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So we have lived out in Havasu for almost a year, and the picture is becoming clearer and clearer that I was grossly mistaken of what my life would be like in Havasu. Much like any other So Cal transplant you imagine living here, doing some work in the morning, hitting the lake in the afternoon. Finding a cove with the Mrs, Maybe a quick trip to Parker for a BBQ, spend the night and then head back? The logic is there, the lake is right down the street, Parker is 25 minutes compared to a previous four and half hours.. Seems to me like we'd practically have gills, and webbed feet by now.,

I was talking to Gene from Howard the other day and he said "Dave.. now that you live there do you go boating less or more then you used too?" I told him it's strange but I probably boat half as much as I did when I lived 250 miles away? His response was "It's that way for everyone that moves out there, I don't know why.. It's just the way it always ends up." After that conversation I kind of came to the conclusion that I'm going to be more assertive with regard to taking advantage of some of the benefits of living here that we have been passing up on. That enters us into "Just Another Saturday" one of my first attempts at writing an article with regard to taking advantage of "Being a Local."
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So now in typical RiverDave fashion we are running "two weeks" behind, so we will start traveling back in time, not from this weekend, and the weekend before was the tube float, but yet even the weekend before that. It was Saturday afternoon, Ricky from Maxed Out Marine his friend Kelly, Hammer and myself decided a quick trip to Parker was in order.

The cooler was packed, the boat already had fuel from the weekend before, and we are only going for a few hours so in "small block" world we have plenty. We elected that we'd drop in at the Pirates Den, head down to my house and check on it after the renters left, then do a little bar hopping and
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head home. The other guys were a little excited to get the party started but we won't hold it against them.


We arrived at the Pirate, and while most the launch ramps in Parker are very good by my standards unquestionably the Pirates Den Launch ramp is in the top two nicest launch ramps on Parker Strip.



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We Launched and picked up Hammer and began our couple hours of fun. First things first I had to head down to the keys to do the "walk through" on my house as we had rented it out the weekend before. (Everything checked out ok in case you're wondering)

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So now we did some boating up towards the dam, did a little floating and ultimately ended up at Foxes for a few drinks. I'm happy to report even under new ownership that Foxes has not changed a bit. It's still the same bar with the same old school "laid back" charm. We ran into Brad and Cameron when they showed up in Cameron's Hallett.

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We hung out for a few drinks watching this guy in his flat making a few passes. On one of this passes something happened to the motor and it stumbled a few times.. After that the show was over so we finished our drinks and headed back towards the Pirate to finish out the day, load the boat and head home.
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Kelly (Ricky's friend) was exhausted after being out in the sun all day so she laid out in the boat while we were idling down there, and day quickly shifted into night. So we made the best of it and turned up the tunes and just idled down the river. It's nights like these that are the "highlight" of the river experience for me. I have been doing it my whole life and never get tired of it. Good friends, on a warm night just idilng along the shoreline.. Some people prefer boating on glass water, others prefer the sandbar and the craziness of it all.. I've always enjoyed this.
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Our final "Toast" to a good night in the boat before putting it back on the trailer

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We pulled the boat and went into the pirate to say hello to some friends, and being that I was on the "DD" program all day, and my turn was up, I wanted a few drinks before we hit the road.. Last couple of pics of the boat being pulled, and friends at the Pirate..
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Pirate has some of the best "scenery" on the river.
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Just an average Saturday night for the locals..

RD