Late October, 2009 - We left Laughlin, Nevada with a hankering to get the kayak out onto Lake Havasu, one of the manmade
lakes that have bubbled the Colorado River into a string of elongated beads as it runs south. Problem was, where to stay? We
pulled into a Love's gas station as we exited I-40 to take AZ-95 south, and a man in an old pickup engaged Mark in
conversation.
"Where are you going?" He asked.
"South."
"Where are you staying?"
"I'm not sure."
"Can I interest you in a free 5-day, 4-night stay at Havasu Springs Resort?"
Mark's ears perked up. Sure! It turned out that one of the oldest
RV park timeshare membership programs, Colorado River
Adventures, was promoting their parks to the snowbirds as they
migrated south. We could choose from four different RV parks for
the promo package, but he told us Havasu Springs was the nicest.
"You'll have to take a 90 minute tour, but it won't be any longer
than that, I promise. You'll also get a $100 Walmart gift card."
Score!! Going to timeshare presentations was something of a sport in
the Phoenix area in the late 1990's. The resorts were lovely, the
giveaways were lavish, and the presentations were usually not that long
or grueling. During coffee breaks on our group bike rides in those days
we'd sit around with our friends and compare notes on the different
timeshares we'd toured. Of course, it's a sport fraught with danger, as
almost everyone we knew had given in and purchased a timeshare
somewhere along the line. Nowadays our savvy friends buy them for
pennies on the dollar on the internet.
We looked at the brochure the man in the pickup had handed us, saw
the pictures of the pretty beaches along the lake, and jumped at the
chance. Once there, while we were checking in, Mark noticed a poster
on the wall that offered two free dinners at the resort's restaurant if
you took a tour of the condos that were for sale. Within minutes we'd
scheduled our condo tour for later that day and our timeshare
membership tour for the next day. Ironically, we then accidentally took
a self-guided half-hour tour of the whole resort on our own, with our
monster rig, as we got lost several times looking for our campsite.
We were assigned an appealing end site. Our rig filled the entire site, and we
had to juggle our position to get the slides out without hitting the electrical box
or the tree, but we gleefully plugged into electrical, water and sewer hookups
for the first time in 8 months. We planned to bask in four days of very very long
showers and we set the air conditioning so it would cycle on and off at will (this
is not possible when we run the a/c from the generator: when the a/c cycles on
it overloads the generator, shutting it off, so we simply run the a/c til we are cool
and then turn it off, effectively cycling it manually).
Our condo salesman was at our door
just as we removed the last bungee
cord from the cabinets. What fun to cruise through a fabulously decorated $800k condo
with views of the lake and mountains, envisioning ourselves hosting elegant parties that
spilled from the beautiful great-room out onto the sprawling deck. We found out we could
pick up this piece of paradise for less than $500k because of the stalled economy. What
a deal!
We politely declined, but the free
dinner at Springs that night was
wonderful. We had a pretty table
overlooking the marina, and we
toasted each other and our fine meal
while we were serenaded by a
wonderful female vocalist. The sun
set slowly behind the distant
mountains and we kept laughing
about what crazy good luck it was to
run into the guy in the pickup at the
gas station.
The biggest perk for us at this resort
was the chance to get out on the lake with the kayak. Early the next morning we snuck
down to the boat ramp and launched the boat. It was promising to be a very blustery
day, and the water soon kicked up as we pedaled and paddled along.
The funny thing about this tandem
kayak is that the front person gets
drenched by waves slapping the
bow. Mark thought it was all quite
hilarious as wave after wave
splashed over the boat and all over
me while he remained perfectly dry.
I got the last laugh, however, as the
water that dripped off of me followed
gravity and made its way along the bottom edges of the boat to soak Mark's
seat. After a while he was sitting in quite a puddle. We cracked up when we
finally returned to the boat ramp and crawled out of the kayak, two wet rats.
The timeshare presentation was later that afternoon, and we were
radiating grins when we arrived in our salesman's office after our
morning adventure. He took one look at us, heard Mark explain that we
live off the grid, and he said, "I know you're not going to buy, so I'll keep
this short." He gave us a brief synopsis of what the membership
program was all about (summarized under the "High End Membership
Programs" on the Fulltiming page, about 40% down the page). And
before 45 minutes was up, he was shaking our hands and wishing us
safe travels. There had been a mixup about the Walmart gift card, so he
handed Mark a check for $100. "I bet this was the easiest $100 you
ever made." Absolutely!!
Soon afterwards we
saw him in his golf cart greeting some friends who had just moved into a site
behind us. Not only did he know we weren't going to buy, but he had better
things to do with his time late on a Friday afternoon.
We hit the resort's bar for
$1.50 steak tacos and
rode our bikes all over the
place. It is an expansive
property with several
hotels and marinas, and
we enjoyed roaming the
grounds so much we
forgot to check out the
swimming pool and hot tub. However, we met a couple who had just
completed 20 years of sailing in the Caribbean, and we enjoyed a lengthy
conversation with them about that lifestyle. They were now building a home
base in Vancouver and had come south in their RV to escape the cold for
the winter. They were happier cold weather creatures than we were,
however, as their long term plans were to buy an old fishing trawler and
explore Alaska by boat.
The winds died down and
we were gifted with one
glorious day on the water
with the kayak. This time
we both remained dry and
we explored much further
north along the lake. It is a
huge lake, some 50 miles
long, so there was no
chance to get to the other
end where the famed
London Bridge stands.
However, we probably got about 4 or so miles out, and we passed countless boat-in
BLM campsites along the shore. These are charming little spots with private beaches,
picnic tables and plenty of room to spread out. Only one of these pretty campsites
was occupied.
We stopped at one that was set in a private cove and wandered along the clear green
water. What a perfect place to take a young family for a weekend. The kids could run
free, and the adults could unwind.
The Parker Dam, which creates Lake
Havasu, is a huge concrete structure.
This business of controlling the
Colorado River took a lot of engineering
to create, and evidence of the will
humankind has exerted upon this river
appears in the vast unpopulated hillsides in the form of water pumping stations with
huge pipes and industrial buildings
Heading in the opposite direction, towards the Bill Williams Marsh, we found a wildlife
nesting preserve. Large tower structures make inviting nest sites for birds. We
didn't see any of the occupants, but there was plenty of evidence they had been
there, with nests on every tower.
We followed the
lighthouse's beacon to one of the resort's marinas and meandered
between the houseboats. There are all kinds of ways to enjoy this
corner of the world, staying at a resort hotel, in an RV or a houseboat,
or living in a condo or old mobile home vacation house. It's a small
community tucked into a corner of the lake on a long stretch of
deserted shoreline. It's one of those special little secrets that isn't
necessarily advertised in bright lights but we were fortunate enough to
be lured in by a man in a pickup clutching a fist full of brochures. We
were still shaking our heads in disbelief at this quirky detour in our
travels as we made our way towards friends and family in Phoenix.