So we motorvated back to Kalifornia for family visits and medical/dental duties. We checked in and helped out with Jeanne’s mother’s health care, then looped around from Atascadero to Santa Rosa for grandkids’ literal face time. We ended up spending about two months in that God forsaken state, but the day we completed our last appointment (me getting a tooth crowned, had to wait 2 extra weeks for the dang thing to get molded/created/installed) we went jacks up and sped away toward Hwy. 58 and the Tehachapi pass, our preferred path of escape from Kalifornia. (***Spoiler alert – if you want to avoid my politically incorrect rants, skip now to the next paragraph***) Each and every time we go back there the amount of garbage, homeless encampments, graffiti, dirty air, and the quality of the roads seems to get progressively worse. The politicians (who KEEP getting re-elected) have run what once was the most beautiful of the lower 48 states right into the toilet. What’s worse, the people still living there keep putting up with the socialist and totalitarian crap spewed by the likes of Gav & Nan & Maxie & all the rest. The facemask Nazis are everywhere, screaming at unsuspecting customers who may errantly wander into stores without the suffocating face diapers being worn in “the appropriate” manner. Even worse, some businesses actually require proof of vax (“Your papers, please!”) if you want to enter their buildings. This whole farce of a “pandemic” got out of hand long ago. I got news for everyone – it’s the flu, people! Covid, the flu. Delta, the flu. Omicron, the flu. Guess what? All of the future 347 variants over the foreseeable future, the flu. And anyone with a brain can see how effective the big pharma vaccines have been. But hey, if you’re fearing for your lives feel free to keep wearing those ineffective face diapers, getting multiple (failing) experimental chemical injections, maintaining that social distancing, self-imposing your very own quarantines, and continue being blindly obedient sheeple to your ruling class. I’m changing the name of the state from Kalifornia to Psycholovakia. Right now, if you are asking yourself, “What gives this moron the ability to make such broad, sweeping condemnations of the state of Psycholovakia,” I spent 53 years of my life as a resident of said state. And with 9+ years of full-time RV-ing throughout all of the lower 48 for use as a comparison, I think I’m qualified to render the opinion. ‘Nuff said.
With very little time for tourista activities during the last two months, I will leave it at that with a montage of grandkid photos…
Our new adventure started at Lake Havasu City, AZ. Our home for that stay was the Lake Havasu Elk’s Lodge. (For any of you Elks reading this post, this Elk’s Lodge is an extremely happening place. One of the members we spoke to claimed it to be the second largest lodge in the country…). The RV lot for the lodge is a gravel lot with 25 FHU spaces that are fairly spaced apart. The lodge has an active calendar with all types of events and meals of which we made good use of during our stay.
Welcome to the Havasu Lake Elk’s Lodge 
Our home at the Elk’s 
A backyard view from our home looking toward Lake Havasu/Colorado River
First outing was a return visit to the area of the London Bridge. As is our custom of unwittingly arriving in areas during special events, we discovered that the annual Lake Havasu City Christmas Boat Parade was scheduled for that evening. After a quick recon of the area during daylight, we left only to return later for the parade which was slated from 1900-2100 hrs. Sometimes, no, oftentimes, “The best laid plans…”! The master plan was to head back a couple hours early, have a nice meal at one of the many restaurants in the area, then scope out our viewing site. We returned at 1700 hrs. to discover the parade is kinda popular in these here parts. Parking anywhere near was nigh on impossible, but we found curbside parking still within long walking distance. The area up and down from the bridge was jam packed with humans! Not only that, ALL of the restaurants were full with SEVERAL hours wait time. Oh boy, like the famous quote from a memorable Seinfeld episode, “No soup for you!” We soldiered on and found our viewing site for the parade and proceeded to hurry up and wait. The parade was pretty cool, after the boats did their thing some aquatic acrobats did their thing on lit up jet skis, flips & dips etc. We decided to cut out a little early due to impending traffic jams and boy howdy I’m glad we did. It still took a while to get away, thousands of other folks also had the same idea. But we survived…
When we were here a few years ago, we found a cool bar located out in the desert between Parker & Parker Dam, dirt road accessible, aptly called “Nellie E Saloon – The Desert Bar”. At the boat parade we spoke with a couple who mentioned a second desert bar located north of Lake Havasu City (about 6 miles from the Walmart). That one is only open on weekends, so on a bright and cheery Sunday we ventured north and found “The Bunker Bar”. This was a short dirt road drive (a couple of miles off the highway) to arrive at the military bunker themed outdoor bar. It is a big-time pro-military, pro-first responder, pro-America venue. They had a small converted freight container for a stage with a band called “Roadwork” playing at the time. Food bunkers are on site (pub fare) as well as a swag store. Family friendly, there are all manner of things for children to play/climb on and cornhole for all. The band was pretty good (rock-n-roll, baby!), the gee-tar man making his rounds through the audience while he played licks from the likes of Ted Nugent, Eddie Van Halen, etc. Jeanne even got to mug for the camera with him to the tune of “Stranglehold”…
The area of Lake Havasu has a cornucopia of outdoor desert activies for those of you so inclined. The whole area between Quartzsite and Lake Havasu City (70 some miles or so) contains non-stop boondocking opportunities, a lot of it very popular and on BLM land. Their are miles and miles of OHV areas, Jeep trails, hiking/biking trails, not to mention all the lake activity available at Lake Havasu/Colorado River. Jeanne found a popular hike at Sara Park, on the south end of town, called “Sara’s Crack”. We loaded ourselves up, sans Woody, and headed out to explore Sara’s Crack (pun, well, heck yeah, but no, we are not budding proctologists!) This was about a 3+ mile round trip trek containing a large slot canyon. There are several trails that take off from the parking area, mostly criss-crossing through the bed of the gully/draw heading toward the slot canyon, some branching up onto the mountainside, you can pick your poison. We chose the “yellow” trail and once we got through the slot we branched uphill onto what I think was the “blue” trail which headed up for overall views of the area. I would classify the difficulty level for our journey at moderate. There was some rock scrambling and rope assisted climbing.
So that about catches us up to the minute. Until next post…