YES, IT DOES RAIN IN THE DESERT…..AT LEAST WHEN WE ARE HERE!

Monday, January 18 – It's raining....what's with the rain in the desert? Actually just a drizzle, but we have flash flood warnings out for later this week. Three fronts are blowing through this area. We should be safe where we are....the floods occur in the dry river beds called “washes” which we do have two to cross leaving our campsite.

Marsha and her friend Joyce went to wash clothes today, and Don and I went into the Big Tent Event to look around. Marsha said the laundromat is the biggest she has ever been in. They have free wifi, free coffee, $5 showers and a book exchange where you can take a paperback or trade one in.
There are 32 washers, 15 double-load washers,

32 dryers

an attached hot dog stand, Gone To The Dogs

While at the laundromat , Marsha saw a card for a hair salon. She was going crazy because she needed her bangs cut and a root touch up….whatever that is. The salon was right next door to the laundromat, so she made an appointment. She said it was the most unique place she ever had her hair done. It is called “Desert Rose Hair and Nail Salon” on East Main Street. She did like Janna, her stylist. They only had two stations. If they both were in use and someone walked in, they just pulled a chair up in the middle of the floor and cut her hair. She doesn’t think the Health department in Quartzsite is very particular. Just another one of the things you need to experience at least once….not sure Marsha agrees.

Joyce and Don came over to our place this evening.Joyce made Spaghetti, and we played Mexican Train. It was a delicious dinner and a fun evening with new friends.

Here is a good spot to insert the group picture Marsha forgot in the last post. We took this picture at our chili cookoff. What a motley crew. Paul and I are sitting down. Paul is in the white t-shirt and Marsha in the black coat.

Tuesday, January 19 – Marsha & I walked around the Big Tent and the Tyson Wells flea market. Only purchased some glass cleaner….big spenders

We drove to Ehrenberg, AZ to pick up our mail. If we had our mail sent to Quartzsite, we would have to wait about 1.5 hrs. in a line. The line is usually wrapped around the small post office. We drove to Ehrenberg and back in an hour. Now we have to pay our bills:(

Went to Silly Als Pizza for a farewell dinner. Silly Als is located on I-10 and Library Rd. Lee, Eric and Karla are leaving in the morning. Everyone had pizza, which was delicious! We want to introduce you to some of our group that you haven’t met before. They have karoke each night. If you want to sing but don’t want anyone looking at you, you can sing in the shower. That’s where I would be!

This is Lee. He travels alone. He was a SUPER campfire builder. Lee was a veteran of full-timing and had an answer to every question our group had. The first night we were in the Q, he explained to all of us how we should handle boondocking. All his tips were right on the mark. Thanks, Lee, for all your advise and great stories.

This is Eric and Karla. They are our newly weds. They have only been married about a year and half. Karla was winner of the chili cookoff. Eric was a regular morning walker with Paul. Here is a link to their blog, A couple of boomers.

Here is our fearless leaders, Sandie and Jim. Sandie is our “volunteer” president of the Class of 09. They have been full timing since January 09. Sandie LOVES this living. Thanks for all the great activities and fun, Sandie and Jim. They have a blog called, “Where are the Dixons today.”

Jerry and Janis are our two quiet ones. They still have their house up for sale, and hope the economy is better this summer so they can sale it. They went with us on our day trip to The Desert Bar.

Terry and Jeri are from the Class of 08. They joined us because they said our group is a ton more fun than theirs. The shared a few of the places they have visited the past two years. Marsha took good notes on places to stay. They have a blog called, “Willy Wagon.”

It was raining too hard for our farewell campfire so we all headed for home.

Wednesday, January 20 –
How does that song go by the Beatles…”Good Morning Sunshine.” Another beautiful one in the mountains.

Nice day today so we headed to Lake Havasu City to see the London Bridge. The drive there was beautiful through the Whipple Mountains.

This is the Colorado River running along I-95. It has a shades of blue running all through it.

For all you golfers….there is tons of golf courses in the desert. We took a few pictures as we drove by. It is really neat to see the holes on the edge of some of the mountains. I’ll bet there are a few golf balls in them their mountains.

Impounded by Parker Dam, 45-mile long Lake Havasu is a very attractive city. Lake Havasu City, Arizona, is located on the beautiful Colorado River and is known as a popular year round tourist destination offering a comfortable climate and friendly atmosphere. Lake Havasu City provides a highly attractive living environment that is compatible with a variety of tastes and life styles. The Bill Williams National Wildlife Refuge is located at the south end of the lake and is an excellent location for wildlife watching.

In 1962, London Bridge was falling down. Built in 1831, the bridge couldn't handle the ever-increasing flow of traffic across the Thames River. The British government decided to put the bridge up for sale, and Robert McCulloch, Founder of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, and Chairman of McCulloch Oil Corporation, submitted the winning bid of $2,460,000. The bridge was dismantled, and each stone was numbered. Everything was shipped 10,000 miles to Long Beach, California, and then trucked to Lake Havasu City. Reconstruction began on September 23, 1968, with a ceremony including the Lord Mayor of London, who laid the cornerstone. On October 10, 1971, the bridge was dedicated. The lampposts on the bridge are the original ones from London.

London Bridge crosses a narrow boating channel that connects with Thompson Bay on the Arizona side of Lake Havasu. Prior to the arrival of London Bridge, the land upon which the bridge was placed was a peninsula. A large dredge was used to carve a one-mile channel, removing over two million cubic yards of rock and earth in the construction phase. Water was then diverted from the lake, under the bridge and then back into the lake through Thompson Bay. Pretty neat!

Here are just a few pictures of the road on the bridge, and then the bridge.

The next picture shows the Colorado River running into the Bridgewater Channel. The second pictures shows how the Channel runs back to the River.

On our way back, we visited Parker Dam. Parker Dam spans the Colorado River between Arizona and California, 155 miles downstream from Hoover Dam. It was built between 1934 and 1938. Parker Dam's primary purpose is to provide reservoir storage for water to be pumped into the Colorado River and Central Arizona Project Aqueducts. Lake Havasu, the reservoir behind Parker Dam, is about 45 miles long and can store nearly 211 billion gallons of water.

Here is some good trivia for you…….Parker Dam is the deepest dam in the world; 73 percent of its structural height of 320 feet is below the original riverbed. Two-hundred and thirty-five feet of the Colorado riverbed was excavated before concrete was placed for the dam's foundation. Only about 85 feet of the dam is visible; the dam's superstructure rises another 62 feet above the roadway across the top of the dam.

Parker power plant, located on the California side of the Colorado River immediately below the dam, houses four hydroelectric generating units. Each unit can produce 30,000 kilowatts of non-polluting hydroelectric power. Four 22-foot-diameter pipes called penstocks can each carry up to 5500 cubic feet of water per second (over 41,000 gallons) to feed the generating units.

After returning to Quartzsite, be ran to Gamblers, an RV accessories warehouse, and purchased an electric heater, a sewer hose stand, a step stool, and two 12 volt lights that I will install above Marsha's bathroom sink. We compared prices all over “Q” and on line with Camping World and saved some money on our purchases.

After returning to camp, we decided to dump our tanks and fill with fresh water. With empty black and grey water tanks, and a full fresh water tank, we should be good for at least a week. That way, if the storms fill the washes (dried river beds) with water and we have to sit for several days, we should be in good shape.

Thursday, January 21 – RAIN! It rained all night and it doesn't appear to be letting up. Flash flood warnings and flood warning are on the forecast. We will have to watch the washes and be prepared to exit if necessary. No use packing up and leaving; the entire nation is experiencing weird weather. Yuma, AZ has already reached their total average rainfall for the year.....Yikes!

Guess I'll do some inside chores today!

Thanks for visiting. Hope to see you back soon. Safe Travels!