Yesterday we crossed over the Colorado River from the Arizona side to the California side. There are more differences than one would assume, given the short distance involved. Not only does the river define the border between the two states, it also marks the time zone. Confusion reigns. Cell phones, cameras, vehicles and TV's all seem to have a different opinion of where you are and in turn what is the correct time.
We crossed over the river at the town of Parker to explore, or perhaps the right word would be re-acquaint ourselves with the California side. BLM owns most of this portion of land along the river, but leases out the majority of the river front to various commercial endeavors for RV and mobile home parks, RV and boat storage and a scattering of restaurants and bars. But what catches the passing tourist's eye are the wild burros that roam the hills, roads, and neighborhoods. The burros are the left overs from the Spanish explorers to the Americas centuries ago, and to this specific area by the gold miners. On the Arizona shoreline of the Colorado in this area the burros have been "relocated", but on the California side they still roam wild.
We did a tour of BLM sites, stopping to checkout Crossroads campground - - too crowded. Checked out the Rock House Boat Ramp for birds, as well as Bullfrog Day Use Area, and then Quail Hollow Day Use Area where Jeanette took pity on some burros and fed them some carrots she was wanting to get rid of.
By mid-afternoon the heat was getting to us, temps were in the 70's and we crossed back over to the Arizona side to look for a place to park for the night with shade. We lucked out with some shade in this spot in the parking lot of the Blue River Casino. As the afternoon lengthened into evening we doubled in our appreciation of our good fortune as we discovered the crowds are starting to build for the Parker 500 this weekend. Even though crowded we had a quiet night.
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