Wild west adventures. LA to Big Bend and back.

[keithg]

I would like to know how you avoided getting arrested. Did you give your best Clint Eastwood Impersonation again? That was a huge day but a great one. Looking forward to more of your adventures.

Keith

[Mark Sedenquist]

Great photos and nice write-up.

Mark

[Southwest Dave]

I would like to know how you avoided getting arrested. Did you give your best Clint Eastwood Impersonation again? That was a huge day but a great one. Looking forward to more of your adventures.

Keith

It was my impersonation of Usain Bolt (in slow motion) and the willingness of another fella to get captured that got me out of this one !
(No it wasn't Mark!) Ha ha.

Dave.

Great photos and nice write-up.

Mark

Thanks Mark. Nothing wrong with the acting, I'm just glad we didn't opt for the 'leap in the air' type pose in front of the Vegas sign !

[Southwest Dave]

Day 5. February 21st.

Having kept an eye on the weather forecasts and road conditions it was obvious I was going to have to come up with a plan 'B'. I knew there was a risk of snow in Sedona during February, (I was actually looking forward to some as the snow would of made great photos among the red rock country)but the town was facing record amounts of the white stuff and all warnings were to avoid the area unless absolutely necessary, with a possible 3-4 feet of snow laying over the next 2 days. (Even I wasn't that foolish) After Sedona we had planned to visit Roosevelt lake and overnight there, but that to was experiencing bad weather so the idea was to give the whole area a wide berth. The edge of the storm front to the southwest was forecast as mainly grey sky's producing drizzle and occasional rain so I thought it would be cool to drive through the Mojave Preserve and settle down in Lake Havasu for the night and continue from there towards Tucson where we had a dinner date with Buck (AZBuck) and Debby on Saturday, giving us one more overnight stop should we need it. So we had another wonderful breakfast at the Pad and then I needed to top the RV up with fuel before getting out of town. Mark offered to ride 'Shotgun' with me to the local Costco as his card would save money, Megan and Lezli followed in the car. That was welcome as it probably saved me around $50 to top it up, although that was short lived as the ladies disappeared into the store while we were filling up ! (In truth I benefited as Lezli had found me a nice fleece for a good price)

It was a bitter sweet moment as we had the excitement of the road ahead, but we were sad to say goodbye to Mark and Megan who had been wonderful hosts and great company. We also knew it was likely to be at least 2 years before we saw them again. Back on the road we headed down I-15 towards the Mojave, the road was quiet and clear but it wasn't long before the weather closed in and the drizzle turned to slushy snow.



A few minutes later we saw a flashing board declaring the Interstate closed at Primm. At this point I didn't know what that meant for us, but we had no choice but to continue south anyway. It wasn't long before we got onto the back of a traffic queue almost at a standstill. All the traffic was being sent off the Interstate into Primm, so I headed for a large car park and parked up to look at the map. Primm is a border town offering a first (or last) chance to gamble in Nevada for those leaving (or entering) California and other than unmade roads there was no way out except for the Interstate. Basically we were stuck here along with the big rigs around us. Some cars started pouring out along the dirt road past Ivanpah lake towards the Nipton road. We decided to make a cup of tea and wait a while as I watched cars cutting the dirt road up more and more, turning it into a mud bath, and more and more were turning back after travelling a few hundred yards. I put my coat on and went and spoke to a couple of truckers to see if I could get any further info, but they were no wiser than me. I started to think about heading back to Vegas and across to US95 to head south, but I didn't want to add those miles if the Interstate were to open in the next hour or so. With no Internet, I contacted my buddy Mark back at the Pad to see if he could gather some info, he got back to me in no time at all to tell us the Interstate is unlikely to open any time soon and with ice and snow having caused many vehicles to spin out, they had closed it right the way through to Baker, or Barstow was it ? Whatever it was, we weren't heading south anytime soon ! Mark automatically invited us back to the Pad for another night and after a slight hesitation (as we didn't want to be a pain) I gratefully accepted his offer. (It turned out to be a blessing as US95 had now shut down unbeknown to me !)

So plan 'C' was in operation and we headed back to the Pad where we were made welcome once more. We chilled out for a little while and I started thinking about plan 'D'. I also emailed Rancho Sedona RV site as soon as I could to say that we wouldn't make it there as planned, so that anyone stranded in Sedona will be able to take advantage of the available site. (I had no reply but on returning home I discovered they had given us a full refund.) The evening came and we headed out to the Tuscany and watched a young 'Crooner' called Jonathan Karrant perform some good old time songs with his band in the Piazza lounge while enjoying some nibbles and yep, some more beer ! (quite a few actually) The disappointment of putting Sedona back on the 'to do' list (again) was long gone and we were grateful of this 'Bonus' night with Mark and Megan. We went back to the Pad and out came the 'Quiddler' game once more for a 'Bonus' round and a cracking night.

(Mark and Megan must work tirelessly trying and testing out these amazing bars ! I guess someone has to do it !) Haha

Today's mileage. 80 miles. Total :566.

[Rick Quinn]

Hey, Dave

You picked a doozy of a time to visit! There was more snow in Arizona last month than I've ever seen in these parts; pretty to look at, but terrible to travel through. Climate change ceases to be a scientific or ethical debate when it gets right in your face and starts hollering at you. I'm looking forward to hearing how you guys 'weathered' the rest of your excursion.

Rick

[Southwest Dave]

Hey Rick.

Yep, you know it's a special event when the Locals are surprised by the conditions ! The winter weather left behind a few more surprises for us along the way, even after days of blue sky's and warm sun in parts.

Dave.

[Southwest Dave]

Day 6. February 22nd.

It's time to hit the road once more, we have a lot of adventures ahead and over 3000 miles still to cover ! The sun is out and the sky's are blue. The forecast is looking a lot better, but the Sedona area is still a no go zone. I decide to try and get a few miles under our belt today to make up some ground while still making it interesting. London bridge in Lake Havasu had grabbed my attention many times before now, but not being a priority, it had never fitted into our plans. Today it would be perfect for a quick stop and it's going to be pretty cool to be able to say that I have walked across this bridge in London and the USA ! I chose Gila Bend as an overnight stop for it's location and pre-booked an RV site at Gila Bend KOA so it was one less thing to think about. We had breakfast and said our goodbyes once more and it wasn't long before we were driving through the Eldorado Valley on US95. The road was clear, the sky was blue and there were snow capped mountains in the distance. Wonderful ! As we climbed up the pass heading to Searchlight we got up close and personal with yesterdays snow storm. The snow ploughs were still working on the edge of the road but the passage was clear, they had done a good job as it was easy to see why the Highway was closed yesterday.


Click here for this RTA Library Map



We drove through the snow covered buildings of Searchlight and on into California before being held up by the longest train I have ever seen on the crossing at Arrowhead Junction. We continued through Needles and over the Colorado river where I-40 and US90 combine and entered Arizona and south again on AZ95 to Lake Havasu and London Bridge. There was road construction going on around the bridge, creating some tight turns and congestion, but we managed to park up close to the bridge and free of charge. The lake, the bridge and the walk along the shoreline trail was all very nice. Near the bridge Union Jacks were flying, there was a red phone box, replicated English pub and so on adding to the 'London' theme.

South on US95.






There was a breeze in the air but it was pleasantly warm for a stroll, quite a turn around on recent days. We went back to the RV and decided to eat lunch before making our way to Gila Bend, a further 200 miles down the road. Continuing south towards Parker we enjoyed some lovely views of the Colorado river until we broke away at Parker and headed south to Quartsize.



Once heading east on I-10 we made good progress although the 'sprint' made the RV pretty thirsty ! The 25ft RV was a lot more 'sure footed' than the 30ft and was more relaxing to drive at Interstate speeds. We then took AZ85 south crossing the Gila River and down to our campsite for the night. Booking ahead turned out to be a really good idea, they were turning people away at the time we arrived with no sites available. Perhaps we weren't the only ones who had to change their plans !

We had a good size level site and it wasn't long before we were enjoying a cold beer and a lovely sunset followed by a 'home' cooked evening meal.



Today's mileage: 350 miles Total: 916

[DonnaR57]

If you'd needed it, Gila Bend also has Holt's RV, near the freeway. Never stayed there, but Holt's Shell is one of our normal stops when we were transiting between San Diego and Phoenix's East Valley. (Where my mom lived until last Saturday.)


Donna

[Mark Sedenquist]

Yes, that looks like a lot of snow.

Our neighbor who drives for UPS. He drives to Phoenix, Arizona and returns to Las Vegas every morning about 3 am was stuck on I-40 for 6 hours due to heavy snow in the midst of the storm. He was on the road for more than 13 hours that day.

[Southwest Dave]

Hey Donna.

Yes there is usually a back up option if you roll into town without reservations which is good to know. With the tight schedule we travel on, I do prefer being booked in so it's one less thing to think about on the road, especially when you're rolling into town late as we often are. As most of you know we usually camp in National or State parks but we had to compromise this time to make things fit into place. I was surprised how many privately owned campgrounds did not have the facility to book on line and instead had to phone them. Doing so from the UK (or from our UK Mobile) is expensive and that's how we ended up booking a few KOA campgrounds that we hadn't used before and that I wasn't keen on using. However they were mainly pleasant and provided us with a safe place to sleep the night.

Mark. Yeah that couldn't of been a pleasant experience for your neighbour !!