For the last couple weeks, I’ve been feeling kinda burnt with work and being stuck in the house with no one to watch Devon. So, Jenny, also stressed with work, and I decided to take a few days to get out and enjoy ourselves. If we could have it our way, we would do nothing but travel.. who wouldn’t?!?!

Although we had intended to get some rest… rest was one of the few things we did not do. The trip was a last minute thing, so there was little planning involved. We started out towards Lake Havasu, hoping that there would be some decent camping. 3 1/2 hours later, we arrived to find that the town (Lake Havasu City) and the lake were surprisingly dead. With temperatures in the low 100’s, most of the tourist were locked away in their air-conditioned RVs while we searched for a decent tent campsite close to the water. After 3 1/2 hours of driving, we were ready to get settled in.. but it would be another 3 hours before we would find a spot that would fit our needs. Just as we were about to settle for a hotel, we found a spot near the water.

After a quick swim and some grilled cheeseburgers, I threw out a line. The fishing was not as good as I had expected. Only a few bites, but the fish escaped my hook. The rest of the night was filled with sounds of sirens from town, raccoons, and noisy boaters. The following morning, running on only a few hours of sleep and some what disappointed, we decided to head home. We would head back a different route, which would take us along the back roads, but first we would have to stop in town to fill up. Driving back through town, we noticed a large bridge surrounded by several resorts that resembled castles. It seemed interesting, but more of a modern attraction more than anything. Later, we learned that the bridge at Lake Havasu is the [singlepic=17,250,170,,left]original London Bridge, which was shipped from London in 1962 after being up for over 160 years. We drove over a piece of history and didn’t even realize it. I wish we had.. we would have got some more pictures! Leaving town, we decide that Lake Havasu is great if you have a boat and an RV, but just not very much fun if you are looking to camp.

Our route home led us through some of the most beautiful country in Arizona. We followed the Colorado River down to Parker, AZ where we made a quick detour into California. From Parker, we made our way down dirt roads, miles of open land in all directions, Saguaros, and tons of interesting creatures made me wish I could just stay there forever. Up until then, I felt that there was no where I could go where there were no houses or development for miles. For 2 1/2 hours, we drove and never once came across another person, another car, or even any buildings. But the peace had to end. Soon enough, we were back on a two lane (paved) highway and on our way to Alamo Lake. We hoped that the fishing would be better and boy were we right!

Alamo lake is known as one of the better bass fishing lakes in Arizona. I knew the fishing would be good the second I saw the fish cleaning stations at the campgrounds… thats always a good sign. Finally, a lake for fisherman.. rather than for old farts in million dollar RVs! We found a nice camp spot near the showers and close enough to the water. As far as we could tell, we were the only people at the lake! It seems most people don’t go camping in 100 degree temps… maybe its just me, but I kinda enjoy it! Or maybe it was the peace and quiet I enjoyed?

Eager to get out fishing, we set up camp and drove down by the water where we could park and fish from the shade of the truck. The first hour or so was uneventful, but as the sun fell, things got interesting. It started with my first turtle… Never have I seen such an ugly creature! At first, I thought I had a huge catfish, but I realized that catfish don’t have shells! Surprisingly enough, I was able to land the turtle with the help of my net. When I reached in to grab the turtle from my net, it clawed at me an some how managed to escape before I even realized what had happened. We did manage to get one blurry picture of the ugly bastard.

Shortly after my interesting catch, we decided we would put a hook and worm on Devon’s little Cars fishing rod. Only a few minutes after casting it out for him, we noticed that he was getting excited… we looked out to see his bobber going up and down. He had his first fish ever!! He managed to reel the fish in by himself, but at the last minute, the fish spat the hook out and disappeared into the water. I stuck a new worm on and recast his line… before I could sit down, he had another one! This time, however, he landed the fish.. and all by himself!! I’ve never seen him so excited. He had seen me and his mom land fish, but this was HIS fish! I was so proud.

Soon though, I began to get overwhelmed.. we were getting so many bites between the three of us and me being the only one who would worm the hook, unhook the fish, and so on, it became to much for me. We spent about another hour out there, I caught a few pan fish and a tiny cat, Jenny caught a tiny bass, and Devon’s luck ran out. We went to bed dreaming of fishing and listening to wild burros as they stomped around our tent. The next morning, we went back out, but with a lack of cigarettes for Jenny, things were not going too well. We decided we would just head home… damn smokers! Sorry Jen!

Our trip back was just as interesting. Several small towns with interesting history and some awesome views finished off the trip. It was short, but more than interesting. We are already planning our next trip to Alamo Lake.. hopefully we will be hauling a nice fishing boat!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 9th, 2008 at 4:34 am and is filed under Travels. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.