London Bridge is Falling Down

I was reminded of this nursery rhyme when we were looking at the real London Bridge, not in London, but in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, where the bridge built in the 1830’s now sits.  But first ...

Sometime during the night, Deb heard a whole pack of coyotes howling.  They could have been close, and they could have been far away as sound carries pretty well in the still desert night air.  I didn’t hear a thing.

After breakfast we set out, going north on US-95 towards Lake Havasu City.  We paused at Parker Dam to take a look around.  Passenger vehicles can drive over the dam but RVs and other larger vehicles are not, so we parked just short of the dam and walked the last half-mile.  As far as dams go, this one appears smaller than more well known dams, however, it has made our World’s Largest list because it is the deepest dam in the world.  It is the only dam in the world that stands more underground than above ground.  In order to reach good bedrock, the builders of this dam had to go 235 feet below the riverbed, which earned its place on our list.

Half of the power generated from this dam goes to pumping water into the Colorado River Aqueduct, which is used to supply water to the Los Angeles area, nearly 250 miles away.

Ok, enough trivia, I just find dams interesting.  One little gem of a location we found, that was not mentioned in any of our guides, was the Take-Off Point Recreation Area, the road to which was nicely hidden behind a curve and after the signs that screamed “No Trucks, Busses, and RV’s allowed on the dam.”  If you are a fisherman, or like to kayak, this little park on Lake Havasu is a great launch spot.  It also offers great views of the southern end of Lake Havasu.

There was a portable boat cleaning station in one of the parking areas here, complete with a vacuum, so we parked the RV beside it and vacuumed over three weeks accumulation of dust and dirt from areas where the broom won’t reach.  Nice to have things a little cleaner.

We also stopped at Bill Williams River National Wildlife Preserve, just a few miles up the road from the Dam.  This offers another view of Lake Havasu and serves as the visitor center for this wildlife refuge and the larger Havasu Wildlife Refuge.  We walked around the trails for a bit, and even were able to see Pancake, the land tortoise.  Sightings are rare, since they hide during the heat of the day, but since his living area was an 8-foot circle, we didn’t have far to look.

We rolled into Lake Havasu just before lunch.  This is a playground destination for many people, especially from the Los Angeles area, and has a bit of a reputation for parties.  Since it is not quite high season yet, the parties haven’t started, but there are still a lot of RVs on the road and ATVs on and off the road.  I think the season is ramping up.

One of the central features of Lake Havasu City is the London Bridge, which was purchased from London in 1968 and transported, block by block, to Lake Havasu City where it was reassembled on a re-engineered foundation. The bridge serves as the only road to Lake Havasu City Island which contains resorts, RV parks, and more RV parks.  The story of this bridge is quite fascinating in that it was purchased to attract people, especially retirees, to the community built around the bridge, and ultimately to sell the land that Robert McCulloch, the founder of Lake Havasu City, purchased from the Army Air Corps.  He could not sell the land otherwise because it was in the middle of the desert, but the bridge attracted buyers and he was able to recoup all his expenses.

We stopped at the village parking lot next to the bridge and walked around the village and the water’s edge.  Lots of British inspired shops and architecture, complete with red phone booths.

We walked on the bridge, then drove across it and had lunch in one of the beach parking lots.  We took our bikes off the RV for the first time on this trip and rode around the island a couple times, then rode over the bridge and back along the main road to Sara Park, six miles uphill from where we were at.  Electric bikes helped greatly. The ride back was a six-mile coast downhill and with the wind.

We drove just north of town to the Craggy Wash camping area, a BLM dispersed camping location.  Quite the interesting place here, with all types of people scattered about along the dirt road.  From tents, to converted school busses, to old Class-A motorhomes to people sleeping in their cars, the clientele here runs the entire gamut. But it is quiet, and for that we are happy.

We've been seeing the moon every night as it got dark, slowly going towards full moon.  This evening it is full and we happened to see it rising over the mountains as we finished dinner.  A beautiful end to a nice day.