December 9, 2020
A New State
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Sometime during the night the power was turned back on in camp. That was nice as we could now use our microwave for cooking oatmeal breakfast!
I rousted Don out of bed at 6:30 am. It was still dark outside as the sun doesn't reach the park until later in the morning. We were both tempted to sleep longer but time was awasting! They were shutting off the water in camp for some maintenance at 8 am so we needed to get our bathroom runs in early. While we do have a cassette toilet in the trailer, we prefer using the flush toilets in the bathhouse.
After a quick breakfast, we drove south to the Walmart in Parker where we picked up some new tubes and some groceries. It's much better to shop at this store when it is early. As we went back to camp, we exlpored a road that ran along closer the river through a residential area to Buckskin Mountain State Park.
That road might be an option to riding Highway 95 as it was quieter. We were glad we had chosen to stay at River Island SP as Buckskin Mountain was much larger with crowded sites.
Back in camp we loaded up the bike with water, snacks and a picnic lunch then started biking south on Highway 95. As on yesterday's ride north, the shoulder was rough but did smooth out with newer pavement just past the entrance to Buckskin Mountain. Although the shoulder was wider here, some numbskull had placed the rumble strip right in the middle of it!
When we reached the middle of Parker, we turned west and crossed the river to the California side. From here we turned north to follow a much quieter road that ran along the river. There was no shoulder, but drivers were courteous and moved around us.
We had been told that this road was flat by some other campers, but it did have some small hills as it wound its way through the desert. The scenery was great with rugged mountain peaks to the west and water views to the east.
There were lots of older RV parks and RV 'resorts' with palm trees and newer modular homes called park models. We saw palatial water front mansions with private docks to more modest trailers.
We've never been to this area before and were amazed that 1000's of people that winter along both sides of this river as it's much warmer than elsewhere in AZ. In the summer, people flock to the area for boating and fishing.
We stopped for lunch in a day use area where we made use of the bathroom. There were lots of wild burro droppings and hoof prints in the sand, but we never saw any live animals on our ride.
Continuing north we encountered a steep hill that had us creeping along in our granny gear. I think this bike needs some gearing adjustment!
Eventually we made it back to the Parker Dam where we crossed over the river back to AZ and Highway 95. We were back in camp by 3 pm, just in time for the water to be turned back on since we both needed showers!
Since the park encourages RV'ers to use their own toilets and showers, we pretty much had the bathhouse to ourselves. That was nice since you do have to wear a mask when in the bathhouse and we want to maintain our distance with other campers.
Showers done, we had dinner and enjoyed a movie we had brought from home. It was sure nice to have power again!
Today's ride: 34 miles (55 km)
Total: 42 miles (68 km)
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