Trip to Lake Havasu City

Sunday, March 25, was our wedding anniversary and we wanted to celebrate in style..  so we planned to go to the "hoppin" town of Lake Havasu City - 85 miles north from Quartzsite.  Actually, compared to Quartzsite, it REALLY is a busy metropolis complete even to having airline service.  It's on Lake Havasu, part of the Colorado River.  It has a city park and beach on the river, lots of tourist stuff, and lots of stores and restaurants.  Housing there is pretty pricey, compared to Quartzsite, although Quartzsite isn't cheap.   Only about 5% of the land around Quartzsite is privately owned - the rest is owned by the Federal Government.  So that drives the price up.

We headed out from the camping area when Sheryl said "look at the pretty orange flowers on that bush over there" (the bush was right beside the trail out to the main road).   I looked at the flowers and saw the 3 foot rattlesnake coiled, hissing and rattling at the truck.  I maneuvered so Sheryl could see too (I'm not sure she needed to see the snake too).   Sheryl mentioned taking a picture but we were late for church so I didn't.   I'm not sure I wanted the picture anyway.

35 miles later on the way to Lake Havasu City, we stopped in the town of Parker - mostly known for the Wal-mart and Safe Way stores.  We found a United Methodist Church to attend, slipped in, sat down, and enjoyed the service.   Let's just say that people are very casual out here.   After church, we stopped at Mickey D's for coffee and ran into two people who we recognized from the church service.  Had a nice visit.   They had moved from Phoenix to Parker to retire on the Colorado River six years ago.

We hit the road after the coffee stop.  The drive to and from Lake Havasu City was scenic.  It was a beautiful drive

God's created beauty is wonderful.  The closer we got to Havasu, the more it reminded us of the Grand Canyon.   We found a couple of other places to camp along the way the next time we come out West.

The attraction we came to see was London Bridge.   It was purchased by a local developer from Lake Havasu City, dismantled and each stone labeled, shipped to Lake Havasu, and reassembled in 1971.  The inner structure was strengthened so it could handle automobile and truck traffic.   It serves people who live on the island next to the city. 

 

Sheryl is a great photographer..  She makes me look better than I am.

Mid-week, I called the Yuma office of the Bureau of Land Management to find out if we could collect some rocks.   They said yes and told me what guidelines to follow.

So today, Friday March 30, we decided to brave the rattlesnakes and visit an area where we had previously trekked with the truck.   It had a really interesting rock formations and Sheryl wanted to collect some samples.  We hit the "mother lode."   We are bringing back ROCKS.   Here are some pics of where we were:

 This is the "trail" we followed with the truck until it got too rugged.  Then we stopped and hiked for awhile.

 We found this LARGE arrowhead shaped (very large Indian used this?) outcropping back in a gorge that we hiked into.

Most of the people who are from Quartzsite look even more "grizzled" than we do.   We still look like "outsiders."

We have learned to flip over rocks carefully here.  I flipped one today and underneath was a flesh colored 2 inch long scorpion.   He did his normal scorpion thing - tail up in the air and I avoided him.   We tried to take his picture, and I got video instead.   And I haven't figured out how to post it on this blog yet.   If I do, you'll see the varmit in all his glory.   Watch it when you pick up rocks in Arizona.

This is our last night at Dome Rock 14-Day Camping area.   We are going back to one of the long term visitor areas where we will pay $40 for 14 days with unlimited water, dumping, and trash pickup.   We have an area already picked out to stay in and we hope someone else isn't already on it.  This is our last sunset here.

From the rock pickers, Rog and Sheryl, have a great day.  Oh..  did I ever tell you how much fun it is to follow a cattle truck when you are riding your motorcycle..  Ah.. another day in Quartzsite..  And we got behind (don't even GO THERE)  the same truck TWICE on the same day..  Oh Well!!!