TONIGHT WE ARE……‘ALMOST IN ARIZONA’

A CHUCKWALLA VALLEY SUNRISE OVER THE PALEN MOUNTAINS
Bit of a nasty weather night.  Wind, rain, & cooler temps pretty well sums it up.  The stormy skies offered up a nice sunrise though & by 6 a.m. the rain had stopped.  I had been expecting a windy gray day but to our surprise the storm front moved out & left us with blue skies, big white puffy clouds, a moderate breeze & warmer temps.  On our morning walk we marveled at our good fortune.

A COUPLE PICS FROM ALONG HIGHWAY 177
Jeeped ourselves over to the big Kaiser mine area about 15 miles away up on Eagle Mountain this morning.  It has been closed for a fair few years now but the whole infrastructure is still there, but gated off to the public.  This was a large mine in it’s day.  There is a large water aqueduct running all the way to Los Angeles from here as well.  There is also a Mega huge solar facility being built about half way between the mine & Desert Center.

 
A GATE BLOCKS ENTRANCE TO A NOW SILENT COMMUNITY & KAISER STEEL MINE…OLD RAIL LINES ONCE CARRIED IRON ORE FROM THE MINE IN THE EAGLE MOUNTAINS TO SMELTERS IN INDIO
On the way back to the rig we swung through Lake Tamarisk & I cracked off a few more pics of the place.  I sometimes do this for a reason.  All RV’ers are in various stages of their traveling lives.  Sooner or later decisions have to be made regarding coming in off the road.  Folks usually don’t want to sink a pile of money into a house again & apartment living may not be too appealing.  Places like this Lake Tamarisk strike me as a perfect place for many folks.  Centered around a golf course we could see there were a lot of RV folks here.  Not my cup of tea living so close to folks but I do know most people prefer that.  Anyway, just in case somebody happens to be reading our blog who is looking for a quiet little California getaway….this just might be it:))

    
LAKE TAMARISK RESORT ABOUT A MILE NORTH OF DESERT CENTER
We were down to a quarter tank of gas as we rolled up to a stop sign on the way back to the rig.  It was 11 a.m.  Closest gas station is 20 miles west of Desert Center on I-10.  Kelly mentioned about the long week-end coming up & by the time we pulled away from that stop sign we had decided to pull up stakes & head on down the road.  Less than an hour later we had the big wheels rolling.  I love when a plan comes together like that & of course how great to be back on the road with all brand new scenery going by the window again.

HIGHWAY 177 HEADING NORTH EAST BETWEEN DESERT CENTER CALIFORNIA & PARKER ARIZONA
Highway 177 turned out to be a great two lane highway running across the desert floor for miles & miles.  Lite traffic & great views across the sweeping desert floor to the distant mountains on the horizon.  I took a liking to this highway but for anyone traveling it just be aware there are no gas stations for about a hundred miles.  No towns, no eating stops & not many places to pull over for any reason.  The shoulders are a soft sand.

PHEEBS PLAYS WITH HER TEDDY BEAR
Our destination was somewhere in the Parker, Lake Havasu City area.  This is basically unfamiliar territory for us & sure enough it didn’t take us long to get ourselves turned around & a bit confoozled.  For whatever reason we stayed on the road heading for Parker Dam instead of making a right turn across the Colorado River into Parker itself.  For some uneducated reason we thought maybe we could cross the Colorado River at Parker Dam.  About 6 miles short of the dam we figured we had better stop & ask a few questions as to our whereabouts.  And, this is where a big coincidence happened.

OUR FIRST VIEW OF THE COLORADO RIVER FROM THE WEST SIDE
Saw a sign that said Big Bend Resorts & it looked like a good place to pull in with enough turn around room for us to pull out again.  I managed to get swung around & parked the rig.  Kelly slipped into the Resort Office to ask some questions.  I stepped out of the rig to check the tow cables, etc when a red pick-up truck pulled in off the road & approached slowly with with people looking at me.  Oh Oh!!  Kelly was back by then so I had back up.  The truck stopped & someone from the truck asked, “are you from Bayfield Ontario, Canada”.  They had seen our logo on the front of the rig.  “Yes”, we said.  “Well”, they said, “we’re from Clinton”.  Clinton Ontario is only 8 or 9 miles from our place back home.  Turns out we know some of the same people too.  Just in case you are reading this Katherine & Gerald Horton….Bert Evans says Hello from somewhere near the Parker Dam on the California side of the Colorado River:))  And wouldn’t you know, it was this chance meeting with fellow Canadians that got us straightened out on our directions.  They said ‘no, 'Motor Homes' do not drive over the Parker Dam’.  Thanks for the info folks or we might have ended up paddling down the Colorado River.  Nice talkin to ya:))

HEADING NORTH ON PARKER DAM ROAD
Rechecking our ‘Days End’ book for boon docking sites in the area we doubled back on our tracks & found an OK site about 4 miles southwest of Parker just off highway 62.  We are overlooking the town & can see all the lights shining now on the East side of the river.  Groovy:))
Unhooked the Jeep & tomorrow we’ll do a grocery run & scout out some more BLM land somewhere between Parker & Lake Havasu City.  Maybe even a tad north of Lake Havasu.  We’ll grab us up some tourist brochures & see what’s all happening around here & what to see.  A day trip to the old western town of Oatman is in the offing too.

Sure was nice seeing something different today as we drove along the Parker Dam road.  The Colorado River looked sooooo greeny blue & all the posh river front homes & resorts looked so nice with all their southwest architecture & colors.  Pretty swanky area around here I’d say.  Dam, looks like I’m a gonna have to mind my manners some.  The landscape is rugged & I especially like all the different colors visible in the surrounding rocks & mountains.  This truly is a nice looking region & it is easy to understand why so many Snow Birds flock here.  We sure saw some jammed together RV parks too.  Yikes!!     
  
OUR DIGS FOR THE NIGHT SOMEWHERE SOUTHWEST OF PARKER
Ok, time for a few corrections….apparently iPad’s ‘can come with GPS’.  It’s Joshua National Park, not State Park & yes, IVAN says ‘there is a carwash in Borrego Springs’.  Not being a shiny shiny car fanatic any more the only time I am ever in a car wash these days is when Kelly drags me there & hoses me down….without my cowboy hat on of course:))

PARKER IS ABOUT 4 MILES TO OUR NORTHEAST ACROSS THE COLORADO RIVER IN ARIZONA….WE ARE STILL IN CALIFORNIA
By the way, Desert Center is on the north side of I-10 half way between Blyth & Indio California.  We were about 12 miles north on highway 177 at a great little boon docking area called, Desert Lily Sanctuary.  There are signs leading there & it’s on the east side of the highway.  Nice hard packed surface & lots of room to turn any size rig around.  Maybe even do a doughnut or two.  One can even get squirreled away quite nicely amongst the Mesquite trees & Creosote bushes in this area.  McGoo’s store is just a few miles south for groceries, etc.  I would definitely recommend this spot for overnighters or anyone wanting to stay for longer periods of time.  Bit of a small bump at the entrance so don’t come ripping in on two wheels.

MIKE left a comment saying he had a difficult time with the word verification in our comments section this morning.  I’m sure we removed that quite awhile ago but when Kelly checked it on her XP laptop it had reverted back to the ‘yes’ feature.  She has changed it again so let us know if our blog is still asking for word verification.  Nowhere on my Windows 7 could I find out how to cancel that feature!!

Want to thank everybody once again for all the great emails we receive about the blog.  And my personal thanks to all you readers for taking the time to look in on us day after day.  I no longer write my blog as a simple form of record keeping.  Started out that way but the blog has evolved over the years & I write it not only because I enjoy doing it, but mainly because readers have made it clear to me they enjoy reading it.  My blog gives me a daily purpose.  So, I thank you, Kelly thanks you, Motormouse thanks you & Pheebs thanks you all for reading & leaving all your kind comments, shouts, & emails:))

Standing outside under the stars with a howling wind at my back tonight I was enthralled with the site before me.  Miles away a string of twinkling lights stretched across the horizon from 80 degrees east on my compass to 220 degrees southeast.  Half those lights were Parker on the left to center & the rest must have been from the agricultural farmlands stretching down the valley in the direction of Quartzsite Arizona & Blyth California.  Noted that most of the lights were amber.  Reminded me a bit of one night in Nevada long ago when Kelly & I were returning to Las Vegas from a day trip & broke over a hill seeing the whole valley floor ahead lit with the glowing embers of an awesome Las Vegas night………………………  

PARKER AT DUSK
GROANER’S CORNER:((    A little girl was in church with her mother when she started feeling ill.
"Mommy," she said, "can we leave now?"
"No" her mother replied.
"Well, I think I'm gonna be sick, Momma!"
"Then go out the front door and around to the back of the church and then behind a bush." After about 60 seconds the little girl returned to her seat.
"Were you sick?" her mom asked.
"Yes."
"How could you have gone all the way to the back of the church and returned so quickly?"
"I didn't have to go out of the church, Mommy. They have a box next to the front door that says, 'For the Sick'."
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