This past week started with some incredibly perfect weather
and the arrival of my brother, Tom, and sister-in-law, Liz. As most of you know, our camping preference
is boondocking – staying somewhere for free without the services (and cost) of electrical
and water. We had reconsidered this when
we knew we were going to have company but a comment that Tom made “I want to
see what you do all winter” made us decide to stay out in the “gravel pit”
which is exactly where we are – an abandoned gravel pit.
Sunday morning we met our friend Kathy, with her brother and daughter and made a trip across country to the Bunker Bar.
This is a desert bar out in the middle of nowhere which is only opened on weekends. The décor of this bar is geared to military objects and is done up nicely.
We had a quick, tasty lunch, listened to some music, and then headed back as we had another destination – the casino on the other side of Lake Havasu on the California side. They did build a new casino several years ago but the best part is the boat ride and back.
Since Tom and Liz were only here for a couple of days, the next morning it was off to another neat spot – Oatman, AZ. Oatman is an old mining town on the original Route 66. As we got onto the Route, we came across a Rest Area – interesting as it was, no one used the facilities.
As we crossed through the narrow and winding road, we commented on the challenges folks experienced as they drove through the area in years past.
We passed Schaeffer Springs which is a neat spring along the road which has quite a few goldfish in it. There is a stone staircase that goes up to it. Fortunately, it isn’t too high as there is no handrail to hang on to so one does need to be careful.
About at the top of the route, there is a makeshift cemetery where headstones often were made up of things that obviously meant something to the deceased and/or their families.
At the end is a bench which overlooks a beautiful valley.
As we were driving along, up on the mountainside were four sheep. We took some snapshots but unfortunately, we were too far away to get a good picture. In fact, in many of them, one would have to recognize the blobs as that is really what it looks like. As we headed down the mountain, the area was covered with poppies. The sun was shining and the picture was absolutely spectacular.
Just past the flowers, and off to the left were three burros – they stopped and looked and watched.
Then into Oatman we went – here the burros roam freely throughout the streets.
We missed the gunfight at noon but hoped to catch the one at 2:30 – nope, it didn’t happen today. We did go for lunch into a restaurant that was packed. Once again, the décor was quite unique as all the walls and whatever else, was covered in one dollar bills.
There were three entrances and people coming from everywhere. We spotted a table for 6, but only 2 were at it so we asked to join them and they obliged. They were a very nice couple from Washington state.
Interestingly, he was wearing a red MAGA hat so we definitely knew what his political stripe was. Afterwards, we had quite a chuckle at our restraint when he made the comment “we have the dumbest president in the world” – it was tempting to remark that he definitely was out by one. But, they were nice enough for us to join them for lunch so we saved it for our private joke!
Back home after a really full day. The next day Tom and Liz headed back to Las Vegas to continue with their trip. We, on the other hand, just relaxed and hung out. The weather became more unsettled and the next day wham – a thunder storm. We did get a wee bit of small hail and some wind, and tons of rain.
Just north of town there apparently quite a bit of hail and about 15 miles north, there were reports of a tornado. Glad we only had the rain. And needless to say, our windshield leak is not completely gone so Mr. Repairman Gerry got to do a bit of repair work once again. Hopefully, that is the end of it!!!!
Lake Havasu City has an amazing park – SARA park which has many recreation areas which would be the envy of many communities. All in one area, there are hikes, bike trails, ball diamonds, rodeo grounds, speedway, dog park – just to name some of them. We went on one of the trails – the Trashcan, which wasn’t difficult but it did give us a workout.
The biking trails even have a repair station – how convenient!!
The weather continues to be cool and windy, but sunny so the
key is to try and get out of the wind.
The week has sped by. I hope your
week was good and hope you will be back next weekend.
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