November 8, 2021
From the lake to the land of giants
Lake Havasu City to desert campground
Today was the first of 2 travel days as we make our way east to Kartchner Caverns State Park. It would have been too long of drive to make in one day, so we split it up into two.
Don had found a few options for camping east of Gila Bend. Two were boondocking spots and the other was a county campground.
We figured we would check them out and find the one that felt most comfortable/safe. Especially when the reviewers mentioned that there were signs in the boondocking spots warning travelers about smuggling and illegal activities occurring in the area!
We were late in checking out today for some reason and didn't get on the road until nearly 11 am. Both of us said that we would come back to stay in the Elk's RV park but only for the dancing since the biking was so poor.
If we did come back, I'd like to take a boat tour on the lake to look at the lighthouses. I hadn't realized that there were 28 mini lighthouses on Lake Havasu!
They are all 1/3 replicas of famous lighthouses on the East and West coasts, as well as on the Great Lakes. A guy spearheading this project used this idea as a way to improve boating safety on the lake while providing a draw for tourists. The first one was built in 2002 while the most recent one was completed in 2020.
They are navigational aides and not true operating lighthouses. The East Coast lighthouses are located on the east side of the lake while the West Coast lighthouses are located on the west side of the lake. Those from the Great Lakes are located around the island. There is even a lighthouse club. Very neat idea!
Back on the road, we headed south to I-8, then east toward Gila Bend. It's a very busy highway and was an uneventful drive.
By 3 pm or so we reached the turnoff to our first potential boondock site. The gravel road wasn't too rough and as we drove along looking for a spot to pull over, we came across a van parked smack dab in the middle of the road! The driver even had his chair and a propane tank set out in the road. There was no way Don could get around him, so we waited for the guy to move his stuff so we could squeeze by.
The guy had his hood up so we didn't know if he was having issues, but 3 times he walked around to the road, looked at us, waved his arms, all the while muttering something that we couldn't hear. We couldn't back up, so just waited patiently for him to do something. He seemed very strange.
Finally he seemed to get the message and moved his chair/propane so we could get around him, all the while flipping us off and muttering. As we passed he continued to flip us off, then made a gesture of gun with his hand aimed at us. That was weird and made us both feel very uncomfortable!
We both decided that we weren't going to camp in this area, so as soon as we could find a spot to turn around, we would head down the highway to another location. Of course, we had to navigate a narrow sandy wash that had trees very close to the road. Don had to put the truck in 4 wheel drive in order to get through that spot.
We didn't get stuck which I was thankful for! Then we had to go by the strange guy again, but made it by safely. I mean, he could have had a gun! Scary!
Once we were back on the interstate, we bypassed the other boondock location and headed for the county campground. That ended up being a much better choice even though it cost us $12.
It was next to the highway, but quiet with only a few campers. Plus there was a nice campground host. Although it had no hookups, it did have portapots nearby and picnic tables on every site. For one night it would work just fine. The scenery was great as we had saguaro's all around us!
By the time we got parked and somewhat level, it was nearly 5 pm. Other than setting out our chairs, we didn't bother to put out the grill or even unhitch from the truck.
We had thought there would be some good star gazing out here in the desert but there were too many clouds. However, I did get some good pictures of the sunset with the sagauros.
Tomorrow we move on.
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 1 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |