We finally decided on a loose itinerary for where we’re going for the next few months, so we left Cocopah Casino’s parking lot “B” yesterday and headed back the way we last came to Yuma, via Hwy 95 along the Colorado River that serves as the East and West boundaries between California and Arizona, respectively. It’s a beautiful drive once you get past Quartzsite, Arizona as the terrain becomes more rugged and interesting. It reminds me of the pictures I’ve seen of New Zealand, even more so right now as everything is covered in green.

What a stark contrast from just a couple of months ago! The heavy rains the desert has been receiving are now finally paying off. All along the drive I just oohed and ahhed over the green Ocotillos sprouting bright red flowered tips; the Teddy Bear Cholla cactuses with their furry freshly sprouted arms; the vivid yellow and purple wildflowers lining the roadway; the hot-pink blooms adorning the tops of the Prickly Pear cactus pads; and the furry carpet of green on the desert floor itself.

We stopped in Parker, Arizona at the Havasu Springs RV Resort, which is a Colorado River Adventures membership park. While shopping at a Camping World, we received a certificate offering free camping for 4 days / 3 nights and some extra perks like a $50 check and a $100 rebate for gas in exchange for listening to a 90-minute sales presentation. Sounded like a good trade, especially since we enjoyed the landscape here on our initial trip down to the Western Gypsy Gathering Rally a couple of weeks ago.

So far the park seems nice. The scenery is pretty and right on Lake Havasu. The campground appears well taken care of, though the sites are a lot closer than we like. The desk clerk wasn’t too friendly and didn’t give a very good first impression. She was quite gruff and short with the folks right in front of me as I waited in line. I caught a bit of it too, but since I knew what to expect after hearing the previous exchange, I didn’t take it personally. It doesn’t seem like a great way to greet potential buyers though! To be honest, it was a bit of a turn off.

One thing we’ve run into a time or two since we’ve been full-timing happened again today: It seems as if some of the people that staff the front desks at RV campgrounds have never gone RVing themselves. If they did, they would give much better directions to your site – ones that actually allow you to get to it and park with the least amount of maneuvering, dead ends, wrong-way aisles, tight squeezes, and obstacles to avoid. Today we were given a pull-through site, but the clerk’s directions to get to it had Chuck backed into a corner which he had to get out of by driving down the wrong way on another aisle to approach our site from the correct direction without having to back in or maneuver around a nearby retaining wall. Chuck did a great job though and our Backing Up Your RV lessons at the Rally are paying off! (Remember S-L-O-W is the key.)

Everything eventually worked itself out, but we felt foolish in front of all the usual campground spectators, and parking took longer (and created more worries) than if we had been given the right directions the first time. A neighbor told us it happens all the time there, and that made made us feel better. Now that we’re settled in, we’re going to enjoy the view, explore the park a bit this morning, and then attend the presentation this afternoon.