Day16: Tucson to Lake Havasu City

We packed up and left about 9 am. Traveling north on I-10 we noticed that we were no longer in the metric zone. Mile posts were "mile" posts again. Soon we passed the distinctive Picaho Peak again. The Police were out in force today. We saw at least three patrol cars. When we got just south of Casa Grande we turned west onto I-8 to bypass Phoenix. The landscape was flat and sandy with occasional scrub bushes. No suguaro -- it must be too dry or the altitude to low for them. We passed a number of signs warning of blowing dust. This is the Sonoran Desert at it's best.

As we got nearer to Table-Top Mountain, the saguaro appeared again foresting the hills. At Gila Bend we headed north to connect with I-10 well west of Phoenix. Gila Bend ( population: 1980; elevation: 735) was founded by our old friend Father Kino in 1851. The green fields which looked strangely out of place in the desert and the whiff of stockyard smell confirmed that the area is a farming and stock raising community today.

We reached Io-10 and turned west again playing leap frog with the numerous trucks on the freeway until we reached Quartzsite. Quartzsite (elevation: 876) has a summer population of 3,354, but in the winter that swells to nearly a million. And from the looks of it they all come in their RV's. In January and February the area hosts 8 major gem and mineral shows. We looked around, but all we saw were RV's everywhere it was literally an RV city.

We headed north toward Parker, but about 3 miles out of town we encountered a road block directing us onto an unnamed road to the right. This turned out to be a very scenic detour to Bouse which is a smaller RV city. This area is a playground for off-road vehicles (saw lots of dune buggies and such), motorcycles, and RV'ers. At Bouse we turned left and headed back towards Parker. We found some places to eat at Parker, and had lunch. We passed an RV casino on the way out of town.

Lake Havasu is 45 miles long, 3 miles at its widest point, along the Colorado River. Parker Dam holds back the water to create the lake. It produces electricity, but like Lake Powell, it's major goal is water storage. The lake supplies water to Arizona and Los Angeles. We stopped at the Parker Dam. It's not as dramatic as the dam at Lake Powell, hut it does the job.

We drove along the lake up to Lake Havasu City, half-way up the lake. This city is famous for the London Bridge. The city bought the bridge in 1968. The original bridge was built in 1831, a multi-arch bridge over the Thames River. In 1968 the bridge began to sink into the river and the British put it up for sale. The bridge was carefully dismantled, stone by stone, and brought over from London. where it was reconstructed over a man-made inlet of the Colorado River.

The London Bridge is the second most popular tourist destination (after the Grand Canyon) in Arizona. The town (elevation: 482) has a population of 41,,935 and is a great place for all types of water recreation. The bridge area is bustling with activity. Lots of tour boats and a marina, restaurants, hotels, etc. Unlike our visits to Zion and Grand Canyon, it is high tourist season here now. We were lucky that the TravelLodge had a last minute cancellation right before we came in. We even have a lake view -- over the road and some buildings-- but we can see the water.

We checked in and rested for a while before going back to the bridge area to take pictures, enjoy the sunset, and find a place to eat. We walked across the bridge and discovered the Havelina Cantina. We were seated on the patio with a great view of the bridge and enjoyed Margaritas and munchies as we watched the sun set. It was a great end for the day.

Tomorrow we head into California.