.jpg?psid=1 "View album")
We’ve received several queries as to what happened to our blog postings and when are we going to start travelling again, so this blog is to describe our winter on the desert.
We continued our recent snowbird pattern of renting a condo for those short winter days. When it is dark so early in the afternoon, our camper is a very small space to spend so many hours! We chose Gilbert Arizona, outside of Phoenix, for Nov, Dec & Jan. We were blessed with dry, sunny, and warm weather for all three months, fully appreciating that this was a brutal winter in much of the country. Since we have visited most places in Arizona, we decided to concentrate on getting more fit. We needed to lose the weight that we had gained on our Europe jaunts (and more) and to push ourselves to do something active every single day. That consisted of swimming, hiking, biking, tennis, long walks, yoga, lifting weights, jogging, or the elliptical machine, usually followed by a soak in the hot tub. These activities took dedication and time, became addictive, and were thoroughly enjoyed, but it doesn’t make for very interesting blog material.
We enjoyed visits with friends & family during this time. We took advantage of Farmer’s markets, Christmas concerts, the Fiesta Bowl parade and game, scenic drives up the Salt River Canyon and the Apache Trail, hikes up Camelback and in the Superstition Mountains, and the beauty of the desert with its wide open skies and beautiful sunsets.
We left the Sonoran Desert and the Saguaros behind and drove up to Las Vegas through the Mojave Desert with all of the Joshua Trees. We went to Lake Mead and crossed the Colorado River over the new bridge next to Hoover Dam. We stayed for 2 weeks in a condo off the Strip and enjoyed hiking in Red Rocks Canyon & exploring the area. We visited the infamous Pawn Shop of the Pawn Stars TV show. Of course we did visit the Strip and Fremont Street downtown. We stopped by the Paris (one of our favorites) for a crepe and a glass of wine and, in fact, we ran into long-time friends there. We had to stop in on our favorite stops; the LED-lit Fremont Street with all of the neon, the Bellagio for the fountains and the Chihully glass ceiling, the changing sky in the Forum in Caesar’s Palace, Margaritaville and the live flamingos in the Flamingo…well, you get the idea. There is so much to do in this town besides gamble. For Valentine’s Day we stayed at the Mirage, watched the volcano go off from our room, and took in a show.
Heading south back into Arizona, the town of Kingman is the “Heart of Route 66” and the longest continuous ribbon (158 miles) of “America's Mother Road.” Nearby we drove over Sitgreaves Pass on Historic Route 66. The 52 miles between Kingman and the Colorado River (near Topock) is the original Mother Road. It is laughable compared to today’s highway standards as it is narrow, has no shoulders, has dips and bumps and curves that explain Pat’s childhood motion sickness. Predating the declaration of Route 66 in 1926, it was cut to pour in a stream of prospectors looking to stake a claim in the Oatman Gold Rush of 1902. It is representative of the Mother Road mentioned in John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath and best symbolizes the Route 66 of the American Great Depression of the1930s and Midwest drought when thousands of families loaded up all of their possessions and headed to California. [92% of them eventually returned.] This is the longest stretch that remains of original Route 66. Wild burros, descendants of those let loose in the mining days, still roam the nearby hills and sometimes the streets.
Next destination on our desert route was to follow the Colorado River south to Lake Havasu City in Arizona. Lake Havasu City is a town that grew in 1971 after the re-installation of the London Bridge as a tourist attraction in this desert location. Everybody thought the guy was crazy but, crazy like a fox as he laughed all the way to the bank. It is now a tourist destination and a town of 52,000, including a popular Spring Break destination. Thank goodness we will be gone by the time the crowds arrive.
Travelling further south along the Colorado River we noticed that the river diminishes quickly. The water is siphoned off for population areas (e.g. The Central Arizona Project) as well as agriculture (The Imperial Valley which grows 90% of vegetables grown in US). The Colorado River is a vital source of water for agricultural and urban areas in the southwestern desert lands, as well as a water supply for almost 40 million people. Recent intensive water consumption has dried the lower 100 miles of the river such that it no longer reaches the sea (Gulf of California) except in years of heavy runoff (not recently with this severe drought in the West.) The Colorado River is now considered among the most controlled (Glen Canyon, Hoover, and Parker dams) and most litigated in the world, with every drop of its water fully allocated. That doesn’t leave much for Mexico. It was noticed that the bird migratory path following the Colorado River had been destroyed. Thanks to an effort to restore the bird wetland habitat, several national wildlife refuges have been established near where the Colorado River used to be and the birds returned.
We arrived at Yuma, Arizona, just a few miles from the Mexican border. Is this the same mighty Colorado River that we saw the headwaters in the Rockies, on which we white-water rafted on in Colorado, on which we canoed in Utah, which cuts its way through the Grand Canyon, which forms Lake Powell and Lake Meade. It is hard to believe as there is not much water left. We can walk across it to get from Arizona to California. Yuma is known as the “Gateway to the West” and was the only [previously] major river crossing in the desert. Major travelling routes of Gila River, De Anza, and Butterfield Stage all passed through Yuma to California. Native Americans, the ‘49ers looking for gold, immigrants, conquistadors, padres, adventurers, and armies all found this route advantageous to use. The “Ocean to Ocean” bridge across the Colorado River completed the highway and the ability to travel coast to coast as it is the only place to cross the Colorado River for over one thousand miles. Yuma, with its 4000 hours of sunshine a year holds the Guinness Book record for the sunniest spot on earth.
California and the Pacific Ocean here we come! It has been a fabulous winter for us with the weather being the most ideal for outdoor activities. We look forward to Spring Equinox, longer days, and having adventures in California. So, until next time, Happy Trails.
