Parker Dam

On our drive out from Yuma last Sunday we were awed by the scenery from Parker to Havasu and realized how much we had missed the mountain views.   On Friday we drove back to Parker to do a little exploring and hopefully find a river park where Charli could have another swim.

The views did not disappoint.

The Bill Williams River merges with the Lake Havasu and the result is a large delta filled with reeds and grasses.  Makes for some nice contrast don't you think.
 

Parker Dam is just one of many dams along the Colorado and the water it holds back forms Lake Havasu.  If you look to the left of the dam you can just make out the much lower level of the river.

We crossed the dam and drove down the highway on the California side of the river.  Both sides of the river downstream from the dam are lined with vacation communities, state parks and RV parks.  If we come back to this area, and we probably will, I think we will look for an RV Park closer to Parker along the river.  Its a very beautiful area.

Some more of those burros.  They seem to be everywhere.  They have obviously done well since they were turned lose by the miners.  One thing the shop keepers in Oatman had mentioned to us is to keep Charli away from the burros.  I assured them I had her on a short leash and she wouldn't chase them.  They said they weren't concerned for the burros but rather they might mistake Charli for a Coyote and "kick the shit out of her or me if I was standing too close".  We kept a wide berth.

We stopped by one of the riverside parks to take a shot of the Colorado.
Also found a nice shade tree for a picture with Charli and me.  Lori is turning into a pretty good photographer.  

We found a picnic area that had a dog park right on the rivers edge.  Found a couple of sticks and threw them out in the water for about 30 minutes.  My arm always wears out long before Charli gets tired of fetching.  The current was pretty strong so I had to throw the stick upstream so she could get it and return without being taken too far downstream.  At one point she lost the stick but spotted a duck swimming out in the river and off she went.  Lori and I both called her to come back and for awhile she ignored us.  Just as we were about to panic she turned back and came ashore.   She is a pretty strong swimmer but we didn't want to see who was stronger, Charli's dog paddle or the current.

 Auto focus is a great invention however sometimes the camera gets confused and focuses on the wrong subject.  Here I got the tree branch and leaves in perfect focus and have a fuzzy white egret in the background.
Actually the effect turned out to be kind of neat.

 Saturday we took Charli out for another swim and spent the day packing up and draining tanks.  I have been having some problems with the Airborne Sidewinder pinbox on the trailer.  The wedge needs to be adjusted again.  I last did this when we left Tucson but we are getting more metal on metal scraping and its loud.  During one of our walks in the RV park I noticed someone else with the same setup as us and I managed to talk with him today.  He came over and suggested a few adjustments that might help and I'll look into those when we get home.  For the time being we greased everything we could and will see on Sunday how it works out.

We are off to Camp Verde on Sunday for 1 week.  This is a bit of a scouting trip as we'd like to spend more time in Verde and Sedona next year and this will allow us to visit some different RV parks and check out the activities.