Day 3 - Phoenix to Lake Havasu City

After a long day yesterday and a good night's sleep we are ready for our third day of traversing the great state of Arizona. Our destination for the night is Lake Havasu City where we will spend three nights and attend an event. After a little breakfast and getting the car loaded we were ready to start out day. Last night we got into Phoenix too late to go to South Mountain Park to get Squatchis' Maricopa County box so we wanted to do that first thing this morning. So from the hotel we headed to the park. When we arrived we saw a sign stating that all roads to summits were closed. We stopped and talked to one of the employees and they told us that due to storm damage in August of this year the roads would be closed indefinitely.
Since we couldn't look for the box we left the park and headed south/east on I10. A short distance along we exited onto AZ347.

View from the abandoned site of Freeman

We took this road down to I8 and then headed west. Our first stop was for Azroadie's Freeman box. This box is located just east of Gila Bend in the abandoned town of Freeman. It was a quick and easy find and we were back on the road in no time. We continued along I8 until the Sentinel Rest Area west of Gila Bend. There are two boxes here - Grumpy Grinch's Cow Catcher and Azroadie's Volcanic Field. Both were a little ways away from the buildings and easy to find. I got both stamped into my logbook and then tucked away into their respective hiding spots and then we were ready to continue on. I was keeping an eye on the time because we had a long way to go to get to Lake Havasu and I also needed to get Azroadie's and Squatchis' county boxes (this was priority and the real purpose of the trip). Our next stop was Spot Road just east of Dateland. There were two boxes in the area. Azroadie's X Marks the Spot (Road) which was very near the exit and LazyD's Round House Letterbox which was 3+ miles away on a dirt road. To save a little time we decided to forego the Round House box. We found Azroadie's box easily enough and I stamped in while sitting in the car because there was a short period of some wind and I was having trouble keeping hold of my clues. After getting the box back into place we returned to the interstate and headed for the Dateland Travel Center. We first looked for AZJokester's Where in World is Dateland, Arizona?. Unfortunately we didn't find this box. So we took a break and went into the Travel Center and looked around the gift shop and then we decided to try the date shake. We ended up getting a small that we shared. I liked the flavor of the shake but I could of done without the bits of dates that kept clogging up the straw. I had read rave reviews about these shakes and they are good but I don't think I would stop for one on future trips in that area - for me it was a "Been There, Done That" kind of thing. Back on I8 heading west we soon exited onto old US80 just before getting to Tacna. At this exit we found Azroadie's Mohawk box which is planted near or in the abandoned site of Mohawk. Another quick and easy find and soon we were back in the car continuing on our drive. Soon enough we were getting in to the Yuma area. We took exit 12 to Fortuna Road and then turned north onto US95. Five miles later we arrived at an abandoned bridge - the Henry Harrison McPhaul Bridge.

The Bridge to Nowhere (McPhaul Bridge)

We found The Bridge to Nowhere which was originally placed by Milk Money but has since been adopted by Desert Flower. After stamping in I took a few pictures and then we headed into Yuma to the Yuma Territorial Prison Historic Park. First we looked for Squatchis' Arizona Counties: Yuma County. The walk to this box was along the Colorado River. It was a pleasant and peaceful walk. I had no trouble finding the box especially since it was out in the open. I was glad it was there because anyone passing by could have seen it. I stamped in and then made sure to hide the box a lot better. Once I was satisfied with the hide we returned to the parking area and then looked for Azroadie's Yuma Prison. I had a little trouble finding this one, it took me three tries starting at the beginning to find the box. I think I was rushing because we still had a ways to go and time was slipping away from us. It was 2:50pm when I finally found the box and stamped in. I then got it back into its hiding spot and we headed back to the car. We realized we hadn't had any lunch so we stopped for a sandwich and then began the last leg of our journey.

We left Yuma via I8 and crossed over into California.

Ogilby Road

A short distance later we exited onto Olgiby Road. At first we were skeptical about going this way. For about 15 minutes we didn't see any other human life and the road was in really bad shape. There were cracks everywhere and the edges where crumbling apart. Then we crossed a railroad track and we saw two trucks with workers. And a little later we encountered road construction. Once past the construction the road changed to CA78 and we were suddenly driving along with quite a few other cars. We both felt that the landscape along this road was a little strange - sort of 'alienish' - that is the only way we could describe it. I am not saying it was bad, just different. Finally we arrived at I10 where we headed east back into Arizona. Once back into the Grand Canyon State we took exit 1 at Ehrenberg and turned onto the Ehrenberg-Parker Highway. Six miles later we pulled off the road and drove up to two abandoned sites. We walked over to the one on the right and then I climbed up the hill and took a compass reading and quickly found Squatchis' Arizona Counties: La Paz County. By this time the sun was much lower in the sky and I was moving really fast - we still needed one more box before heading to Lake Havasu. From the time we parked and I found the box and then stamped in and put the box back into placed and made my way to the car took all of seven minutes. We then retraced our route back to I10 and headed east to Quartzsite. A few miles east of town we exited onto Gold Nugget Road and made our way to a kiosk not even a half mile from the interstate. By this time it was completely dark and there were absolutely no lights in this area. So with clues and flashlights and a compass we began our search for Azroadie's Gold Nugget letterbox. Since we couldn't see any landmarks we had to completely rely on the compass readings and steps. Thankfully we got to the first landmarks without any complications. Then we took the next compass reading and walked the listed number of steps and arrived at the box - again without problems. Thomas held the flashlights and I stamped in. I was trying to rush since it was pitch black and a little creepy out there but I took a deep breath and made sure I stamped in well and then made sure the box was hidden properly. Now we needed to find our way back to the car. So I just reversed the compass readings and we headed back. We ended up about 100 feet to the right of where the car was parked. Thank the universe for electronic keys. We pressed the button to unlock the car doors and that made the lights come on and we were able to get to the car safely. We were extremely happy that we were done with that. We headed back to I10 and then exited at Quartzsite onto AZ95. We still had an hour and a half drive to Lake Havasu City but that was fine since we didn't need to stop for any other boxes. It was around 8:00pm when we arrived in town and we were both hungry. So we stopped for a quick bite and then drove to the hotel. We were both so tired and ready for bed but when I walked into the lobby to check in there were already six people in front of me. Forty minutes later we had room keys, had unloaded the car and were in for the night.

A very long day but we accomplished our goals and I had gotten all the county stamps for both Squatchis and Azroadie that I needed. I think tonight we will sleep well and we don't have to get up early to be anywhere tomorrow - we are staying in the Lake Havasu area for a couple of days.

Today's Stats . . .
Starting Time: 8:30am; Ending Time: 8:05pm
Total Time for the Day = 11 hours 35 minutes
Miles Driven = 370
Roads Taken: I10 ➛ AZ347 ➛ I8 ➛ Olgiby Road ➛ CA78 ➛ I10 ➛ AZ95
Weather: Sunshine & Cool → Sunshine → Sunshine → Sunshine
Temperatures: AM ▸ Phoenix = 53°; Noon ▸ Dateland = 70°; PM ▸ Lake Havasu = 62°
Letterboxes Found = 10; Letterboxes Attempted = 12