Part 2 of a two-part series
My first trip to Topock Marsh I tried fishing. I spent hours in my kayak fishing with no bites. This was before I knew how shallow the marsh was. There was an older retired man that lived in a nearby town he often came out and launched his small Joh boat for a few hours. He would always check the barometric pressure gauge that hung on the patio post of the club house. It told him if the fishing was going to be good. I would stand next to this “gauge” and it never told me anything. Hahaha. This man had a “special” fishing hole. There seemed to be an underlying understanding that it was his spot. Each time he went out he always came back with his limit of panfish! Thankfully he was generous and after a few days of fishing there would be a fish fry and potluck for everyone at the club house. Faces I had not yet seen showed up. Where did all these people come from? Were they hermits living in travel trailers?
One evening around the fire pit, Patty and her teenaged daughter came to hang out. Patty was a recovered drug addict. She showed me the track scars up both arms. She was working hard and trying to make it in this life. One night a group of us had fun dropping marshmallows into the fire pit. They would grow and expand into huge formations. It was hilarious! The next morning, she shared about writing in her journal about the marshmallow fire pit fun. Her story impacted me, and I still pray for her today.
Another night a young couple came to warm up by the fire, they lived in a very small travel trailer. The wife told me her daughter had hyper issues and she didn’t know what to do about it. We talked about diet change, exercise, and stuff like that. I never saw the child. I wonder if she was hyper because she was cooped up inside a shoebox-size house?
The oldest resident, and one of only a handful that lived in single wide trailers, was a very nice old man with very white hair. He was a good Christian man that help out others that were not so good. He had a middle-aged man renting a room from him, rumor had it that this renter would do store runs for him but wasn’t paying rent and was stealing from the old man. Yet, he allowed him to still live there.
Not too far from the owl tree was Doug, he was another snowbird. When he wasn’t selling “in season” fruit on a corner in a nearby town, he spent his time restoring the airstream travel trailer he lived in. Many times, he had some leftover fruit that he sold cheap.
Next door to Doug was Pat. The deep lines in Pats face told of the harsh life he had lived as an alcoholic. Pat had an injured hip from a DUI accident, I prayed for him and God healed his hip! Irene told us if we needed to know where anything was that he would know for he had explored the marsh and desert areas with his dog Merlin more than anyone else out there. The direction to the beaver dens was top on my list.
Many of these trips I would meet my parents at the marsh. They lived in the Hualapai mountains and I lived in Nevada. They would bring their motorhome and kayaks and we would go paddle around the different cattail islands looking for beaver dens. Sometimes you would hear the splash of a beaver’s tail and know that you were getting close. After a busy day of paddling, we would head over to Linda’s Cafe along Route 66 in Golden Shores for dinner. They served the best Garlic Hamburger’s ever! The owner was Ron, he said it had always been his dream to own a restaurant on Route 66 and Linda’s Cafe was an answer to this dream. Ron knew a lot about the area and its ancient Native American history and it was always a pleasure to talk with him and his wife. He had beautiful photos of many petroglyph rocks for sale hanging around his cafe. Sadly, in February 2012 a gas leak explosion killed Ron inside his cafe. Ron was only 58.
In the fall of 2010, the campground and trailer park closed. Causing all who lived there to move. Anything man made left behind was bulldozed and hauled out. The aged salt cedar trees and the Great Horned owls are still there today. Topock Marsh had been on my bucket list for 10 years. If I would have waited one more year, I would not have met the people and made these treasured memories.
Caroline Thomas
