THE REAL WORLD CAN WAIT
Like most of the sights you’ll come across on this trip,
Lake Havasu City has a story, and a suitably quirky one
at that. Like Lake Mojave that lies just to the north of
Laughlin, Havasu was created by a dam, in this case the
Parker Dam completed in 1938. The dam flooded the sur-
rounding desert, creating a lake with nearly 450 miles
of shoreline. In 1963, that lake captured the attention
of oil magnate Robert McCulloch as he flew overhead.
McCulloch joined with a developer to grow the city into
a tourist and retirement destination, and chose a rather
random structure as its centerpiece — the London Bridge.
Originally spanning the River Thames, the bridge was
declared unsafe for modern trac in 1962. McCulloch
bought the structure, had it dismantled and the facing
stones numbered, then shipped the pieces to the United
States, ultimately reassembling the original stonework
over a new concrete structure. The bridge was originally
built over land, on a peninsula extending into the lake.
Once completed, McCulloch had a channel dredged be-
low to turn penin sula into island — and, of course, make
sure his centerpiece bridge actually passed over water.
We pin our Sea-Doo’s throttles to skip over the wind-
swept surface of Lake Havasu to reach the peaceful
bridge channel, then take the requisite cruise under the
bridge and its nearby English-themed village, now in-
creasingly giving way to condos. On the far side, we once
again get on the gas to travel the remaining distance to
the last sight on our ride, Copper Canyon. A baby, baby
version of the Baby Grand, Copper Canyon nonetheless
features those same towering red-rock walls. It has a
reputation as a party spot, with boats rafting up, drinks
flowing, and clif diving being the norm. In fact, MTV
took notice of Copper Canyon years back and used it as
the location for one of the network’s infamous SpringBreak weekends. Today, however, the water is still and
the air quiet. We motor through at idle speed and take
pictures of the rocks as they’re lit up by the blazing after-
noon sun, then turn north to retrace our steps through
Topock Gorge and beyond.
Theoretically, we could make it back by nightfall, but
this isn’t that kind of adventure. Instead, we check in to
Pirate’s Cove Resort, another oasis hidden just north
of Topock 66. Here we enjoy cabins along the marina
shoreline and later, at the bar, toast the desert sunset.
Tomorrow we’ll return to the real world and its seem-
ingly endless problems and responsibilities.
But for tonight, the escape continues ...Slide your
phone into
the water-
poof com-
partment
and play
your tunes
through
the built-in
speakers.WE ATTEMPT TO FREEZE
THE MOMENT IN END-
LESS PICTURES AND
GAZE IN AWE AT NEW
SITES WAITING AROUND
EVERY CORNER.
PHOTOS: COURTESY SEA-DOO80 | BOATINGMAG.COM | MAY 2018