We made it out of Fruita, no fanfare, just quietly left the neighborhood with sunny skies and highs in the 50’s! Our first stop was the Fruita Coop, as we needed a cooling fountain drink and wanted to check to make sure everything was packed securely in the camper. Our flat panel TV that we just installed did just fine, and no dishes flying out of the cabinets! We hit the interstate at Mack and got off at the Moab exit. We stopped at a motorcycle shop in Moab for some KLR parts and then continued south until we hit Bluff, UT and camped for the night at a BLM campground right along the San Juan river. We stopped just around sunset and the place was pretty quiet, only one other camper in site! We had a perfect spot that backed along the river; the grand views of the stars and the sound of the water at night were very soothing! In the morning we went for hike to see all the Indian petroglyphs that are in the area, it was a very impressive panel of Indian writings! Later that morning we packed up and went 20 miles down the road to Mexican Hat, UT. We found a deserted dirt road to camp at with awesome views all around! We finally were able to go for a ride on our Kawasaki KLR, we took a ride down to the state park with views of the goosenecks and the San Juan River which was just spectacular, also rode up hwy 261 up to the Moki Dugway that was a very twisty road with lots of switchbacks! After coming back down the road we took the road into Valley Of The Gods, which has some very interesting rock formations, one rock looks like a lady in a bathtub, actually looks like Marge Simpson! After a night of wind and falling temperatures, we decided to move on!
Made a stop in Flagstaff, AZ as our shower faucet broke the night before, of course it was the only faucet we hadn’t replaced yet! We found one in a hardware store and installed it in the parking lot, glad we did as it leaked! We returned it to the store and got another one that was similar, it didn’t leak but the holes did not line up exactly, so after so modifications, Rich got it work just fine! It was still cold and windy so we continued driving until we got to exit 13 off of I-40 West where we found a nice place to pull over and sleep for the night. In the morning we were only about 20 miles from Lake Havasu City, AZ where it is much warmer! We found a great place to camp free at a BLM campground at Craggy Wash. We have a great spot about 1.5 miles off the highway! Lake Havasu City, is home of the London Bridge, and not planning it we have been across the bridge with every vehicle we have, even our mountain bikes! It really is neat to see; just the engineering that it took to bring it across and put it back together is an interesting history lesson!
We have done a few side trips since we have been here, we took a boat ride over to the Chemehuev Indian reservation, resort/casino, had a nice late lunch and donated a $1.00 to their slot machines! The boat ride was free, can’t complain on that price tag! Our scooter ride took us up historic route 66 up to the historic town of Oatmam, they have several donkeys’ roaming the town, and it was quite interesting! It was a nice 150 mile loop, and we did several geo caches along the way! Our KLR ride took us south out of town to the Parker Dam, we went across the dam and into California, and explored some dirt roads in the area!
We have met some really nice people in the camping area, had a nice neighbors Sharon and Harlan from California, had a nice campfire at their site and shared some camper and truck stories! Just yesterday we had a coyote come though our campsite in the middle of the afternoon!!
Lake Havasu City has been a nice first destination, we haven’t figured out where we will go next, but will probably head out sometime next week. Having received our packet of information from the Campground in Michigan a few days ago, we are really looking forward to getting there and working! We will arrive sometime in early May so we still have some time to play! Now if only fuel prices will start dropping….Wishful thinking!!!!