For ships of the desert
A royal
ARIZONA COSTCO MEMBER Bob Keller and friends—dedicated members
of the Lake Havasu Chamber of Commerce, as well as avid boaters—came up
with an idea they thought would appeal to both interests, as well as one near
and dear to their hearts.
“We [have been] trying to get navigation lights around the lake for years,”
says Keller. They came up with the idea of building one-third-scale versions of
real American lighthouses and formed the Lake Havasu Lighthouse Club
( www.lh-lighthouseclub.org).
“We put up 20 so far,” Keller says, explaining that, with the help of the United States Coast
Guard, they identified “ 35 points of land [around the lake] sticking out that deserve the naviga-
tion light.” As the lake runs north-south, with California on one side, Arizona on the other and
an island in the middle, Keller says, “the lights on the west side of the lake represent lighthouses
on the West Coast and the lights on the east side represent East Coast lighthouses [pic-
tured below is a replica of the Buffalo Main, New York, lighthouse].
And the lights around the island are replicas of those around the
Great Lakes.
“It’s becoming quite a tourist
attraction.”—Steve Fisher
flush
LISTEN TO YOUR mother!
Kristin Reynolds did. Now
she and her husband, Rich,
are the sole providers of
luxury portable toilets and
showers in California.
They opened their
franchise in 2006, after
Kristin’s mom spied a
Royal Restrooms ( www.
royalrestrooms.com) trailer
in a neighbor’s yard and
saw a business opportunity for her daughter. Each
Royal Restroom is 5½ feet
long and wide, climate
controlled, comfortable
and clean. “They beat the
heck out of a porta-potty in
July,” Kristin’s mother told
the Reynoldses.
S Teven lAi T
lAke hAvASu ligh ThOuSe CluB
We want to hear
from you!
If you have a note, photo
or story to share about Costco
or Costco members, email it to
connection@costco.com with “The
Member Connection” in the subject
line or send it to “The Member
Connection,” The Costco Connection,
P.O. Box 34088, Seattle, WA 98124-
1088. Submissions cannot be
acknowledged or returned.
Babies in bulk: California
members Peter and Michele
Muzzy have figured out the
most efficient way to transport
their 2-year-old triplets on a
Costco visit. Next stop—snack
aisle. Wagons ho!
The Reynoldses partner with local sanitation
companies to provide complete sanitation service at
special events, weddings
and anywhere else people
require portable toilets.
The toilets and showers come in handy in times
of need too. After Hurricane Katrina, the couple
worked with the Federal
Emergency Management
Agency to provide facilities
for displaced families; after
the 2009 Southern California fires, they worked with
the state of California to
provide facilities for people
rebuilding businesses.
Costco plays a huge role
in the Reynoldses’ business.
“All of our products in the
trailers come from Costco,”
Rich says. “We buy a whole
pallet of rugs every season,
and our soap, paper products, bleach and cleaning
products all come from Costco. All of our drivers have
Costco cards. Wherever we
go, there’s usually a Costco
within an hour’s drive.”
—Maria Bellos Fisher
