Last Day on the Road – Part 1

 

May 19, 2014  –  Monday

Yesterday and this morning have been the hottest days on our trip so far. We ran the air conditioner all night and morning. I hate hearing that thing, but it was too hot without it. There was a good breeze, but it was hot air, so just leaving the windows open wasn’t enough.

We planned to get up really early and get on the road to beat the heat. Yesterday, I could feel a sore throat coming on. I didn’t fall asleep till pretty late I think due to the loud air conditioner. This morning it was hard to get going, but we each took showers at the park and were on the road by 6:45 am. My gps says home is 4 hrs and 12 minutes away.

The Lake Havasu area is very pretty. I’m not all that familiar with the campgrounds, but I have stayed at all three state parks. The drive leaving Cattail Cove was scenic, and uphill. I had Bill snap some pictures.

Besides various RV parks, there are a lot of mobile home communities it looks like, right on the Colorado River.

Then the road got long and boring, on our way to pick up the I-10. We pass the Welcome to California sign at 7:20. We pulled over at 8:25 for potty breaks and to replenish our water bottles.

Soon we pass the Riverside County border sign, and we are still 2 hrs and 42 minutes from home! Riverside county is HUGE. We technically live in Riverside county, but near the San Diego county line.

Finally we get to the I-10 freeway in Blythe at 9:15 am. We gassed up in Indio, paying $4.05 a gallon, the most expensive gas we have had for the whole trip. Welcome to California, land of high gas prices.

At 10:30, we are on Hwy 111 that runs thru Indio and the Palm Springs area. Palm trees line the roads, with manicured parkways, expensive shops and golf courses. When I take this route, I always stop for a date shake at Shields. I pull into the parking lot away from the cars so we can run the RV generator and the air conditioner. An RV generator should be run at least 30 minutes or longer a month, to keep it in good working order. We didn’t use it much on this trip. Bill stays in the RV with the dogs while I go in to get my date shake and look around.

I’ve never taken the time to watch the “movie” .

With the monthly generator run done and my belly full, it’s time for the last stretch of the trip before getting home. It’s also the most steep road, on any trips I have taken, I think. My last RV climbed the hill without any problems. I hope this one does as well.

See Part 2  –  Last Day on the Road

 

Cattail Cove State Park, Lake Havasu – Part 2

May 18, 2014. – Sunday (continued)

I stayed at this state park with my son a couple of years ago on our way to the Lake Havasu Balloon Festival. It was pretty crowded then, because of the event in town. Today, being Sunday we practically have the park to our selves. We have a much better site, than when I was here last.

The road coming into the park keeps you in suspense of what you will see. Around a curve you get a glimpse of the water. On the last picture, above the orange things in the water, is another campground up on the hill.

As soon as we got hooked up, we walked the dogs down to the boat dock to see the lake. A lady walking on the dock gets in the boat that picks her up. Photo of the nice restroom shower building and in the photo of Bill holding Bella, you can see just how close our RV site is to the water.
The park may not have many campers here today, but there are still a lot of day use people using the park to launch their boats and jet skies. We have a great view no matter which window we look out of. It’s entertaining watching all the boats come and go during the day. Now that its evening, every thing is quiet, except for the noise of running our air conditioner!

I take the dogs out to potty and Bella wants to come right back in it’s too hot for her. Chica is always up for adventure, so I take her on a little walk over to the dog area and dog beach. My dogs really haven’t been around water in a lake, pool or river much. They don’t seem interested when they do see water. I tried to get Chica to touch the water with her feet, but she wouldn’t go closer than three feet. I think the small wakes scared her a little.

The stairs in one of the photos goes up to a trail. I didn’t take it today, but did with my son last time I was here. On the walk back, Chica caught the scent of something and dragged me up the side of the trail so she could get to whatever she smelled. It was a dead rat. Yuck. Luckily she left it alone when I said “leave it”.

So that’s about it for our day. I worked on the photos and blogs most of the afternoon. Feels good to get that done. Bill wants to leave here early in the morning, to beat as much heat as we can. We will probably be home tomorrow, but I’ll do another blog about the trip home.

Time to walk the dogs before it gets too dark. They have been very patient for most of the trip. I know they will love getting home and free of their harnesses and leashes.

Cattail Cove State Park In Lake Havasu, AZ

May 18, 2014 – Sunday

We left Williams at 8 am, trying to beat driving in the heat. Forecast for all routes leading home are in the 100’s. Got gas in Kingman, dogs and I had a short break while I called a state park in Lake Havasu to see if they had availability for tonight. She said it was almost empty, now that most people leave Sun morning, so that’s our destination.

The exit for Seligman was coming up, and you can get off here and back on I-40 a little farther up, so it wasn’t really out of our way. I wanted him to see this funky little Route 66 town that I’ve visited before. We didn’t stop, just snapped photos from the RV and back on the freeway.

The drive to Lake Havasu was long and not many places to stop for a rest. The scenery was pretty. The road required downshifting on some of the steep hills.

We arrived at Cattail Cove State Park, after driving thru Lake Havasu City. We got here at 12:15 and was allowed to pick our own site. We drove thru and found the best site ever empty, so we went back and paid for our site. Just $28 for a pretty lake view site. Plus, there are only about five of us RVers here today. We have no neighbors and a great view out of every window. But it’s hot, 104 today! There are a lot of day use people using the park to launch their boats and jet skies.

See Part 2 for photos of this nice campsite.