Today we started off with the buffet breakfast at the South Point Casino, which is just the road from our Condo. Then is was on the road to Lake Havasu City to see the London Bridge.
In 1931 the London Bridge had been redesigned and rebuilt by Scottish Engineer John Ronnie, but over the years with newer and heavier vehicles the bridge started to sink. By 1924 the bridge began sinking at of rate of an inch every eight years. By 1924 the east side of the bridge was some three to four inches lower than the west side. In 1967 the City of London placed the bridge on the market and began looking for potential buyers.
On April 18, 1968, the winning bid went to entrepreneur and Local Lake Havasu City founder Robert McCulloch for $2, 460,000. Robert McCulloch is the founder of McCulloch chainsaws.
Each block of the bridge was meticulously numbered before the bridge was disassembled. They were then shipped overseas through the Panama Canal to California and trucked from Long Beach to Arizona where the bridge was reconstructed in Lake Havasu City. It was completed and rededicated on October 10, 1971. The total cost of the bridge was $5.1 million including the relocation and rebuilding expenses.
The bridge connects an island in the middle of the lake with the mainland. The marina underneath the bridge is full of cute little shops and eating areas. There are also boat and jet ski rentals.
From Lake Havasu City we headed to Oatman, Az. Oatman was originally know for gold up until World War 2, when the gold mining took a back seat to mining for minerals that were need for the war effort. The town basically became a ghost town until a group of communities started to work together to promote the old Route 66 as a tourist attraction and that basically brought the town back. The town is know for it’s Wild Burros. Burros can smell water from 20 miles away and they carry their babies for 11 months. They first came to Oatman with the early prospectors to haul rock and ore inside the mines and outside the mines they hauled water and supplies. After all the mines were closed they just let the burros loose in the dessert. Their average lifespan is 30 - 35 years. Over the years they have bred and there is a small herd that hangs around the town. They are a lot like the elk in Banff. Except these ones you can feed them in the townsite. The stores all sell alfalfa cubes when they come to town. You are not allowed to feed them outside of town for fear that they will stop the cars on the roads and possibly get injured or killed.
The town holds a Wild West Bank robbery and gunfight in the afternoons for whomever is around and this drew a bunch of the burros in. They walk right up to you looking for food. They are actually very sweet. There has been a number of kids books written about them. The main star is name Walter the Wonder Burrow.
Local Business
For anyone who has seen the series Hell on Wheels about the building of the American Trans Continental Railroad they will have seen a character in the show that was based on an actual woman named Olive Ann Oatman. Olive was a young girl who was captured by Apache natives and was held as a slave for a year before being sold to a local Mojave Chief near Needles, CA. Olives chin was marked with indelible blue cactus tattoos to proclaim her status as a slave. She was finally set free in 1856 after the army payers a ransom of a horse, blankets and beads. Because of her struggles they decided to name the town after her.
After Oatman we headed over the Laughlin which is a resort town on the banks of the Colorado river across from Bullhead City, AZ. It was established by Don Laughlin who purchased the land at the southern tip of Nevada. He built the Riverside Resort and established a water taxi across the river to bring people from Arizona over the Nevada. In 1987 Laughlin funded and built the bridge that crosses the river for $3.5 million, which he then donated it to the states of Nevada and Arizona. The bridge carries 30,000 people daily.
We explored the riverside casino, they have a classic car exhibit so we took that in. They had some really different cars in the display.
Little roadrunner we saw on the side of the road
We then went over to the Aquarius Casino to have a quick dinner at Panda Express. I love their walnut honey shrimp. My fortune cookie said that good fortune was coming my way so I took $10 and put it into a slot machine and I won $35. So now I have $25 to gamble with over the next couple of days. I love it when I can gamble and not loose any of my money.
Tomorrow we are heading to the Valley of Fire and then going to spend the evening on Fremont Street.
No comments:
Post a Comment