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Friday, November 27, 2020

Williams, Arizona to Laughlin, Nevada

RV Trip on Route 66--California to Arizona (Day 8)
Williams, Kingman, Oatman, and Laughlin-October 12, 2020

Our trip on Route 66 is coming to an end. Our original plan had more days at the end as we head back home but we decided to cut it short instead. I have read about the crowded situation at Zion National Park and that was the reason we skipped going into Utah. We then planned on going to Lake Mead after stopping at Williams and spend a couple of days there, then head over to Las Vegas for a couple of days. After much thinking, we figured that this is really not a good time to visit Las Vegas. For one, it is difficult to find parking at the regular casinos/hotels in town as we are driving around in the RV. Also, with many places shut down because of COVID, including the buffets we enjoyed, it would not be enjoyable as the normal Vegas that we experienced. Going home was just the right thing to do. We decided to spend another night in Laughlin so we could enjoy another prime rib dinner and also for a more relaxing drive instead of going home straight from Williams.

Now that we have a shorter drive between Williams and Laughlin, we wanted to see if a drive to Oatman would be possible since it is also one of the sights along Route 66. We knew that it's a hilly, winding road between Kingman and Oatman which made us wonder if we should do it in the first place.
MOR said he is willing to try and with him being a careful driver, I trusted his judgement.

Getting ready to leave the beautiful Grand Canyon Railway Hotel & RV Resort in Williams.

A gorgeous day again!

Looking out at the Bill Williams Mountain.

Mr. D'z Diner, Kingman, Arizona
This is a famous diner on Route 66 in Kingman. We passed by it a few days ago when we came through town and we were determined that we will have lunch here today. Instead of finding out if the RV will fit in their parking lot, we just parked at the huge lot across the street at the Powerhouse building where the Visitor Center is. It turned out that Mr. D'z parking lot looked like a sizable one that could fit anyway.

Colorful exterior of Mr. D'z Diner.

Attractive enough to passersby on Route 66.

Entrance to the restaurant. It was quite busy inside at lunch time that day.
There is no escape, we had to go inside to order our lunch and waited in the crowded space.

Cute vehicle outside the diner.

Election year.

I must say that they served some excellent burgers. Just the way I like mine.
For those who have no diet restriction, their root beer floats is something to try.

After our lunch, we made a turn around the corner of the Mojave Museum and continued our drive on Old Route 66. This is a quiet country road with very few traffic and at times quite scenic. It was all fine and dandy until we reached the foot of the mountain where we started the climb up.

Scary ride on Black Mountains
The road started turning narrow and curvy with many hair-pin turns. At times it was quite scary especially when we were met by huge trucks coming on the opposite direction. MOR did a good job slowing down and stopping for opposing traffic but I was so nervous that he may get too close to the edge of the road. Thank God that we came through in one piece!

Nice views of the area.

country road

Starting the climb up.

Wild burros at the side of the road.

\
More distraction!

Until we got to the top of the mountain where a huge parking area was found.

That's the downhill road where we would take later on.

And with the views of the basin under our feet.


Oatman, Arizona
The tourist town of Oatman was named after the Oatman family who was massacred by an Indian tribe in the year 1851. They were on their way from Illinois with a group of Mormon moving westward on a wagon trail. Some of the members decided to leave the group and headed towards Arizona. Soon, this group found a place to settle down but the Oatman family wanted to keep going west to California. Unfortunately, they met a group of hostile Native Indians who beat the family to death with clubs. Olive, the 16-year old daughter and her 10-year old sister were the two survivors. (It turned out that their brother, Lorenzo also survived from the severe beating and later trying to look for his sisters.) The two girls were captured and enslaved for a while. After the younger sister died of starvation, Olive was either sold or traded to the Mojave Indians and was adopted by the family of the chief. To signified that she was part of the tribe, they tattooed her chin as a custom of the tribe. Olive was released in 1856. With support from different sources, she completed her college education and later got married. She lived to be 60 some years old and died in the early 1900. Although the Oatman family did not live here in town, it is still an interesting town to visit with its own history. 

This ghost town turned tourist attraction was once a gold mining community. Two prospectors found $10 million worth of gold here in 1915, making this a hot spot for gold mining in the western U.S. and became one of the largest gold producers.

At 2, 710 feet on the Black Mountains.

A rare scene in any U.S. towns.

with an old western feel

Wild burros wandering everywhere around town.


The fire in 1921 burned many buildings in the village but left the Oatman Hotel in tact.

I guess any vintage item can make it home here.

This burro was standing in that same spot and position the whole time we were there.
I wonder what he was waiting for?


A little run-down, a little messy but still fun to see.





Still here!






There's a picture of Olive Oatman.

Main Street USA

I am glad that we drove by and it was quite an interesting visit. For those planning on visiting here, I suppose it it OK driving through that mountain road in a regular car but if you are taking an RV, I would suggest to come here from Laughlin/Bullhead City on 153. It's a much easier drive on flat road.

From Oatman, we took the 153 back to Fort Mojave area then head north to Bullhead City back to Laughlin. While we were on 95, we found the Walmart that we saw on the way here a week ago so we took the opportunity to fill up our gas tank for some cheap gas. But, we later found out that the quality of the gas here is not that good comparing to what we had as we climb the mountains the next day.

Gas under $2 is pretty rare nowadays, especially in California.

But, I don't think we will do it again.

Back to Riverside Casino RV Resort for the night. As I had requested, we were back on the top level of the park with a wonderful view of Laughlin right before us.

We just had to have another prime rib dinner at the Prime Rib Room again.
This time we made sure we had reservation. We even had a table with a view of the river.

Safe social distancing with neighboring tables blocked off.



What a wonderful way to end our day!

Video of our trip here. Please "Like", "Subscribe" and "Share". Thank you!


"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! "   -- Matthew 6: 22~23

 

Saturday, November 21, 2020

Ready to go home from Page to Williams, Arizona

RV Trip on Route 66--California to Arizona (Day 7)
Page to Williams, Arizona-October 11, 2020

Considering the crowded situation at Zion National Park and the State of Utah having stricter regulations regarding visitors entering the state during the pandemic, we decided not to continue on our trip up north and start our return trip home instead. In order to have the best visit at Zion National Park, one must get on their shuttles that run on some roads that are closed off to private cars, making it necessary for close contacts with other visitors. Plus parking is very limited inside the park. Just not a pleasant and safe situation that we wanted to deal with at this time. After a few days on the road, we were a little 'homesick' anyway. Time to head home!

Waking up to a sunny, warm morning at the Page-Lake Powell Campground.

This is a campground with about 130 various sizes campsites, including some tent sites. It is conveniently located in the city of Page.

Glen Canyon Dam
A short 15-minute drive from Page took us to the Glen Canyon Bridge and Dam. We have passed by here a couple of times before but never made a stop. Parking is much better than Hoover Dam with easy in-and-out access.

Huge parking lot for all sizes of vehicles.

I thought this rock by the parking lot was quite interesting.

Glen Canyon Dam built between 1956~1966.

This 710 feet dam is built between the sandstone gorges that formed Lake Powell.

Glen Canyon Dam Field Office with the turbine runner.

Visitor Center was closed due to COVID-19.

Guided tours of the dam and facilities would be available if the visitor center is opened.

Display of rock that carries the dinosaur tracks.

Glen Canyon Dam Bridge

The dam is still a controversial subject among the project management and environmental groups.

It's still an amazing structure no matter what.


Final glimpse of the visitor center right next to the rock.

Lake Powell
After leaving Glen Canyon Dam, we continued our drive further up on Hwy 89, then made a turn to Lakeshore Drive which took us for a scenic ride along the lake.

Entering the National Recreation Area using our "America the Beautiful" senior pass.


There are a couple of vista points with adequate parking along the drive.

Lake Powell is being recognized as a premier water-based recreational destination for enthusiasts.

It generally welcomed about 3 million visitors each year to enjoy boating, fishing, hiking, swimming, water-skiing, and camping around this area.

This is a lake that stretches a long way between two states with only a couple of marinas in each state.

Most of the lake is surrounded by steep sandstone walls

making it less accessible except by boats.

Lakeshore Drive lead us to the Lake Powell Resorts and Marinas where a huge complex of hotel and campground was found.

Behind the building with lots of vacant hotel rooms.

Hundreds of houseboats just docked at the marinas.

It should be fun to stay on one of these houseboats for a few days sailing around the lake.

We need to come back for a houseboat tour of the lake in the future.

Then we came back to Page for lunch. Husband has never had a meal from Sonic, so that was where we stopped. Our RV was just too big for the drive-in stall so we had to park it in the back and walked over to one of the stalls to order our meal. Very strange as we were standing there waiting for our order since the restaurant was closed for walk-in or dine-in. I must say that lunch was very good though!

After our lunch inside the RV and a little break, we started our drive backward towards Williams. It's a two hour and 50 minutes drive in mostly desert area. The most scenic part was going through the Antelope Pass where gigantic rock formations created gorgeous sights. Then as we descend from Antelope Pass, there is a vista point where we stopped for a sweeping view of the Marble Canyon.

Stopping at the Antelope Pass Vista Point.

With a view of Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Colorado River, and the start of the Grand Canyon spread out in front of us.

Then, we past Cameron, which is the east entrance to Grand Canyon and was closed due to the pandemic, then Flagstaff, back on I-40 west. Got off at Williams and back to our favorite campground, Grand Canyon Railway Hotel and Campground. After hooking up, we decided to take a walk to the hotel ground and the train station before it gets dark.

Very nice hotel facility.

Clean and quiet.


With some vintage train cars and engines on display.



Williams train station. They still do the daily train rides between here and Grand Canyon.




A fun ending to our day before we went back to the campground for dinner.
This time we gave the downtown area a miss.

For viewing of the video, please click here.

"For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living."   -- Romans 14:9