In Lake Havasu City....and Preparations to Fly Home....

Following a three hour drive from Yuma, we rolled into the little RV park, overlooking Lake Havasu, shortly after 12:00 noon, yesterday.  We are here for two nights.

Settled into our site at Lake Havasu, AZ.

Campbell Cove RV Park

This is a small RV park that overlooks Lake Havasu. There are 124 sites - located just west of I-95 - north from the downtown core and the famed London Bridge.  It is a Passport America park and we rolled in for 1/2 the regular rate.

Our table at Manuel and Dottie's Yuma Foothills party

I mentioned the invitation we had received - courtesy of my brother, his wife and their friends - to attend a Sunday afternoon, annual Yuma Foothills house party.  Well.....this annual event drew well over 60-70 folks.  What fun!  What great food too! Add to that a great Mexican live band, and we were set for several hours of good living.

L-R   Grey sweater (Paul, friend of Bernie and Rita), Rita (my sister in law) and Jeanette (green vest)

Lots of folks....and these were the early arrivals

It was a pot luck dinner - with appetizers - and we sure ate well.  The hosts - Manuel and Dottie - are long time Yuma winter residents, who summer in California and Oregon .  Talk about great hosts!  We felt privileged to have been invited along. And we did have fun.

When the sun was setting, Manuel began lighting a 1/2 dozen outdoor propane patio heaters.  You can see him at work with myself, Paul (behind Manuel) and brother Bernie making sure he is doing it well.  LOL.

L-R  Brother, Bernie, SIL Rita, friend Linda, and host Dottie.

Now this group of like minded snowbirds have known each other for many years and, as the newbies in the group, we were instantly made to feel welcomed.

This really good Mexican band (from San Luis) provided endless music.  What a treat!

Paul's wife, Linda - who is well known to the locals as having a great voice - took to the stage and sang a couple of numbers.  She does have a great voice!

By 8:00 pm Sunday night, most folks had left for home - as did we.  We thanked our hosts, said good bye to Bernie, Rita and their friends, then returned to our RV park to prepare for our Monday morning hitch up and drive north to Lake Havasu.  

The early morning view from outside our fiver, before sunrise, on Monday morning in Yuma, AZ.

Within an hour of readying to leave Yuma for Lake Havasu, we were rolling by 9:00 am.  With no winds in the forecast, it would prove to be an easy drive north.

Final walk around - safety check - before departure.

Traffic was quite light as we rolled north on I-95.

An hour or so into the drive and we were driving through Quartzite. There were several boon dockers in the surrounding area but nothing compared to the zoo that occurs there every late January when the BIG tent sale is in full swing.  The desert then looks like white flecks dotting every bit of landscape for miles on end.

This area has something to appeal to everyone.  The landscape is fantastic. The beauty of the desert, including sand dunes, red rock canyons, towering rock formation and waterways offers so many options to snowbirds who winter here.

Hmm....nice place to paddle our Sea Eagle kayak....!

Once settled into to our RV site in Lake Havasu, Jeanette and I walked down to the lake and found the groomed hiking trail that would eventually lead us into the downtown area and the famed London Bridge.  With over 45 miles of blue water, the man-made Lake Havasu can look like an ocean; depending on where one is viewing it from.

Nice.....very nice!

Most interesting colour.  Although it may look like a prickly pear cactus, it's not.

 Walking through the trails in the Havasu State Park, there is a garden that highlights all of the flora this area is known for.  The Cholla (photo below) can stick to you if you get too close. Some claim the Cholla actually jumps and can stick to clothing and skin too......!  We kept our distance.

Interesting view....including the lighthouse.

About one hour into our hike, we came out of the Havasu State Park and into the west side of the downtown - London Bridge - area.  It's always interesting to read why and how this bridge (below) was dismantled, shipped from London, England, and reassembled here in the Arizona desert.

This passenger ferry travels to and from the west side of the lake where a thriving Havasu Landing Marina Resort and Casino - on an Indian reservation - caters to patrons. 

We hung around the London Bridge area for a few minutes before resuming our walk back to our RV park.  Our walk - and the hike through Havasu State Park -  took over two hours.  That was refreshing!

We have a few activities planned for today but our main purpose will be to prepare our 5th wheel for storage.  That's right!  Tomorrow (Wednesday), we'll close up the 5th wheel, sanitize the tanks, winterize the water lines (by blowing air with the compressor), then drive north from Lake Havasu to San Bernardino County, California - where our fiver will be stored for one month, in a gated and security serviced storage facility.  Once that is done, we will drive two hours north, to Las Vegas, Nevada, where our truck will be stored (under cover and in a secure facility) while we are back home in Langley, BC.  We fly out of Las Vegas, for Bellingham, WA, on Thursday.  The airport is only 15 minutes from the Canadian border and another five minutes from there leads to our home.

We're heading home for Christmas and the exciting arrival of our newest grandchild - Deni and Courtney's first baby - due sometime around New Years.  That alone is a great reason to park our snow birding home on wheels to go welcome the new baby.  Christmas will be fun too, with our first grandchild, Easton and his parents.  

We will return to Las Vegas in mid-January, collect our truck, hitch up our fiver and continue with our winter fun in the sun in the US southwest. We've enjoyed these past five weeks roaming around the Nevada and Arizona countryside.

More to come!  Thanks for dropping in.

Side Note:  When we checked into this RV park yesterday, we were advised of a $3.50/day charge for WiFi.  We said no thanks!  Our new iPad Mini worked really well as a personal hot spot.  This blog was written using the hot spot.  Gotta love the technology that allows for the independence of having our own WiFi.  Our Face Time with Easton , last night, didn't work so well though!  We kept losing the signal.  I'll have to check into that.