Left Field Wander: A Hot Day Trip

(Pictures posted at the end)

Since I’m in Las Vegas this week attending a gathering of some good Internet discussion board friends, I decided to take a trip down to Laughlin and then cruise on down the Colorado River to Lake Havasu City to see London Bridge.

I’d wanted to do this the last I was in Vegas alone, and even spend a couple of nights in Laughlin. Unfortunately, I didn’t connect up with the tour. This time, I made my reservations online.

Of course, I’d pick the hottest time of the year to do this. It was 105° in Las Vegas when I made my two-hour drive south to Laughlin, where it was 107°. I spent Sunday night there and got on the 10 a.m. Jetboat for my two-hour splashy-splashy ride to Lake Havasu City, where the boat captain told us it would be over 110° that day.

“Remember, you volunteered to this,” he announced to the 30 or so of us as we pulled out of the dock, “August … hottest month … 110 in the shade … two-hour ride … you volunteered for this, so no whining about how hot it is, now.” We laughed, little knowing how some would be whining by the time we were on our way back.

The ride downstream was pretty interesting, I must say. Yeah, it took two hours, but it was pretty fascinating. The Arizona side was lined with shorefront homes, the Nevada side on the right was empty because it’s state land. Then, when we entered California, the Arizona side was empty and the California side was lined with homes – bigger ones that the Arizona ones.

We passed lots of boaters and rafters and canoers and jet skiers and swimmers and floating-seat loungers on the way down the river. Everybody waved at us and on the trip down, everybody waved. Fewer of us waved on the way back because it was HOT and we were TIRED and some were even CRANKY … not me, I was eating this up all the way.

About half-way down the river, we entered Topock Gorge with its reddish-black rocky cliffs and huge rock edifices. It’s a “no-wash zone,” which means boats and jet skis have to slow down and not create any waves. (More about the gorge and Devil’s Elbow at another time, I promise.)

Entering Lake Havasu was pretty spectacular because it’s fairly big. But I have to say London Bridge isn’t very spectacular at all. It was bought for $2.6 million by Robert McCulloch in 1968 because London Bridge … well, it was falling down. (More about the bridge at another time, I promise.)

We spent two hours there, but who needs two hours for lunch anyway? It was much too hot to walk around. I went over the bridge and back, and that took 10 minutes at a slow stroll. Not much to see, that’s for sure.

The trip back took a little longer than two hours as we were traveling upstream, and we paused a while to watch a male Bighorn Sheep try to make his move on a ewe that was just minding her own business munching on some cactus. She lost interest in him; that was funny. The women on the boat started hooting and hollering stuff like, “Not today, baby, it’s too hot!” and “I have a headache!” (More about the sheep at another time, I promise.)

We almost ran over a lady on a Ski-Doo who wasn't paying attention, but that's another story I'll have to tell you at another time ... I promise.

I’ll tell you one thing – there wasn’t a cool breeze heading back. It was like sitting in front of a furnace with a fan blowing the heated air in your face. Since I was a single passenger, I sat in one of the single seats ‘way up at the front. The captain turned on a mist-maker and I was jealous because it blew back behind me, but in the end, I was fortunate because everybody with glasses had to wipe them over and over again.

I’d planned to take in a Las Vegas 51s minor league baseball game after the two-hour drive back to Vegas but I was too pooped to pop, so I stopped at Green Valley Ranch and had dinner there instead.

Bottom line, I spent 4 hours in the car, 4 hours on the jetboat, 2 hours in Lake Havasu City, overnight at the Edgewater Hotel in a complimentary room, and drank at least a gallon of water trying to stay hydrated. London Bridge is historical, so that was fine. Lake Havasu City sucks. I loved the boat ride, and didn’t mind the road trip.

After all, isn’t that what get-away vacations are all about?