Downstream

As we departed from Lake Havasu after almost two weeks, the National Wildlife Refuge facilities at the south end of the lake appeared.  I have driven by for years, but never stopped in to look around.  This time was different.  There are a number of interpretive signs and an information center, and walkways down onto a narrow finger of land out into the lake.  Interestingly, one of the floating, covered docks used for fishing got caught in some recent violent winds and was flipped right upside down, dock and all.  Guess I should have taken a photo?

This nearby pumping station lifts water some7-800 feet (?) from the lake, up into pipes that tunnel through the mountain behind to get water into the Central Arizona Project waterway, that provides water to L.A. and southern Califonia.

After a brief stop in Parker to re-provision a little, we headed out for Bouse, and the Plomosa road area.  There were not a lot of campers yet, but we followed the wash leading behind the mountain ridge to find a very isolated spot with few neighbours and no road noise.  And with only a few scattered trees and shrubs, it has excellent solar potential, and lots of hiking and exploring opportunities.

There is lots of evidence of historic and modern mining and exploration throughout.

Just a hundred yards away, there is an open vertical mine shaft.  Even with good lights, I cannot tell how deep it goes.

This region seems to be on the edge of the huge cold spell that has hit much of the southern US, including Texas and New Mexico, so it is much cooler, but no sign of the snow or freezing rain seen elsewhere.

Went for a drive in to Quartzsite, to check out the action, or lack thereof, and to get some propane replenishment. On the section of Plomosa road within 3 miles of Highway 95 where short-term camping is permitted, I counted a total of 27 rigs.  In January, this same area will host hundreds, if not thousands of campers in the same area, and it will be impossible to count them then.  There will be multiple signs put up along the road, directing the various groups to their preferred locations.  But for now, it is all peaceful and quiet.  There are no traffic concerns in town, all the permanent businesses are open, but most of the vendors or visitors have yet to arrive.  Local politics is still in the news and in the courts, and clearly quite divisive with strong editorials and letters to the editor in the local news media.

Hailey had some luck at the shallow end of the gene pool.

Let’s see, … in other news

Almost launched an investigative mission to check on the Bayfield Bunch after a couple of days without updates, but they are just holed up staying warm, and have apparently won the present battle with the skunks! 

Paul and Nina from Wheeling It have moved!  Perhaps not physically this time, but to a new spot in cyber-space, so if you follow them, update your links.

Wandering Willy is still deep under cover in stealth mode, but rumour has it that he might be somewhere near Yuma!

RV Sue is not far north of there up at Mittry Lake, last time I checked up on her.

Crofts are holed up in Texas, waiting for the cold spell to pass.

Rick & Paulette are still planning their escape from the great white north, but found themselves temporarily stranded at the bottom of an icy hill near home.

Jean & Skip are back in Borrego Springs and enjoying the local grapefruit.

Mike, and his dog Blue from LightCurve on the Road, are hosting again at Zion National Park, but it looks a bit chilly and white there at present.

New Month, new State, new Camp …

 

Lights of Laughlin, Nevada from across the river near Bullhead City, Arizona

We turned the map around this time and when we headed out, it was at least in the right direction for this time of year – south!

Heading south on 95, the four lane, divided highway suddenly became a two lane road, with gravel shoulders.  For a second there, I thought I was in Ontario!  But no, this time it was just crossing the California line as we eventually rolled down in and through Needles.  Then it was back across the Colorado river and into Arizona.  A turn south again on the Arizona portion of 95 led straight down into Lake Havasu, which is also a lake formed by a dam on the Colorado – this time the Parker Dam a few miles further south.  I have often camped in the Craggy Wash BLM area just north of Lake Havasu City, but in recent years they have restricted the camping to start a minimum of mile off the highway, and where I like to camp to avoid the crowds was about 3 miles back.  And there was some highway construction equipment working at the highway exit, so it was easier to just keep on rolling to the BLM area to the south of the city.  The first night, I stopped on the ridge top, which afforded a bit of a distant lake view, but it was breezy and exposed, so in the morning a new spot was found down below.  Still a bit of highway noise, but not too bad, and only 1/4 mile or less to get to pavement.

Lots of shopping options in Lake Havasu, so I got myself a magnetic floor sweeper at Lowes for $15, then found it later in Home Depot for $10!  Dang.  Got me a quality toaster for $15, then later found one at Kmart for $10!  Fueled up at $3.75 for diesel and once again (don’t want to jinx my streak of good luck here), but the pump requested the zip code and five zeros worked once again.  So far this trip I have not had to go inside to pay or pre-pay.  Now that I’ve said that my luck will run out for sure . Of course, the pump must have a maximum of $75 for a credit card purchase, as it stopped when it got there.  Luckily, my tank was full, but kind of a ridiculous limit as my truck does not even have the big tank. 

After a few weeks on the road, both my T-shirts were almost ready for the wash, so I was pleased to find some very high speed internet at the Sundance Country laundromat, and a car-wash onsite to give the big GM a bath as well.  I also arranged to get a pair of magnetic door signs made up to promote my business back home.

Actually, I found the place to make the signs while I was checking out the new FlyingX saloon in downtown LHC.

Spent a couple of nights in that place later on …

But I must say that I was SHOCKED to see people and staff tossing empty beer bottles into huge garbage cans!  Is this not almost 2014??  Hello ….? We collected beer bottles from the roadside in the 60’s for refund for crying out loud. I’m no tree-hugging environmentalist, but lets get out of the dark ages here!  Even if the bottles are destined for the dump, wouldn’t it be safer, easier, cleaner to at least put them back into the case they came out of an hour ago?  End of rant.

Spent some time hiking in the SARA park area; up the ‘table (on) top’, Lizard mountain, tried to go through the ‘crack’ but the water was too deep since the recent rains.

Went to a McDonalds restaurant one day, and had the clerk thinking I was a magician.  Their credit card machines are all set up to read our ‘chipped’ Canadian cards but they don’t know it.  So the clerk was speechless when I nonchalantly waved my open wallet across the machine and the transaction was done!  They still have pennies and dollar bills here, too!  And you only need 347 quarters to do laundry or wash your car!  Just giving you a hard time US, we like it down here because things are cheap, the locals are friendly, and the snow is not 6 feet deep and it’s not 30 below!  And no one is skating on any of the lakes here!  But if you really miss the skating, they have a rink set up on the tennis court, with London Bridge in the background.

Speaking of lakes … I didn’t bring my kayak with me, but still managed to get out on the water one day.  For only $2.00 (that’s 8 quarters!), you can catch a catamaran shuttle across the lake to the casino on the California side, and back again.

I think it has twin 800hp diesel engines, but when they open it up out on the lake, it really moves out!  Another great deal – and you don’t even have to go in the casino when you get there.

I found myself buying a newspaper one day that cost $3.00 and must have weighed close to 3 pounds.  Of course, it was packed with ‘black friday’ ads from every business in the area.  I did check out the craziness at the Walmart, though I never bought anything there.  They had all the advertised specials laid out on pallets in the aisles – covered in plastic till the designated time.  There were four police cars outside and uniformed officers in the store!

I guess folks were ‘thankful’ for the great deals!

I did take advantage of a deal at another store in town however and purchased a new camera and lenses, so I hope the quality of some of my photos will improve.  They won’t be as good as Al’s from the Bayfield Bunch, but at least now I will be able to get ‘close’ enough to have a chance at a good shot.