Photo's, Words, Video by Justin Ude (aka Beermaker)

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As a self proclaimed Havasu boater, I rarely stray from my "happy place" on the Arizona/California boarder. But for the second time in as many years we made the trek north to Lake Mohave for the annual Damn Dam Run. I must admit the drive north to Hoover Dam is some of the most scenic boating I have ever taken in. The trip started with a late night run from So Cal to Havasu to pick up the Howard and a quick jaunt back up to Lake Mohave. By the time we made this round trip we missed the Friday drinking on the lawn that so many partake in, and judging by the looks on many of the participants faces in the morning there was a lot of partaking going on! We arrived at Katherine's Landing at around 1:30am (after a run in with a road striper on the entrance road, that we discovered later, who managed to get bright orange over spray on the truck, trailer and boat....ughh). We checked in, charged all the cameras and hit the sack.

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With a 8:30am on the water target, and not getting to sleep until well after 2am, the 7am alarm was an unwelcome annoyance. After hitting snooze once or twice, I got a frantic wake up call from Hank (The B Team Gardner) at almost 7:30 am asking if we were ready and if the boat was in the water. Of course, the answer to both was no, but I stretched to truth and say don't worry, we're good! I took the quickest shower ever, hopped in the truck and got on the water in record time. After loading up, we mustered our way out to the meeting area where several boats had already gathered and after a few minutes, Hank blew the whistle and we all fired up and headed south towards the memorial for Carl. The family was doing there thing as we arrived and most of us shut down a ways away tot not cause to much disruption. As the family finished up, waves were exchanged, pictures taken and the boats started to fire up to start the long ride north.

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I must pause for a second and say that I only me Carl a hand full of times but he was always welcoming and seemed like a genuinely nice guy. During last years Dam run, it was my first time dragging my Bullet up to Mohave and I had a room at The Aquarius. After checking out the area I was a little uneasy about leaving my boat in the parking lot and had previously heard a few horror stories. Somehow, unbeknownst to me, Carl caught wind of my situation and I get a call telling my to bring my boat back up to Mohave and he had a place to put it. We drive back up and he moves a car and instructs me to back my boat in literally right in front of his front door! I was blown away that he would do this for practically a stranger. It made the trip so much more enjoyable as I was already imagining getting no sleep checking on my boat all night. I wish I had the opportunity to know him as well as many on the boards did. Cheers to Carl.

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Now back to the run. We took off in a pack and boats naturally started to cluster up with similar speed boats. What an awesome sight! All manner of boats running side by side. From deck boats to pontoons, performance vees to wicked cats, what a menagerie. Don Johnson put on another great show this year, blasting by us all at what I would guess had to be 140'ish mph followed closely by his buddy in the fast looking 377 Talon. After a smooth as glass run across the basins, we all arrived at Cottonwood for our first arranged cool off stop. By then we had a nice group of roughly 40 boats in all. After floating, chatting and a few cold ones, the whistle was blown and off we went. This is my favorite part of the trip, as the scenery through the narrows canyons is breathtaking. We made our way to Willow for our second stop of the day, Passing through large schools of kayakers on either side of the lake. Many froze with a look confused, or anger at the commotion of so many performance boats. here was an occasional wave, smile and thumbs up from the group as well. At this point, the water temp had dropped considerably and not all were brave enough to jump in. My whole crew braved the chilly waters and actually enjoyed to cooler temps. After several minutes, the signal was given and we all marched on for the short trip to the dam.

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The Hoover dam from below is an awesome sight. If you haven't been, you should add this to your boating bucket list. The water is shockingly cold and not for the faint at heart. There are many cool spots to check out in the area. From waterfalls, caves and canyons to wild big horn sheep there is something for everyone. After floating at the dam and taking many selfies the group started to break up and head back south to various beaches and tie ups along the way. We stopped at a small beach with about 18 other boats were we handed out a few koozies and hats. We hung out for a couple hours, tunes playing, drinks flowing and ate a little lunch. Several boats needed to add a splash of fuel so we headed south towards Cottonwood. Clusters of boats congregated on small patches of beach across from cottonwood and hung out until our stomachs said it was time to head back around 6pm. By this time the wind had picked up a bit, but despite some concerns we made it back across the basin in relative comfort. Evidence of this was the fact that every person on our boat fell asleep for a good portion of the return ride. The launch ramp was a bit of a mess and frustrations rose but we got off with no major incidents, unloaded the boat and headed to the room for showers.

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Paul (Budman) and Vic were kind enough to haul down there full size bbqs and set about to cooking all manner of food. Dinner was a potluck format and proof that all of our eyes are bigger than our stomachs. I am confident we had enough food for three times the number of people in attendance. The food, drink and conversation were all awesome and we stayed out chatting and drinking until well after dark. I was beat from the late night and early morning and called it quits around 9pm but heard many were out on that grass hill till well after midnight.

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This trip has quickly become one of my favorites of the year. I will be in attendance again for as long as the Damn Dam Run takes place. Keep it up Dam Run Committee, Carl would be proud.

About the Author - Justin Ude has been a long time participant and supporter of RDP events. He's an avid Boater on Lake Havasu with a 28' Howard Bullet, and has recently started a boating lifestyle clothing brand known as "Positive Trim." www.positivetrim.com

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