It is a short hop of less than 100 miles up the Colorado to Davis Dam on the south end of Lake Mohave. We wind our way through the sprawling development of Bullhead City/Laughlin and on to the NPS campground at Katherines Landing. No problem getting a site even though it is Easter weekend. A forecast that includes lots of 90+ days might be affecting occupancy. Our plan? Check out the fishing and do some loafing. We have to work on the boat trailer a little too…..
Richard of Skip’s Prop Shop made the welding repairs. It looks it bit lumpy and gnarly but its inside where no one will ever see it. Kent sprays all along the inside of the repaired area with Flex Seal “As seen on TV” for good measure then reassembles the interior. The boat is good as new, we hope. We head off to Katherine’s Landing on Lake Mohave tomorrow where we will check it out for sure. If we had to have boat trouble seems like Lake Havasu City was a better place than many to have it.
Ends up with the most maintenance! As you might think, it is not a good thing when you come in off the lake and remove the plug 10 or 15 gallons of water runs out! Close inspection reveals a couple small cracks and a leak path along the keel. Rats, and the timing sucks. We are just starting a 4-week stint along the Colorado with plans to boat Lake Havasu, Mohave Lake and Lake Mead.
Kent is, as we speak, dismantling the interior of the boat to get to the suspected leak. There is a shop here in Havasu that did outboard motor work for him a few years ago and says they might be able to make the required repairs. Stay tuned.
We head out to Havasu National Wildlife Refuge to see who might still be hanging around. Most of the migratory flocks have moved on and sightings of any kind are few. We spot two roadrunners; one is carrying his lunch-lizard. Grackles and cowbirds entertain with their antics and racket. Several large V’s of pelicans circle overhead in search of their next spot to alight. We spot a few coots and a couple great blue heron drift in on their enormous arched wings. We picnic and find a Dairy Queen on historic Route 66 for a treat while we are out and about, then head on home for the afternoon.
It is windy and rough out on Lake Havasu. Today is not the day to go exploring so we hide out behind the island and watch the parade of boats making the loop through the island channel. Might as well wet a line while we float….the result; two nice large-mouth bass. Kent wins the prize at 4 ½ pounds but mine is a respectable 2 ½ pounder and fun to catch. We call it a day after a few hours so we don’t get sunburned the very first day out here.
We are camped out on a mesa just north of town where the breeze is keeping things fairly comfortable even though we are hitting the high 80s.
We have a couple more days left on our second two week pass but highs in the mid 90s are a bit much. Plus, we have been to Silly Al’s for pizza so we can declare this year’s stay official and complete. It is time to start north; just as far as Lake Havasu City for now.
Quartzsite deserves a bit of a summary. People are friendly, sunsets and sunrises are often beautiful, the wind can and does really blow, beautiful creative rock art is scattered among sites, there is a great 3 mile walking trail, the Magic Circle, around the clothing optional section, and there are a few birds to watch and listen to along the washes (ash throated flycatchers, black throated sparrows, white crowned sparrows, doves, and occasional vultures and ravens). I was thrilled that a hummingbird finally found my water bowl but seems he never told any of his friends. No others visited the bowl even though we saw them daily as they checked out our orange window sticker…almost the same color as a hummingbird favorite, ocotillo blooms!
We are still hanging out at Quartzsite where we can dive into home projects in earnest. For today it is touch up paint on the trailer and the motorhome steps plus brakes all around on the trailer—a tri-axle!
We are off to Phoenix for Carol’s 4PM flight but we have one more mission before she heads back to PA. We are checking out Class B motorhomes at LaMesa. They have a bunch of them. We traipse in and out of probably a dozen. Carol learns lots more about what she wants and what is out there but none are “just right”. We send her on her way with more looking in her future.
The drive takes us past Mittry lake. The huge agriculture area surrounding it confirms they have about wrapped up truck farming/vegetable farming for the season and moved on to wheat and alfalfa. We see only a few pickers in the last broccoli fields.
Our destination; the Center of the World in Felicity CA. We just had to take Carol to see it! We wandered and read a few more of the granite tablets and even met Felica, the town namesake. Carol rang the Liberty Bell replica, yikes that was loud!
It is lunch time and we find Las Herraduras Mexican restaurant in downtown Yuma. Cheese crisp with green chilis, burritos, chimichanga…everything is delicious.