We were originally only going to spend three nights here at Havasu Springs, but high winds were forecast for today for this area and Northern Arizona, and we decided to weather them out parked and not try to battle them on the highway.  We have spent three leisurely days here, and even went golfing yesterday at the little 9 hole par 3 course, it was a lot of fun and actually quite challenging.  We have watched the maintenance people trim the trunks of the palm trees, which is quite interesting to see, we didn’t realize the trees were trimmed we thought the trunks were smooth naturally.  The weather has been warm and sunny and Bryan and Cody have gone swimming in the lake a couple of the days.  Other than that, not much to report.  Looking out the window at the lake we are really glad we stayed one more day, as the wind is really picking up and the lake has whitecaps on it.  Tomorrow we are heading out to Camp Verde, Arizona where we will set up for a week and check out the high desert and the Sedona area.  We will hopefully have faster internet service so we can download pictures of our days in the high desert.

Just as we predicted, Keith and Barb left before we got out of bed and we are glad we said our goodbyes the night before.  We didn’t leave until about 11:00 in the morning and arrived at Havasu Springs Resort about 12:15 in the afternoon, not a long day at all.  We got set up and went to the little restaurant/lounge for happy hour beer and Monday Madness burgers for $1.50 each.  While we were there a group of university students were also enjoying the Monday Madness.  We started talking to them, and they are from the University at Boulder Colorado down here for spring break, drove down got accommodations and rented a boat.  One of the girls was quite ill and didn’t think she could make the trip back on the boat, so Bryan and I drove her and her boyfriend back to town.  Poor thing, she was so sick, we ended up taking her to emergency and Carol stayed with her while Bryan took her boyfriend back to the marina to pick up his vehicle and the group that came back in the boat.  They arrived back at the hospital a couple of hours later, and we left them in good hands with the doctors and nurses.  Hope things went well for you Becca, get well. soon.  The rest of the day seemed anti-climatic somehow.

It’s hard to believe that a week has gone by, we have enjoyed beautiful, hot weather during our stay (it got as high as 110 one day) and now we have to pack up and start our journey back tomorrow.  We decided to go as far as Lake Havasu tomorrow, which is about an hour away, because the weather in the Grand Canyon area is supposed to be quite cool and it doesn’t look like it will start warming up there until later in the week.  Keith and Barb are also leaving tomorrow morning, but they are going quite a bit further than us and we are sure that they will head out before we are even out of bed.  We have had such great fun spending time with both of them, sitting along the river watching all the boats go by, Bryan and Keith golfing at the little par 3 course here at the park, pooling our meals, evening walks, Cody making herself at home in their trailer and of course we can’t forget about the Happy Hour that seemed to happen every day about 4:00 pm.   Today is cooler with a bit of a breeze, which is a relief from the hot weather during the week and we are spending it with our friends, we will miss them.   Have a safe trip Keith and Barb.

We had heard about an RV resort 14 miles further up the road and decided today was the day to check it out.  Our route took us along quite a narrow winding road.  We passed a reservoir and saw some huge pipes going up into the mountain.  We stopped at a security post and were told that water is piped up from Lake Havasu into the reservoir then piped up through a mountain into a canal system which goes to Los Angeles and provides their water.  Apparently, the Colorado river also provides water to Phoenix though a different canal system.  The terrain is rugged through this area but with the cactus blooming the bright spots of color added contrast.  As we drove, little lizards scooted off the road and hawks were soaring and circling above us.  We did get to Black Meadow RV park and drove through it to see if it was someplace we would like to set up for the winter.  It is quite isolated and not someplace we feel we would like to stay even though it is quite nice.  As we headed back, we stopped at a few spots to enjoy the view and once again we saw a herd of burros.  We stopped and got some more pictures of them.  They seem quite tame, and the little ones are adorable, people often feed them carrots and the burros even come up to the vehicles looking for food. 

With another hot day ahead of us, going into the 90’s, we decided to stay put and enjoy the weather.  Bryan and Cody went swimming in the river to cool off, while Carol, never liking to get into cold water, stood on the river bank and watched.  We threw sticks into the water for Cody to fetch and Bryan found out that the river current is quite strong when we started to swim and didn’t go anywhere.  We again ended our day with happy hour.

This morning the four of us jumped (well maybe climbed) into Keith’s truck to driver across Parker Dam and head to Lake Havasu, the nearest large town to pick up groceries.  While we were in Lake Havasu we stopped to see the London Bridge, it was purchased in 1968 and transported block by block to rest in it’s current location.  As each block was dismantled it was numbered and then set back up using the same numbered code, with some of the numbers still visible today.  It took three years to complete and the bridge was commissioned in October, 1971.  Traffic crosses the bridge daily and as we walked over the bridge it seemed strange to see the Union Jack flying beside the Stars and Stripes and the Arizona state flag.  We spend some time wandering in the area and going into small shops close by.  It was spring break,  Bryan and Keith seemed to have some trouble with their eyes as the university and college girls walked by them wearing bikinis.  On our way back we stopped not too far from our site to watch wild burros, which are quite a familiar site in the area.

It is with mixed emotion we leave Tucson and Far Horizons RV Resort.  We have spent 3 wonderful months here and have met many wonderful people.  We will definitely miss our Happy Hours and spontaneous pot luck dinners.  We will also miss all of the friends we made during our stay and hope to keep in touch with them all.  We got up early this morning, and as we had spent most of yesterday preparing for our departure, there was only a little to do.  We managed to pull out by 8:30 am for the 6 hour drive to Parker.  As we were travelling we noticed that the plants in the desert are starting to bloom and the desert was colored with bright spots of red, yellow, pink and purple flowers.  We can only imagine how the desert will look when it is in full bloom.  The drive was uneventful and with only 2 short stops along the way we arrived at our RV park by 2:45.  Keith and Barb had arrived here earlier and had supper ready for us once we had set up.  It is wonderful to see them again and we are looking forward to spending the next week with them.  After dinner we went for a walk to watch the sunset and to see some of the plants that were blooming in the RV park.

Today Jim approached us and asked if we would be interested in going up Reddington Pass to watch the full moon rise.  We left around 9:00 in the evening and drove up the pass, again the road isn’t one of the best we have ever been on, but going up in the black of night the edges don’t seem so steep.  We stopped at the top of the mountain and got out of the Jeep.  What a feeling, the stars are so bright and seem so close, it felt like we could reach up and touch them.  We drove over the mountain for a while then turned around to head to the spot to await the moonrise.  What a sight, you could see the moon glow getting brighter behind the mountain before the moon even appeared.  On the way down Jim turned off the headlights so we could see what it was like driving in the moonlight.  The moon wasn’t as bright as he liked, so he turned the lights back on to continue down the mountain side.  Phew!!!  Thank you Jim for another wonderful experience in the desert.

Today Jim, a long time resident of Tucson and Far Horizons took us four wheeling into the Santa Rita Mountains.  Because there were 5 of us, we took our trusty pick-up so we could all fit in.    He knows so much about the area and we drove into places we would never have found, let alone attempted if he hadn’t been our guide.   We went to two different areas, the first into a canyon to check out the area that Tin Cup and the Posse was filmed.  We drove up a narrow (I mean narrow) dirt road, winding up the side of a mountain so we could look over the valley.  There were no signs of any movie sets as once a movie is finished the film company has to return to it’s natural habitat, and the return trip down the mountain was just as interesting and the trip up.  We stopped at a small town, Sonoita and had a picnic lunch before going into a different part of the mountains.  Jim wanted us to see a Spanish settlement/building that has been in the area since the 1600’s and can only be reached by 4 wheel drives.  Again another interesting drive accross a creek, up some narrow, bumpy, rocky roads that seem to hang on the side of the mountain.  Unfortunately, our truck was too big to get far enough back to the site, and as the road narrowed Jim didn’t want us to scratch up it’s side so we had to stop a ways away from it.  We went for a walk down the road a bit, but it was a bit too far walk to the site, and we didn’t want to leave the truck alone for too long.  A lot of illegal immigrants come through that area trying to reach Tucson, and we didn’t want them to think our truck was a drop vehicle.   Jim said that when we came back next year he would take us again but we would take his Jeep so could get farther back  into the mountains on narrower and bumpier roads, it’s hard to imagine anything worse than we were on today.  We arrived back home, tired and dusty, but glad we had a chance to see so much more of the desert and mountains.  After freshening up, our day ended, you guessed it, with supper at Pinnacle Peak Steak House with Dennis, Anne and Cathy joining us.  Our guys all wore ties, as the house rule of this establishment is no ties, and the penalty if found wearing one is having it cut off.  What a great way to end to day.

Now that a lot of the snowbirds are migrating north our numbers are dwindling.  There were only 4 of us, Wally, Wendy, Bryan and Carol who decided to head downtown to the 4th Avenue shopping area to check it out.  It is about 5 blocks long and there are small shops and restaurants lining both sides of the avenue.  The avenue hosts unique garbage containers (made from spare bicycle parts) and one of the original trolley cars in Tucson.  It didn’t take us too long to wander up and down both sides of the avenue, checking out the shops before we were hungry.  We stopped and had a light lunch at one of the small restaurants nearby, and decided afterwards to head towards the barrio to see the colorful housing that we had heard about.  We drove up and down the streets in the barrio looking at houses painted pink, blue, lavender, green, yellow, peach, orange, and more with the trims even more colorful than the actual houses,  taking care not to go too deep into the wrong area, which was wise on our part.  The drive then took a different direction out of the city and we headed up to check out Starr Pass resort and golf course a couple of miles out of the city and were rewarded with some beautiful views of Tucson and the golf course.  As we headed back toward town, we turned up “A” Mountain (called that because of the huge University of Arizona “A” on the top side of the mountain facing Tucson) and found a group of people flying remote gliders near the top.  We watched the gliders for a while and talked to some of the pilots who have been doing this for quite a while.  Some of the gliders had over $2,000.00 in electronics in them not including the remote control, it can be an expensive hobby especially if your glider hits the side of a mountain which does happen.  The day was spontaneous except for our planned tour of 4th Avenue and we ended up having supper at El Corral to see if they did have the best bar-b-cue ribs in town, not quite, we still like the Texas Roadhouse better but they came close.