A Little Bit of Lake Havasu

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

Lake Havasu is a beautiful little town.  Just about everything you would want or need could probably be found there.  It’s kind of like being in Yuma in the winter.  There are a lot of snowbirds and the roads are full of traffic.

We had been told about a couple BLMs in the area so we were looking for them as we drove north on Hwy 95.  One was the The Steps area about mm 164.  It’s about 10 miles south.  It’s a nice level area and several RVs were still parked there as we passed by.   We also passed another area (Standard Wash)  just south of town where we saw a few more RVs parked.

We had also been told about a couple other BLM camping areas.  One of those was just north of the airport and we went looking for it but couldn’t find it.  At least we didn't see any RVs parked close. The only place we discovered north of town was about 10 miles north.   Did we miss the one at the airport or is it no longer a BLM area?

The other place was close to the Beachcomber's RV Resort at the end of McCullough Road.  That would have been a gorgeous place to park had that been BLM land because it was right on the lake.  We did see a few RVers parked there so talked to them and discovered it was day use only.  No overnight camping was allowed.  We were certainly hoping this one was right on …. but it wasn’t.

It’s not that we didn’t like the Lake Havasu State Park and were looking for someplace else to go.  We did like the park but we also like checking out other places for possible future visits.  The state park is in a perfect location and it is beautiful.  The quail and cottontails are all over the park.  In addition there is even a really nice cactus garden.  It’s a short term park and campers are limited to a 14-day stay at $20 per night for dry camping --- water and dump is free.  Would we return .... absolutely.  The point is to let the Dwyers know if they reserve a spot on the lake, they will be able to launch their boat from the site!!

The park is almost in the center of town.  The Blue Grass Festival was scheduled for the following weekend.  Thus, after Sunday all the sites were full.  The park has a lot of nice areas for overflow so they can accommodate quite a crowd even when full.  .  Actually, the overflow is probably just as nice as some of the defined sites. 

Saturday was laundry day.  Normally doing laundry isn’t anything special.  However, we discovered one of the nicest laundromats we had ever been to.  There were lots of washers and the dryers were at the end of each row.  To top it off this laundromat even offered nice comfortable places to sit with a leather couch and a TV  to keep patrons entertained while they waited for their wash to finish.

When we originally headed to Lake Havasu we figured we would stay at the Elks.  We had read that this Elks had just added RV parking.   However, since we had only planned to stay one night, we didn’t really want to unhook the trailer.  The developed dry camping sites were level but all back-in.  The open areas for parking were on a slight slope.  Even though we still had to unhook where we ended up staying, we had a much better view, a bigger site and were right in town.  That was a no brainer.

I talked to another RVer who had just pulled into a beautiful site right on the lake in the state park. He indicated he had reserved his site some time before and that he and his wife had been to the park several times over the past few years.  He also indicated he didn't like the noise at the park.  He had complained to the rangers about generators being used during the day and he didn't like the noise from the jetboats on the lake either.   My question is why did he reserve that waterfront site if he didn't like the noise?   I would have offered to swap him but sure he wouldn't have gone for that.   Oh well ..... next time we'll think about reserving a site right on the water -- noise or no noise.

Next stop ….. Will it be Nevada?

‘Tis life on the road.