Lake Havasu City

On December 30 Sunday, cloudy cool morning we made our last day trip from our Quartzsite RV Resort.

We had breakfast and headed out by 8:30 am, entering La Paz County, we drove north on AZ#95 towards Parker., which is long the Colorado River.

The Parker Dam is just north of the city. The drive was through the desert terrain that had very few cactus. The road was low and the signs read “watch for washes” when it rained. As we approached Parker we were in a mountain area with the highway making many curves.

We turned on to AZ#72 and drove through the Colorado Indian Reserve. The large Blue Water Resort and Casino was situated in the valley near the River. There sure is not a shortage of RV Parks. The dammed Colorado River makes for a beautiful treed campsites. Parker was founded in 1908 however the town's name and origin began when a post office was established in 1871 on the Colorado River Indian Reservation. 

We connected with AZ#95 again in Parker and drove 38 miles further through a red – rock mountain range to Lake Havasu City. 

The famous London Bridge is situated there. This 1831 bridge that once spanned the River Thames in London until when in, 1967, it was dismantled by Robert McCulloch who spent millions of dollars to bring it piece by piece to a planned community he established in 1964, on the shore of Lake Havasu, Arizona. It was completed in 1971 along with a canal and links an island in the lake with the main part of Lake Havasu City.

McCulloch was the chairman of McCulloch Oil Corporation and the founder of Lake Havasu and wished to make the area a tourist attraction as well as a retirement place. This has been the only place in our travels so far where we see new development.

From Wikipedia
It is a popular rumour that the bridge was bought in the belief that it was London's more recognizable Tower Bridge but this was ardently denied by McCulloch himself and by Ivan Luckin, who sold the bridge.

The bridge's relocation was the basis of a 1985 made-for-television movie Bridge Across Time, also known as Arizona Ripper or Terror at London Bridge, and starring David Hasselhoff and Stephanie Kramer. In the film, a series of murders in Lake Havasu is attributed to the spirit of Jack the Ripper, whose soul is transported to the United States in one of the stones of the bridge. Also, the movie falling Down, the title of which references the nursery rhyme “London Bridges Is Falling Down”, has a Los Angeles policeman's wife who wants to relocate to Lake Havasu City after he retires.

Even with the cool day we walked through a park along the canal. We stopped to try our hand a basket ball – shooting baskets.

We noticed there were many memorial plaques at every tree in the park. There is a dedication to the US Military who are fighting “Terrorism” and were killed in the wars. We walked across London Bridge going up 60 some steps from the park to the highway. We read all the information plaques along the way.

The statue of McCulloch and his partner was a good place to take a picture of me reading the document they were holding.

Although popular belief has it that the London Bridge falling down, it's not true. It did twice in the past, but now it stands in Lake Havasu City.

So until next time remember to "Discover It and Live It".