Sat. Feb. 4th. Kingman, Oatman and Route 66

Thanks for joining us on our journey of North America

 in our Holiday Rambler,since August 2006 

Where are we today ?

Bullhead City Arizona

come feed us in Oatman

        Saturday and a bright sunny day again, but still a little windy so our plan is to take a day trip from here to Kingman Arizona where we will travel the Route 66 "the Mother Road" to Oatman then completing the circle tour back home .

Don't forget you can click on any picture for a larger view

89 miles (143 kms)  total

       After morning coffees and computing we figured we should be hitting the road to enjoy this lovely day.

        So about 9:45 we hopped in the car and along AZ 68 over the mountains about 3700 ft. thru Golden Valley  and into Kingman az.     looking find Andy Devine Ave and Route 66.

        The first picture of the day was a mountain top giving us the finger! Even Mother nature has a sense of humour.

giving us the finger

nice new highway

        This nice 4 lane highway thru the mountains is fast, smooth and boring compared to the old Route 66 we are going to take from Kingman to Oatman. First of all a short cruise around Kingman to take a few pictures then head off down the road.

Kingman

Mr. D's

        Now heading southwest towards Oatman Arizona  we are now on the original Route 66. It's only 28 miles but will take us over one hour.

flat two lane road

          After a short drive thru the desert heading into the mountains it looked like the drive was becoming more interesting. Just before we began the twisting turning roads we came across the Cool Springs Service station (no longer pumping gas), but still a store and cabins so the sign says.

Cool Springs Cabins

old gas pumps

parking lot

        Ok now the drive gets interesting, very narrow road, winding up,and around the thru the mountains, mostly no guard rails, or shoulders, lots and lots of hairpin turns, amazing views and a speed limit of 10 to 15 mph. You really don't want to try and drive any fast for sure. There was signs posted " no trucks over 40 feet past this point". It was fairly tight for our little car, I found it hard to imagine large trucks and vehicles using this road so many years ago. Even meeting a pickup truck made the road very tight in places.

beginning the climb

slower

slower

hairpin turns

you can see some of the winding road on the hillside

the summit

         From the summit we can see the Laughlin casinos and Colorado river about 25 miles away.

         Now the steep descent the car in low gear with very tight turns and speed limits still 10 to 15 mph, just watch for the edge no guard rails or shoulders.

very tight turn

narrow with a retaining wall?

all downhill

        We knew we were getting closer to Oatman Arizona  we past the Gold Road Mine with an interesting history over the years, opened and closed many times. In its heyday 1905 or so about 12,000 miners lived in Oatman Arizona  with many hotels and bars, now a ghost town turned into a fun tourist place to go.
       
        Now finally this leg of Route 66 is over and Suzie is very glad, she was on the outside edge of the roads with no railings and narrow roads, tight turns. Her finger nails imbedded in the dash and my white knuckles need a rest.  It was a very scenic drive and glad we did it, but like she saws we don't need to do that drive again (been there done that!)

Gold Road Mine

        Well we arrived in Oatman Arizona at high noon found a parking spot and wandered on down the street, past a few colorful shops to a crowd gathered in front of the Oatman Hotel.

if you click on this sign you should be able to read it

cool  murals

Oatman Hotel

        Now this crowd gathers around to close down the highway (Rte 66) for and entertaining high noon Arizona Gunfight. Always and entertaining story, a bit of a scuffle and finally a shoot out with both shooter get shot in the middle of the road. But they have to come back to life quick so that the highway can re-open and allow traffic thru.

gunfight

shoot out

ok get up gotta open the road now

        After the shootout we wandered about watching people feed the wild burrows that wander the streets in the daytime here.

feeding the burrows

Suzie found a friend

        There is quite a few baby burrows here and the towns folk put a red sticker on their foreheads warning people not to feed them carrots (they are too young)

cute babies

        After checking out the shops we wandered into the Oatman Hotel  for a bite to eat, a beverage and listen to some excellent music and interesting stories by entertainer big Mike Fox. Folklore has it that Clark Gable and Carol Lombard spent their honeymoon upstairs Mar. 18th 1939.

Lobby

        Yes that is one dollar bills completely covering almost every surface in the saloon, estimated (guessed) at over 80,000 of them, each one signed by a different tourist (person)

dollar bills

our corner booth 

Suzie's blt

yes wings for me!

good music Big Mike Fox

         Well as we were finishing up lunch, Big Mike was taking a break, pout his gun back in the holster and headed out front  to see what all the commotion was about.  Well looks like another  gunfight, so out we go to check it out. New players this time, the last gunfight the others got shot.

setting the scene

this burrow is checking out the crowd

the bad guy is shot

the bad guy is shot

Post Office

traffic jam!

        Now after a few hours of fun and entertainment got back to the car and carefully drove thru town around the burrows on the street and headed back home. We found a sunny spot out of the wind to relax with our books for a while. After a bit, the loud noise of hundreds of birds chirping made us look around and across the street was a tree full of the loud birds. Eventually they went away and a few bunny rabbits appeared, now they are quiet!

lots birds

quiet bunny

        Around 5 o'clock I fired up our Weber to make a bite to eat for supper. Tonight is some grilled chicken thighs, a small baked potato, grilled zuchinni.Yep we like our BBQ'd chicken.

almost ready

tasty

       As our meal was finished cooking, the sun set giving us lovely ending to a fun day.

        Just a comment about so many pictures, I only posted about 1/2 of what I took, after editing them all its hard to decide!

        Thanks for stopping by.

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