Historic Route 66........25th & 29th Oct….Lake Mohave….27th Oct

Excitement this morning as we set off for Laughlin, Nevada. We have been assured by several locals that towing along Historic Route 66 from Seligman to Kingman  will be no problem so off we go and of course singing Get Your Kicks On Rote 66…..

The 83 mile stretch of 66 was a far more scenic drive than the route we would have taken along I-40 and we're told it has a lot less potholes too and of course no semi-trucks so there's another plus…..yes that's the railroad running along side of the road…

A double whammy as I see several trains….I'm quite easy to please !

We did pass through a couple of small communities along the way including Peach Springs but they are  not close to an  I-40 exit so have sadly become ghost towns over the years….Kingman was a huge industrial area and where we join the I-40 for the last half of our journey today….we pass from Arizona through a little of California where the road surface on the interstate was, to be polite, terrible, and even worse when we exited the I-40 onto The Needles Highway, we actually thought we can't be on an actual road this must be wrong but no it was the road…….once we passed into Nevada the surface improved and we arrived safely if rather shaken up but at least as I  had packed the cupboards well, no spilt wine or beer !!…..Camp Harris set up at the Laughlin KOA/Avi Casino and our cheapest campsite so far as subsidised by the casino….here for a week to check out the area and enjoy the sunshine and the pool….
Our campsite is on the Colorado River in Nevada once we cross the river into Bullhead City we are in Arizona...

This stretch of Historic Route 66 is NOT recommended for towing…. it begins 13 miles from our campsite and passes through the town of Oatman, Az…….

Oatman now a quaint tourist town grew up through gold mining and Route 66…..by 1953 a lot of the mines had played out and The Mother Road was re-routed to avoid the treacherous  Black Mountain stretch between here and Kingman….there are still working mines on the north side of Oatman….

Burros a big feature of Oatman, they are descendants from the pack mules and donkeys turned loose by early prospectors….this little herd are the local entertainment (feeding time is at noon in town) and supposedly wild, umm……. but there are many wild Burros in the mountains protected by the Department of The Interior…...

A nice quaint little town and interesting for a stroll….

Oatman Hotel and now an Historic Landmark….Clark Gable and Carole Lombard spent their honeymoon here in 1939….Gable would then often return to play poker with the miners….

The road going out of Oatman to Kingsman……it winds up and over the Black Mountains...

Great views from the road, we drove as far as the Sitgreaves Pass summit 3,500ft…...

This one didn't make the curve…..

We drove back through Oatman and on farther along Historic Route 66 towards Golden Shores…..we suddenly saw an American Flag flying from a rocky outcrop in the middle of no-where and stopped at the roadside to have a walk and check it out…..It was really interesting, it's a memorial for war veterans and was built by an 80 year old local man…at the memorial there is a copy of a newspaper  report explaining how and why it was built….

This natural arch is at the side of the memorial and in fact has several small iron crosses on the top…..

Such a quite peaceful spot and ideal to sit here and have our lunch sandwich….

The library at Golden Shores…..
All of the way from Golden Shores back to Laughlin, approx 15 miles is acre after acre of cotton fields with huge bales of cotton at the side of the road….2 songs today….Those Old Cotton Fields Back Home and Pick A Bale Of Cotton…..

The beach area on The Colorado River at our campsite/casino….

Lake Mohave, Az part of the Lake Mead Recreational Area …..Lake Mohave was created by the construction of the Davis Dam on The Colorado River…

Talking to locals the lake level is very low but it's still a peaceful and beautiful area….

You don't see too many of these….apart from the Snoopy balloon at golf  tournaments...

Our lunch spot….real Derby and Joan with our fold up chairs and our sandwiches…..so peaceful …..

Seligman, AZ on Historic Highway Route 66.....24th Oct...

Seligman (population 465)  is a tourist destination town on Route 66........like so many towns Seligman grew up with the arrival of the railroad and then thrived when Highway 66 was built. Ok so most of you probably watched the Billy Connelly's TV series but here are some facts......it was commissioned in 1926 and was 2448 miles long, across 3 time zones and crossing 8 States starting in Chicago, Illinois and ending at Santa Monica Boulevard/Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica, California.....in 1926 only 800 miles of the Mother Road or The Main Street of America were paved...it was 1938 before the entire route was paved but Route 66 was the first fully paved road...it was decommissioned in 1985, replaced by the interstate road system.....only sections of it still exist and we got to tow along 83 miles of it !!!

It's touristy, it's crass but it's loveable, we had a great couple of hours  poking about in the gift/memorabilia shops.....

And time for lunch.......I had a really yummy pulled pork sandwich. .......

Our boy at the city limit sign......

I'm in heaven the railroad runs along the back of the campsite near our spot........only downside is that there are no crossings locally so no hooter but then again with the amount of trains perhaps it's as well....
Heading off along 83 miles of Old Historic Highway Route 66 tomorrow and on to  our next campsite at Laughlin, Nevada....

Incredible Petrified Forest & Painted Desert, Arizona...22nd Oct

The Petrified Forest National Park, 23 miles from where we are staying at Holbrook, AZ  is one of the largest  petrified wood deposits in the world.....our first stop is at the visitors centre and the 1/4 mile walk past incredible petrified wood of all shapes and sizes.....we have to admit to not knowing a lot about petrified wood before this visit....

200 million years ago this area was a steamy, swampy, equatorial climate....the trees fell and a mix of salt, mud and volcanic ash buried the logs, the sediment cut off the oxygen and slowed the logs decay, then silica laden groundwater seeped through the logs replacing the original wood tissues with silica and petrifying the logs.....it's really amazing you have to touch them they look like wood but are rock....

Next stop is The Long Logs Trail a 1.6 mile loop trail through one of the largest concentrations of petrified logs in the park....

Yorkieman admiring the view and the solitude, the Japanese were all back at the gift shop !...

It's incredible and hard to believe that they have not been cut up  by a chainsaw  !! Water seeped into cracks, froze then expanded causing it to look like this....
The Park Service is trying desperately to stop visitors from stealing the rocks from the park....... 

Next stop on the 28 mile drive through the park was Blue Mesa...part of the vast Painted Desert and amazing....

We sat on the wall at the parking area eating our sandwiches looking at this spectacular view of The Blue Mesa and the vast valley....

Highlight of the day a 2 mile trail at Blue Mesa it descends down a steep path to loop through  petrified wood deposits and badlands hills of bluish bentonite clay....it was awesome....

More solitude.......the silence was total...well apart from me prattling on....seriously it was incredibly quiet...

Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks & clay rich soils have been extensively eroded by wind & weather........

More photos to fill our walls back in Blighty....

We had seen a small portion of the Painted Desert when driving up from  Flagstaff to Page a few weeks ago and hadn't realised it was so vast.......

Driving on from this stunning landscape Yorkieman hit the nail on the head when he said " being in the Parks on our travels brings us such joy and contentment".....

Historic Route 66...the roadbed and the telegraph poles mark the path of the famous Main Street of America as it passed through the Petrified Forest & Painted Desert National Parks....

More painted desert, we also saw a large collection of petroglyphs and Puerco Pueblo ruins....

Last stop on today's trip just before exiting the park.....The Painted Desert Inn, now a museum but once a famous inn and landmark on Historic Route 66.....we had a great chat with the ranger on duty about the building and the changes it underwent from a small hostel made of native stone and petrified wood in 1926 to a thriving Inn in the late 1940s/50s.....It was made an Historic Landmark in 1987 and has since been renovated "modernising" some of the structural elements....
We have had another amazing day doing what we love....we move farther west tomorrow on I-40 to Seligman AZ, another town on Historic Rte 66......