We left the Oasis RV campground with Arizona in our future. But, since Dave messed up the second traffic circle we reached (with only a MINOR comment from Brenda), we decided to pull into a nearby gas station to fill up and turn around. Rats, not a great place to fill up - expensive and tight corners getting out.
Once we took the right exit at the traffic circle, we were off to Las Vegas. Its been a long time since we drove into Las Vegas, and it was amazing how far the city had spread. Last time we were there it seemed there was highway construction for miles as you entered the city - 25 years later, nothing has changed except that the construction zones were further out towards Mesquite.
From Las Vegas, we took Highway 95 south. Familiar territory. Many of the landmarks looked familiar. However, something new was a massive solar farm on the side of the highway, that seemed to be almost 12 miles long and stretching almost a mile out from the highway.
South past the Laughlin turnoff and onto I-40 East before turning south again on highway 95. Lake Havasu City was significantly larger than the last time through, and it seemed like we hit every traffic light on the way through. There must have been 10 to 15 stops.
From there we passed by the Parker Dam, and further south past the La Paz County campground. A familiar landmark where we had spent considerable time in the past. With the floating bar on the Colorado River and the Emerald Canyon Golf Course on the east side of the highway, we recalled the great times we had shared with friends in the past.
Parker, Arizona didn't look a lot different. The Safeway we shopped at 20+ years ago was still there, but they had added a Walmart across the street.
South of Parker, we turned off of highway 95 and onto highway 72 towards Bouse, AZ. We heard this was a road many trucks used as a shortcut when travelling from Phoenix to Las Vegas, but what we didn't consider was that the heavy traffic had taken its toll on the highway surface. It was one of the roughest stretches of road we have encountered on this trip.
At Bouse, AZ we took Plomosa Road which heads west back towards highway 95 and Quartzsite, AZ. We noticed the Bouse Community Campground which appeared to have several open sites. About 2 miles up the road we found a gravel route off the highway, where we found our first boondocking site of our trip. We picked a spot with few neighbours, the closest on either side of us has to be at least 100 meters away. Quiet and solitude for the next few days. We'll see how long our water holds out and if our solar panels keep our batteries charged.
