Hello from Shoshone, CA.

Saturday evening; February 9, 2008 (Third travelogue of this trip)

Our current location is here (you should be able to click on the word “here” and it will direct you to the map). You can change the map from a normal view to a satellite view and can increase or decrease the viewing area to better understand where we are.

We sadly left Yuma on Wednesday and traveled about 130 miles to Parker, AZ where we stayed at the Blue Water Casino. It was a very picturesque setting, right on the Colorado River. Pat said the casino was not that great, but it was a good place to stop.

On Thursday we traveled to Shoshone. On the way we stopped in Lake Havasu, AZ to spend some time looking at the London Bridge. Background on this bridge is pasted in the next paragraph.

London Bridge in Lake Havasu

In 1962, London Bridge was falling down. Built in 1831, the bridge couldn't handle the ever-increasing flow of traffic across the Thames River. The British government decided to put the bridge up for sale, and Robert McCulloch, Founder of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, and Chairman of McCulloch Oil Corporation, submitted the winning bid of $2,460,000. The bridge was dismantled, and each stone was numbered. Everything was shipped 10,000 miles to Long Beach, California, and then trucked to Lake Havasu City. Reconstruction began on September 23, 1968, with a ceremony including the Lord Mayor of London, who laid the cornerstone. On October 10, 1971, the bridge was dedicated.

We drove the bus over the bridge and then parked it a few blocks away and walked along the river under the bridge so that we could see it from all sides. I have attached a picture of the bridge.

We have talked about Shoshone in previous travelogues. It is a tiny town of 100 people. The campground is very basic, bordering on primitive. We like that. It has a great spring fed pool that is about 90 degrees. We found this place in Pat's Hot Springs Book. We first stayed here in March of 2006 on our maiden voyage. The weather is warming a bit. Last week the lows were in the 30s, but the forecast for next week is 70s in the daytime and 40s at night.

As most of you know, we have almost no cell phone signal here. I did buy an amplifier prior to this trip and we can get out once in a while on Pat's phone. I have a new phone and have ordered the adapter cable for the amplifier. I should have it next Tuesday.

I cracked out for a new Palm 680 “smart phone”. It is a PDA and a phone. I can get internet and email as well as phone. I also have my Palm database of contacts, memos (basic data items) and calendar that I have developed over the past several years. At the same time, I switched back to AT&T since they have the same phone technology as that used in Europe. The plan is to be able to use the phone in Europe for both voice calls and checking my business email. I will also take my laptop, but this will allow me to keep up on business items much easier. Besides, it is a GREAT TOY. I used my saved up Christmas and Birthday money to buy a Garmin GPS system for this phone. Can you say GEEK/TECHNO JUNKIE .

Yesterday we went to Pahrump, NV (about 30 miles each way) to do some shopping, check cell messages and let Pat get even with the machines (about $300 worth). She had been having terrible luck at several casinos on this trip and was sure glad to see a turn of events.

Today we did some catching up on projects and went swimming. It really felt great! Tomorrow we will probably do the same things.

In the last travelogue we talked about Dexter the beagle. What a work he is!! After his dinner (exactly at 5:00 PM) he gets a ride in the golf car (see photo of him waiting).

Dexter waiting for his ride

I also need to catch up on a couple of events from Yuma. Ed, Stevi, and Pat stopped at an orchard and picked three five gallon buckets of tangerines ($4.00 per bucket!). They juiced several of them and you can not believe how good the juice is!!!

As we were getting ready to leave, we planned to be sneaky and leave a gift for them without them knowing about it. Our plans worked. Later Ed, called us to thank us and mentioned that they could be sneaky as well. That evening we found two large wood burned decorated spoons that Stevi had made for Pat. They were in a plastic bag the Ed had sneaked into the bus. These are similar to the ones we gave the girls at Christmas. They are gorgeous and Pat loves them. Stevi did them from some Stampin' Up! Artwork. We laughed our tails off (censored for the grandkid's eyes). We could not believe that they got the last laugh! They sure are great folks and we really enjoyed our stay at their “lot”.

Guess that is all of now.