Another of life's experiences……..Wednesday 13th November

We're now basking in glorious sunshine in the desert at Salome, Az…..playground for boys and their ATVs……we have met some fellow happy campers who kindly showed us what ATVing is all about……..

Needless to say it gets very dusty…..

The "twins", not us the cactus…..

Yorkieman with Ken and Wally our drivers for the afternoon adventure….

There are hundreds of miles of ATV trails in this area……you can really get into the back country.…...our campsite is somewhere in the distance !

We've had a great afternoon and another experience, really nice of the guys to take us out…. but no we won't be
dashing out and buying an ATV anytime soon…

This sign amuses us…..Hope is a small community 4 miles from Salome, this is the sign as you leave the village….

Camp Harris in the desert at Salome…..

This was taken yesterday evening just as we were going out to dinner at the local ho-down and just before a fantastic lightening storm….
We took a drive out through Wickenburg to Phoenix on Thursday to check out our storage facility and then came back via Buckeye and booked our first 3 nights for next trip…how organised is that !!!
Driving back across the desert as a change from Willie's Roadhouse on Sirius XM Radio I found a Christmas station….umm driving along temps high 80's and singing along to chestnuts roasting by an open fire….it takes all sorts I guess !!
Well Yorkieman's Marmite jar is just about empty so it must be time to fly back across the pond to Blghty and our static home…..we've had another fabulous trip,  met a variety of folks along the way and seen some really awesome sights…..
Many thanks again for all of the comments on the blog and emails, as usual it's very much appreciated…….
It's over and out from The Travelling Brits for this trip…so as they say see ya'll next time…...

London Bridge Is Falling Down……..9th November 2013

The old nursery rhyme and the bridge ended up in the Arizona desert……in our youth we all heard about the old London Bridge being sold to the Americans and here we are at Lake Havasu feeling quite nostalgic….
The bridge was bought by Robert P McCulloch in 1968 for the city of Lake Havasu for $2,460.000. Each brick was numbered as the bridge was dismantled and shipped via the Panama Canal to Long Beach California and then trucked to Havasu City and reconstructed on the edge of the lake. It was rededicated in 1971 attended by the then Lord Mayor of London Sir Peter Studd.  Total cost $5.1 million….

London Bridge is just a couple of miles down from our campsite….first stop is at the visitors centre where myself and one of the volunteer ladies did a very good rendition of Roger Miller's England Swings…...

There are 21 replica lighthouses at Lake Havasu, they are one third the size of actual lighthouses in the USA….don't worry I haven't posted all 21….

Our visit has coincided with the annual charity triathlon race, we can only admire the folks running and cycling in the 80 degree temperatures, our 4 mile walk over the bridge and around the island is nothing in comparison….

After the bridge was reconstructed a mile long channel was cut through the peninsular creating a flow beneath the bridge for boat traffic…..it is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Arizona….
Tomorrow we are moving farther south and east to Salome in the desert for our last week of this trip….

The Historic Railroad Trail to The Hoover Dam……6th November

Part of Lake Mead from the old railroad trail…….
Our legs have not quite recovered from yesterday's hike but it's a beautiful morning and we set off on The Historic Railroad Trail to The Hoover Dam…..

Because of the isolation of the dam construction site  almost 30 miles of railroad was built in 1931 to connect the site with all of the facilities required to build the Hoover Dam or Bolder Dam as it was then called……  over 4 million cubic yards of aggregate were taken from the Arizona side of the river transported by rail and crushed to mix with portland cement at Lomix the mixing plant situated at the base of Black Canyon…

The first of the 5 tunnels on our hike….  the trail is nice and flat for the first 3.5 miles…..

Tunnel 2 was burned in an arson attack in 1990 but has since been restored  by spraying shotcrete (just like our Hindhead Tunnel, not the arson attack but the shotcrete !!) to fortify the loose rock…we are still not quite sure how you can burn rock but some of the tunnels have wooden supports so we're making an assumption here…..

Tunnel 5 was burned (info didn't say if arson or …?) in 1978 and was then sealed until being restored and reopened in 2001.  Previously to 2001 the trail ended here but now continues a mile and half down to the Hoover Dam…..
The railroad tracks were dismantled in 1962 and sold as scrap….

The dam was constructed between 1931 and 1935 during the Great Depression….

We last visited here 33 years ago when  Highway 93 went across the top of the dam….. there is still some local traffic but mainly foot fall from tourists…..we did the tour back in 1980, it's big business now….

The Memorial Bridge built to take Highway 93 and the heavy traffic away from the dam, it also has a scenic walkway…..

The low water level can clearly be seen here…...

Back down to the beautiful colours of Fortification Hill on Lake Mead and visible from our campsite….
Our feet and legs are slightly sore but it was a great walk/hike and good to see the dam again….
We've enjoyed our stay at Lake Mead but tomorrow these snowbirds are flying south the weather is getting just slightly chilly….the high 60's !!!!

Opps..White Rock Canyon and not the hike we had planned.….5th November

Just a few pics today and they are not "up to par"….I had a problem with my camera and most of today's photos were over-exposed but luckily all ok now…..
It wasn't really our day ! We set off from our campsite drove just a few miles up past The Hoover Dam and outside of the National Park to the trailhead of a couple of hikes….ummm we discover the trails are not very clearly marked and instead of doing a relatively easy hike to Liberty Arch we end up doing an 8 mile (felt like 20)  hike on a trail of shingle/small rocks half of it uphill and what we can only describe as what it might be like to trudge through treacle…having said that it was a very interesting hike through the wash of The White Rock Canyon…..

The Colorado River at the bottom of the canyon….

Now it's all uphill…..

Well not the easy hike we had planned and although knackered it's with a sense of achievement…..it's a great canyon and was well worth seeing…….we never did find the Liberty Arch Trail, all that was needed is a few trail markers…..
If our legs have recovered we plan The Old Historic Railroad Trail tomorrow from Lake Mead to The Hoover Dam...

Lake Mead, Nevada….Scenic Drive….. Sunday 3rd November

This is not Lake Mead but part of our drive across the desert on the 95N to Bolder City Nevada……..
An interesting drive along another lovely straight road….we had a great chat with a truck driver at a rest area, all part of this life on the move….
We are staying for the next week at The RV Village in The Lake Mead National Park…. 

All settled into our home for the next week and set of this morning on The Lakeshore/Northshore Scenic Drive….
150 miles round trip and that wasn't to the top of the lake either !

The water level is down on the lake due to drought and demand from Vegas and surrounding areas. Several boat ramps are closed but still plenty open although the marinas and lake are not very busy which we found odd as it's a beautiful Sunday with temperatures in the high 70s…..

A view across the lake with a couple of boon dockers….

Once more it is stunning scenery, very much painted desert…...

A scenic wash……the washes and the treated water from Las Vegas all drain into the lake...

Man and machine in perfect harmony !! I steal the keys so that I can get to drive…..

Pic taken from the top of the Northshore Summit Trail, a quarter mile hike to the top and stunning views….

Another short hike through Redstone Dune Trail, very similar to the rocks at Sedona….

And the end of the day….the sun setting over Lake Mead…..

Sunset is now approx 4.30 as our clocks went back last night…..seems so strange when the temperatures are in the high 70's during the day……...