Welcome to Arizona
Travel and vacation, as our parents and grandparents knew it, is gone. Vacation today is a few days in a hotel, maybe on a beach within a day’s drive from home. While in the hotel much of our time is on the computer, and checking the blackberry. It seems to me the only time we are somewhat unplugged is in the car; On the Road.
On The Road is a segment that the Arizona Duuude and I (Inky) are doing to record our travel adventures.
When we travel we look for the
roadside marker; the not so beaten path, the ole` timer at the counter in the
coffee shop, in the barber shop,along with our favorite places of the past, and of course,
the unusual.
We went to Jean NV for the Gold Strike Grand National Competition of the Old West at the Gold Strike Hotel & Gambling Hall in May this year. This is a summary of that trip.
Traveling to this event we took SR-89 from north of Prescott to Marshall Tremble's boyhood home in Ash Fork AZ.
At Ash Fork we followed historic Route 66 for a short distance until we merged onto I-40. We stayed on a very scenic portion I-40 until we exited at Williams. In Williams for about 2 miles on Route 66 and back on I-40. We continued to Seligman AZ where we returned to Route 66 and followed it through Peachtree AZ on to Kingman AZ.
From Kingman near the Beale Hotel, the boyhood home of favorite son Andy Devine, we stopped for lunch at Mr. D’s; the same diner Oprah ate at when she came through Arizona on her famous camping trip. After lunch we veered to the south remaining on Route 66 crossing over Sitgraeves Pass to Oatman AZ.
Leaving Oatman we left Route 66 and continued along Boundary Cone Rd west bound to Arizona SR-95 North toward Bull Head City, originally called Hardyville, & Laughlin NV where we crossed the Colorado River.
In Nevada we climbed from the Colorado River floor over the pass to Searchlight NV. We left US 95 at Searchlight and turned west onto the Joshua Tree Highway NV-164 directly to I-15 North. The view was a wonderful panorama of Joshua Trees and the vista of the desert with I-15 seen miles in the distance.
We reached Jean in the late afternoon ready for the Grand National Competition of the Old West.
After the event we launched our return to the Phoenix area through the infamous Las Vegas. Keith, our contact at Gold Strike told us about a place we had to see. After viewing A very strange looking medical center across the street from the World Trade Center in Las Vegas we went to the famous Pawn Shop of History Channel fame.
Leaving Las Vegas we turned our attention to returning home. We decided to ride over the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, completed last year. We stopped at the Lake Mead Visitors Information Center on Nevada Way. They gave us a lot of great information for future trips to the Nevada / Arizona region. Nevada Way south of the information center was a wonderful scenic view of Lake Mead. The water level was so low we observed miles of beautiful sun bleached white sand with the cool blue of Lake Mead.
The Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge is a spectacular site from the Hoover Dam. You cannot see anything from the bridge roadway. In order to see the view you must go the access parking area on the Nevada side and walk onto the structure. The view of Hoover Dam is one previously seen only from the air.
We then returned to Arizona over the bridge and AZ 95 returning to Metro Phoenix. This trip is a wonderful fully packed 2 day excursion. I recommend 3 days to see all the sights in the areas, especially Kingman, and Oatman AZ. Route 66 and its legacy tell us a lot about the era and the building of this great country.
Return soon and ride with us on our next adventure trip.
