyway, I had scored some very light plywood at Bouse, so I cut up some little pieces and used them to reinforce the drawer supports, and added a critical support from below.  In another reno done at the same time, I reinforced the supports for the window ‘coverings’ in the bedroom.  Since these were never designed to have an 8 pound cat jumping on and off them, I won’t fault Forest River in this case.  But they are now strong enough to stand up to regular cat traffic.  I’l try to get some pics later to show how they are used!CIMG4401

Weather reports for moving on have not been that encouraging.  I saw on the news that all roads into Yosemite have been closed – after they received another 3 feet of snow in some locations.  I checked the weather forecast for Kanab Utah and see that they are still hitting the sub-freezing temperatures every night.  Cross those two places off my list for a while.

The web cam shot from home in Lake Louise does not look that appealing yet, either!

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I am really glad to be right where I am after reading about the ‘worst winds ever’ the Bayfield Bunch encountered while camped near Canyon de Chelly NP.

Then, I read about another area of bad weather in California on The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales, where they hit snow on the mountain passes and a break-in at their storage unit and motorhome.

Even Wandering Willy hit some snow on the last leg of his journey, as he completes his blog posting for this trip.

Makes me glad to be right here.  I think I will take advantage of the cooler temperatures here today, and go for a hike somewhere !

4 comments:

  1. I especially like that photo of the red speed boat half out of the water:)) Pretty darn cold here today at Canyon De Chelly & there is snow all about in the Canyon & along both rims. You had etter stay south for a few more weeks yet.

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  2. My son lives right there in LHC. he and his wife moved there from Lincoln, Nebraska about 3-4 years ago. They love it,,,,,,summer and all...
    They make it over here to North Ranch in Congress and see us ever once in a while...Enjoy the area,,,Parker is neat....

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  3. My son lives right there in LHC. he and his wife moved there from Lincoln, Nebraska about 3-4 years ago. They love it,,,,,,summer and all...
    They make it over here to North Ranch in Congress and see us ever once in a while...Enjoy the area,,,Parker is neat....

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  4. Ivan yes it is still winter here. I had very good powder skiing yesterday at Kimberley and still at least a foot of snow in the field. On a positive note our road is finally bare and the river has opened up. I even saw my first robin yesterday. So spring is here. I think

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