Day 130: Lake Havasu State Park, AZ
Sunny and warm.
Today we drive old Route 66!
OK, I am not making this up. The tiny town of Oatman, Arizona was once a mining town where donkeys were used in the mining effort. When the mining ended the donkeys were freed. There are now 25,000 wild donkeys in the area, and 26 which are not wild that rule the town of Oatman. Oatman looks like it is 100 years ago, kind of like Dawson city, Yukon, but rougher.
The daily gunfight occurs at 2:30 pm. We met one of the gunslingers, a young man who can’t be old enough to drink yet. I think he is in high school. Later on we saw what we guessed would be his opponent down the street in the town. We did not stay for the fight, but we are guessing that the young man wins every day, or as long as he wears the white hat.
Kingman, Arizona is said to be in the heart of old Route 66. We found the historic district to be a nicely updated town with some nice restaurants and breweries.
We were referred to the Grand Canyon Caverns Campground by a woman in the Kingman Visitors Center. Not only is this place about the most expensive we’ve stayed in, it is also about the roughest. There is a building of restrooms, but four of the six are padlocked. The one I used had a space heater running, so it was hot inside. There were two types of floor tiles which met in the middle. There was a wet white towel spread across the linoleum floor, and the shower had a puddle in the uneven floor. The fixtures were not so clean.
At least this place comes with electric and water hookup, laundry facilities and free continental breakfast. The laundry room was padlocked. I think the breakfast is free so you will attend and they can strong-arm you into going into the cave tour. I think we will skip it.
Well this is the only place for miles and there are only a few other campers here. I’ll chalk it up as another “interesting” experience.
Oatman, Kingman, and the desert drive through the black mountains were all excellent.
Morning update: We did have the free breakfast, and the only other person there was the maintenance guy. It was fine.
Arvitrekking 