Name Arizona's Second Largest Tourist Attraction

If you said Quartzsite, the RV Mecca, you could be close. But rather, if statistics are truthful, the second (only to the Grand Canyon) is London Bridge--at Lake Havasu City. Yep, nearly two and half million people visit the London Bridge every year, and therein lies a tale.

When the fairer-sexed editor of this blog's father was alive, he used to laugh himself nearly sick about, "The fellow who bought the London Bridge." My father-in-law thought he'd met a lot of fools in his life, but he figured that Robert McCulloch had to be somewhere near the top of the list. 'Yes sir, the man bought the London Bridge, and now he's gonna use it cross the desert!' McCulloch was as crazy as the proverbial fox. His purchase of the London Bridge for less than $2.5 million became legend. Not all of the bridge came to America--some stayed behind in Jolly England to cover taxes, but the rest was carefully dismantled and the pieces numbered.

After McCulloch reconstructed The London Bridge across a small spit of land near the Colorado River, he cleverly engineered a minor feat: Over a million cubic yards of dredge was removed, and a diversion of a portion of the waterway ran under his new bridge.

A largely empty spot on the Arizona desert became one of the hottest attractions on Arizona's "West Coast," and today plenty of folks flock to this winter paradise. Lake Havasu City has more attractions that just the bridge, and a lot of smart doctors who make their living practicing on the ailments of old folks have relocated there. It's a short trip, less than an hour and half following Arizona Highway 95 north from Quartzsite through Parker. The route itself is scenic, allow time to stop and admire the Bill Williams Wildlife Reservoir north of Parker.

Construction photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Quartzsite: Recalled to Life

While the town council tries to make Quartzsite a "year around town," RVing is what brings life to this big little town each winter. And like the old gold rush days, there are plenty of vendors to supply the every need of those who come to this little town in the West. If the Old Prospector were to poke his head out the window and look down into LaPaz Valley, he'd see that things are coming back to life.

While there aren't "scads" of RVers yet, the support groups are getting plenty ready for them. Restaurants who hang out the "closed for the season sign" are cleaning the silverware: The Quail Cafe up on Moon Mountain is already dishing up food, as is the Palo Verde and La Casa Mi Rancho on Highway 95. Year-around outfits like Taco Mio and Janet's Kitchen are now serving their Friday fish specials. Noticeably absent from the line up? Sweet Darlene's is still closed up tight, but the rumor mill has it they're planning a new facade for their store.

Down at the other end of town, the future of the Stagecoach is questionable--at least in our opinion. "No Trespassing" and "Not for Lease" signs blanket the windows. What's the deal? One local source tells us that the outfit that owns the place isn't willing to offer up anything more to potential restaurateurs other than a month-to-month rental on the feed lot. With that kind of an offer, who really wants to invest the time and energy into opening the place up with the potential of getting skidded out the door on your fryer grease? Since the location is the weekly meeting place of the Escapees RV club, who knows what the future holds for coffee and gab for SKPs.

Other popular RV haunts are reviving: K&B Tools has the tent up and running. The Gambler appears to be dusting off his stock. The produce palace across the street from the post office began moving in last week, and the local "dent tents" for low priced groceries are geared up. Of course, the RV Pit Stop has been open all year, and Charlie is looking forward to seeing to it his customers have plenty of LP, fresh R.O. water, and ice at a buck a bag.

Come on down!