PARKER ARIZONA

While in Quartasite, Arizona we took a day trip.  We thought we would drive north on AZ 95 to Lake Havasu City, but we did not make it.  Instead, we explored the small town of Parker with a population of three to four thousand people.  There we found enough to see and do to keep us busy for the better part of the day.
 
Parker was first an Indian reservation.  If I am not mistaken, part of the city still is on reservation land.   Ely Parker was the first Native American to act as Commissioner for the U.S. government.
 
A museum and library of the history of the Native Americans is located in Parker.  You can find it off AZ 95 at Second and Mohave.  At the museum you will find Native American ruins and paintings.  In October, Native American Days is celebrated and December there is an All-Indian Rodeo.

We began a search for a local restaurant that would serve good food.  Our Garmin wanted to direct us to Hardees, McDonalds and the like but we prefer to support local establishments.  Their food is, by far, the best if you find just the right place.  We found our right place when a local health food store employee directed us to Cyber D’Lites Internet Café and Bakery.  The café is located at 1600 California (AZ 95)  in a strip mall.  The sign is small, so keep your eyes open and look to your left if you come from Quartzsite.  I took this photo from their website. 


They have doubled their size since this picture was taken.  Now they have a wall of local artist’s artwork. Photography, oil and watercolor paintings grace the wall of the café.  
Being an artist, I LOVED the work on one artist.  The imagination and creativity in this work swept me off my feet.  I know that some of you are going to utter “say what?” but I raved all afternoon about it. 
  

If I had one empty space in our motorhome, one of these would be hanging right now.  But then, I would have to take down one of my pieces.  It’s not going to happen.  Anything I take down will be replaced by something I do as we travel.

Back to the D’Lites.  As soon as we arrived we were greeted by an attentive server with fresh bread, with a dipping sauce unlike anything we have had before.   We ordered the most delish veggie wraps.  I had the sun dried tomato and John had the spinach tortilla.   Inside was total and tasty veggies with a chef made chipotle sauce.  Our sides were slaw for me and French fries for Mr. Skinny. 


After our delicious meal we set out on a quest to find the Parker Dam.  John thought is was in one direction and I thought it was where the directional signs indicated.  Being such a sweet, submissive wife (uh hum), I deferred to John’s judgment and we drove F O R E V E R! We drove in a huge circle, along the Colorado River, up into the foot hills, back along the river and then on flat land only to be back into Parker.  I quietly just started following the directional signs.
 
This route was very interesting.  The landscape changed significantly on the California side of the Colorado River. I have never seen a river so blue!  Beautiful.

We drove past RV  parks that were located on the river.  They looked inviting for a summer stay when you would want to be on the beach every waking hour to keep cool. Highway signs indicating that wild Burros were in the area.  I has hoping that we would see at least one and we actually saw two groupings that we could get photos. 

 I thought I was able to get a photo of one that came up to the car to beg for food, but it did not register on my camera.  I did get to scratch her nose though.  The burros are as curious as our Llamas were.  I do miss my critters. 
   
Following the Burro experience we came upon Parker Dam.  It was much more narrow than what we had expected.   After the Hoover Dam, this looked pretty anemic.  That is until I learned more about the Parker Dam.


Parker Dam is the world’s deepest with three hundred twenty feet below the river bed.  It was built between 1932 and 1938 as a project of the Bureau of Reclamation.  The dam is the second largest producer of hydro-electric power. North of the dam, the reservoir holding the water is Lake Havasu.

Water from the dam irrigates ten million acres that produce twenty five percent of the fruits and nuts grown in the U.S. 

The Bureau of Reclamation has constructed  six hundred Dams and reservoirs including the Hoover and Grand Coulee Dams.  The Bureau is now part of the Interior department and is now a water management agency.

People think of only the Grand Canyon, Phoenix or Tucson when they think of Arizona.  There is so much more to see, do and learn.  We have just begun to scratch the surface.  Next January and February we will return to learn more about this wonderful state.

My next post will continue to share a bit more about another small town in Arizona and how it and the surrounding area played a vital part in our history.

Until then, safe travels and my God bless you during this season of Lent.

Whew!

My computer crashed and I've been unable to post. I'm using John's computer and it did not want to cooperate with the Blog. But, all is well now.

It was so hard not to be able to share the Grand Canyon with you. What a spectacular sight. John's reaction was WOW!-- DOUBLE WOW!!! at Grandview Point. The first thing we did was visit the book store. There is sooo much information, stories, facts about the G.C. We could have spent the day in there!

The altitude was hard on John. He had a very difficult time and we did most of our sight seeing by driving from point to point. No trails for him. It takes a while for those red blood cells to multiply and carry enough oxygen to the brain. In order to see more, the next time, we would like to take either the helicopter or airplane trip into the Canyon.

Off we went to the visitor's center. I had to ask one special question...."why are some of the mountains flat?" I had no clue! The explanation was too simple. The mountains are made of layers of rock, some soft, some hard, and some harder. Over years and years, when the rains come , the soft washes away. When that is gone the next layer washes away and continues to do so until the hardest layer is left. The ranger said that "eventually" it will all wash away. I've simplified his explanation and it really seems to easy of an explanation. I expected something much more technical.

John kept asking me if I saw the Colorado River cutting trough the canyon. Nope! I didn't see it. I kept looking for a large river! But being so high above the Colorado, it looked like a shoestring winding its way through the rock.

We met a lot of people while visiting the Grand Canyon. Visitors were from Europe, Japan, and one family from Alaska camped right next to us. The were homeschooling their children and this was one of their lesson plans. What a way to teach. Much better than just book learning.

Thursday, we left the Grand Canyon and set our sights for California. Up to that point, John did all the driving, so I it now was my turn. The interstate continued to reach higher elevations for a short while, then we were on our way down. We left the interstate and drove more of the Historic Route 66. I must say that many times, Route 66 was in better condition than the interstate.

The weather forecast predicted high winds. Oh man, they were so right. We would be driving along and suddenly be hit by a massive gust of wind. The motorhome felt like it was skidding sideways on ice! What an adrenaline rush! One of the downhill runs lasted for 2 1/2 miles.

When driving a motor home, the speed to get the best mileage is between 60 and 65. In order to stretch our budget and just as a safety measure, I drove between those numbers. But, the gravity on those downhill runs would pull the motor home to 70, 75 and 80mph in an instanty....way too fast for this woman!

We spent Thursday night, our last night on the road for a while, boondocking in Barstow California. I think we froze to death that night! No, we survived and got back on the road as soon as we changed clothes. Another couple was behind us and in the exact make and model motor home as ours. And of all things, they were pulling a Miata the exact year and color as ours! Now how many times would that happen in a trip?

Friday was the day we were to pull into NancyJo's driveway! As I drove down the interstate, I kept telling myself I was NOT going to cry when I saw her. It's been such a long time and I've missed her terrbly. Any of you with family living far away will understand my emotions.

Driving on Interstate 15 was a nightmare! If thought the winds in Arizona were bad, I had no idea what was laying in wait for me down the road. Oh my gosh! At one time, I thought I had lost the motor home. The wind was sooooooo strong. We totally went off the road onto the shoulder of the road. Getting the motorhome back into it's lane was the most difficult driving experience I have ever had. I was almost standing and fighting the steering wheel, but like a trouper....I got her back on the road! Ask me how tired and sore my arms and shoulder was Friday night. I never let John know just how frightened I was. I just wanted to let him be able to "sight see" as I had done the previous 5 days.

Well, we made it. We pulled up to meet Jojo. We waited a little while while she was having her hair cut. When she drove up and we got out of the motor home to meet her....Yep, I did it...I cried like a baby. She then proceeds to tell me that my hair "looks like crap!" Well now, that took me aback! It turns out that this is what Cathie does to her when she is about to cry. It kinda startles you and makes you laugh. We were greeted by a boquet of flowers and a book for each of us to read. More on the book later.

That night(Friday) Jojo took us to an Indian Restaurant called the Great Onion. Oh my, what wonderful food. And the Indian couple that owns it were so nice. The food, what can I say? It was magnificant. I have decided that I love it and am going to learn to cook it.

After eating at the Great Onion, we went back to see Jojo's house. And then off to a Farmer's market in Monrovia, CA. The fresh fruit and veggy's were a cooks delight! We purchased fresh blueberries and strawberries. We also purchase a German Chocolate and a pecan, sour and buttercream cake (small size). We had those for breakfast the next morning.

Jojo found us a nice RV campground about 10 minutes from her house. So convenient and half the price of all the RV campgrounds we found on the internet. We settled in, thinking we would stay until Monday. Then, we thought we would head down to Santa Barbara until Thursday then we all were to camp at the Los Carlillos State Beach were we would camp Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday, Jojo and Cathie took us to Ranchero, of course a Mexican Restaurant. Yummm. We had so much to eat that we could never finish it all. Guess who got to bring it back to the motor home to eat yesterday? Double yummmmm.

Last night, we had carry out Thai. Again....yummmm. Good grief! I was hoping that I would be eathing all the fresh fruit and veggies available here and loose some weight....Not sooo far! Tonight, we eat at "home". Steak, green beans and salad. Even that sounds good.

Yesterday, we were able to wash all the salt and road yuck off the motor home. Jojo could not believe how nice it looked! It takes a lot of energy to wash a 35' motor home, but we did it!

Now, we have not had a trouble free trip. Before we left, we had our toilet worked on. The "flap" did not work properly. They "fixed" it. BUT, in Barstow, it suddenly started leaking. Oh my, what a smell! We have fought it until this morning. Saturday, we removed the carpeting in the hall and part of the bathroom. That helped a little but the smell was still there. Today, John removed the rest of the carpeting and the odor is better. We can hardly smell anything. Hopefully, when everything dries out, we will have a better fragrance in here.

I think I have kept you long enough. Our day is almost over. We will end our day reading the books that Jojo and Cathie gave us opon our arrival. Good night all. See you tomorrow. N