Steve's Blog Review - 2012 PART 4 of 4

2012 Blog Review Part 4 of 4

If you missed my 2010-2012 Part 3 Blog Reviews go to the header at the top of the page

October 22nd-24th

San Francisco Peaks come into view as we pass thru the Coconino National Forest on our way to...

The Grand Canyon Railway RV Park in Williams, Arizona.  As a Passport America member we got our site for $19.50.

We walked around exploring Williams which is on the historic Route 66

We stopped in for a brew at the World Famous Sultana Bar which looked like a dumpy place from the outside but was nice inside. The current owners late husband was a hunter so animal trophies adorn the place. They claim to be the oldest "still operating bar" in the US. The bartender took an interest in us and gave us a tour of their historic theater that now rents out for parties and receptions...

It was a cold blustery morning as we headed over to watch the gunfight performance before...

Boarding the train for the trip to the Grand Canyon which was just over 2 hours away...

On our arrival we did a 1 1/2 hour bus tour that took us to several viewpoints...

In the distance 10 miles away is the North Rim which is 1000' higher than the South Rim and the Colorado River is almost a mile below!!

On the way back to Williams the train slowed to a stop...

We were being robbed!!

October 25th-November 6th

Lake Havasu State Park, home of the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City, AZ

There just happened to be a Boat, Car and RV Show next to the park...

Our site...

We went to the Barley Brothers Restaurant and Brewery  that overlooks the bridge for lunch...

We walked across the London Bridge then along the Bridgewater Channel. It was originally built in the 1830's and 10,276 of it's exterior granite blocks were reassembled and the bridge opened in 1971.

This end of the Bridgewater Channel opens up to Lake Havasu...

There are 27 replica lighthouses here...

One afternoon we took a 20 minute ferry ride over to the Havasu Landing Resort and Casino in California...

This was a fairly small casino...

After a couple of hours playing the slots and leaving our donations, we waited for the arrival of our ferry, the Dream Catcher...

One of our nicer sunsets...

Dianne's brother Dennis, sister in-law Suzanne, and Dunkin stopped in for a visit on their way down to their RV spot in Indio, CA

Havasu is a beehive of activities so I was in my glory to find out there was the 

26th Annual London Bridge Seaplane Classic. There were 70-80 pilots expected. I'd been to RC Air Shows before but had never been to one on water...

There were a few crashes on take offs and landings as well as one mid air collision. This is the dive boat for picking up the pieces. One guy with a net to pick up any floating pieces and another to dive to the bottom for the heavier pieces such as the motor...

They even had a few RC boats...

Model of a Canadair Water Bomber. For any RC plane enthusiasts more pictures are in the blog :) 

November 7th-15th

Thanks to a tip from Janos who had interviewed me for an article on Unique RV vehicles for the RV Times back home, we moved onto Cross Roads BLM Campground on the Colorado River in California near Parker, AZ. At the time it was $5 per night and with our National Park pass it cost us $2.50!! We took the end site on the river which had some evidence and smell of horse manure, especially after a bit of rain. We assumed horse people had camped here previously.

We soon learned that burros were coming thru here to drink in the river...

We explored Buckskin Mountain State Park on the Arizona side of the Colorado River...

We had heard a couple of years ago about the must see Desert Bar Nellie E Saloon  It's located on a very rough gravel road at an old mining camp in the Buckskin Mountains so we were going to ride our ATV's. I thought my research said it was 25 miles but it was only about 5 miles, not much of a ride. I guess it was 25 minutes by car...

The Bob Gulley band was awesome!

This place is extremely popular. They have since expanded considerably since our first visit and now have several different food venders. They are only open on weekends October thru April.

The skinny church on site is made of steel and the walls and ceiling are made of stamped tin and the roof is copper. Weddings are even held here. What a cool place!!

We checked out some of the side trails but have since learned there are trails instead of the road you can take all the way to the Desert Bar which is very popular with 4 wheelers and Jeeps...

Back at camp "Wheel Burro"...yes we named him, showed up with the family...

On our way to see the Parker Dam we saw a sign that said Black Meadow Landing so decided to check it out first. It's a large RV Park, Motel and Marina on Havasu Lake. The paved road in was rough in spots with lots of twists and turns so we were surprised to see so many large RV's here. 

It looked like a great spot...

We noticed this arch on our way back...

The Parker Dam  on the Colorado River. California on the left and Arizona on the right...

On the way back we filled up our water containers at the Empire Landing BLM Campground. We thought this was a goofy setup where the sites are in cul de sacs...

Across the road from the campground there was a large area to off load the quads. As I was gassing up the quads, Dianne was retrieving our helmets from the cab of the truck. She mistakenly thought she was on the bottom step but was on the top one when she let go, landing flat on her back and hitting her head on a rock. I was on the other side of the truck and all I heard was this god awful guttural sound that scared the crap out of me. Although sore with blood matted in her hair she was a real trooper and we managed a short ride...

Checking out a mine...

My mag light wasn't bright enough to go beyond where it split into a y but the camera flash worked out for a photo. Dianne was getting a bit sore so we didn't get to see everything the guy at the visitor center told us about but it was still a great ride...

Next door is the Emerald Cove RV Resort so we snuck over for their Happy Hour that runs from 3-6. 

Sitting under cover between their two pools we enjoyed their $1 draft beer. 

Dianne was experiencing some strange pains from her fall out of the truck so we went to the hospital in Parker where she got blood and urine tests, a CT scan and a shot if iodine in her veins. Thankfully everything checked out okay but she had dealt with intermittent pain for probably a year or so. This was our first time using our travel medical insurance and the goofy American hospital billing system. :)

November 16th-18th

After a little difficulty finding the poorly marked turnoff for the Oxbow BLM Campground in the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge we found our way to a great spot on the Colorado River just inside the Arizona border...

We walked across the bridge to get a shot of our rig in our little bay...

We went to the Cibola NWR Visitor Center to get some info on the area and were told about a self guided driving tour. We started off at the Cornfield Nature Trail that took us to a waterfowl viewing platform...

Along the roadway were lots of man made homes for Burrowing Owls made out of drainage pipes... 

We even managed to spot a few of them...

We saw lots of Sandhill Cranes...

As the sun was setting on our final day we enjoyed a fire with our propane fire pit...

November 19th-28th

Another BLM campground we wanted to check out was Midland LTVA near Blythe, CA

The morning after our arrival we were greeted by some of the locals that have been coming here for years, Wolf, and fellow Canadians Ann and Arman, who has since passed away. They invited us to a Thanksgiving feast they were having in a couple of days. Then our nearest neighbour Dennis invited us over for a Happy Hour...what a friendly place!

We checked out some of the local trails...

Wolf and Marg had quite the setup. Motor home, storage trailer, food court, and a workshop trailer that was like a a mini hardware store that had every tool you could think of and keeps an inventory list of the contents of his numbered storage bins! So instead of going to town if you needed something go see Wolf first.

We enjoyed a delicious American Thanksgiving dinner and making new friends...

Dennis and Charlene invited us to the races at the Lucas Oil I-10 Speedway located at the Colorado River Fairgrounds in Blythe. They had street stock cars, legend cars and bandolero cars

Bandolero winner getting his trophy. These cars have a Briggs and Stratton 570cc engine and go like stink. The drivers are all kids. The one in red is only 8!

We explored more of the trails...

Did some geocaching along the way...

We had a few dinners and many Happy Hours with Dennis and Charlene. Some people you just click with. We always made sure to visit them here at Midland until they gave up the RV lifestyle 3 or 4 years ago. We have since stayed with them for a few days at their beautiful home overlooking Lake Michigan when we did our cross Canada trip.

Dennis had a weather station on a pole with solar lights. At the base of it he had water and treats for the Kit Foxes that would show up nightly...very cool!

On our final evening we had a bunch of the locals over for a Happy Hour...

November 29th-December 3rd

After last nights 6 hour Happy "Hours" we were feeling a little slow packing up for our next destination La Posa South LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ

We checked out some of the vendors in town that are set up early before the big show in January..

Geocaching with Earl and Allison...they are hard core geocachers!

Happy Hour at our place, Rob, Peggy, Allison, Earl, and Art...

We had many rides and did lots of geocaching...

Lunchtime at Apache Chief Cabin...

After our ride we headed to Silly Al's Pizza to celebrate Dianne's birthday. Us with Earl and Allison, Jan and Art, and Sue and Bob...

December 4th-10th

I had an appointment to get the truck serviced on the west side of Phoenix so we returned to one of our favourite spots in the overflow area that overlooks the lake and marina at 

Pleasant Harbour Marina and RV Resort near Peoria, AZ

We had many beautiful sunsets overlooking the marina...

They have a nice restaurant and bar at the marina...

We got lots of chores done, rode our bikes and relaxed at the pool...

We hiked to the top of the steep hill that overlooks the campground and also did a little geocaching....

Great views up here!

The hill we hike up...

As it was close to Christmas many rigs in the main campground were decorated...

From here we dropped off our trailer for some service work. While that was getting done we did some shopping then picked up our rig and checked into Eagle View RV Resort for a few days where we stored our rig so that we could fly home for Christmas.  

December 14th-January 3rd

Passing over Sidney by the Sea as we land at Victoria International Airport on Vancouver Island, BC.

Our oldest son Rob and his wife Angie...

Youngest son Chris came over from Vancouver, Angie, my late father Steve Sr. and Rob

Christmas Dinner at my sisters, niece Amanda, nephew Matt, sister Nadine, brother in-law Mike, Dianne, Rob, Angie and Chris...

Chris's girlfriend (now wife) came over from Vancouver...

We had a visit and dinner at Dianne's brothers, sister in-law Helen, niece Vanessa and Dwight...

We had some great family time, played games, went out for New Years Dinner, ate and drank too much but hey it was Christmas!

Well that's it for my 2012 Part 4 of 4 Blog Review

As I said in the beginning my intensions were to do a 2010-2020 blog review, however it's been a slow go and more labour intensive than I expected. I've run out of time and a home internet data plan. I was at least hoping to get to a couple of my bucket list  highlights...our 2013 Alaska adventure and our 2016 trip to an African Safari in Tanzania, visits to Rwanda,  Amsterdam, Paris, and the Normandy landing beaches. 

If you wish to check those out...

June 11th-September12th  2013 BC, Yukon, Alaska Adventure

October 20th-November 17th Africa, Amsterdam, Paris, Normandy 

If you came this far I hope you found my reviews interesting and thank you for tagging along. Hopefully you've discovered some places you may want to visit. There's no life like full time RVing, making new friends, many of whom are now lifelong friends. There are so many places to explore but never enough time...