Sunday, May 14, 2006
Ft Bridger RV Camp, Ft Bridger, WY - May 12-13
This was our first time to camp in Wyoming (two new states in as many weeks!). This is a very attractive Passport America campground with large, level grass sites for $10/night. It's situated away from I-80, right next to historic Ft Bridger. We didn't actually visit historic Ft Bridger, however. Our first evening we walked into & around town (a very short journey), then enjoyed a quiet evening at home.
The next day we did laundry, then went grocery shopping at nearby Mountain View, then on a scenic drive. When we returned to the cg, we noticed that a Boomer couple (Bob & Debbie Keller) had set up. We went over and introduced ourselves, but had to dash off to take down our laundry as it was starting to rain. We did get together later for happy hour, however, and were happy to find that they were heading to the same cg the next day that we were.
Friday, May 12, 2006
Rockport State Park, Wanship, UT - May 10-11
We pulled out of Wendover at 10:30am, late enough that we didn't have to worry about lunch-hour traffic in Salt Lake City. We immediately dropped down to the Bonneville Salt Flats, residue of a now-evaporated prehistoric lake. A rest area 4 miles into the salt flats allowed us to walk on and examine the inches-thick crusty salt. After binoculing some yellow warblers, we headed out across the vast, flat, almost-level expanse (the elevation at the east end of the almost 40-mile-long barren wasteland is only 4 feet above the west end). Despite our outside thermometer reading only 57, the relentless sun, reflecting off every available surface, caused the temp in our truck cab to rise quickly -- the cats were panting after only a few minutes, forcing us to turn on the a/c.
And I now understand how mirages used to drive travellers mad, as a vast lake of shimmering illusionary water stretched out before us and to our left, all the way to and reflecting the snow-capped peaks on the horizon. Only the fact that it receded at the same rate as our speed gave any indication that this was, in fact, a mirage.
Rockport SP offers five cgs plus four group cgs. Only one has hookups. Naturally, we stayed in a cheaper non-hookup site ($9/night vs $18 for hookups). This turned into a "down-time" stop for us as all our plans for sightseeing melted into walks around the park and birdwatching.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Red Garter Casino, West Wendover, NV - May 8-9
Our only other experience with casino parking (Colusa Casino: 04/21-22) was so enjoyable that we looked forward to parking here, but it turned out to be a dusty dirt parking lot that allowed RVs, but was mainly for truckers. The entire lot sloped so badly corner-to-corner that we wouldn't have been able to get level except we spotted a pile of sand and drove the trailer tires up onto it. Since it was exactly the right height, we suspect it was left by another RVer.Wendover has a real schizophrenic personality as the Utah/Nevada state line cuts right through town.
Technically the Utah side is Wendover and the Nevada side West Wendover, but residents of either pay in-state tuition for Utah or Nevada colleges, and, like Utah, West Wendover is on Mountain Time as opposed to Pacific Time like the rest of Nevada. The entire economy of West Wendover is geared towards gambling. 
The Red Garter, where we parked, definitely was the poor cousin of the five casinos (more on the way), but offered food discounts & daily free gambling money, plus a free shuttle into town. Many of the employees were Thai college students here for a three-month stint. Most of their pay is held back and not given to them until the end of their employ as incentive to return to their native country. They usually tour the USA afterwards, so their only impression of us isn't restricted to casinos and desolation (Wendover overlooks the Bonneville Salt Flat).
Wendover's isolation became a plus during WWII, as the US Army Air Force was looking for a remote area unknown to the rest of the world to train the nation's best bombing group for the world's most important wartime mission, and Wendover fit the bill perfectly. Wendover was chosen as the training base of the 509th Composite Group, under the super-secret Manhattan Project, for the mission of delivering the first atomic bombs on Japanese targets in 1945. A monument in Wendover is dedicated to the 509th, to the scientific team, to those who sacrificed their lives in the Pacific Theatre, to Allied forces in other theatres of action during the war, and especially to all the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki who lost their lives to mankind's struggle for a more peaceful world. We both hope that this monument will stand as a reminder for mankind to reason and work together for the ultimate goal of world peace.Monday, May 8, 2006
South Fork State Rec Area, Elko, NV - May 5-7
Both state rec areas we visited in NV turned out to be real delights. This cg is actually about 20 miles south of Elko, set on a hill overlooking the reservoir. As with Rye Patch, there were no hookups, but water was available nearby all the sites, which were level & paved. There were also lovely snow-covered peaks in the distance.Because the setting was so nice, we decided to stay an extra day. Our first day we familiarized ourselves with the town, caught up on some well-needed grocery shopping, and visited a couple of casinos. Modern slot machines are a far cry from the old "one-armed bandits" where you would drop in a quarter (at least!), pull down the crank, and watch the various fruits spin by until you invariably wound up with a lemon (no payoff). Nowadays, many, if not most, are penny slots. Almost all are digital with some sort of "theme" -- anything from fireworks to Wheel of Fortune to Cops & Donuts (you name it, they've probably used it) -- and a virtual display of the spinning theme-related characters. And, for the right combination of characters, they usually have a "bonus game" -- a computer game that comes up and lets you win extra credits (pennies). They also permit playing more than one "line" and more than one credit per line, so playing 20 lines and 20 credits/line means that you're plopping down four bucks per spin -- on a penny slot! We only bet one line & one credit because we mainly want to see the bonus game.
On our second day we drove to Lamoille Canyon, nicknamed the Yosemite of Nevada. We highly recommend this drive to anyone who is ever in the area. It's a glaciated canyon with sheer walls and numerous waterfalls -- each seemingly taller and prettier than the last. And there is a Natl Forest campground with RV spaces -- definitely one of the most beautiful cgs in America. The road beyond the cg was closed due to snow, but we enjoyed every bit of the driveThursday, May 4, 2006
Rye Patch State Rec Area, Lovelock, NV - May 3-4
This was our first time to camp in Nevada. The attractive, no-hookup campground is immediately below the earthen dam that forms the reservoir on the Humboldt River. The setting is extremely pleasant, camping by a river with snow-covered peaks visible in the distance. Because of recent rains, one loop of the cg was closed due to flooding, but there were still lots of empty spaces. The cost was $10/night.
Lovelock is a small community 25 miles SW of Rye Patch with the slogan "Lock Your Love in Lovelock". They sell locks in the shape of two overlapping hearts, adapted from an ancient Chinese tradition. In the 19th century, Lovelock was a resting & restocking stop for wagon trains headed for California. Just west of Lovelock lies the Forty-mile Desert, the most dreaded stretch of the emigrant trail. It was usually traveled at night; even so, starvation and dehydration stalked man and beast at every mile. A survey made in 1850 (only seven years after the first crossing) showed the following grim statistics: 1061 dead mules, almost 5000 dead horses, 3750 dead cattle, and 953 graves, and this was only the beginning of the Gold Rush -- the heaviest traffic was from 1849 to 1869. Forty-niners were faced with the unenviable choice of going south across the Forty-mile Desert, or north across the Black Rock Desert, a volcanic wasteland now most well known for the Burning Man Festival, a celebration of "radical self-expression" held the week prior to Labor Day. To learn more about the festival, visit www.burningman.com.Our only excursion (other than birding around the park) was to The Oasis, a pizza pub within 1 mile of the park. The pizza was very good and the owner was quite chatty as she hustled between our side and the bar, where a couple of locals were enjoying a game of pool with their beers.
Tuesday, May 2, 2006
Dutch Flat RV Resort, Gold Run, CA - April 28-May 2
"Resort" is used pretty loosely here. This is a work in progress -- an old cg that someone is trying to upgrade to a resort. They've built a nice new pool & poolhouse and a rec hall, but the cg itself is small, tight, and showing some age. The electricity is only passable, and the water & sewer both need to be redone. They seem to be adding another loop haphazardly out in the woods (for popups, maybe? I certainly wouldn't take my rig out there), money that would more wisely be spent on the current facilities.
This was supposed to be our "down time" after the Escapade, but the area turned out to be so nice that we were compelled to go out sightseeing. We drove to Auburn to meet with Shaw Matthews, a friend from Boulder who moved to the Bay area to work for a start-up company. We had an excellent lunch at a cute restaurant, said our good-byes, and then we two walked around the historic downtown, with Victorian houses and classic flat-faced stores straight out of a Western. This part of CA reminds us a lot of the South -- lots of humidity, lots of trees, lots of green, and lots of historic buildings. One thing that is not like the South is the very mountainous terrain.
Monday we drove to Grass Valley and Nevada City, two of the handful of mining communities that survived past the Gold Rush to the present. Grass Valley, in fact, seems to be booming. On the drive between the two towns we visited two covered bridges built in the mid-1800s. We walked around the historic part of lovely Nevada City and had an excellent late lunch at Katarina's Mexican restaurant. The side roads (even some of the state highways) are amazingly narrow & winding, with some very steep grades. Many were too narrow for a center stripe.
There were some exciting moments, even with just the truck. You quickly learn to keep to the very main roads with a trailer. The positive side effect of all the rain is that things are blooming everywhere. It is quite lovely, but we're not sure it was worth having all the rain. Coarsegold, Chico and the mountain areas around here all abundant with wildflowers and blossoming trees & shrubs.
Luckily, the cats don't seem to know that there is a 1200-mile trip ahead of them. They seem to take each day as it comes, never liking the travel days as much as the rest days, and liking the days in which we stay home most. They (& we) continue to be in good health, despite their advancing years.Thursday, April 27, 2006
Spring Escapade, Silver Dollar Fairgrounds, Chico, CA - April 23-27
Things got off to a shaky start here when we joined a line of RVs waiting to be parked stretching out onto the city street. We sat. And sat. And the line got longer. And longer. Pretty soon the police showed up. Then we were diverted to a different entrance. And we sat some more. Finally the line started moving, and kept moving, and we were parked out in the middle of a grass field. Next to a guy with one of the loudest generators we've ever heard. Amid other RVs with generators (despite our request to be parked in a "No Generator" area). Oh well.Different people come to Escapades for different reasons -- some to learn (or teach) RVing tips, some to buy (or sell) RV-related products, and some to socialize. Opening ceremonies were on Sunday, followed by four days of seminars during the day and some form of evening entertainment. Closing ceremonies were Thursday, and most people left Friday. Extra-curricular activities included sightseeing and BOFs (Birds-of-a-Feather groups of people with like interests). It is a high-energy, high-stress four days and Doug has gotten sick both times we've been. The cats are not big Escapade fans, since they rarely see us between 8 am & 9 pm.
Line Dancing was offered at 8am for 90 minutes (plus 30 more for more advanced steps). This was the best instruction we have ever had, so it was worth the early start. Much of our time was spent coordinating activities with each of three BOFs we are active in (Birders, Boomers, and Stonewall -- we didn't even try to add Pet Lovers); organizing RVers is like herding cats. We actually attended only 3 or 4 seminars, and left 2 of those early. One of the seminars we stayed for was on geocaching, which involves getting the GPS coordinates (latitude & longitude) for, and then going out and trying to find, a "cache" (basically a logbook for people who find it to sign, plus optionally some doodads that they can trade one of theirs for, like high-tech pack rats). Sounds simpler than it really is, since the cache can be hung from a tree, hidden under rocks or in just about anything you can imagine other than buried. Couple that with the fact that GPS is only good to within 10 or 20 feet, and you've got the potential for some serious subterfuge here. The instructor hid 6 caches around the fairgrounds, so of course we had to look for all of them (in all our spare time). We only found 4.
We saw many friends from our six-plus years of RVing here, and that was the main reason we came. We ate dinner out with various new and old friends almost every night. We especially enjoyed a local Thai place. Upon leaving, we had our rig weighed by a professional group from the Escapade and are sorry to report that we have "gained" 500 lb since last being weighed (in 2001). I guess most of that is our inverter and the 4 new golf cart batteries. We just can't seem to get rid of all that excess "stuff"!
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Colusa Casino, Colusa, CA - April 21-22
We called ahead to make sure we could park overnight here, and were warmly welcomed. After setting up, we went into the casino, to see if they had any "deals". Upon joining the Players Club (free) we each got a $3 discount on the buffet (for senior day), $10 in credit for gambling, plus $5 extra senior credit. At the end of our stay we calculated that the casino paid for our buffet, all our gambling and for the dump station at a nearby state park, as well as giving us two nights of free camping.
After our Friday buffet, and during much of Saturday we went birding at the Colusa NWR, one of five units in the Sacramento River NWR Complex -- islands of man-made wetlands in the vast agricultural sea known as the Sacramento Valley. Every time I visit a NWR it saddens me what we are doing to our environment, destroying wildlife habitat to the point that we have to set aside little pockets of land for nature to survive. This refuge only heightened that feeling since the land had to be converted from dry & alkaline soil by the CCC starting in 1937. We saw over 30 species in two days, including our first tri-colored blackbird.
We also saw our first yellow-billed magpie across the street from the casino. It was a pleasant stop, located amid a walnut orchard and farmlands, despite the generator nightly running extra security lights. It was a fun casino and had some of the best penny slots we have seen.Thursday, April 20, 2006
Westgate County Park, Lodi, CA - April 20
Planning the drive to the Escapade in Chico meant either two long (for us) days of driving or three short days. We opted for three short days, and found this county park for our first stop. There are no hook-ups and the spaces are quite small; indeed, of the 18 sites, only 2 were big enough for our rig. The cg host told us that most long motorhomes camp in the parking lot (despite the "No Camping" signs). Our GPS showed us to be below sea level -- very possible since we were below a levee and had to climb up about 30 steps to get to the river, which was only about 10 feet above sea level. We heard on the news the next morning that the Lodi levee was recently designated as "dangerous" by CA, so we were happy to be leaving. This park is located in what is called "The Delta" of the Sacramento River. The waterways go from Sacramento to the Pacific, and several large cabin cruisers were docked at the park.Wednesday, April 19, 2006
SKP Park of the Sierras Co-Op, Coarsegold, CA - March 15-April 19
(A gated community.) Things got off to a shaky start here when the office told us they were going to lunch for a half-hour as we were checking in, then reappeared an hour & 20 minutes later. We did get a nice site. The weather was fair here the first couple of days, but then a series of Pacific fronts passed through, and it rained and it rained and it rained.Making matters worse, we discovered that our roof was leaking -- not just a trickle, a stream. We bought a plastic cover in Fresno just big enough to cover our roof, and contacted the local RV repairman ("Keystone Bob") who was swamped (so to speak) and wouldn't be able to get to us for at least a couple of weeks. So we extended our stay to a month and set about trying to entertain ourselves in the cold & rain, with plastic duct-taped to our roof.
We took a scenic drive by Bass Lake (pretty enough but not great, with a yummy brunch), through Sierra Natl Forest (saw a golden-crowned sparrow -- our first!), drove to the geographic center of CA (complete with plaque), and up Minarets Road, a 20-mile twisty-turny cliff-face-hanging National Scenic Byway that winds up close to Yosemite, but we could only make it about 8 miles in (just past Ross Cabin) before having to turn around due to recent snows. We visited Chukchansi Gold, the local casino, which has a senior buffet (lots of variety but not, in our opinion, as good as smaller buffets we have had) and penny slots.
We made it to Yosemite NP for one day (not nearly long enough). Every bit as wonderful as we were expecting and then some, even though the weather was drizzly & overcast. All the rain made for truly spectacular waterfalls.When we couldn't go out, Willie got to work on her crafts & Doug started transferring all our travelogues to a blog. We spent a lot of time socializing with fellow Escapees at Park Sierra, including Mary Lane & Elaine Cannell, whom we met in Parker, AZ, and who have a lot at Park Sierra, and Jeannine & Dan Wainwright, who have lots at both the Benson co-op and Park Sierra. Plus, of course, infrequent shopping trips to Fresno (including Trader Joe's!). The cats actually enjoyed the wet weather, since it meant we were home more.
For what seemed like weeks we flip-flopped on whether to continue north to the Escapade, since northern CA was getting even more rain than we were, or to head south and east towards the warmer dryer desert. We finally decided to bite the bullet and go north, since that gave us the chance to have our trailer roof fixed at a RV dealer in Los Banos (the bathrooms?) -- somewhat along our route. The day before we were to leave, Keystone Bob knocked on our door and asked if the next day would work for sealing the roof. After much discussion, we decided to stay yet another day. KB showed up bright & early with an assistant and started right in, finishing up before 2pm. He seems to have done an excellent job. We are sure he did a better job than any dealership would have done. Moreover, it did not rain and ruin the caulking (like we expected), and was warm & sunny enough over the next couple of days so that everything had a chance to cure well before the next rain.Friday, March 17, 2006
SKP Park Sierra Co-Op, Coarsegold, CA - Mar 15-???
This is another Escapee Co-Op, similar in concept to the one in Benson that we belong to. But the similarity ends there -- the Benson Co-Op is built on flat desert terrain with the lots all in neat rows, like a regular RV park. Here, the terrain is hilly with the lots set helter-skelter wherever they can fit amid the vegetation. There are abundant CA Live Oaks. The birding is quite good -- we have already seen three lifers (Oak titmouse, Nuttall's woodpecker and California quail), and the cable TV has ESPN2, allowing us to watch the women's NCAA tournament starting 3/18.The cold weather continues. There was a heavy snowfall less than a week before we got here, breaking numerous trees and causing widespread damage. The cats are wondering where the sun is in "sunny" California. We plan to hunker down here at least until April 6 when we have dental appts. After that, we may head north through CA to Oregon, Idaho, and Utah. Our only commitment is to meet friends in Cortez in early July and to be at Chaco on Aug 1, so we're currently adopting a wait-and-see attitude.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Col. Allensworth State Historic Park, Earlimart, CA - Mar 14
This park was a real find -- cozy & secluded with large level sites, there was only one other camper in the CG. While we had heard of rates being raised so high for camping in CA state parks, this is apparently only true for parks with hookups. The "state preserves" and "historic parks" have inexpensive ($10/night, $8 for seniors) dry camping. The park preserves a number of restored & reconstructed buildings from historic Allensworth, a town founded by Colonel Allen Allensworth, an ex-slave, and four other African-Americans in 1908. They bought 800 acres of land along the Santa Fe rail line. Blacks from all over the country came to populate the town, including many who purchased property sight-unseen.
The town initially flourished, but in 1914 the railway moved its rail stop from Allensworth, and a falling water table caused the formerly prolific artesian wells to dry up. Then on Sept 15, 1914, Col Allensworth was struck & killed by two men on a motorcycle, also killing the inspirational spark of the community. The town lingered until the 1960s when arsenic was found in the water supply. In spite of the tragic outcome, the park commemorates one man's dream of an independent, democratic town where African-Americans could live in control of their own destiny. It was a very interesting place to visit.Monday, March 13, 2006
San Bernardino County Fairgrounds, Victorville, CA - Mar 11-13
Built on an actual stretch of old Route 66, this park provides acceptable camping in an urban environment. Their rates are $15/night for water & electric. Some sites have sewer, too. We chose this CG simply because it is cheap and has electricity -- our first time with any kind of hookup since mid-January. On the way here from Joshua Tree NP we noticed an unusual number of similar-looking motorhomes on the road. Turns out there was a Safari (brand of motorhome) rally at this park. The first official day was the day we left, but a number of rigs arrived early.
Sunday we drove back to Erin's house in Riverside, where she drove us to Doug's brother Rodger's house in L.A., where we spent the day eating and hanging out with Rodger & family, including daughter Kerry back from Emory College for spring break. We spent the other day catching up on our shopping & errands.Friday, March 10, 2006
Belle CG, Joshua Tree NP, CA - Mar 6-10
We decided to move to Belle since the sites are larger and the cg itself is smaller with less traffic. All the cgs in the interior of the park only cost $5/day (2.50 GA), so it's quite inexpensive camping. We had planned to stay until the 14th, but woke up to 2 inches of snow on Friday.
The temp never got out of the low 40s, and the forecast was for more of the same or worse, so we decided to head out early. Sunday, March 5, 2006
Jumbo Rocks CG, Joshua Tree NP, CA - Mar 1-5
Joshua Tree NP, as the name suggests, was set aside to preserve these weirdly-shaped plants. Ironically, only about 40% of the park has Joshua trees, and most of the better stands are north of the park. Every bit as fascinating are the great piles of boulders that cover much of the terrain. Jumbo Rocks CG sits among one of these expanses of boulders, caused by granite intrusions that have been exposed after millions of years of erosion.
Everyone we talked to said that Jumbo Rocks was the best CG in the park for RVs. We found Jumbo Rocks to be very attractive, but rather tight for an RV. Many of the RV sites are little more than a wide spot in the road. With one of our slide-outs projecting close to the traffic flow, we placed a reflective triangle at the start of our site to alert drivers. Because of its proximity to large cities, Joshua Tree NP is very much a weekend park. Jumbo Rocks filled with campers over the weekend, many who ignored the restrictions on number of people per site and the 10 mph speed limits.
On Sunday we drove into Riverside to go on a whale-watching trip with Doug's daughter Erin and her husband Bryan. Although we didn't see any whales, we saw hundreds of porpoises, many sea lions, a sea turtle, numerous bald eagles, and a large sunfish called a mola. 
We also saw two life birds -- Surf scoter and Western gull. And, of course, it was delightful being able to spend all day with Erin. On other days we went on ranger talks, hiked the park, or drove out of the park for errands. Of the 3 communities north of the park, 29 Palms is the largest and least commercial. It has museums, galleries, and 20 murals around town. 
We also looked up Karina, a friend of a friend of ours. She had recently moved to 29 Palms to work for the Desert Institute, which offers field classes sponsored by Joshua Tree NP. She was young (mid-20s), intelligent, and full of life. 
We enjoyed a full day of hiking with her where she showed us petroglyphs that had been painted to enhance their visibility by a Disney film crew, and a little-known pictograph and offering hole believed to be an equinox marker, after which she cooked us a yummy dinner in her "Desert Bungalow". We drank tea from pottery mugs that she had made, and dinner was eaten on her pottery plates -- talented too!!With all those boulders piled around, Joshua Tree NP is a winter Mecca for rock-climbers. There are over 8000 named climbs within the park. Climbers inject a certain negative energy into the park -- asocial and anti-establishment, they forced the park to start registering and charging campers a couple of years ago when they were swapping vehicles, tents, and IDs to circumvent the 14-day camping limit.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Hole-in-the-Wall CG, Mojave Natl Preserve, CA - Feb 27-28
We finally made it to California. Visiting CA is like visiting another country. Two countries, in fact: everything here is more expensive, but the roads are third world. The day after we drove into CA the weather turned cold & wet.This campground is set in a beautiful location, has a large number of sites, and no hook-ups. The sites are large & level, since the cg was built only about 10 years ago. It is reasonably priced at $10/day ($5 for Golden Age).
The day we arrived we had time to walk the Nature Trail to the Visitor Center, have a nice chat with the volunteer there (it would be a great place to volunteer), and walk the 1-mile Rings Trail, named for the rings set into the rocks to help you climb out of the slot canyon at the end of the loop. The slot canyon is named Banshee for the howling sounds the wind makes blowing through the Swiss-cheese-like rock formations. The next morning was cold and rainy, a good day for a cave tour.Mojave Natl Preserve is a 1.6-million-acre park encompassing much of the Mojave Desert, but also including areas that transit to the Sonoran and Great Basin Deserts. The park also surrounds the Providence Mtn State Recreation Area including Mitchell Caverns Natural Preserve, home to the only known limestone caverns in CA. 90-minute cavern tours are $4/person, which is quite reasonable (Governator hasn't found these yet). There are two main rooms; most of the really cool formations are in the first room or the tunnel between. The second room was used by prehistoric tribes for storage and religious ceremonies. It also was used in the film "The Doors", where crew-members surreptitiously painted glyphs on the walls. Traces of these are still visible despite attempts to remove them. After the tour we went on a scenic drive around the preserve.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Craggy Wash BLM, Lake Havasu City, AZ - Feb 20-26
Since parking at SARA Park is only allowed for the 4 days of Winterblast, we moved to a boondocking area just north of town on Monday. We learned of Craggy Wash when we were boondocking near Parker. We were camped with a number of other Escapees, the exact number changing day-to-day as people left and others arrived. The area is gorgeous. It derives its name from the volcanic rock that the wash cuts through. There are quite a few natural arches here, formed when large gas bubbles were trapped in lava, then the sides eroded away.We used our time here to socialize, relax, and see the sights, including London Bridge. The peninsula accessed via London Bridge has 1/2-scale replicas of U.S. lighthouses positioned around it -- Atlantic replicas on the east, Pacific on the west, and Great Lakes north.
North of Lake Havasu, the Colorado River runs through Topock Gorge, a Wildlife Refuge and National Wilderness Area. We had heard that it was drop-dead gorgeous, and were encouraging friends Jackie & Kaz to paddle their kayaks down the Colorado through it. They wanted us to come along, but we were somewhat daunted by the length of the paddle. In the end we all wound up renting a pontoon boat for a half-day. The gorge was nice, but certainly not as gorgeous as expected, actually no better than the scenery around Craggy Wash. What's worse, we ran the pontoon boat over some shallow rocks coming into port and damaged the propeller, to the tune of $60. As a final insult, Kaz left his cell-phone on the boat and we had to drive all over town to get it back.
Sunday, February 19, 2006
SARA Park, Lake Havasu City, AZ - Feb 16-19
Lake Havasu City is probably most famous for the London Bridge, which the city purchased in 1968 for $2.5 million, then spent an additional $3.5 million dismantling, transporting, and reconstructing brick by brick the multi-arched structure over a man-made channel of the Colorado River.
The draw for us was Winterblast XVII "Thunder on the River", the Western Pyrotechnic Association's annual convention. Every Presidents Day Weekend, Lake Havasu City plays host to this 4-day celebration of fireworks. It's a chance for members to attend seminars & build their own fireworks, and for manufacturers to display the latest "weapons" in their arsenal. Every evening there was an "Open Shoot" starting at 5pm. It was strange seeing fireworks before sunset, but that allowed more time for certification. Members must be certified either Class C (if public fireworks are allowed in your area, they're probably Class C) or Class B (the big ones). Members usually give up their Fourth of July holidays to setting up and setting off displays around the country. These guys take their fireworks seriously.In addition to the Open Shoots, there were demos Friday and Sunday, and Saturday was the Public Display. The demos were actually more exciting that the Public Display. Since we were parked at SARA Park, the location of all of the displays, we were able to see every display every night and not worry about traffic before or after. They charge $10/night for dry camping in the parking lot at SARA park for the four days only.
The cats were mostly unfazed by the noise; they were more unsettled by our repeated jumping up and running to the window at the start of the first Open Shoot. Many people with dogs, however, had to either leave early or stay in and try to console the poor animal.
