Wild asses

Sunday, February 09, 2014
Lake Havasu State Park, Arizona, United States


I know what you're thinking . You’re thinking we’ve found the seniors’ party scene here in Lake Havasu, and have taken to wild and crazy partying. Well, we did stumble across a couple of bars full of seniors rockin’ out to the live music. But no, we are not the wild asses the title suggests, as you will see in a minute.

The reservoir that is Lake Havasu was created when the Parker Dam was built in the 1930’s to
bring hydroelectric power and drinking water to Southern California. Located at Parker, AZ, the dam is about ½ hour drive from Lake Havasu City, so we headed there one day to check it out. It’s a concrete arch-gravity dam that straddles California and Arizona over the Colorado River, and is the deepest dam in the world (235 ft of its 320 ft is below the riverbed). The Hoover Dam is 155 miles upstream.   

Leaving Parker Dam, we came across a sign that said "Wild burros on road. Do not feed or harass the burros."  I laughed at how ridiculous this sounded until, 50 feet later, there stood three burros . OMG, that made my day. They were so cute! One sauntered up out of the ditch and came to my open window. I wanted so badly to pet him, but was afraid to get my fingers snapped off, so I closed the window on him. :( Not wanting to harass or encourage him to be on the road, we rolled forward, but he just stood on the road and looked at us pulling away. Kinda pissed off, I think. Half a mile up the road, he still stood there, staring after us. Crap. Luckily the speed limit was really slow, so I don’t think he was in much danger of being hit. We turned the truck around and drove by him again, and he was still on the road ... snoozing, I think! He was
standing there in the sun with his eyes closed. What a goof!   

So, what’s with the wild burros, you say? Well, they first came to the gold mines with rospectors
back in the early 1900’s. As the mines were closed and people moved away, the burros were released into the surrounding hills. So, the burros today, while descendants of domestic work animals, are themselves wild and will bite and kick . Apparently, tourists feed them Cheetos, carrots ... whatever they have in their vehicles. And they bite and kick each other to get the treats, but feeding them is highly discouraged as it lures them to the highway where they’re likely to be hit. They are protected by federal law from capture, injury, or harassment. So interesting!

On the way back from Parker Dam is the Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge. Bill Williams was a trader, trapper, interpreter and scout in Arizona in the 1800’s. The area, which has been awarded the Audobon Society’s “Globally Significant Important Birding Area” (that’s a mouthful!), is part of the Lake Havasu/Colorado River system. It’s a beautiful spot, with rocky cliffs, Sonoran Desert and cattail-filled marshes on over 6,000 acres. There are over 350 pecies of birds on the refuge, including two endangered species. We walked along a trail that ran to the end of a rocky peninsula, but only saw ducks in the water (we were thinking of you, Lois) . There is a nesting area for Blue Herons, but no sign of any that day. Even the giant tortoise in its enclosure was not seeing visitors that day. Anti-social!

Our original neighbours here, John & Wendy from Revelstoke, BC, left here to dry camp (no services) in the desert outside town. They were here in the park for only a few days, to be closer to friends who were staying at a hotel, but they prefer to camp for free in the desert. We’ve seen rigs set up in the middle of the desert, and it doesn’t look very appealing to us. We’ve dry camped, but the setting has to be worth it. We like our spot – close to the lake and to town. We have water and electrical hook-up, and have been careful not to use the trailer toilet much,
so we haven’t had to dump the septic or grey water tanks in the two weeks we’ve been here. I gotta tell ya though, that early morning quick step to the potty house is a doozy (it goes down to the low 40’s (about 5 C) at night), and the first sit-down on that cold toilet seat is, literally, an
eye opener . ;oP  

We’ve made friends with Roger & Margaret, our camping neighbours from Lethbridge. They’re
retired farmers who are experienced Arizona RVers, so have lots of tips and information to share with us. Margaret lent me her very organized accordion folder with a section for each state park
– a girl after my own heart! We went for Chinese buffet together one day. Turns out he was diagnosed with fibromyalgia 15 years ago, so we had lots to share with each other.  We were stoked to learn that Roger & Margaret have stayed at Usery Mountain Park (our stop after Yuma)
and love it there. They’re jealous we got a 2 week reservation – they could only get 5 days this year. It’s only 5 min from Mesa, so the location sounds great.

We’re loving biking here. It’s a quick ride to the bridge, the Visitor Centre (free wifi), the library (free wifi), the bike trail around the island, London Bridge Beach, Bridgewater Channel, Rotary Park, stores, etc . (Brie – that bike bag/pouch you gave me sure comes in handy.) It’s perfect biking weather, and it’s relatively flat, so not many nasty hills to climb. At Rotary Park, we happened to ride into the middle of an uprising of seagulls, and I was shat upon (not on my head – just on my bike bag). :( A nice man from Minnesota saw what happened, got out of his car and brought me napkins and hand sanitizer to clean up the splat. So nice of him. ;) 

And we’ve been playing a lot of cards, mostly rummy of every kind – Lambsy, 500/Lay Down / Grandma Rummy, Julie Rummy, Gin Rummy ... even Rummikub. We’re pretty closely matched,
but Roger is on the winning side. I think I’ve only thrown the cards at him twice, so that’s pretty good! ;o)

On Sunday, we headed for “The Desert Bar” (aka Nellie E Saloon). It’s in the middle of the desert, about 50 minutes drive from Lake Havasu. The name “Nellie E” originates from the old copper mining claim associated with the land the bar is now on, about 5 miles north of Parker, AZ in the Buckskin Mountains .  The road in is “primitive”, as the sign says – very rough and rocky. A fellow named Ken opened the bar in 1983 in a temporary three-sided structure. Over the years, he’s added to the buildings, and he now lives there, but the bar is still only open on Saturdays and Sundays from “Highnoon to 6 pm" and is closed in the summer due to the heat in the desert. They have live music and, again, the place is rockin’ with seniors. The saloon is powered by solar energy stored in batteries and run thru inverters. There are tall structures on the land called cooling towers that operate without fans – when you wet the pads on top, cool air falls and you get cool airflow. Seemed like something we had to see.

Well, our two weeks in Lake Havasu have flown by. Tomorrow (Monday), we are off to Eva &
Doug’s place in Yuma for a week. Am excited to see my big sister. ;)

 

 

Comments

Eva
2014-02-10

Well you two sure know how to have fun, especially mingling with asses! Looks like you had good weather, again. Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow :)

Lorraine
2014-02-10

Great story!

Lois
2014-02-10

Another great adventure saga! I was shat on by a seagull at San Diago seaworld, so I appreciated the experience!! Sounds like you have met nice people along the way. Enjoy Yuma, we will be right behind you on 21st.

Brie
2014-02-12

Haha, I think it's funny that they have wild burros. I wish that sign read "Don't harass the asses"... hehe. Why do people always feel the need to feed the wildlife? Well, honestly... I know why, because it's fun and we all really want to pet a wild animals. But people in Saskatchewan wouldn't walk up to a deer and try to feed it... would they? Maybe they would.

I also liked your comment about the first sit on a cold toilet being an "eye opener"... lol. I'm glad your bike bag is working well. I'm happy you've been biking so much. I can't wait till summer (or at least spring) to start biking to work again. The weather here is still awful... today it's blizzarding and we're supposed to get 10 cm of snow :( So, enjoy your weather down there :)

I like the sound of those solar panels and cooling towers... sounds like a pretty cool idea. Looks like you're having a fantastic trip!

Love you :)

2025-02-14

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