Another Parker trip, water uses

February 8 (Thursday)
We headed north on Why 95 toward Parker today. Our destination was the Parker Dam then return via the California side of the Colorado.

It's a pretty drive to Parker. Yes, it's 'just' desert but the mountains surrounding the LaPosa valley and the ever changing light conditions still amaze this Snowbirder.

Copper mine tailings. Hard to see but there is a large pile in the distance. Hard to get a good shot at 65 MPH.

We headed straight to the Blue Water Casino just north of Parker. There are drag boat races there this weekend and we wanted to check out some spectator locations. Many of the race teams are arriving today. They have test and tune day Friday, qualifying on Saturday and the finals on Sunday. We are going on Saturday.

The start line. The racers hang on to a rope suspended across those barges. They let go of the rope and time their start so the cross the start line just as the light turns green. Quite an art and science.

This is a driver cockpit from an enclosed boat. This thing is designed to tear away from the boat if the baot 'blows up'. It is water tight. Scary!

The hotel of the Casino faces the river. Very nice views.

I wandered around the parking lot and talked to one gentleman that owned and drove one of the boats. Turns out he was born in Drummondville, Quebec and grew up in California and Arizona. He is 71 years old and was a world champion on his drag boat class in 2014. A very interesting guy. He showed me all around his boat. The engine is a Chevy 548 cubic inch with dual four barrel carbs. he can run the 1000 foot course in about 7 seconds. The fastest alcohol burning boats can do that in just over 3 seconds!

Jet drive on this boat. No propeller.

There are no belts to hold the driver in his seat. The driver told me the safest is to be thrown from the boat in case of an accident. He wears a parachute that slows him down from over 100 MPH to about 60 when he hits the water. Yikes!

548 cubic inch

Twin four barrel carbs

The next boat I saw was going to be running exhibition only this weekend. Something bout licensing for the driver. Anyway, their team photographer can't make it this weekend and when they saw me snapping pics of their boat the driver asked if I could send him pictures of them running the course, assuming they turn out!

Driver cockpit. Very tight quarters. Must be terrifying in an accident.

Alcohol burner.

Propeller on this class of boat.

We had lunch at the Cantina by the River. Great spot, decent food, lousy service. The view made up for it though. I also talked to a guy that was just heading out fishing and he said the Smallmouth Bass are biting like crazy. They are often catching the same fish twice! My guess is after the drag boats are done with tearing up the river there won't be a fish in the area for a while.

These guys were going fishing for Smallmouth Bass.

We finally got on the road to Parker Dam. I had no idea the development between the Town and the Dam was so extensive. Known as the Parker Strip it is one trailer park, resort, community after the other. Some obviously high-end, others have seen better days.

Some folks are right on the water

Unfortunately a busy highway combined with minimal parking opportunities our view of the dam was mostly pictures taken through the truck windows while moving.

Lake Havasu

Colorado River downstream of the Dam

Parker Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam that crosses the Colorado River 155 miles (249 km) downstream of Hoover Dam. Built between 1934 and 1938 by the Bureau of Reclamation, it is 320 feet (98 m) high, 235 feet (72 m) of which are below the riverbed, making it the deepest dam in the world. The dam's primary functions are to create a reservoir, and to generate hydroelectric power. The reservoir behind the dam is called Lake Havasu and can store 647,000 acre⋅ft (798,000,000 m³) or over 210 billion US gallons. The dam straddles the state border at the narrows the river passes through between the Whipple Mountains of California and the Buckskin Mountains of Arizona.<sup>[1]Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_Dam

    

After crossing the Dam we followed the road back south along the Colorado on the California side. Interesting the first sign we saw was warning us of Burros on the road. Now if you are like me whenever you see a sign warning of any particular wildlife you can be sure you won't see any, so we didn't expect to see much. Just a couple of miles later .....these two fellas (or maybe gals) came sauntering down the highway. We slowed, then stopped and one felt the desire for a kiss. Cheryl thought otherwise and rolled up the window, but as we started to move the two kept following us. I assume folks have been feeding them from their vehicles and these two thought we would have a snack for them. Sorry!</sup>

Just one little kiss please?

^{A very scenic road. We saw at least ten burros during our drive although none as close as the first two we encountered.}

A great boating river

Sand dunes right across the road from the river.

Some huge homes here. Only a foot above the water. Sure hope the dam doesn't release a bunch of water in a hurry.

^{We ended up back in Parker. Next stop was some quick grocery shopping at Walmart and Safeway. With the groceries packed we headed home to Quartzite.}

Train bridge crossing the Colorado at Parker.

This guy was buying cigarettes at Safeway. He is wearing a Hell's Angels t-shirt and driving a Mclaren sports car.

This thing is worth more than most houses!

^{Without a cloud in the sky our sunsets have been a bit dull, by desert standards, so I haven't been taking their picture. The soft golden sunset followed by a light pastel of pink just isn't the vibrant jaw dropping colours I have been used to seeing. Maybe we'll get some cloud cover at the right time soon.
In the meantime, here is the sunset reflecting off the mountains behind us. Can you spot the face (facing up) and the horse running? (light colored rock)}

^{......and that was Our View From Here!}