Starting this walk 3 months ago, I looked forward to spending a bit more time in some interesting places...to search out a bit more than a one-time transit through. Four years of "quick" transit has discovered - which we have shared - so very much....over 1,000 postings and over 30,000 photographs. Our "enforced" stay in PARKER, ARIZONA, has demonstrated the wisdom of delaying here and there.
This, my second transit through PARKER, has revealed things which I missed before. Specifically, PARKER DAM blocks the COLORADO RIVER only a stone throw from down town PARKER.
I never knew this !
Today, walked some 15 miles North of PARKER on US 95 toward HAVASU LAKE CITY.
A few miles out of PARKER, I came upon a community snuggled along the shore lines (both sides of the river), stretching for miles of "waterfront" living within pristine blue river - lake waters in homes to make any one drool...and fantasize...IF, ONLY I HAD... !!!
PARKER is essentially surrounded by an Indian Reservation...sitting smack on Parker Dam Lake. Tomorrow, I plan to walk to the CASINO advertised in the above image; then, too, to walk to Parker Dam
...just to see what is to be seen....Sure lots of "to" in that sentence.
LAKE HAVASUE CITY is also on the shores of the COLORADO RIVER.
Interesting...and somewhat shocking:
At YUMA, ARIZONA, only 100 miles down the Colorado River, one can WADE across the Colorado River just about anywhere. Sitting on the USA / MEXICAN border, the depleted waters of the Colorado River, flow South into Mexico...TOO...it is said (I have not personally seen it)...disappear into the Mexican Desert Sands many miles from the SEA OF CORTEZ.
Next to where the near empty Colorado River flows, is a HUGE concrete-lined CANAL...diverting the Colorado River Waters to where, I do not know...
...I suppose it flows to nearby Mexican towns, but fear it is headed into the SAN DIEGO - LOS ANGELES metropolis just "over the hill".
I DO have personal knowledge of the depleted Colorado River...AND ...the existence of the Mega-Canal full of flowing Colorado River Water.
Visiting my parents some years ago at their YUMA, ARIZONA home, ...not far from where I sit creating this BLOG, I spent three weeks RUNNING into the ARIZONA - CALIFORNIA - MEXICAN Desert...in final preparation for my one-time quest to run the Boston Marathon. At age 43...having quit smoking (three packs a day - for 20 years), on June 15, I completed Boston (April 16) - 9 months later in UNDER 3 hours (having left the course at the top of Heartbreak Hill to seek out a toilet)...from the top of Heartbreak Hill, I FLEW...I mean my feet never touched the ground...I feel I passed 5,000 runners in that final 10 miles or so...
...in the "Recovery Area" in the underground garage of the PRU (Prudential Building), towel over my head, I cried for 30 minutes...I knew I had done something special...I have never looked back...
..."WHAT IF"...I had started in Group 1 - 1,000 ?
Forget that...at least I saved my body...and now it is giving back...taking hundreds ( thousands?) on our many-year journey across America...
Something good must come from that !
Started Boston in the 11,000 to 12,000 group. My Certificate says I finished Boston in 4,440 th place.
Nearly 40 years later, it still chokes me up. Every STEP of our walk has been for Cri...every moment is for you, my body.
This is the "soil" MOHAVE DESERT" is made of. NEVER drive off the prepared roadway without a special 4-Wheel Drive High Center Vehicle...and close windows and air vents when the wind blows desert soil your way.
Two bikes actually came down that hill.
Starting to get the "hang" of imaging downward sloping hills.
The "Hidy-Hole" Community of PARKER ON THE LAKE...stretching for miles on both sides of the COLORADO RIVER.
I popped into this BAR...where I was...
...gifted a LARGE COLD ONE (Coors Light)...
and use of the toilet facilities.
Thank You, JODY (back to the camera).
...talk about homes hanging on a cliff !!!
At this point I wish to refer back to my MANY photographs of soils of the Pacific Ocean along the USA Coast from the Strait of Juan d' Fuca to San Francisco:
Much of the soil is CLAY. A type of clay that when saturated with water ... or subjected to intense SHAKING...(Earthquakes) becomes liquified and tends to "SLIDE".
Care must be taken to consider this when building ANYTHING on such clay ... particularly on steep slopes.
COLORADO RIVER LAKE behind Parker Dam.
I like this photograph very much.
The scene is the left hand side of a PUBLIC BOAT LAUNCH RAMP...
pictured next.
...and, the home on the right, built into the actual lake,...
...IS FOR SALE.
I loved the pic
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