Fun with Boats and Jeeps (05-29-15)

It wasn’t long before we took the Jeep on a road trip. Memorial Day weekend we packed up a lunch and took off for the Parker Dam.  We detoured first over to the island, for two reasons- to see how many boats were out on the lake, and to give the Jeep a taste of off-roading.

The island has several trails- although many of them are more suited to ATVs.  And no, we didn’t take the Jeep down that slope, we turned around.

After about an hour or so drive, we arrived at the Dam.  As you approach it, there is a sign that states “No Trailers, No Trucks” so we have never been across the dam.










As it turns out, we could have made it in the dually, but we’ve never thought it was worth testing it.

The Parker Dam is one of the tallest dams in the world, although it doesn’t look it.  73% of the dam is under water.  That’s how deep they had to go in order to find solid bedrock to build it on.











Historically, the dam has been part of a bitter dispute between California and Arizona.  It was built in the 1930s in order to “corral” the Colorado River for use by southern California, and although there had been previous agreement between the two states, when it came time to build the dam, the Arizonan government called in the Arizona National Guard to stop the building process.  Obviously it was eventually resolved, although I am not sure that all Arizonans have gotten over their hard feelings.

Across the dam, our view went from one of Lake Havasu to one of the Colorado River.  River or lake, there were still a crazy amount of boats out on the water.

As we turned back towards home, we veered off onto a road that we have passed by many times.  It is for roads like this that we bought the Jeep. Primitive road?  Bring it on!

The road has many twists and turns and leads through a wildlife preserve.

We followed the road to the end, and even got out to take a short walk.  We didn’t see much wildlife- although we did see a quail crossing the road with what seemed like 2 dozen chicks.  Couldn’t get a picture though.

Once Memorial Day was over, it was safe to put Blue Magic in the water to give her a test drive.

The engine started right up, but since the boat has been sitting for over 8 years, we weren’t interested in pushing too hard or going too far.

Still, we did get it up to 55 mph- not bad for a first trip out.  Paul says next time he wants to try full throttle- I say, 55 mph feels quite fast enough, thanks.

Eventually we were done putting her though her paces,  and it was time to find a spot to chill out and have lunch.  The water temperature is perfect for lounging around on floats right now.
One decision we made before we even got back to the dock.  We have no choice but to get a Bimini top made.






We stopped at several shops on the way home, so they could physically see the boat and make suggestions.  After getting some prices, and recovering from the sticker shock, we also checked out West Marine to see if we could  manage with a pre- made top.  That led to a whole discussion about our future boats and what role Blue Magic plays in that line up.  I think we’ll invest in the custom top.

P.S.

My blogger friends are very aware of  an issue that has come up recently in the blogging world that made posting this blog more .....annoying.  The Microsoft software that we use on our laptops to create  a blog post, called Live Writer, is no longer "playing nice" with the website -Google's Blogspot- that we use to host our blogs.  That means that until they figure it out, I can't use the relatively intuitive software to create my post, I have to do it completely online, through Blogspot.  There are a few workarounds, but none of them are great.

Part of the reason I like Live Writer is because it automatically saves each post to my computer in a way that is easily viewed, so I hope they get it worked out sooner rather than later!!