Route 66 Laughlin, Nevada to Seligman, Arizona

RV Trip on Route 66--California to Arizona (Day 2)

Laughlin, Nevada to Seligman, Arizona  October 6, 2020

After the big meal of prime rib and a good night sleep, we checked out of the RV resort around 10:30 the next morning and on our way to Arizona. Before leaving Laughlin, we wanted to go down near the Colorado River for some scenic views. There is a park north of the Riverside Casino/Hotel with a huge parking lot where we were able to park the RV without any problems. The park was basically very quiet, just as other parts of Laughlin, probably due to the pandemic. The beautiful views of the river remain the same as before.

Colorado River with the bridge that goes between Nevada and Arizona.

Quiet and lovely park

Looking across to Arizona on the other side of the river.

Riverside Casino/Hotel, the very first casino built here in Laughlin by Mr. Don Laughlin.

Huge and golden color dates hanging from the tree.

Kingman, Arizona

The drive from Laughlin to Kingman was uneventful. We just had to climb the mountain roads and then cross the flat Golden Valley to get to the city. We took the opportunity to fill up our gas tank with bargain prices, lower than California and Nevada. With our main goal of visiting sights on Route 66, we did not go into the main part of town. Instead, we went right on Route 66 and found the Mohave Museum where we could park the RV.

This is right at the corner of Route 66 and Beale Street.

The museum was opened but we did not go inside.

The mural on the wall was quite colorful and attractive.

Depicting the glorious era of the highway.

Had a quick lunch here inside the RV.

Right across the very busy street, there's this sign...

the Veterans Memorial

and the Kingman Welcome Sign.

There is also a Locomotive Park nearby which we did not get to.

Then we went about a block up and found Mr. D'z Diner, which is one of the icons along Route 66.

We did not eat here this time but did get some lunch on our way back a week later. Great hamburgers! They are famous for their root beer also.

This is the Powerhouse across the street where the Tourist Information Center is located. This is also home of the Route 66 Museum.

Some older model vehicles were on display outside the Powerhouse.

You can see part of the Locomotive Park in the background.

Sign post outside the building.

Entrance to Powerhouse

Inside the Tourist Information Center where I purchased a Route 66 passport just for the fun of it.

The museum is upstairs which we did not visit.

There is also a gift shop of the Route 66 museum on the other side of the entrance.

Lots of merchandize to choose from.

We came upon this water tower right next to the old train station a little further up near Fourth Street.

Kingman train station, pretty but very quiet.

I believe this part of Route 66 in Kingman is also named Andy Devine Boulevard. 

The actor of the T.V. series Gunsmoke was born in Flagstaff but raised in Kingman.

As we slowly made our way out of town, there are a few old style motels that kept their designs with neon lights. Should be nice when they are all lit up. Unfortunately, we were there at the wrong time of the day.

Antares, Arizona

About 15 miles east of Kingman is the small town of Antares where the eye-catching Giganticus Headicus is located right by the roadside. This giant, 14-feet tiki head was to resembled the stone carving of Easter Island by artist Gregg Arnold in 2004. Making this once an over-night stopping spot for tired travelers a favorite attraction. I was looking out for the huge green statue but almost missed it because it's not green anymore. They have painted it over with pink color to raise breast cancer awareness. 

At the corner of Route 66 and Antares Road where a line of mail boxes stood.

This has to be the main road used by the people in town.

This is now a Visitor Center with a convenience store, gift shop, art gallery, and picnic area.

(Not sure why I can't enlarge this photo.)

Just got to have a few of the old cars out here.

Hackberry

Further down the road we almost missed the General Store in Hackberry and had to make a turn back.

This General Store was opened in 1934, then closed down when the town was bypassed by the new Interstate 40. Then it was purchased by a Route 66 artist Bob Waldmire in1992, making this an interesting stop showcasing plenty of artifacts from the 40s to 60s era. Now, the souvenir shop inside sell many items and memorabilia to curious travelers. A fun place to explore.

Exterior of the General Store

with plenty of antique cars 

old gas pumps,

and many other vintage items.

We were the only visitors inside the store that afternoon.

License plates from around the world are up on the ceiling.

Plenty to see and admire.

A fun place indeed! And it's free!

We just had to buy this Route 66 soda to try. A good souvenir item to keep for $2.50.

Truxton

We went past the small town of Valentine where the Keepers of the Wild is located and housed 150 rescued animals for people to see. We were not interested in getting on a safari ride with others during this time and just bypassed it. Seemed like they were not in business anyway.

Then we came to Truxton, a town that used to be bustling with travelers. Not anymore. The Frontier Motel which we came to see was actually deserted and everything looked neglected.

The old motel rooms that are not in service.

Seemed a little busier next door.

Even the sign of the motel was not visible.

Except the sign of the cafe that seemed to be freshly painted.

Oh well!

Seligman

Seligman is a town that keeps the history of Route 66 alive and well with many colorful buildings along the main street. There seems to be a lot to see in this small town, so we decided to spend the night here and do more exploring the next morning instead of rushing through it.

I figured that there wouldn't be too many people stopping here and did not make reservation for our stop. There are two RV parks in this town, one at the west end of town runs by the General Store and the other is a KOA campground on the east end. The General Store location is closer to the center of town and that's where I planned on staying.

I walked in and found out that they still had one full hook-up site available for the night. Lucky me. The rest of the sites were just water and electricity only. For $32 a night, that was not a bad deal even though there is not much amenities other than the basics being provided. One thing that startled me was that nobody inside this General Store had masks on, not the clerk, not the customers. I hurriedly registered and ran out of there as fast as I could like being chased by a ghost. 

This is the General Store that has the RV park behind their storefront.

It's a clean, small RV park with about 15 spaces. Only about seven were occupied that evening with most of them long-term residents.

It's pretty quiet even though it's right on the main street.

The guys went out after dinner to check things out and see if the neon lights are on.

They came back with just a couple of photos.

The Roadkill Cafe next door that gives customers from the RV Park 10% off their bills. 

Needless to say, we did not go there.

Being in a small town like this, I wasn't sure if it was safe for us to walk all over the place in the dark here especially as Asians. The last thing I want was to deal with hostility and aggressive behavior while being away in places like these. Staying in our RV was the best thing to do. Tomorrow we will leave on our journey.

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"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of Heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. "   -- Acts 17:24

RV Trip on Route 66 -- L.A. to Laughlin

RV Trip on Route 66--California to Arizona (Day 1)

Claremont, California to Laughlin, Nevada  October 5, 2020

It has been over a month that we took a short trip to the coastal towns of Pismo Beach and Morro Bay. We were ready to explore other parts of the country as we continued our stay-at-home routine. We just wanted to get out in a safe and secure manner, hopefully, without having to deal with the crowd or getting too close to others. 

We have been thinking about a trip along the old Route 66 which we have not done all these years. Yes, we do live near a part of Hwy 66 that runs through the foothill towns that is mainly Foothill Boulevard in the San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire. Almost 50 years ago, when I first arrived in Los Angeles I was on Hwy 66 the first day because it was where my college is located. The address of our campus was Highway 66 at Citrus Avenue. Even though I have lived near Route 66 most of my life, I have never traveled along this historic highway that runs between Chicago and Los Angeles. This would be a good opportunity for us to see at least part of the Mother Road before things disappeared.

This is going to be a 10-day trip in our motorhome. As I've said before, having the motorhome is like taking the house with us. It should be as safe as staying inside our home. We plan on staying away from crowds, protect ourselves with masks and sanitize as much as possible. Hopefully, we will come back in one piece.

Our route will be from the L.A. to Flagstaff, Arizona. A small section of the Mother Road.

For the first day, our route should only take about three and a half hour, but since we will be stopping along the way, it will be a couple of hours longer than planned.

As we drove near Barstow, we stopped at the Lenwood Outlet for a quick lunch.

This outlet mall used to have busloads of visitors coming everyday but now, it looks like it's out od business. Really sad indeed.

With the huge parking lot, it's a good spot to stop and take a break.

After our lunch, we continued the drive north on Fwy 15 until we had to change to Fwy 40 going east, which is basically going parallel with the old Route 66. Soon enough, we reached Newberry Springs where we got off in order to get to the Bagdad Cafe, our first scenic stop.

It almost looked deserted with nobody around. This became a world famous restaurant because of the movie "Bagdad Cafe" which was shot on location here. Many foreign visitors came here before the pandemic but now it's all empty.

Entrance to the cafe.

Yep, we were the only ones there. It says "Open 7 Days" on the sign, but we did not check.

There were a couple of discarded Airstreams in the back.

Fwy 40 and the railroad tracks can be seen in the background.

It looked like somebody was living in that motorhome back there.

I suppose there used to be a motel here next door in that vacant lot.

Getting back on the 40, we drove down the freeway until we see the sign for Amboy. Amboy is not close to the freeway as with Bagdad Cafe. We had to take a long detour off the freeway and back on Route 66 which is getting farther and farther away from the freeway.

Finally arrived at the Roy's Cafe and Motel in Amboy. I read that this is actually the most photographed building along the whole Route 66.

Sign painted on the road.

A familiar sign in the desert.

A couple of the motel rooms were opened for people to see. 

Really nothing much left other than some tattered old furniture.

Across from the cafe/motel is Amboy Post Office with a sign telling people that whoever works there was inside the cafe.

They did a good job keeping this place up though.

Must-have photo.

After Amboy, it took us a while to get back on the 40 Fwy because they have closed a section of Hwy 66 for construction. At least we did not have to turn around in order to get back on the freeway. We decided to go through Needles and then head north to Bullhead City before arriving Laughlin, Nevada. The plan was to get gas at the gas station where we used to patronized. To our surprise, that gas station near the airport was no longer there. Together with the airport, that whole area is now a huge shopping area. Good thing we had enough gas until the next day.

Checked into our spot at the Riverside RV Park.

This is a huge campground that can hold hundreds of RVs. Our site was up on the very top in section 8 where we could see the town of Laughlin.

Very spacious sites but we were quite far from the main street being up at the top.

Fortunately, they run a courtesy shuttle service taking guests down to the casino.

Inside the shuttle with a very friendly driver.

We have not had meals out for several months by now and a good prime rib dinner sounds wonderful. The Prime Rib Room at the Riverside Casino/Hotel was serving prime rib dinners for $20 per person, and that was what we wanted. It was definitely risky eating 'inside' a restaurant, but we were ready to try. They were taking all the necessary precaution as far as service and sanitizing goes. The only problem was, we did not make reservation and they were only taking certain percentage of guests in at any specific hour. We were told that it would be 8:00 in order to have a table so we just walked around and visited the antique car collection upstairs. Only $2.00 per person for the visit.

Mr. Don Laughlin, the founder and owner of Riverside Casino/Hotel. He was also the founder of the city of Laughlin.

Some really neat cars in the showroom.

A good place to spend our time waiting since we don't gamble.

Finally got inside the restaurant. See what $20 got us.

A seafood salad or a shrimp cocktail. Definitely order the shrimp cocktail. This seafood salad was just a cup of fake crab meat.

The meal also came with choice of drinks.

See the disposable dinnerware being used.

Making it less fancy, but health and hygiene is more important nowadays.

This is a choice of salad.

Choice of sides.

I suppose this used to be a buffet type of meal but it's being served by the wait staff now.

A huge portion of a delicious piece of prime rib. This must be a 12 oz.

And we ended the meal with a choice of dessert.

What a treat this was! We definitely had enough food for two days!

A good start on our journey. We were a little worried about being inside with other people but it seemed like everybody was cautious, with their masks on and staying a safe distance. Let's see how the next few days will be.

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"You know when I sit and when I rise, you perceive my thoughts from afar."   -- Psalms 139:2