We wake up to a misty morning in Flagstaff, a place described to me by our host as a travelers meeting spot near the top of a mountain. It is a ski town that he believes really has no more to offer than accommodation, good food and supplies as well as a base to head off to the snow capped mountain nearby. It is so strange how you are in the desert landscape one minute and seeing snow the next, what an amazing part of the world, it is all about elevation.
The mist soon rises and a blue sky awaits us as we head off to our next destination. We plan our way to take in a scenic byway, not just any byway, but the famous Historic Route 66, this being the longest stretch of the old road to be preserved. Thank goodness that it’s dedication in 1987 by the Arizona State will assure that this stretch of road will not just fade away into the landscape.
We had spent a short time traveling this famous roadway back near Chicago, but now was the time to get the feel for, Route 66, so famous to the world. It was amazing to travel along and try to imagine what it was like back in the 1920’s when people were traveling west to live the dream, reaching the Californian coast. This stretch makes its way through the frontier towns and it is a long baron road that must be scorching in the summer.
We eventually stop in the town of Seligman. This town is surrounded by some of the largest cattle ranches in Arizona, such amazing rolling country. We wander along the main street taking in the tourist shops, mainly to see the old cars and bikes, and purchase a couple of mementoes from some of the nicest people we have met. We stop at the Roadrunner Café though having just had lunch don’t partake in the “steaks’ on offer, sure they are very good though. Such a fun short break to stretch the legs and on we go toward our destination for the day, our time on this fabulous stretch of road an enriching experience.
What a contrast awaits us in a strange and interesting place that is Lake Havasu City. From out of the desert a city was born largely due to one man, Robert McCulloch. From 1934 to 1938 the Parker dam was built creating a lake with 450 miles of shoreline and a unique eco system within this parched world. In 1963 Mr McCulloch, owner of McCulloch Motors, was flying around the countryside looking for a site to test his outboard engines. Dare I say it, the rest was just history. He must have been a crazy but forthright man in his day, managing to create a city out of sand and rock. He and his friend CV Wood, designer of Disneyland, planned a community centred around the Lake.
McCulloch’s biggest brainchild was the purchase of the old London Bridge in 1968 for the cost of US$2,460,000. London had put the bridge on the market because it was basically sinking under the weight of traffic. I am told by a reliable source, my cousin Graham, that he originally thought he was getting the Tower Bridge, though I am sure he was not disappointed in the end. It took 3 and half years to reconstruct the bridge we see today. Firstly a steel framework was built on dry land and the granite bridge placed around it, creating a solid functioning bridge, stronger than the original, this London Bridge wasn’t going to be falling down. The land around it was then dredged creating “the Channel” of water over which it now spans to a newly formed island. It is just like stepping back to London for a moment, as it is complete with all the things that make it British including the vintage lamps that are made from the melted down cannons of Napoleon Bonaparte’s army. It is the second largest tourist destination in Arizona after Grand Canyon. Locals will tell you that the bridge is seemingly haunted, by a police ‘bobby’ patrolling and by a woman dressed in black. What we do know for sure is that it is a home to many bats living in its hollow structure. Back in Cortez we spoke to an older lady who has lived in the lower southwest her whole life. She described the bridge as very bizarre, saying ‘one minute there was nothing for miles and then there was a city’. She was right by all accounts.
All in all, the coming of the bridge and McCulloch’s enthusiasm gave birth to the thriving community of Lake Havasu, it is a popular retirement town and romantic getaway tourist destination. It has a very pleasant climate all year round. Right now it is home to more RV’s than we have seen anywhere, all the travellers, (in Australia we call them Grey Nomads), roosting for the winter and catching up on their golf game I guess. Though glad we came to see it, this is not somewhere we would choose to come again. We are running out of light so find a camping spot in the outskirts of town, on Bureau of Land Management ground, and settle down to a spectacular sunset and sleep.
Photos can be found on our Facebook page in the album ARIZONA.
Here We Come World 