LAKE HAVASU CITY, ARIZONA: Where, Contrary to the Lyrics of a Children's Song, London Bridge is Standing Up

March 6, 2018

I slept like a baby last night--and not just a regular baby, but a baby with an excessive sleep problem. The soft sand underneath my tent was more comfortable than any motel mattress so I slept for nearly 12 hours. When I woke up I felt like a new man.

The morning was cool but sunny. Songbirds were singing, vultures were soaring, and ducks and pelicans were swimming on the water. Out in the desert scrub I saw a jackrabbit darting around. It had comically big ears--even by the impressive big-eared standards of jackrabbits. I also think I saw a kingfisher, but it was too far away to be sure.

Desert Ducks. Tricked you again! They were just common mallards. As far as I know, there is no such species as the desert duck.

White Pelicans. They all flew in together, resulting in quite a loud splash.

After watching the wildlife, and after a couple cups of coffee, I anxiously packed up my gear in order to get back on the road. One thing I always do when taking down my tent is to lift it up and shake out all the dirt, sand, leaves, etc. This time a big gust of wind came up while I had the tent in the air and one of the poles snapped in my hands. Ohhhhhh, that sucks.

One thing you should know about me is that I usually don't panic immediately. No, I calmly assessed my situation, considered a number of remedies--like having to buy a new expensive tent--rejected most of them, and THEN I panicked.

When my rational problem-solving skills returned, I came up with an idea. I put the ends of the snapped pole together and duct-taped them. (I always carry a few feet of duct tape wrapped around a pencil.) Then I dug a Mountain Dew can out of the dumpster, cut the top and bottom off, smashed it down, and wrapped the flattened can around the tent pole. The final reinforcement was to wrap it all up in another layer of duct tape.

My brilliant repair. I'll see how it holds up tonight.

A fine repair successfully completed, I loaded up The Reckless Mr. Bing Bong and pedaled away. My pedaling took me about ten feet when I noticed my rear tire was flat. Another delay. As I dug out my tire irons, I made a bet with myself on another sure thing: that I would find a little wire from an exploded truck tire lodged in my bike tire. I passed many exploded truck tires on the Interstate portion of yesterday's ride. I removed my tire, inspected it, and . . . I WIN AGAIN!

I made it to a new state in three miles. From the border I went up about a thousand feet, cruised through miles of desert, and then went down about a thousand feet to Lake Havasu City. Here are a few highlights:

Thanks for the greeting, Arizona. I look forward to your sunny hospitality.

Another "thumbs up" to this rock formation, which looks like a thumb up.

A desert plant I hadn't seen until I got to Arizona. I believe it's an ocotillo.

More cool rocks on the road to Lake Havasu City.

The Reckless Mr. Bing Bong has to get in on a picture.

Lake Havasu is actually a wide section of the Colorado River created by the Parker Dam. People come here from all over the country to enjoy its Caribbean-blue waters and sandy beaches. It's like a Florida for the RV crowd. In Arizona-speak, the term state park can be translated into "RV parking lot" because that's basically what Lake Havasu State Park is. And the park is located within the city limits of Lake Havasu City.

Lake Havasu City's greatest claim to fame probably isn't the lake though. I think that would be the fact that it is now the home of the London Bridge. In the early 1970's a rich dude bought the historic bridge that once spanned the Thames River, tore it down, brought it over to Arizona, and rebuilt it, brick by brick, over this part of the Colorado River. I definitely had to see this.

London Bridge, which is no longer in London.

I rode over the bridge as well. It didn't seem all that grand or unique. The lamp posts were pretty nice though.

Looking upriver from the bridge, I am convinced that is not a natural water color. As a paint industry retiree, I think I'm qualified to say the local tourism bureau uses four parts blue tint and one part green tint to achieve this hue.

The area under and all around the bridge is quite touristy. Souvenir shops, bars, restaurants, resorts, boutiques, etc. abound. I was so moved by my London Bridge experience that I made up a new song and sang it to my bike.

London Bridge is standing up, standing up, standing up,
London Bridge is standing up, My Fair Bing Bong.

Arizona has it now, has it now, has it now,
Arizona has it now, Mister Bing Bong.

All of England should be pissed, should be pissed, should be pissed,
All of England should be pissed, Reckless Bing Bong.

It's a major travesty, travesty, travesty,
It's a major travesty, My Fair Bing Bong.

Today's ride: 34 miles (55 km)
Total: 250 miles (402 km)

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