March 14-17 2014 Quartzsite to Lake Havasu City, Arizona

 

I added all kinds of my new beads from Quartzsite to the basket, shellacked it and put the plant in. It came out nice.

We drove the back way to north of Quartzsite to the same BLM area we were in before and spent the weekend. It was deserted. Nice weather in the high 70’s – low 80’s. Kind of hung out and relaxed.  On our way there we drove through Hope, Arizona. I loved their sign as you leave town,  ‘You are now beyond Hope’

We had some wild life. A horned toad, doves and a cotton tail bunny. The bougainvillea was in Lake Havasu. The full moon rose while we were outside Quartzsite. This is the night before the full moon.

Some wild flowers blooming out on the desert pavement.  I love it when it is warm and light enough to have dinner outside. It was pretty windy, so we were on the lee side of the bus.

We headed toward Lake Havasu City. This is the Bill Williams river where it runs into Lake Havasu.  The bus is in this fuzzy photo  of Crazy horse RV resort on the lake. We are in the second row toward the lake, in the middle. I had a finger print on the lens. The lake is formed by the Parker dam on the Colorado River.

It was 92 Degrees. I took my lawn chair to the beach and read . The lake is beautiful. The land was purchased on the lake shore by Mr. McCulloch, of the chain saw fame in 1963. He built a resort here, and it is booming, it is has  a population of 52,000 . The city is a popular winter destination. Rather touristy and crowded with loud speed boats and jet skis. It is spring break now, so even more so. 

We came here to boat on the Topock Gorge above the lake.  It is the last section of ‘free’ flowing Colorado River. The rest of the river is dammed and is lakes. Then it turns into a couple of canals,  to California , Arizona , Mexico and a little trickle is allowed to flow into the gulf of Mexico. Even this part of the river is between  dams and lakes. But it is too windy, 20+ mph gusts to 38. Guess we will have to come back. A sign outside the Tiki style bar on the beach.  Yup, spring break.

Sunset on the lake.  Moon rising over the London Bridge.

In 1968 London took down their bridge, it was sinking in the mud and sold it to Mr. McCulloch and it now here in Lake Havasu City. A man made canal  was dug under the bridge separating the point from the land.  They built fake English village built around it, filled with English type shops and hotels, etc.  The bridge was originally built in London over the Thames river in 1831.