A little bit of greenery before crossing the Colorado River and enter the first town in California, Needles.

May I help you?

The town was named for Olive Oatman.
"Although many stories have emerged about white captivity with the Indians, none can equal the ordeal of two little sisters, Olivia "Olive" and Mary Ann Oatman. Snatched from a world of privilege and thrown into a world of brutality, it took great courage and skill to survive among their tormentors. When rescue finally came, it was a relief even to the Indians." Click here to read the full story.


The Oatman Hotel where Clark Gable and Carol Lombard honeymooned. They were doing renovations so it was closed off when we were there.

The burros could do whatever they wanted to do.


Bags of carrots to feed the burros were sold everywhere. If they didn't get fed they would try to "encourage" you by some not so gentle nudging of your hands, pockets, face, or whatever they could get to.

Of course.



Oatman was once a gold mining town. When the gold was gone so were the miners and they left their burros behind. They never left and still roam the streets as they please.

After miles of driving and thinking we were at the end of the earth we suddenly came upon the town of Oatman. The ONLY street in this town is only about 3 or 4 blocks long but it is packed with shops, tourists, food, and burros.

An unidentifiable old car.

The entrance to a tiny cave. Somebody thought it was the perfect place for dirty diapers. grrr

It was so desolate here. No sounds except the wind and an occasional bird calling out.


This is an example of the road as we traveled it for the next several miles through Sitgreaves Pass. Hairpin curves, drop offs (note: no guardrails) came one after another. In the days before cars had fuels pumps drivers were hired to drive the vehicles backwards through the pass. They had to do this because gas made it to the motor only by gravity. It was white knuckle time for me driving it now so I can't imagine what it was like then.

Nathan had to do this for his truck.

The road from Kingman was a pleasant drive. Not much going on, no turns or stops, just a view of the Black Mountains getting closer. The first sign of life is Cool Springs. This place was built in 1926 and had turned into a pile of rubble before it was rebuilt for the movie "Universal Soldier". In the movie the place was blown to pieces by Van Damme. The rock columns and base were all that was left. It's been put back to how it was before. This is the last bit of civilization for many miles.


Leaving Kingman.



Back at Mr. D'z for breakfast. Plenty of Elvis here too.



Locomotive Park with a Sante Fe steam engine.

The next morning. There's a great Route 66 museum in Kingman that included a lot of dustbowl memorabilia.




We are in Kingman for our last night in Arizona. After settling in we went down the road looking for Mr. D'z Diner which was highly recommended. We found the diner but we also found that they were putting on a classic car show just across the road. So there was good food, good music, and good times. I felt like I was in "Happy Days".





More from Hackberry. I really liked this place.

The overseer.






And of course they had to have Elvis.


They certainly had some interesting displays.



Hackberry General Store, an establishment that has survived the lean years of the interstate. They have some of everything there.



One of the guys offered to let Nathan sit on his bike. Everyone was taking lots of pics. They traveled from France and rented the bikes just to do Route 66. What an adventure it must have been for them.

We met 4 people from France here. They were very nice and friendly. It was great to meet so many different people.



Nothing to buy here!

Last view of the western side of the Grand Canyon in the far, far distance.

Just passing through.

On the side of the road.

The road west and nobody in sight.

Another Edsel in Seligman. I've never seen one in my life and now I've seen 2 on this trip.