As I write this post (on paper) we are sitting on the side of the road, actually just over the California border, on the opposite side (or outskirts) of Parker, AZ. We left our BLM spot in Lake Havasu this morning, due to a majorly slow 3g wifi connection and not being able to get much done due to how slow it was. It's funny, it seemed like we either had a great spot with great internet and NO tele or a great spot, amazing tele (21 channels) but barely any internet. Even in the heart of town yesterday, we were hanging on a slow 3g connection. Anyway, we decided since we've done everything we wanted and needed to do here, maybe Parker would be the change we wanted right now. So we got up, a.m. rituals...along with the rest of the pumpkin pie! Then we were on the road.
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Good-bye LHC BLM[/caption]We stopped off at Hobby Lobby first, still on a search for that zipper. My mom offered to fix it for him when it broke, but it's J's only jacket and he loves it, so it's been hard to tear it away from him long enough to send it to her. We've been searching for a zipper now for a few months! When we go to Wal-mart they are either always out of the longer ones or they don't have the good ones at all and we're never near an actual fabric store. About a week ago, we stopped into Micheal's but they don't sell zippers. Hobby Lobby would be one of our last options for a minute...fingers crossed. They actually have a fabric center...with zippers! Hooray!! We got a zipper, matching thread and some needles, $8.00 later we were back on the road. We drove through Lake Havasu City, past the London Bridge and what seemed like a million miles later were passing where we spent the first few days. It felt so far out of town, but still a cool spot, we would definitely camp there again...especially if we ever get satellite! We kept driving and it just kept getting more beautiful the further South we drove. Although the scenery doesn't change drastically, it changes enough to make you stop and stare.
We started crossing over the Bill Williams River where there's a National Wildlife Refuge. We pulled over to take in the view...to us, it felt as if we were in a different country. The view was amazing, the land and water were interesting, it was just really neat.
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National Wildlife Refuge[/caption]The strange part of it was there was a couple of small modular home-hoods right on the river. They certainly have one heck of a view!
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Paying for the view!?[/caption]Down the road we detoured to The Parker Dam. Yep, it looked like a Dam.
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Parker Dam[/caption]We rolled on down to Parker. We were trying to find the BLM land around Parker on our cool BLM map, but since I'm not having such a "hot" day today, it wasn't turning out so well. First, I have a hard enough time reading regular maps as it is. This BLM map has NO street names, NO landmarks, it's just a map of the land.
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Stupid map[/caption]Let's just say it got a little ugly for a moment, I told you I'm a friggin' hot mess today and it doesn't help when our GPS doesn't know where she is either! We decided, after we both had no idea where to go, to just drive South. After driving, turning down roads that looked like they went somewhere and seeing "towers" (that we assumed were TV/Radio/Internet towers),
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Follow the towers[/caption]we finally found Shea Road...the road we were looking for this entire time, geez mon! We saw an RV pulling off onto an asphalt road going toward mountains and sand aka desert...we followed.
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Follow that RV![/caption]The road went up quite a way, all asphalt, the RV in front of us pulled off to meet another camper. We decided it best to do the same, but we drove up a little further to pull off...didn't want to pop the privacy bubble. We found some really good spots, but a lot of them were either right on the main asphalt road or on the main dirt bike/buggy road...plus the sand and rock was super soft there.
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Too shady for this tribe[/caption]We thought we found a "super" spot, pulled in, got the grill out, had lunch...then J' decided to see what channels we got, to be ready for the fights on Fox in a few hours. Although we are right in the line of sight of about 6 towers, we do not bring in one single channel, not even a Spanish channel! What's going on!? J' looks over everything. Everything seems to be good, nothing is broken.
After about 20 minutes, we end up loading everything in and driving with the antennae up and the TV on. We drove North, South, East, West finally realizing the towers we were near were NOT TV towers!
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Oy[/caption]We drove closer to town, into town, out of town and now are on the side of the road taking a closer look at the antennae...maybe it is broken. J' is also on the internet looking to see if Parker even has "off-air" antennae channels/towers.
....It's been about an hour since the above was written
We left the spot on the side of the road and drove to Wal-mart. We have 21 minutes before the fights start on Fox. We went inside and bought another antennae, thinking ours was broken in one way or another.
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Who wants to get used today?[/caption]We didn't pick up one single channel with the new one either so we went back in and returned it. We are still in the Wal-mart parking lot trying to see if we can pick up McDonald's wifi (from across the street) because it will chew up all of our data if we go the streaming route. From where we are, it's slower than damn molasses.
...Fights started 7 minutes ago
I drove over to a huge lot right behind the McDonald's and we are picking up a clean, quick, free stream from good ole' Mickey D's! The fights are on, we are excited and I just got back from getting us some cheapy hot fudge sundaes to celebrate! I don't know if Parker is going to be any good for us due to the lack of internet strength and absolutely no tele in the whole entire city...seriously!?
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...I'm not the only hot mess![/caption]Now, I'm going to go enjoy the fights that we fought so hard to get today. I'm a big fight fan and am totally stoked for this fight tonight, there's actually a couple of good ones. The main event is Nate Diaz vs. Benson Henderson...here we go!
PEACE
Awww come on. Your rig could have totally owned that sand! Seriously, our van amazes me. So far, it handles sand better than the 4x4 truck (with camper i.e. the sinker). And, I know the truck could do that sand. Though we only get ballsie because we have one to pull the other out. Haha I guess that does make a big difference!
ReplyDeleteBTW. You do not look amused in the photos.
I hope my website isn't why it was so difficult to find Shea road.
Oh and that feeling you got after passing over the Bill Williams River, that's the whole reason I don't stay in one place long. There's just something about being in the desert for the last two months and moving to a super contrast like the mountains. For me, it's purifying and invigorating.
ReplyDeleteNo, we got Shea Road from our PLP at the BLM office, he had circled it on the map, but since I can't read maps especially that one and navigating is NOT my forte, it was not an easy find...so not a problem from your site! And the pictures...I told you I was a hot mess, wasn't kidding...just going through Shark Week! Grrrr...... And for the van and sand, we went in a bit and started sliding a bit and without something to be pulled out with, didn't want to be stuck in the desert with no one and nothing around, so we just left!
ReplyDeleteSeeing water is one of my most favorite things! It makes me feel like we ARE somewhere!
ReplyDelete