Greetings from Craggy Wash, near Lake Havasu City, AZ
I’ll just pick up the prose where my last effort left off at the Pilot Station RV in Stanfield, OR.
From Stanfield I moved south-east along I 84 to Pendleton and then began the climb up to the Blue Mountain Summit, AKA Cabbage-Meacham. As usual, the highway was bare at the bottom and skies clear, so I figured that the omens were good for a relatively stress free crossing. Actually, I had checked the Internet highway cam earlier to see what the pass looked like. Up top, lay 14” of snow at the side of the road whereas the actual paved surface appeared plowed but icy. When I got to the summit, this was, indeed, the case. The road was slick but slow speeds and a self-imposed prohibition on braking or acceleration got me down the east side in one piece. The problem is that the semis don’t seem to want to slow down, so they come by with a great blast of wind and snow. Some people drive even more slowly than I do and there is always a big risk coming up behind them. On icy surfaces, this can be problematic because one doesn’t want to use the brakes. The key is to accept the fact that it will take a while to get back to bare pavement and plod along with the flow. The road had been closed earlier for a couple of hours due to a major accident the night before but was clear by the time I came over (about 10 a.m.). I left Stanfield at 9 a.m. and arrived in Jackpot NV at about 4 p.m. This stage could have been a little faster but for the scenic shortcut that I took through some farm roads west of Twin Falls. This was in order to take a look at the Thousand Springs, a cliff with several waterfalls descending from the escarpment above the Snake River. Somewhere, I took a wrong turn, saw no signage, or waterfalls, but did, eventually, end up back on the country lane leading to the Jackpot highway. Temps were fairly chilly en-route (down to -14° C) at one point, so I was a little concerned about the water in the trailer and turned the furnace on to keep the tanks heated. This seemed to work, since I had running water when I got to Jackpot. I had thought that it was going to be really cold and opted to camp in Cactus Pete’s Casino RV Park, so I could plug in to “shore power”. The thinking here is that, If I have to run my furnace on “low” all night, simply to protect the water lines, then being hooked to power is an advantage – plus, I can use my small electric heater as a backup. We all know what happens to the efficiency of batteries in a car at really cool temperatures. Well - the same thing applies to my batteries in the trailer. They run at less than 50% efficiency when cold and the furnace fan requires plenty of juice. As it happens, Jackpot, even though at an elevation of nearly 5000’, wasn’t all that cold (slightly under freezing), so I probably could have survived without the extra boost. As always, Cactus Pete’s had an excellent buffet, so I fuelled up there rather than reheating frozen pork stew that the border guards had allowed me to keep. I wandered around the casino for a little while before returning to my TV in the trailer. Lots of people were playing “hold-em” poker in the”poker pit”. A woman came up and said that they had a spot at one of the tables if I wanted to play but, having observed the rate at which some players were throwing their chips in the pot and not really understanding the stakes, I declined.
From Jackpot, it is about 6½ hours to Lake Pahranagat, the Wildlife Sanctuary 4 miles south of Alamo, 90 miles north of Las Vegas. I was assisted by a huge tail wind most of the length of Nevada, which helped with fuel consumption. On the radio, it was announced that Colorado was to experience hurricane force winds up to 195 kms per hour (one of the few metric measurements that I have heard in the US), so I may have benefited from some of the overflow. I stopped at Pahranagat last year and am still impressed that the Fish and Wildlife people created such a nice camping/picnicking area with no fees for staying overnight.
Dec 10th Craggy Wash
I made it to Craggy Wash on schedule, Dec 8th – arrived about 2.00 pm after roughly 3 - 3.5 hours from Pahranagat with one stop at Searchlight, NV for fuel. The pumps at “Terribles” Service Center were acting up; with the result that there was a requirement to submit a zip code before the pump would operate. I tried all the buttons that I could press, attempting to crack the code with a fictitious zip but finally had to go in and speak with the attendant. She got me to run my credit card for a pre-approved maximum purchase amount, after which I returned to the pump, filled up with fuel and got another receipt for the actual amount. I thought that this was very strange and more than a little labour-intensive. At Craggy Wash, north of the Lake Havasu Airport, I pulled in to my usual spot on the edge of a little wash, and was greeted by Lyn and Linda Michaud (with dog Zulu), who had arrived earlier from Buckskin Mountain State Park – also Pam and Terry Ellott, folks from Surrey who I met last year in Why, and who had, unwittingly, parked adjacent to the Michauds.
I have discovered that I may have at least one low battery, since the monitor dropped down into the orange range when I fired up the inverter and TV on the first night.
Yesterday, the Michauds and I went for a hike to see if we could get down to the Colorado at Topock Gorge. First, we exited I 40 at Needles Mountain Road and went south on a gravel track as far as possible. This was in Lyn’s fairly new truck and it is possible that we went a little further than Linda considered ideal as the trail got a bit rough. It took us just over an hour after parking to hike down a wash to the river where we ate sandwiches on a nice sandy beach. The return trip was longer (uphill with hip pills wearing off). The Michauds have changed their plans a bit and will return home before Christmas. We discussed going to Maricopa Mountain Wilderness for a few days but opted to stay here, since Maricopa would be a day’s drive in the wrong direction for them. With the flea market on Sunday and shopping, e-mailing, etc. to do, I’m sure that we can waste a little more time at Havasu.
There are quite a few tent people here, some of whom looking slightly dishevelled. The ones nearest to me make lots of noise with one particular man who shouts haphazardly at persons unknown. It may just be that he and his elderly dog have developed a conversational
understanding over time but the words don’t make much sense to me. Old cars containing equally eccentric looking individuals visit at odd times of the day, so, anyone less open-minded than me might be disposed to think that funny business was afoot (word has it that drugs are available in Craggy Wash). At least he goes to bed early and doesn’t drown out the sound of my TV.Dec 15th Lake Havasu (N34°35.648’ W114°21.611’)
The Michauds made their escape several days ago and, yesterday, the Ellotts left for Quartzsite to get new batteries. Now I have new neighbours - two large fifth wheel trailers from Salmon Arm and one motorhome containing, Ted Webber and girl friend Bonnie, who hail from Idaho (I think, though Ted has licence plates of convenience for tax reasons). Ted is highly conversant about all things to do with GPS systems, battery management and water conservation, so has been advising me on matters pertaining to same. His water saving skills are to the point that, while in pre-shower mode and awaiting the arrival of hot water to the showerhead, he collects any surplus cold water in his kettle for future coffee making, I tried this and gained almost two litres – a bonus!
While Lyn was still here, we made a visit to the Walmart down the road and purchased my Christmas present to me – a GPS – Garmin - eTrex Legend C. From now on, every campsite will have its coordinates listed, so those navigating on their maps, or following along, will be able to pinpoint my location. I have been reading instructions and practicing my course-plotting technique by walking up, down and in a random manner, around Craggy Wash. The neighbours might think that I have joined the muddle-headed ranks of the nearby tent people, some of whom are prone to holding discussions with themselves. In reality, though, I am making slow progress and hope to find my way to the highway in a day or two. Still to come are detailed backcountry maps (on CD) for installation in the computer. Walmart did not have these, so I shall hunt them down elsewhere.
Even though my 1 weak battery has shown signs of revitalization, The electrolyte readings are still low, meaning that it is doomed. Prevailing wisdom in these matters dictates that one should replace all the batteries. It is likely only a matter of time before one or more of the others begin to fail - when one has a bank of four, all hooked together, one rotten apple…….. I checked out several battery places in town, to discover that most battery people also recommend changing all four (of course they would!). Prices may be better down in Quartzsite, so I shall probably go there to spec things out.
Daytimes are very pleasant here with highs in the upper 60s. Nighttime lows drop into the low 40s. I shall use Fahrenheit scales throughout the winter messages – without translation into Celsius any more. Older readers will remember and younger ones will have the mental benefit of making conversions. This may be the last e-mail before the 25th (sighs of relief), so - Merry Christmas!
Am still having difficulty posting pictures. Will, no doubt, work this out sometime during the winter. For the time being, bloggers will have to settle for text only
JW
