Feb 022011
I made it to Parker AZ yesterday. Well actually I'm staying at the Wheel-Er In RV Park in Earp CA. This is just on the California side of the Colorado River is less then a mile drive to downtown Parker. While the midwest and much of the eastside of the U.S. is buried in snow, we are having freezing temps with 30 MPH winds. Not very desert like. It was miserable enough that I just stayed put yesterday and only went out to take a quick trip around Parker and picked up a few supplies.
While today was not much better I went out to check things out better. I had an idea of the course for the Parker 425 Desert Race so drove around to see if I could find some good spectating areas. I found a few promising spots and unless you are in the start/finish area much of the course is open to where ever you want to watch from. The course runs close to a few miles of paved road on BLM land and it appears that area is used a lot for spectating. I'll most likely find a spot out there to watch.
Tonight I went over to the Blue Water Casino. The casino is the headquarters for the race and while I donated a few bucks to the Indians I thought I might find out more info about the race. While I did give 40 bucks to the Mohave, Chemehuevi, Hopi and Navajo tribes I did see Robby Gordon hanging around the casino. No good juicy stuff to report like gambling or drinking, he was just hanging out with some friends. Gotta respect that. I wonder if you'd ever see Jeff Gordon or Jimmy Johnson just hanging in a casino a couple nights before a race?
Looks like it will be an interesting experience.