Sunday, February 7, 2010

Best of the Desert-Parker 425

It all started at 7:15 am with the first Big Gun cars leaving downtown Parker and getting out here at Shea Road about 7:30 am. It wasn’t even light yet so they had to use their headlights.

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That’s Jim on the rim of the bluff with one of the first cars in view
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Shot of one of the cars going passed us with the sun just rising.
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How’s this for a sunrise?
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They came by all day and into the night.
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They drove right passed us.
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This guy had a helicopter following him all around the track.

I could fill up the page with photos of the cars, but you get the idea. 

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Our little spot here got filled up around us with weekenders. The young folks in the foreground thought playing loud “bass” was music, until all of our guys stood on the ridge and did a “stare down”….all of a sudden the music got lowered! Then those folks on the ridge to the right brought an industrial sized generator and put a car to their side so the noise all drifted our way.  They didn’t shut the generator till after midnight.  No one taught them the courtesy hours of a generator I guess!  But it was only for two nights and they were all gone this morning.

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We had our daily happy hour-that’s Jim Mossman with Walker in his favorite spot, with Nancy and Tom Doyle in the background. 
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But then it started to rain, so we huddled under the Geno’s awning.

The race is 425 miles on a 120 mile loop run 3 times.  Some of the racers drove into the night.  But we did have a wonderful rainbow after a little rain. Isn’t that fantastic?

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Tomorrow we drive to Lake Havasu in preparation for the Winter Blast.  More about that next time.

Remember, you are loved.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Shea Road

This is a very quiet and peaceful place 8.2 miles off of Highway 95 on Shea Road. This is high desert country with lots of close mountain ranges. There are about 20 rigs out here and looks like most of them are Boomers.  Most of these folks we never got to meet or know well while at Boomerville.

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This is looking East from our campsite.
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This is the view from our kitchen window.
Pretty nice.
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Folks have burned a lot of pallets out here and there are a lot of nails…a LOT of nails.  Jim used The Meiliche’s magnet on a stick to get them all.
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Look at them all in the box as Jim uses his gloved hand to remove the nails from the round magnet.
CIMG3575 Here’s a view looking West with rigs parked down the rim CIMG3578
I like this shot of our rig with the mountain in the background.

We have about 8 rigs grouped together that meet every day at 4 pm for the Escapee’s traditional Happy Hour.  We meet in a circle with our “beverage of choice” and really have gotten to know each other.  Four of us ladies are knitters and we have been exchanging magazine, patterns and books.  It has been a lot of fun.

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Yesterday we drove to Lake Havasu with The Webb's so they could pick up a Honda 2000 generator.  That way Vicki can sew here and not have to go to a campground somewhere to plug in.  She’s a happy camper. A & B Supply where Terry bought the generator, had this sign outside their store.  Kinda cute…

 

We looked at several campgrounds along the way. All pretty tight sites. We decided The Steps was a better place to be than Craggy Wash.  We went over Parker Dam; boy, do you have to drive through a narrow passage to get there.  It forces you to drive inches at a time  to ease through.  Our dually would NOT have made it through.

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The dam is the deepest in the world…some 326 feet down. It isn’t too long but is very pretty. 


We drove back to Parker down the California side of the Colorado River.  The whole drive to Lake Havasu and back was very enjoyable and pretty.  We got to know the Webb's better and that was the best part.

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We returned in time for happy hour and in honor of the Webb’s  new generator The Meilickes donated a bottle of champaign, so we toasted the new generator….any excuse to celebrate and drink, hay?

 

We shared hamburger dinner with Nancy and Chuck Geno and enjoyed their company in the evening.

Remember, you are loved.