It just occurred to me that I haven’t posted anything here in a week. A lot of good stuff has been going on, so let’s catch up a bit. I’ll backdate these posts to when they actually occurred, mostly for my own reference.
We had several days of bad weather in Quartzsite — two days of high wind, followed by two days of rain while there was a 0% chance of rain in the forecast. On Friday, we said our “see you down the road” to our remaining friends in Quartzsite, then braved the rain to drive north to Lake Havasu City. So begins our “summer” travels, even though technically, it’s still winter as far as the calendar is concerned.
Our first destination was Lake Havasu City, just 80 miles north of Quartzsite. This would not only make for an easy driving day but is also somewhere I’ve never spent more than a day trip running an errand in civilization. There’s plenty of free camping just north and south of town, so we decided to spend a couple of days checking it out. Melissa had never been here, either, so it’s worth giving her a chance to explore.
Our first stop was directly to Craggy Wash, BLM land just north of town, with a 14-day camping limit. We only planned to stay a few days. We found a nice pull-off about a mile and a half down the road. They’ve recently closed off the first mile or so to all camping. Matty tells me the last time he was here, he saw numerous police cars and even someone in the process of being arrested in this area, so they probably closed it to keep the troublemakers out. Camping is still allowed past the one-mile mark, so we were fine.
In the middle of the night, Melissa answered the call of nature and got spooked by a little girl’s laughter echoing through the canyon. I heard nothing inside the van, but she said it sounded like something straight out of a horror movie. She heard a man’s voice, more laughter, and then silence. Melissa has an active imagination and made up a story about a little girl named Eleanor. Her family was run off the land, but they fought back and died in the process. Eleanor’s ghost remains, haunting Craggy Wash and terrifying visitors with her laughter. It sounds like something out of a Stephen King novel. While horror is not my preferred genre, maybe I should write this story someday.
The following day we braved the rain (despite the forecast once again showing a 0% chance of rain) to explore Lake Havasu City. We went straight to the biggest tourist trap attraction: London Bridge. Lake Havasu City has only existed since 1963 when entrepreneur Robert McCulloch (of McCulloch chain saws) decided to create “a self-sufficient, planned community.” Part of his plan was to draw in tourists and retirees to the new city.
Meanwhile, in London, England, the London Bridge built in 1831 could no longer keep up with modern traffic demands, and was put up for sale. McCulloch bought it, brought the original outward-facing stones to Lake Havasu City, built a modern concrete bridge, and then used the stones from the original London Bridge to recreate it in the middle of the Arizona desert. Even the light fixtures are original, though updated with modern electric lighting. Opening in 1971, this is the centerpiece of Lake Havasu City’s tourist and shopping district and was our first stop.
We wandered around a bit, but since the 0% chance of rain was still raining on and off, we decided it was a good time to have lunch. We ate at The Chair, where we managed to get covered outdoor dining, great food and drink, and a view of the bridge from our table.
Afterward, we wandered the shopping area a bit. I’m not really into shopping, but the weather was improving, and it was good to get out for a walk. We then walked across London Bridge, just because we could.
On the other side, we stopped by London Bridge Harley-Davidson. Melissa has been looking for a helmet of her own to go riding with me, and we were there anyway, so why not? What we found was disappointing, to say the least. It’s not so much that they had no riding gear for sale, but that they had no motorcycles for sale either! It was nothing but a tourist trap store for Harley-Davidson branded merchandise and nothing to do with motorcycles at all. To me, this is the epitome of my impression of Lake Havasu City: An artificial place with no character created solely to separate tourists and retirees from their money. To be fair, however, we did find a perfectly fitting helmet for Melissa at Gear Up Motorsports, a real motorcycle shop with all kinds of motorcycles, everything from Harley-Davidsons to Honda Groms. So here’s a shameless plug for them.
The weather was clearing off at this point, and Melissa wanted to go spend some time by the water — or, in her case, in it. While all of the lakeside property in the middle of the city was either privately owned or part of Lake Havasu State Park, we found a little kayak launch on the way back to Craggy Wash, where we hung out for a little while. I’ll have to remember this place for future visits, specifically for my own kayak. And this was a lesson for me: There is more to Lake Havasu City than the city itself. Between camping opportunities like Craggy Wash and free access to Lake Havasu outside the city, I’m beginning to see the appeal of this place after all. It’s good for more than just access to every big box store and chain restaurant you can possibly imagine.
After returning to Craggy Wash, we took the 4Runner past our camp to explore the rest of the area. As Matty told us, the farther away from the main road you get, the worse the cell service gets, but the better campsites you find. With Starlink, poor cell service isn’t a problem. Just as the road became pretty bad washboard, we found an empty campsite that we liked much better than the one we were already in. It was far more private because fewer people venture down this far with their RVs. It was so nice that we decided to move our camp to this spot and spend an extra day here just to enjoy it, traveling on Monday instead of Sunday as we originally planned.
Melissa went to the nearby Walmart for some supplies while I stayed at camp and enjoyed the rainbow that appeared.
It was a quiet night, with no further sounds from Eleanor, the Ghost of Craggy Wash. Hopefully, we’ve left her far behind.
The next day we made a quick trip to Home Depot for some minor repairs to the revised van build. What can I say? It was a shakedown cruise, and a couple of things shook down that needed improvement. As we walked in, Melissa asked the man in front of us about his t-shirt for The Bunker. He explained that it’s a bar at the end of a dirt road north of town. It sounded rather like the Desert Bar in Parker but with a military theme. After successful repairs, that’s where we went for lunch. It was easy to find, thanks to this truck parked off the side of the road at the turn off US 95.
The drive was fun and even easier than the road to the Desert Bar. Upon arrival, we found a collection of containers, shade cloth, and roofing that had been creatively turned into an off-grid restaurant and bar with a military theme, right down to the “bombs” hanging from the ceiling.
While not the least expensive place I’ve ever been, it was worth it for the good food and the ambiance. After we were done, we sat back and enjoyed the band for a while. Eventually, we returned to camp, let Lister roam around and chase lizards, and had a campfire as we enjoyed one last Arizona sunset for the season.
Tomorrow, we push on to Pahrump, Nevada, which we will call home for the next two weeks. That’s a story for next time.
Smokey Da Van 
As someone who has visited at least 185 Harley dealerships or stores, I can tell you that Harley probably sells more $$$ of clothing than motorcycles. Why have I been to so many? Because we collect the unique poker chips from each location, including 20 in Tennessee and 43 in Texas (we’re still missing 3 in TX) and 26 states we haven’t gotten any from yet! Sometimes they might be stores in an airport (yes, they have those and no, there’s no motorcycles), or like our most recent, the HD store on Fremont Street. (Plenty of clothes, no motorcycles.)
We have, however, gotten poker chips from Paris, France and St Thomas, USVI and San Juan, Puerto Rico! (We only rode in one of those, though…) Sometimes we’re in the truck when we visit, most of the time on a bike. We use the Harley stops almost as a reason to ride somewhere. Visiting Amarillo, TX (I actually lived there as a kid) wasn’t because Amarillo is great (it’s not, it’s a ****hole of a place), but we hadn’t gotten all the chips from all the Texas locations — so we spent a weekend riding.
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HD is as much, and probably more, of a culture than a motorcycle company. And I have no problem with that, even if I prefer actual motorcycles (and I do like Harleys along with other brands). It clearly works for them, and for you, since you’re having so much fun collecting poker chips!
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