River Island State Park

"Back in the saddle again" so to speak.  After having our trailer sit for a whole year in a back yard we were glad to be camping once more.  The two dreaded "C" words in 2020 (Cancer and COVID) kept us from using our 5th wheel during those 12 months. That was indeed the longest it sat since we purchased it back in 2006.  Finally, on January 15th we caravanned from Phoenix to Parker, Arizona.   Don led the way with Doris in the middle and Jerry and Sandy bringing up the rear.

 Our destination was River Island State Park, a campground between Parker and Lake Havasu in Arizona.  Almost all the sites had been taken at Catalina when we tried to book a year in advance last January.  Admittedly, it's difficult to find a campground when we need a minimum of 11 sites for our group.  We were all thankful we could still camp since COVID was still hanging around.  This also meant we couldn't have our shared meals with our huge group and we either wore masks or social distanced.  Even old folks like us can adapt if push comes to shove. 

The photo below shows the whole campground and the entrance. Beyond the right of the picture is the Colorado River.

One of the drawbacks to this park was little or no cell reception and the only place you could get the campground internet was right by the office.  This picnic table next to the entrance became our morning meeting place.  Most of the time we couldn't even send texts between us even though our rigs were only yards apart! 

The campground map shows where all of us had our sites, with the exception of Allen and Roberta.  They wound up nearby at Buckskin after a screwup by the state parks system.  Missing this year was the Illinois group, Sherry, and our dear friends Rob and Gay Kohl.  Rob had passed away from COVID the previous week. One of his sons, Dane Kohl and his family were able to get the same site and camp with us.

Bobby and Kerry Cowen were playing a game of cornhole as Doris, Sandy and I meandered by.

Our small group was comprised of Don and me, Doris, Sandy and Jerry, and Norm Voigt.  We ended up eating our evening meals together, and sometimes breakfast, depending on the day and the weather.

One afternoon Dane and Bobbie Kohl, their boys Barret and Bryson joined us, along with their two huge dogs.

On the plus side, this campground had river access and many in our group brought kayaks. We discovered that the kayak Barrett had gotten for Christmas was the same exact kayak Bobby and Kerry had bought!  They both got their maiden voyages from the same shoreline!

Sadly, I didn't get a pic of Berdie and Allen in their kayaks, but I did manage to take one as they were coming up the boat ramp after one of their excursions.

We had planned on one special dinner that involved LIVER.  Not for me or Sandy, but enough for Don, Doris, Jerry, Norm and even John Eaton, the cousin who drove from Surprise to join us.  Sandy and I settled for tacos, which in my opinion, is far, far better than liver!

That afternoon was quite nice, but still Allen and Don were the only ones wearing shorts!

To be honest, we did have a few moments of no masks and social distancing, as you can tell from the photo below!  Doesn't this remind you of teenagers, all looking at their phones?  I can't even remember what they were doing at that point in time.  Maybe checking the weather or perhaps checking what time it was.  The cell reception not only was poor, but it kept going between the cell towers in Arizona and in California which are in different time zones! The same held true of people who had Apple watches.  I was thankful for my good old Timex watch that never went willy-nilly!😂😂

We were able to watch beautiful sunsets, the dazzling beauty of the night time skies with millions of stars and being with beloved family and friends.  It doesn't get much better than that.