Desert Trip (Day 6)

Today was a travel day. We left the Emerald Desert RV resort in Palm Desert at 9:00 AM under partly cloudy skies. There were even a few rain shower clouds in the area and we saw a rainbow with the mountains as a backdrop.

It was about a three hour trip to Lake Havasu, heading east on I-10 then NE on CA 177 to Parker, AZ, just across the Colorado River south of Lake Havasu City. The trip was across some of the most desolate country we have found in the west. The road was fairly straight with a lot of dips in it apparently to accomodate flash flooding runoff across the road. There were no gas stations for 150 miles. The only vehicles we encountered were a couple of RVs and two flat-bed tractor trailers carrying armored personnel carriers that turned off towards an isolated entrance to the Twenty Nine Palms Marine Base. From Parker, we travelled about 40 miles north to Lake Havasu City along the Colorado River. This was a much more interesting section of the trip with a lot to see along the river.

The RV Resort where we are staying is on Lake Havasu Island and is called the Islander RV Resort. It is a nice resort but we are spoiled following the really upscale resort where we stayed in Palm Desert. Like many of the RV parks in the Southwest there are a lot of snowbirds from the north country who reside here for the winter seaason - roughly September to May.

After doing the laundry, we decided to head into town and eat out. We had dinner at a great restaurant called the Mudshark Brewery. Interestingly in an adjoining party room, the Western Pyrotechnic Association, was having a party and buffet dinner. The association is having a 4-day convention in town called "Western Winter Blast". According to their brochure they..."offer a variety of explosive options for fun, like seminars, trade shows, Class C and pyrotecnic supply vending, open class Class C and Class B shooting, BBQs, afterglow parties and much more". Starting tommorow "manufacturing and open shooting " begins and tomorrow night they will have public fireworks shows through Saturday night at a local park. It was an interesting looking group, mostly older people and a few somewhat nerdy looking younger guys. One person was wearing a tee shirt that said "Got DMX?' A few others were wearing club jackets with mushroom clouds on the back. I also wouldn't be suprised if there aren't a few Homeland Security types working undercover.

We are probably going to explore the Colorado river area tomorrow, traveling south to Parker Dam that was built just after Hoover Dam and check out the recration opportunities along the River. The weather is holding. We had partly cloudy skies today and a little wind with temperatures in the high 60's. It looks like tomorrow and Friday will be sunny/partly cloudy with temperatures again in the 60's. The forecast has a chance of showers for Saturday, but we'll take it compared to Nevada City weather at the moment.