Oatman & Route 66

On Wednesday we took a drive down Route 66 on the way to the old mining town of Oatman.  Route 66 was one of America's primary east-west arteries running between Chicago and Los Angeles. It was known as the main street of America because the highway formed the Main Street of many towns along its route.  Many families travelled this road with all their belongings during the depression fleeing the Dust Bowl for opportunities in California.  Think Grapes of Wrath.  Many people will remember the TV show of the early 60's by the same name.

By todays standards Route 66 is a narrow winding paved road with no shoulder to speak of.  I would never take our RV on this road and in fact posted signs warn of a maximum length of 40 feet due to the tight turns.  The Interstate Highway system has long ago replaced Route 66 as a means of transportation however in spots the road still exists and nostalgia keeps tourists coming back to drive a piece of history.

The 42 miles of Route 66 took us through the old mining town of Oatman and to get there we started out in the flat desert on the shores of the Colorado River and started a steady ascent.  As we continued to climb the scenery became more dramatic and colourful as the desert is really starting to bloom.

We decided to stop at the top of Sitgreaves Pass, Elevation 3550 feet, to have lunch.  Even though the day was heavily overcast the view was still pretty spectacular.

The Yucca plant in bloom really brightens things up.

As does the Beavertail cactus.

On the outskirts of Oatman we were greeted by their welcoming committee.  Larry, Curly and Mo.

Oatman was a gold mining boom town from 1910 to the 1920's with 8000 people calling the place home.  The gold mines have opened and closed periodically since then in conjunction with the highs and lows of the price of Gold.

The early prospectors brought burros to haul rock and ore inside the mines and haul water and supplies on the outside.  As the mines were closed the burros were released into the wild and the decedents still thrive in the surrounding desert.

Each day at noon the town of Oatman has a staged gunfight as part of its show for the tourists.  The burros make their way into town each day about this time to collect treats from the tourists.  We were a little early and these guys were just on their way into town.  About an hour later we met them on the towns main street.

This one took the "Oh isn't he cute" award.

The tourists gather to witness the gun fight.  We didn't watch cause we have seen a few of these and, well,  seen one staged gunfight and you've seen them all.  The main street is lined with old building filled with touristy type stuff to buy.  We picked up a couple of Route 66 hats and t-shirts.  Believe me I do have enough hats and t-shirts but at $5 and $7 respectively I guess it won't break us.

It was a nice drive with great scenery.  Too bad it was overcast as the pictures would have been better with sunny skies however the clouds kept the temps in the low 80's rather than 93 which has been the norm for the past 5 weeks.

On Thursday we stayed around the park.  We had met one of our neighbours out walking our respective hounds and turns out they live in Cooks Creek, about 5 miles from our house.  They told us of a nice little beach where we could let Charli go for a swim so Thursday morning we headed off.  

There was just us and some fishermen.  Not sure if they appreciated us letting Charli splash around in the water but its a big lake and they moved on.

Charlie always has to give a good shake when she comes out even though she is going right back in.  Lori got just a little too close.

ET Phone Home.  A swim must be followed by the indignity of getting towelled off.

I'm not much for fishing but if I had to sit in a boat for a couple of hours at least this view would keep me interested.

Just across from the dog beach was a field all abloom.

Havasu Falls RV Park is located just north of town overlooking the lake and townsite.  While the sites are a bit small here is the view outside our trailer.  I'd say it compensates for the tight spaces.  

My next and last report from Lake Havasu will cover Friday and our day trip back to Parker.

Till Then. 

Copper Canyon Boat Tour

On Tuesday we took an hour long boat tour that took us just a bit down the Colorado to the Copper Canyon.  The reason for the name will be self evident when you see the pictures.  There was a longer 4 hour jet boat tour of the Topock Gorge which I would have liked to have taken however it was booked up for the week.  Perhaps next time.

Here is the boat we took.  There were about 20 passengers.

Lots of activity on the channel.  From kayaks and paddle boards to some large jet boats.

At the entrance to the channel is a lovely sand beach.

The copper colour of the rocks contrasted with the green water making for a beautiful setting.







Note the hole in the rock at the top centre of the pic above.  The lava flow a few thousand years ago makes for some interesting rock formations.

Some of the spring breakers proving their manhood.  He eventually did make the jump.

Some of the prickly pear cactus in bloom

 A few years ago the Lighthouse Society was formed and has been building lighthouses around the island and along the river banks.  These lighthouses are small replicas of lighthouses found along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts as well as on the Great Lakes.

Along the sides of the bridge you can see the scars left by bullets and shrapnel from german war planes during WW11.

 The terrace and view from the restaurant where we had lunch.

Both of us had salads which were both colourful and tasty.














Spring break runs for up to 5 weeks with a fresh crop of students coming in each week.  There weren't too many of them out and about in the morning however when we came back from our boat ride they were starting to mass in large groups.  Lots of blaring music and massive consumption of beverages.

 Havasu is pretty active all year with Snowbirds, Spring Breakers and summer boaters coming to escape the heat.

Last summer the highest temperature was 126F.
All together now: "BUT ITS A DRY HEAT".

Thats all for today.  Wednesday we are heading out for a drive on Route 66 to Oatman to see the Burros.

Later.

Havasu & London Bridge

We left Yuma on Sunday morning at 10:00 with an ETA of 1:00 for Lake Havasu.  We arrived pretty much on time despite a 20mph crosswind for the first part of the journey.  Once we started to get up into some of the hills the wind got blocked out a bit so the MPG went up and my blood pressure went down.  Both good things.

A shot from the highway driving north from Yuma.
Lots of the desert plants are starting to bloom.












The scenery for most of the drive was much like the above picture till we got close to Parker which is located in a mountain range with some pretty dramatic colours.  We will be making a day trip back to Parker so more pictures in a later post.  And yes Betty, we did see the golf course and it is gorgeous.  I doubt we will be playing the course this time as the temps are to stay in the 90's and thats just too hot for our spray and pray type of golf game.

We arrived in Havasu Falls RV Park and got checked in.  The individual sites are a bit tight but they have level concrete parking pads with a great view of Lake Havasu and the mountain range for a  backdrop.  More pictures of that to follow in a subsequent post.  This is a much smaller park with 129 sites.  The facilities aren't as extensive as other parks we have been in but we are off sight seeing most of the day and haven't been using the facilities that much anyway.  Electric is included in our weekly fee so the A/C will be running non-stop.  Its interesting how the pricing works for most of these parks.  Here we pay $280. for the week which includes electric.  Our neighbour is here for the month and is paying $550. plus electric.   Cable and functional Wifi is included.

Monday we decided to visit the visitors centre and tour the London Bridge.  First some history of the London Bridge and its move to Arizona.

The Old London Bridge from the nursery-rhymes was built between 1176 and 1209, replacing earlier wooden bridges.  It lasted 600 years.  From 1305 and 1660 the southern gateway to that bridge often displayed the severed heads of traitors stuck on long pikes for all to see.  The "new" London Bridge was designed in 1799 and construction was completed in 1831.  The bridge was made of solid granite blocks and due to its weight it soon began to sink into the mud of the Thames river.  That, plus the fact that the bridge was unable to handle modern automobile traffic resulted in the bridge being  put  up for sale in 1967.
 
On April 18, 1968 Robert Paxton McCulloch, a founder of Lake Havasu City, was the winning bid for the sum of $2,460,000.  The bridge was disassembled block by block and the exterior blocks were numbered for later reassembly.  Since only the exterior facing blocks were going to be used to cover over the new concrete bridge core the interior blocks were resold in England by McCulloch.  He netted almost as much for the sale of the interior blocks as he paid for the entire bridge.

So who was this McCullough guy.  He came from money but took that to another level.  Heard of McCullough Chainsaws.  How about Paxton Superchargers used in many cars including Thunderbirds and Mustangs.  Oh and his wife's maiden maiden name was Briggs, daughter of one half of the Briggs and Stratton company.  His inlaws were the Evinrude.  Guess engines were in his blood.  

In 1964 McCulloch founded Lake Havasu City and used it as the home for his engine factory and housing for it workers.  He fell in love with the area and the Bridge project was his way of giving back and developing the area as a tourist and recreational centre for western Arizona.

Back to the bridge.  The blocks were shipped by freighter through the Panama Canal to Long Beach, CA and then transported by truck to Havasu.  As you look at the pictures below note the channel that flows under the bridge.  It wasn't there before the bridge project.  It was dredged making an island out of a previous peninsula that jutted out into the Colorado river. Cost of shipping the bridge, reassembly and dredging the channel, $5.1 million making his total outlay about $7.5 million.  The "New London Bridge" was reopened in 1971 and has been drawing tourists ever since.

I checked and its not bigger on the inside.  Dr Who fans will get that.
Ok its not a blue police telephone box but the closest I could get.

 This guy was pretty good.  I saw another one and he never made it out of the water.

Its spring break down here and the wildlife is much different than what we are used to.  More on that tomorrow.

 Some of the shops are built to mimic old english style construction.  We were a bit disappointed as most were selling beach wear rather than London Bridge type souvenir stuff.
On the other hand that fact probably saved me some money.

The water was a beautiful green, something like what you see in the mountain streams in the Rockies, with lime green algae blooms.  You can see them floating in the river.

They said they have never seen the algae this bad and the Resource people are looking into the cause.  The abnormally hot weather could be the reason methinks.  

We went to Shugrue's for lunch and I had the Waldorf salad and Lori had to have Fish & Chips.  Didn't come wrapped in old newspaper though.  

The food was great and had a fantastic view of the London Bridge right out our window.

The following shots were taken in some gardens just below the restaurant where we had lunch.

 Here is a shot from on the bridge looking back at the gardens and our restaurant.

The Colorado river is just beyond the little lighthouse on the right side of the channel.

Statues of McCullough and the master planner of the project, C.V.Wood with Lori sitting at their feet.  She kept telling me to hurry cause her buns were getting toasted sitting on the hot concrete.

Here are a couple shots from the far side of the island.  Still lots of room for more development, as long as the river keeps flowing.

Did you know that after the battle of Waterloo the British collected all the French cannon and rifles.  They were subsequently melted down and made into the lighting posts seen here.









Thats about it for now but tomorrow we are planning to take a Boat tour down the channel so undoubtedly some more pictures of "The Bridge" and some of that amazing spring break wildlife.

Later.