Wilcox, Az to Needles, Ca

We had a late start from Wilcox so I could exercise in the morning, but I figured we’d make up for it by driving late in the evening.  Well, that was the plan.  I honestly don’t remember much of Arizona other than hazy skies, lots of desert scrub, some lovely hills, lots and lots of trucks on the interstate, me going 100kph/62mph while cars and trucks screamed by at 80mph and hot, dry, desert sands.  Texas was the last of the clear blue sky and the rest of our trip was full of haze and brownish something.  Not sure what.  We kept the A/C going in the car once the day was into full swing, say 10-11am, and that kept the boys comfortable.  For some reason, the low fan setting is broken in the front, so I alternated between fierce A/C and none, constantly turning it off and on in the front.  The boys have their own control in the back.  I didn’t have a map for Arizona, and oddly, it was the only state we got a little lost in.  I had thought that the Phoenix area would have signs directing the route for Kingman, but apparently not.  I was well out of town before realizing we had probably gone too far and after consulting a map in a gas station, figured out how to get back on track.  I had hoped to find a lake or river or some place for the kids and Kilo to play in the heat of the day and the drive onto our next stop for the night, somewhere, we suspected, in California.  The only river we ever came across all day ended up to be the Colorado River and it made a wonderful stop.  Waiting to pay our day use fee at the county park, I demanded of the park worker to ask me where we’d come from.  He refused, so I blurted out that we’d just driven in from the Caribbean.  Apparently, this is not a note-worthy event in Bullhead City as he was less than impressed (or maybe he just didn’t believe me).  I guess they get LOTS of visitors from the Caribbean in Bullhead City.  Hmph.

The river was just what we needed to rejuvinate us.  The water was FREEZING cold, but the boys had fun and we found a lovely grassy area for Kilo to chase widdo wabbits and birds.  I was also able to refill our garrafon and we once again had drinking water.  Pike kept telling me that we could drink the tap water, but I was already suffering the Big D from the tap water in Texas and I’ve come to prefer the taste of agua purificada.

We had hoped to drive to Barstow or somewhere deep into California, setting out from the river at 7pm, but I found I was pretty zonked and was just able to creep across the border to Needles (I promised the boys that we’d be in CA that day) before finding an alternative to the high-priced Motel 6.  I negotiated the room down to $35 (cash) and we found a gigantic room that would easily have accomodated 4 double beds.  It was full of old 60’s decor but clean and comfortable.  Unfortunately, the free wireless only reached the middle of the parking lot so after a bit of TV, I crashed.  Who knows what the boys ended up doing.