New Toy

Our Christmas present to ourselves arrived today, a Samsung netbook to replace our big, heavy power hog HP laptop that we’ve had for years. The difference in size and weight is incredible.  Jim is working on getting it set up and loading all our programs on it.

It is supposed to have a 7-8 hour battery life, so it will be great to have a computer we won’t always have to plug in, and one that’s much more portable for the times we don’t have an internet connection at the campground and have to take it somewhere to get WiFi. 

We are leaving Cattail Cove on Friday for a couple days in Las Vegas on our way to Death Valley. The Lake Havasu area has been a great place to hang out this past month.  We would definitely come back here again.

  Just a couple more shots of the clear blue water in the lake.

Stuck on Lake Havasu

Yesterday we paid for another week at Cattail Cove, since we have found  more to do in the area, and we just like it here.

Stopped at Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge, which is 7 or 8 miles south of our campground. What a lovely area. The park is beautifully landscaped, has hiking trails and really nice docks for fishermen. It is all run off solar power.

Had a nice chat with one of the volunteers, who have 3 campsites along the Colorado River.  We thought it would be a nice place to volunteer sometime in the future, so it will go on our list of place to keep in mind.

   We also saw this interesting boat, which was just skimming the coast but we weren’t sure what he was doing.

Today it’s time to dump our tanks and go to the Swap Meet at La Paz County Park.  The life of full time RVers is so glamorous!

Sunrise at Lake Havasu

We had the rainy, cold Monday like much of the country but yesterday the skies were clear and today it is partly cloudy. I am just posting these pictures for Jim’s benefit since he never gets up early enough to see the sunrise. This is what he’s missed the past 2 mornings.

Now if only the highs would get out of the 50s.  So glad we have power here!

Desert Bar, Parker, AZ

Took a drive to this really cool place yesterday afternoon. The Desert Bar is truly a bar in the desert 5 miles down a fairly decent dirt road north of Parker, Arizona in the Buckskin Mountains. Looked like BLM land, since there were no houses and just a few people target shooting along the way.

There is a facade of a church made of solid steel, an outdoor bar and 2 stages, and a small indoor bar with unusual steel swaying barstools and a wood burning stove that is suspended from the ceiling.

 

Since it was cool and a little overcast, there were only a few people there but the Mojo Band was playing old rock and roll.  The outside grill serves hamburgers, chili, and even a veggie burger.

The owner bought this old mining camp in the 70s and decided to open a bar. His house looks really interesting, too. All solar powered and he dug a well for water after initially hauling it in with an old fire truck. No AC but he built these cooling towers on the house and bar. 

The house.  You know this guy must be quite the eccentric.

The most unique part was the outdoor restroom, built into the rock. What a view out the open air windows.  Jim said the men’s room was not so impressive.

It was a fun way to spend the afternoon, and we’ve been pleasantly surprised at how much there is to see and do around this part of Arizona. And how beautiful it is along Lake Havasu and the Colorado River.

Cattail Cove State Park, AZ

Our short 15 mile drive south to Cattail Cove State Park ended up taking over an hour and a half yesterday morning. An ambulance passed us shortly out of Lake Havasu City, and sure enough there was a major accident on Hwy 95 a few miles ahead of us.

When the Life Flight helicopter came to the scene we knew we were in for a long wait. There was a pick up truck towing a long travel trailer that flipped and rolled. The truck was crushed and on it’s roof. The trailer was demolished and debris was everywhere. I read online this morning that the preliminary investigation showed that a strong wind gust caused the truck to veer off the road with 5 people and 3 dogs inside. Only one was killed, which is amazing considering how bad it looked when we finally got by. Also 2 of the dogs were found but a chihuahua was missing. Sad story.

The area around this park is beautiful but the campground isn’t the greatest. We do have water and electric at our sites, though, which is really nice since it got in the low 30’s last night and is supposed to be cold for the next several days. They had the pay for 5 nights, get 2 free deal, so we signed up for a week. The nightly rate is $23 but with the deal it comes to a little over $16/night which is well worth it to be able to run our electric heaters!

We have no TV at all here but a fairly good internet/phone connection. No malfunctions of anything yesterday at our place but Debbie’s 2 week old Cradlepoint router quit working yesterday. It replaced the one that died a few weeks ago, so I guess our bad luck is rubbing off on her.

Another Problem

I was hoping for no incidents yesterday, but that wasn’t the case. It was cold and we hadn’t run the generator the night before so I turned it on when I got up. We had the heat strip and a small electric heater running. I decided to toast a couple bagels since we had power. About a minute after turning on the toaster, the power went out and we heard what sounded like  a circuit tripping.

I checked the circuits in the kitchen and they were all fine.  Jim went out to see if there was one on the generator but couldn’t find it.  Got out the manual and he finally found the breaker on the generator. So we had a good learning experience if that ever happens again. And he discovered a very loose bolt on the OHV valve cover, so it turned out to be a good thing, except that Jim isn’t very cheerful when things go wrong at 8 in the morning. He’s still in bed as I write this and I’m trying not to screw anything up this morning!  Let’s hope I succeed.

Later I took us on a hike where we had to scale the side of a mountain. I had a panic attack and almost couldn’t make it. Then we couldn’t find the trail back down. We managed to make it back but didn’t appreciate the views and forgot to look for sheep, due to the stress of getting stuck and lost!  On the positive side, it was a good workout.

I was unaware of this picture even being taken.

The other day we took a ride across the lake on the Havasu Landing Casino shuttle boat, the Dreamcatcher, which unfortunately has a very loud engine that we’ve been hearing go by all day and night.

It was interesting to see the state park from the water. You don’t realize how close it is to town sitting at the campsite.

The Havasu Landing Casino has to be the worst one we’ve ever been in. It was about the size of a large ranch style house, and everyone had a lit cigarette in their hand or mouth. We just did a quick walk-through and then took a stroll around their RV park. It mostly contained permanent looking trailers, and we wondered how many serial killer were living there. Not an impressive part of California, but then again it is on an Indian reservation.  And the kids get to ride the ferry to and from Lake Havasu City for school. About a dozen Native American kids got on with us on the way over.  Strange place but the ride was fun.

Our 14 day limit is up today so we are heading south to a different state park.  Not sure which one yet but there are 3 others within 25 miles of Lake Havasu City.  It’s always an adventure.

Bad Luck?

Jim broke his shaving mirror a few weeks ago, so that must be the reason for every little thing that has gone wrong recently. He feels like a day can’t go by without something bad happening. Of course, I keep trying to tell him that little things happen to everyone just about every day, but he thinks it’s just us.

The other night, he knocked over a candle, getting wax all over the kitchen curtains. (No big deal. I got it out and they look fine.)

We were at Wal-Mart a couple days ago and he hit a giant speed bump too fast (it was not painted and really did blend right in with the street). The bottom of our bumper got lots of paint scraped off of it, but otherwise seemed fine. Then the next day he noticed wire hanging down from under the front of the car. It was the wiring for the lights when the car is being towed by the motorhome. A large chunk of wire was cut from dragging on the ground. He debated on taking it to an RV shop, since there are quite a few of the here in Lake Havasu City, but finally decided to tackle it himself, using a borrowed crimping tool from our neighbor. He reconnected the wires, taped it all together and put them back in such a way as not to be subject to dragging again. And the bigger surprise was that when he hooked them up to the rig, the lights actually worked!

So today he is tackling the kitchen faucet that has been dripping recently and I’m sure tomorrow it will be something else. At least we don’t have to go to work, and our water pump has been working for a week now!

We are still having fun here in spite of all the little annoyances. Went for a nice bike ride yesterday and sat out and watched the sunset with our Canadian neighbors. They have property in Mexico and we enjoyed hearing about their travels. We have met several people who winter in Mexico and love it, so we will have to check it out one of these days.

This is what we’ve been treated to almost every night here. What a great way to end the day.