We visited Lake Havasu (and almost rolled our van!)

We started off this weekend's adventure driving to Seligman, AZ because that's as far as we felt like going for the night. Even cutting the total drive in half like that, we ended up parking later than we'd hoped. That seems to always be the case for us. We found a gorgeous spot off the highway and far from the train tracks in the middle of a ranch co-op land. It seemed there were no other humans for at least several miles in every direction. Maybe a dozen or more. It was quite remote. We wished that we got to spend more daylight there, but oh well. We parked in a small copse of trees and set to work on dinner. Chicken tikka masala and coconut rice. Again, yes, but we wanted to try and do it even better than last time. We failed I think, but that's okay. It was still really good. We checked out the night sky but the semi-full moon washed out a lot of the stars. So, we went back in to watch a movie we don't even remember and pass out.

It's hard to want to build a campfire all the time when it's just us. We COULD. But it's chilly most nights in Arizona, so it's more comfortable inside. And if it's just us, we're usually like why not be more comfortable hanging out together? And then our clothes don't smell smoky, and we don't have to worry what if we didn't fully extinguish it, our butts aren't freezing, we don't have to pack the chairs in the morning, etc. Maybe we're just boring though, I dunno.

Loki loves to lounge as close as possible to the food prep area, just in case of any errant food pieces.

​Saturday, we got up to continue our drive. We were taking an indirect route to Lake Havasu City, by way of Oatman. First, we had to get to pavement, which took quite a while. We were on graded dirt roads which were mostly decent, although there were some sections of washboard here and there. We eventually hopped onto 40W and headed to Kingman, AZ. We'd forgotten to refill the coffee pitcher for cold brew, so we were running on fumes.

When we got to Kingman, it was straight to The Human Bean for our morning coffees. It so happened that the one we went to was right next to a promising-looking taco shop called Pancho Villa's. We hadn't had much to eat by then, just a yogurt each, so we walked Loki a while and then went in. The cashier was a rare but wonderful type. You know when you're in a place and the staff sing along, usually poorly but whole-heartedly, to the music that's playing? And you can just tell they genuinely enjoy working there. To this type of person, it seems that it's not even work, but just their favorite place to hang out, and they happen to also be providing a service to people. I don't know if it was Pancho himself, but this guy was just like that. He knew all of his regulars by name and was just having a fantastic time. It might be in part the personality, there's no way to know, but I swear the food is always amazing when the staff employs someone like that. Pancho Villa's is no exception.

The highway to Oatman is easy driving if you've got a perfect alignment and cruise control. Set it and forget it.

​After we ate, we got diesel simply because we saw it available under $5 per gallon. Then we continued on our way. The drive to Oatman cuts across some desert basin, and then through a twisty mountain pass. It was a neat drive, but don't stare at the scenery too much or you might drive right off a cliff. There is little in the way of safeguards against this, and there is evidence to suggest it's happened to others. We spotted at least a few cars dotting the cliffs, far from any pavement.

In Oatman, we parked and hopped out and walked into town. Almost immediately, a donkey approached us directly from across the road. Loki sniffed the donkey's nose and didn't seem to care much. The donkey kicked out a rear leg at nothing, so we quickly walked away. Something about the donkey's body language that I can't really explain gave the impression he was uncomfortable. He followed us and attempted to attack Loki. It all happened so fast, I couldn't tell if his hooves made contact or not. If any did, it was a glancing blow at best, and Loki was uninjured, thankfully. We were saved by a woman who ran into the street screaming at the donkey. She quickly informed us that the donkeys are territorial and the whole town is not safe for dogs. We hustled back to the van and immediately left. We were parked less than 5 minutes. Loki has exhibited zero symptoms since, so I'm sure he's fine. It could have been far worse.

Finally, the last leg to the lake. We went to the state park on the Arizona shoreline, parked, and headed to the trail. Sunset Trail follows the shoreline on the Arizona side of Lake Havasu. We basked in the warm sun, enjoyed watching the boat traffic, and did a tiny bit of swimming. The water was cold, but it was so warm outside it was actually pleasant. We tried to walk to London Bridge but encountered an impressively long fence. It was so long, in fact, that we walked all the way back to the van to drive around it. We drove around town a bit before finding a place to park by the bridge and check out the underside. We got a drink and some fries at Burgers Under the Bridge because they had signs indicating their dog-friendliness. Loki got an ice cream. He loved it.

Lake Havasu is a gorgeous desert oasis!

A lot of London Bridge was ACTUALLY shipped to Arizona from London. No lie!

​As we had left the state park earlier, we noticed there was a "camping overflow" area with campers setup in it and some empty spaces. We went back to ask if there was any room available there, even though it said everything was booked online, and they said no. Oh well, it was free to ask. Wanting to park somewhere before sunset, we set out towards some BLM land just outside of town. There are tons of campsites all along the highway.

I found an opportunity to access the gravel against Mandy's better judgement. The highway cuts flat across the desert, but the gravel road follows the contours of the hills, up and down and up and down. We took it slow and climbed the first hill. Crested it, and began the descent. It was rougher on the down side, but I just rode the brakes and looked for an exit. Mandy repeatedly stated the pavement would be better until we got closer to an actual campsite. At the bottom of the hill, we could have turned hard right to get back to the pavement, but the surface was uneven, and it looked a little sketchy.

I continued up the next hill, with the plan to back down an adjacent trail, sort of a fork, that lead out to the pavement. It seemed less uneven than the transition at the bottom of the two hills, and easier to navigate. I began backing down the hill, aimed slightly towards the highway (on the passenger's side), and suddenly the driver's front wheel lifted well off the ground. We could feel it touch down again and we stopped immediately. We were leaning uncomfortably far towards the passenger's side, and it was a decent way down to the highway. Moving very slowly, I carefully exited the van at the same time as Mandy took the driver's seat. I needed to assess from outside. We weren't stuck in the traditional sense, as I think the van could have driven forwards or backwards. But I was pretty confident that either move could have resulted in a rollover. Not ideal.

Here's a panorama of the scene, but keep in mind the panorama effect makes it appear much flatter than it actually is:

You can see disturbances in the dirt to the right where we got stuck for a while.

​The transition across the fork in the trail was not as flat as it looked when we initially drove by it, so when we crossed that threshold the passenger's side rear dropped a lot more than anticipated. We were also right on the edge of what was packed trail, so any movement downhill would have put us in the loose stuff and probably started an avalanche. I've been in a lot of stuck situations off-road but none have ever been half as terrifying as this. We didn't take any pictures or video because we had to focus 200% on recovery. We are so extremely thankful that Ben and Reya stopped to help. Passing by on the highway, they thought something looked wrong with the way our van was parked so they turned back. They had a crew cab F250 and a few tow straps.

Ben and I discussed the situation and all possible recovery options. I was concerned that using the factory tow point would cause a few issues. First and most importantly, it would have required opening the passenger's door to remove the tow hook from storage. That made me uncomfortable because of the potential weight shift on the downhill side of the van. Second, we were so far over the passenger's side, I thought the tow point may have gotten underneath the van's center of mass and would have been done nothing to prevent a rollover. The angle was a little sub-par because of the tire, but we ultimately decided to strap around the driver's side control arm. Ben put his truck at the top of the ridge and pulled tension in the straps. Mandy put the van in drive and relieved the cramp in her calf from smashing the brake pedal. I prayed to all of the gods then choreographed the dance between both drivers. Ben pulled; Mandy drove. The wheel came way off the ground again, but the strap prevented a rollover, and got us back onto solid ground.

We ran up against a bush which began to fight us because of weird angles. I decided to have Ben move his truck and re-strap on the other side of the bush. Mandy probably could have driven from here, but we wanted to be 100% safe. Another short tug and she was at the top of the hill on flat ground. We thanked our saviors profusely and followed them along the ridge back to pavement the safest way we knew. No further issues. There's video of the extraction shot by Reya towards the end of our video here:

Mandy imposed us on their campsite for the night so that we could share our bottle of wine with them as a thank you. It was all we had to offer. We spent a while getting reorganized inside the van first, and I showered off all the dust of extraction. I'd gotten filthy playing in the dirt. My hands were raw from shoveling gravel from beneath the driver's front tire. Then we hung out around the campfire with them and some other neighbors until late into the night. When the smoke started to really bother our eyes, we called it a night and walked back to the van.

All is well that ends well, and this night ended in a beautiful desert campsite.

​Sunday we awoke in the middle of the desert precisely when we felt like it. We spent the morning leisurely, slowly working through breakfast and dressing and all that. It was warm enough to open all the windows and the slider, just a gorgeous day. We offered our new friends and lifesavers a tour of our home since they expressed interest in it the day prior. They were great guests and asked intelligent, engaging questions. We exchanged numbers and parted ways; we all had errands to accomplish, but wanted to meet up for lunch or something.

We headed back into town via pavement (lesson learned) to find a coffee and a laundromat. If you go to The Human Bean and they ask if you want a bean, take it. It's a chocolate covered coffee bean. We love them! Mandy worked the laundry situation, while I monitored chicken wings in the air fryer and worked on video editing. The wings came out awesome. We devoured them after the laundry was finished. I think we can improve on it a little bit by setting the oven to broil for the final few minutes. They had a decent crisp, but I think we can do better, that's all. Next time.

We tried to link up with our saviors, feeling like we at least owed them a beer or something. They were still working their errands, so we decided to head back to Prescott and catch them at a future date. Mandy drove us a different route than we took Friday. I didn't see a ton of the ride; I just laid in the back to read. We arrived to town late, since we stopped who-knows-where in some parking lot to make dinner. We had just warmed up leftovers, and then continued the ride. Since it was late, we just parked on a side street downtown and went straight to bed.

Loki has his own bed, but he much prefers the big one upstairs.