Lake Havasu London Bridge

You all know the song “London Bridge is Falling Down.” When the London Bridge, in England, needed replacing; an enterprising man (McCulloch) bought it and reconstructed it here in AZ! He designed the town of Lake Havasu around the bridge and brought people to the desert to see it and to live here. Our 06 Atlas says that Lake Havasu now has a population of over 49,000 people.

Terry is going snowmobiling again this year. Both of Terry’s sons, Raymond and Robert will fly to Bozeman, MT. to go to the Yellowstone Nat'l Park area. They plan to leave March 2. We will go to my parent's home in Mesa so Terry can get to the airport by 9 am. I will not get any blogs put on until Terry returns.As you know, I sleep with my web master.

THE OATMAN WEDDING

The Oatman, AZ gold mining town, on Route 66, is alive with tourists, merchants in the Emporium and merchantiles and restaurants. You will find genuine antiques to trash and artful displays to tacky ones.

Watch where you step. There are wild burros that come to town and leave their droppings on the street. We were told that the wild donkeys come from the canyons at 9:30 am and leave at 5:30 pm. Sure enough, they were right on time as we met them entering town with us at 9:30 am. How they know the time, I don’t know, but the wild animals seem to know when the tourists have carrots to feed them.

Oatman’s claim to fame is the honeymoon room in the Oatman Hotel where Clark Gable and Carole Lombard came for their honeymoon on March 18,1939. Then Clark Gable went to star in the “Gone With the Wind” movie.

We saw a most unusual wedding on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2007. The bride wore a white silk blouse, black jacket, a long red and black plaid skirt with black lace on the bottom and old time black boots. She carried a red rose. The groom wore blacksmith clothes that were blue denim with a leather hat complete with feather and a leather apron and gloves.
He was talking to the father of the bride who wore blue denim clothes, a leather hat and red suspenders. The father of the bride said “You will only be doing this once.” Since the groom’s neck scarf of a red handkerchief was unfastened, and he needed help, I stepped up to tie it for him.

The story about the wedding was that the groom’s first wife had died and now he got into trouble with the law by fighting. The sheriff decided that Charles had to get married to settle him down. Judith seemed willing so the sheriff used his shotgun to make sure that Charles complied. When they came to the part where the longhaired parson asked if there was anyone who objected; a man, who was covered in dust, appeared. He said he was married to Judith but she had him buried alive. The sheriff asked if the bride and groom wanted the “matter taken care of.” The bride and groom said “yes.” The sheriff shot the objector.

The bride and groom made promises to each other including “cleaning the house, cooking, and cleaning his clothes whether they need it or not.” The ring was one that the bride’s great grandmother Nettie wore when she got married one hundred years ago on Feb. 24, 1907. Some of the dialogue was obviously a farce but this was a real wedding!

Fireworks

(Note to any Red Hat Ladies from the Gila Bend luncheon at Little Italy- Delores Hull has an excellent picture from the Gila Sun which she will email to you. She has given me permission to put her email address on this blog. It is Delores Hull E-mail Address: deehull66@yahoo.com)


Terry and I spent three days watching dealers in fireworks put on displays for other dealers in Sara Park in Lake Havasu.

On Friday night we sat on the bleachers but Saturday night the park was closed because parking was full at 5 pm. We parked about a mile away and saw them against the mountains. It wasn’t possible to see the ground demonstrations but we got a different perspective when we heard the echo of the fireworks as sound bounced from mountain to mountain. No picture can do it justice. It was spectacular!

Gila Bend Red Hats

A funny thing happened when we went to the RV2WAYSAT Rally. Terry registered us online. In the space that asked for volunteers, he volunteered me for the Red Hat Luncheon. The next day he told me. I said, “ Sure, I’ll help.”

We arrived at Augies Quail Trail Campground in Gila Bend. The registration committee had no record of our registration and didn’t have nametags for us but had two papers that said that I was the chairman of the committee. It wasn’t difficult to be the leader since the hostess of the rally had already planned for us to be at the Little Italy restaurant. We joined three local women at the event.

A woman from the Gila Sun came and took our picture for the newspaper. Send 1$ to the Gila Sun, P.O. Box Z, Gila Bend, AZ 85337 for their picture and story. If you want to contact the newspaper for a copy of the picture, their email is Gilasun@earthlink.net.

Terry also volunteered me to participate in the chili cook-off but this time he asked me first. I decided that it would be just as easy to fix chili as to bring something else to the potluck dinner. I used ground moose for the meat base. Guess what? Out of thirteen contestants, my chili placed second place.

Oasis Bookstore

The Oasis Bookstore has moved in Quartzsite. It is further east on Main Street near Sweet Darlene’s Café. It no longer has canvas sides but is in a metal building. Paul Winer is a most unusual storeowner. He knows where each of the several thousand books is located. The most unusual thing about him is his dress or lack of dress. Someone asked him if he was the owner. Paul replied,” Yes. Do you think that anyone would hire me dressed the way I do?” (I asked Terry to edit the picture because it made me look too fat.) Celia, from the previous blog, was the only child of Paul and Joanne Winer.

Celia’s Rainbow Gardens

Celia Winer was an eight-year-old girl who lived in Quartzsite. She became ill and died soon after her illness. The people in town created a memorial garden for her, which became a memorial for many others too. The garden has many species of cacti and other foliage native to the area. Many persons have placed statues and rock formations to create this unique garden.

War Memorial

A four fifths scale model of the Vietnam War Memorial was in Quartzsite while we were there. I think the pictures speak for themselves.

Clowns at Boomer Rally in Quartzsite.

We parked with the Escapees group called the Boomers while we were in Quartzsite, AZ. We went to seminars, ate potluck meals, sat around the campfire, and visited with friends. Terry went shopping at the “flea markets” and at the big tent. I went to the Camping World tent and sold my book, RV Chuckles and Chuckholes – the Confessions of Happy Campers.


Verna Baker led a group of clowns in a production to introduce the Jeraldine Fashion Show. All of the clowns had performed for clown master, Gerry Courtney, in Escapades in the past. The clowns performed to honor Gerry who died on January 23, 2007. Pictures of us were made into a card that was sent to our friend, Myna Courtney. Yes, I was a clown too. I am in the black cape.