Camp Davis, AZ

Davis Dam, looking downriver.

Davis Dam, on the Colorado River, forms Lake Mohave.  It lies between Hoover Dam which forms Lake Mead and Parker Dam which forms Lake Havasu.  Construction started in 1942 but was put on hold due to WWII; it started up again in '46 and was completed in '53.  The construction workers lived in Camp Davis, which had about 100 houses and a population of around 500.

The dam, looking upriver, with interesting dam specs just above.

Camp Davis later became a large county park and that's where we're camped while checking out the Cougar's systems and functions.  The park is just north of Bullhead City, AZ, a twin town to Laughlin, NV across the river.  Laughlin is named after Don Laughlin, a small town boy from Owatonna, MN/shrewd gambling industry entrepreneur who was instrumental in developing the area into a mini Las Vegas.  Laughlin has several large hotel-casinos and big name entertainers perform here.

Wednesday night we enjoyed a great steak and champagne dinner at the Saltgrass Steakhouse in the Golden Nugget Casino.  We're not big on casinos or $50/person dinners but sometimes you gotta pull out the stops.  We were celebrating the closing of the sale of my OR home, a major event.

Just as we completed our meal, Trish pointed out a sight to behold, an image of sartorial splendor, the likes of which few have ever seen.  This old gent was sporting a bright orange T-shirt over bright red shorts held securely in place by a 2" wide white vinyl belt; continuing southward we are dazzled by knee-high bright red sox and lily white shoes.  The frosting on this lovely cake was a black waist pack that hung at a rakish angle, reminiscent of Wyatt Earp's Buntline Special.

As you can well imagine, I was jealous as hell, and spent most of yesterday at the factory outlet stores trying to duplicate the look.  In vain.  Plenty of red T's and white shoes but everybody was sold out of orange shorts and 2" white vinyl belts.  Damn!

This is the only casino with visual appeal.  The rest are garden variety boxes.

We had lunch here yesterday.

Feeding the koi at the entrance to the Colorado Belle.

No, that's not me in the picture; same hairdo but I'm much skinnier.

About 1/3 of the spaces in this park are occupied by elderly residents in elderly RVs. We chatted briefly with a couple of them.  One guy said he's been here 10 years, absolutely loves it, says he's gonna stay here 'til he croaks.  Across the street is a woman who's been here 27 years!  I don't know when this park opened but I'll bet this woman was the first one in line.  The gates opened, she rushed in, found a spot she liked, nailed it, been a happy camper ever since.  Good on her!  The rest of us should be so lucky.