Great Short Travel Day, Looking for the Hand, Lighted Boat Parade

On Saturday, Dec. 1^st (hey!  New month!) I woke up with a bit of sadness that we were moving on (this feels comfortable) and a bit of excitement to get closer to Lake Havasu City (another place we love). Each last day, brings us another first day and we all look forward to new places, views and adventures, don’t we? I don’t know what the temperature was as Bill had the outside components of our weather station put away last night.

A nice peaceful drive

Familiar sights along Mohave Valley Highway where it connects with Rte 66
and then catches I-40

 I believe it got down to 7C/45F last night so it was a tad cooler than it has been in the early dawn. We were up around 6:45 but I decided not to take a walk this morning. Instead, I made our tea and coffees and read blog posts. We wanted to each have a shower while we had full pressure water since we were going to be boondocking for a few days. Bill took the satellite dish down while I had mine and we each had some breakfast before he had his shower.

When we crossed under this bridge before catching Route 66,
one of Dad's trains was chugging along over top

The sun is glorious out there and even without a wind-meter connected, I can see that there isn’t a titch of a breeze. It is a beautiful day to travel and we don’t have far to go at all to our next destination. Fingers crossed that they have room for us at Lone Tree BLM. Our friend, Deb D., said ‘don’t forget to wave to the Hand!’ but we plan to do better than that. We plan on camping on the hill at the Hand BLM.

And we turn the corner and we see The Hand just past Lone Tree BLM camping

It had warmed up to 53F by the time we pulled out at 9:20 and after a few turns; Mohave Valley Hwy which is a favourite drive with the dips and turns. Through the wee burb of Golden Shores onto Route 66, onto I-40E and one last right turn onto I-95S we only had about 9 miles to go before making a left into Lone Tree BLM where we can camp for up to 14 days free. As sound as we rounded the last curve, there it was. The Hand, my marker.

On my walk this afternoon, exploring the area

We arrived at 10:50 and were parked where we wanted to within 90 minutes. By 11:45 our Shaw dishes, patio mat, chairs, barbecue were in place and I had opened the appropriate cupboards to be sure everything was in place. Our clothes closet did not appreciate the Mohave Valley Hwy as about 75% of our hangers were on the floor. Luckily, the clothes remained on the hangers so it was easy to lift them back into place. The shortest drive we’ve taken and that is the most jumbled they’ve ever been!

We have some great sites

Bill and I had a coffee and sat outside with our books. The wind has found us up here on the hill but the sun is warm. I actually needed my jacket on to sit on the ‘patio’. We chatted with Rob and Pat about the rest of the day and what to do about supper. We’d been invited by Rose to join them along the channel for the lighted Boat Parade and to share in a potluck.

A nice spot along the channel to sit

Because our breakfast was early and low in good fats and the fact that we missed lunch somehow in the set up here, we had a grilled cheese and meat sandwich at 3:00. That being said and done we wouldn’t be needing much at 5 so decided to skip the meal at the pavilion. We’ll take our chairs, blankets, cameras and bottled water. It should be neat to see the boats all lit up going down the channel.

The first boat scooting down to get in line and wait for dark

 Bill stretched out in his recliner and I took my camera for a walk down the trails along the mountains. I’m glad I still had my running shoes on as it is not a smooth walk. Easy for 4 wheelers and sport bikes, I guess, but I had to watch where I was placing each foot so I didn’t twist an ankle. That wasn’t going to stop me though, I love this kind of walk in the daytime. I found 4 more stones for painting and took a few pictures.

We left at 4 and Bill drove through Lake Havasu City, over the famous London Bridge into the parking area down by the Channel. We found a great spot to sit with our chairs and a great view. Soon after the 4 of us sat down, Rose and George arrived and had their meal with the Gems and Minerals group. They joined us to watch the boats. As it got dark, our toes and fingers began to get chilly so we were anxious to have them start moving through.

At 6:30 more than 40 various decorated boats came across in front of us, some playing Christmas tunes, others with passengers calling ‘Merry Christmas’. I counted at least 11 sailboats. What a great show. At 7:30 we packed up, said our goodbyes and came back home by way of London Bridge Road. I felt whipped and chilled to the bone. We started up our Blue Flame heater and settled down with a hot chocolate and our books.

This lady rowed her kayak over to toss lighted bracelets to the kids
I was too far away to get one. :)

We saw this strange coloured duck
I nicknamed him Calico

This was a great moving day and we are in another great spot. Things will be different getting used to being careful with our water and power. I can hear the winds out there tonight and the weather station is saying 17 mph and 59F. I hope you’ve had a great day too.

And then Pat saw Santa

So, we got a family picture

Thanks for stopping by!