Update #8 - El Centro Ca to Canmore

Greetings Everyone from a snowy Canmore;

     This is the last update for our annual trip south.  We arrived home last week and are now experiencing a snowfall which is why we leave in the first place.

     We spent a few days in El Centro Ca getting ourselves organized for the rest of the trip.  It's very hot and dry here (El Centro is below sea level, buildings actually have sea level markings on them).  One afternoon the hot wind was blowing, the air

temperature was 92 degrees and Drew said he felt like he was in a convection oven.  We retreated to the motor home and put on the air conditioning.  The next day was a cooling trend so it only got to 79 degrees and the wind they promised never materialized. 

From El Centro we went to Quartzite by travelling the back roads through the Chocolate Mtns and over the Imperial Dunes. An Amazing place to go for a walk in the sand, although we were very happy to not be there on the weekend, as the sand machine tracks were everywhere! 

Quartzsite which is a bit of an unusual place.  People come here to rock hound and a large number boon dock out on the desert.  There are also a large number of RV Parks here as well.  Couple of gas stations, a McDonalds, a few other restaurants, place to buy solar panels, a bakery, a couple of grocery/hardware stores, and a bookstore.   The rest of the town is basically a flea market.   Most of these establishments also close by the end of April.  Our main purpose for stopping here was to buy a solar panel for the motor home which we did, 160 watts. While bike riding and geocaching, we visited the

Reading Oasis Bookstore which has an interesting owner.  He wears a hat, shoes and a little crocheted thing and that's about it.  I had my picture taken with him and that's about what there is to do in Quartzsite.

From here we went to Buckskin State Park right on the Colorado River between Parker and the Parker Dam.  This is a big boating area on both sides of the river.  The park is in a canyon and it's very mountainous around it.   I must say the Colorado River has done quite a job of creating marvellous canyons along it's route to the Gulf of California. 

Then it was on to Lake Havasu City which is the home of the London Bridge.  The bridge was purchased from London in the 70's, taken apart and reassembled in Lake Havasu City.  Some of the numbers on the bricks are still visible. 

From here we went to Needles,California.  Needles is on Old Route66.  The town seems pretty run down and there's not much here.  We did notice that gas is about a dollar more a gallon that on the Arizona side so my guess is that people that live here go to the Arizona side to do all their shopping. 

We drove out to Oatman which is a town on the Arizona side that used to be a major stop on Route 66.  It started out as a gold mining town, became a place to stop on a road trip and then became pretty much deserted once the Interstate was finished.  Folks started to come because of the feral donkeys in the area.  Now it's a tourist place for a little shopping, a little lunch and a chance to feed the donkeys.  

Most of our time along the Colorado River has been extremely hot so we try to get out in the mornings for a walk or bike ride and geocaching.  We've now done 450 geocaches since we started.

 

Then it was off to our last major stop of the trip, Las Vegas.  All the times we've stayed in Vegas or driven through Vegas we had never gone to Red Rock Canyon.  This is aNational Conservation Area and I must say of all the National Parks, Monuments etc in both Canada and the States, this is the best Visitor Centre that I have ever been to.  First we did the inside displays, then we went outside and it's a huge area devoted to the outside displays. You could spend

a whole day just doing the visitor centre.  Then we did the 13 mile scenic loop drive which has many pullouts, small walks to get a closer look at the rocks and viewpoints of the valley.  The red rocks are unique here as well as during some of the thrusting newer rock was put on top of old rock.

A little treat for me was a Quilt Show in Henderson the next day.  So I got a day of looking at quilts, shopping at the vendors (which is sometimes just as important as looking at the quilts) and learning a little bit about how quilts are evaluated. 

We had one last bike ride on the bikes up to Anthem and I do mean up.  It was up, up and more up.  However that means that the ride back was down, down and more down.  Then it was time to pack up the motor home and pick our way home. 

We took highway 93 is the Great Basin Highway.  This means we don't go through Utah and that means we don't go through the Salt Lake City area.  Most Rvers are not impressed with this drive.  However you only do 93 if the weather is favourable and it was.  

Once on the highway instead of taking the 318 shortcut we continued on 93 to the town of Caliente.  This is a very neat, nice little town.  I personally was expecting the usual dirty, dusty desert town.  They had a flood in 2005 and since then have built a great paved path around the town.  We took the opportunity to walk it and then have our lunch.  At one time this was a huge stop for the railway complete with a roundhouse.  The old railway station is still here and is now city offices.  Unfortunately it was Sunday so it was closed.  We did peek in a few windows. 

We spent the night in Ely and then drove on to Twin Falls.  We decided to stop here for the night and since it was stinking hot we got back into our shorts and went for a walk along the Snake River.  

We were able to watch folks parachuting off a perfectly good bridge.  Apparently this is the only place in the U.S. That allows folks to do this without a permit or some kind of out lay of money.  The city fathers decided that they will spend their money on places to stay, food and gas. 

Then it was off to Dillon Mt. but instead of going over to I-15

we continued up the 93 and ended up at Craters of the Moon National Park.  We did the visitor centre and drove the 7 mile loop.  We walked out on a lava flow, saw a spatter dome and were able to walk to the top of a lava dome. 

From Dillon we managed to get to Lethbridge and then onto Canmore the next day.  The trip home was uneventful except we did get pulled over at the border and they did check the motor home.  In all the times we've been over the border, that's the first time it's happened.  It was actually quite painless and they really didn't take very long. 

So now we're home enduring some snow.  They are talking more snow for today and tomorrow but it's not really cold and should be gone soon.

Adios till next winter.      Drew and Donna.