Lake Havasu City, AZ

Lake Havasu City on the Colorado River, a natural boundary that divides California from Arizona, is a popular winter hide-out for Midwesterners, and a popular hang-out for college Spring breakers who want to enjoy some water fun along "Arizona's coast." Kevin and I had been here before several years ago and enjoyed the town, but also found it too touristy. That's partly because we didn't know about some of the hiking trails nearby.

Lynda, an old high school friend who now lives in Portland, OR, (and whom I visited while on my Oregon road trip this past summer) had contacted me about two weeks ago and asked me if I could join her at a VW rally at Lake Havasu State Park over the long MLK weekend. I agreed, and drove up there at 9:30am Saturday morning.

The drive was almost nine hours long, a few hours longer than Mapquest told me it would be. I should have left at 6am sharp and packed the van the day before. But Friday after school I had no energy to do so (after dealing with 120 8th graders!), and ended up losing precious time Saturday morning, stopping every two hours for a pee break for the dogs. By the time I had arrived at Lake Havasu Saturday, it was almost 6pm and past sun set.

I didn't get to spend that much time with Lynda once I got there. Lynda and I had some private time at the local In-N-Out burger joint near the London Bridge (the town's man-made tourist attraction) when I first got there. We met there for dinner before joining her other VW mates at the state park.

I'm glad she was with me as I drove to the state park, because getting to the state park required a short drive through what looks like an alley behind a big hotel, and that's all poorly lighted. The town is packed with hotels right along the river and they all vy for river front views.

I did get a good taste of the Vanagon experience. She had driven down from Portland with her two dogs and another Oregonian, Susie, and met several others in California before resting at Lake Havasu. I got to meet them all Saturday night by the fire at the campsite, to include a few people Lynda had met just a few days prior. , she didn't stay awake that much longer. By 9pm she went to her van for the night, the others did the same, and I had the rest of the night to explore. I walked along the old London Bridge (which actually once WAS a London Bridge before 1971), but I wanted my dogs with me so I didn't stay long at the tourist sites. Kevin and I had been here with Sara and Sammy several years ago, so I was familiar with the riverfront attractions. This is a town popular with wintering RVers and Spring breakers.

The Lake Havasu State Park was full of VW buses, Vanagons and Synchros for the weekend, and all had small courtyards made out of three buses in an square formation. The VWs were here for the annual "Buses by the Bridge" rally. This was quite a site to see! Some buses looked like they barely could drive. Others were decked out in 1960s regalia. There's definitely a sense of community with VW owners. All other camper vans are known as "SOBs", "Some Other Brand." I could join a VW rally with Lynda as an SOB. Ha.

It was a calm night but I also wanted the dogs to get some exercise in. The drive to the lake was long and exhausting, but I dare not let them out at the state park where other dogs were. I had googled a nearby community park, SARA Park (Special Access Recreation Area)for a rail that is ten miles from the state park. It closes at 10pm every night, so that didn't give me much time once I got there at 9:50pm, but it gave both dogs ten minutes to run up and down through the parking lot area before I returned to the state park and parked with other SOBers in the parking lot for the night.

I never got comfortable in my van as I woke up at 4am with cold feet! The dogs looked chilled as well, even though the forecasted high was to be in the upper 40s. At least this allowed me to get up early and witness Lake Havasu at sun rise. The colors were spectacular. Balloonists who had gathered at another park had also gathered for the same weekend to launch their balloons over the city at sun rise and sun set, so my 8am the sky was full of balloons floating above the town and lake.

The SARA park is big! I had a five-mile hike planned here for Sunday, the hike through "SARA's Crack" which is a wash that goes through a small slot canyon before it reaches a pristine portion of Balance Rock Cove on Lake Havasu. Lynda wasn't able to hike with me because Susie insisted on leaving for the return trip to Oregon early Sunday morning, and neither Lynda nor Susie drive at night. Their Vanagons don't go fast, either. They are taking a week to get back to Oregon. We all gathered at the local McDonald's for a joint breakfast before going our separate ways.

The local McD's is popular with tourists, as there was a long line at every cash register and most of the people were my age and older. I had to calm down another 50-something year old when she complained about having to wait five ghastly minutes for her coffee. The young counter workers could not keep the coffee brewing fast enough. Even in the parking lot of McD's, people were stopping to chat with Lynda and Susie about their old Vanagons.




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