Burros Rule Route 66

Another great day. After breakfast Anna went to work (unfortunately) and Gordon, Ken, and I headed for a day of exploration. We stopped by Gordon's friend "Ken" who is really fun. He and Gordon are going to join a club in the mountains and go prospecting for gold. It's a social group and they do find gold in "them thar hills"!

Off we go up Rte 95 N to I40W. We took the Oatman exit onto historic Route 66. Driving Route 66 was a real treat and a really fantastic drive through the foothills and up into the mountains. We started t0o see wild burros on the plains. The elevation went from about 500 feet above sea level to a little over 4000 feet. The road led us past old mines and into Oatman. Oatman is a former mining town in the Black Mountains. The town is extremely proud of its Route 66 heritage and replicas of 66's black-on-white US highway shield are posted all over town. It began as a tent camp and in 1915 two prospectors hit a gold find of $10 million. The town grew to 10,000, it's now a town of 150 - not counting the burros! The burros are decendants from pack animals turned loose by the prospectors, and they own the town. They roam the streets and sidewalks greeting visitors. If you feed them carrots they will follow you all over. The baby burros have little stickers on their foreheads that say "no carrots".

We had lunch at the Old Oatman Hotel. This is a historic landmark and is well known as the honeymoon stop for Clark Gable and Carole Lombard after their 1939 wedding in Kingman, Arizona. Gable grew to love the Oatman area and returned many times to play poker with the miners. The restaurant and bar is papered with dollar bills. The dollar bills have peoples names on them and where they are from. We added a bill to the wall so now Bradford, NH is represented. We had a great lunch. I had my first buffalo burger, it was really good. There was a duo called the Oatman Outlaws singing and they were very good. We wanted a picture so I went to sit on the step in front of them. One of them handed me a 'little tamborine' and I ended up playing with them for the rest of the song.

After lunch we drove back to Gordon's, picked fresh fruit from the trees and headed back to camp. It was a great visit - Thanks Gordon & Anna!

We got back and relaxed at camp. Tuesday night was BINGO night so off we went to the activity center. It was fun and we met a nice couple from Oregon. We didn't win, but had a good time. We got back about 9pm. Nice thing about these activities is they are never late!

We called it a night and we are looking forward to another great day tomorrow.