On Route 66

Kingman, AZ 4-7 to 4-13-19

Since the temperatures here in the high desert were a little cooler than Quartzsite we decided to check out the Elks Lodge in Kingman. They have plenty of space for RVs, just no hookups. In other words, right up our alley.

We stayed a week and generally had the place to ourselves. The lodge is located in a residential area next to a golf course so it was very quiet.

The RV parking area is located on an old tennis court. The lodge asks that you minimize running your generator so as to not give neighbors a reason to complain about noise. For us it was great because it is in full sun, the temperatures were mild and our solar panels were happy everyday.

Kingman is a great jumping off point for various tourist attractions and we visited them all.

Chloride is small mining community that is eking out a living by catering to a small number of tourists.

It was formed in 1862 to serve the silver ore mining community. It’s main claim to fame now is “The Pride of Chloride”, a bunch of boulders painted by hippie Roy Purcell in the 1960’s. He reportedly stated that the paintings were the result of deep personal introspection. Personal, I think he just got high and stayed that way until he was done. But the paintings can speak for themselves. The aging hippie returned in 2006 to touch up his work.

In Chloride itself is an old western town recreation. We were the only ones there.

We continued walking around town and discovered a sight that gave meaning to the phrase “one person’s junk is another person’s treasure”.

Many years ago we had visited Oatman, AZ in our Roadtrek 19 Popular. It was long enough ago that memories have faded so we felt that a revisit was in order. Along the road from Kingman to Oatman, the tourist books tell of a must stop to visit a spring pool up a hill.

It was a trickle of water out of a rock into a small basin someone had created with rocks and mortar. Oh, and it was up a steep hill from the road. Well, it was a good excuse to stretch our legs.

And Oatman is a tired little western town whose claim to fame are the donkeys running loose around town. Other than that it is the typical little ticky tacky tourist town. It’s location is unique as it is squeezed in among steep hills and there is hardly any room for parking.

By this time EJ is ready to try her luck at the gaming establishments. The closest place to Kingman is Laughlin, NV near the California border. She kindly chooses the Riverside Resort Casino thinking of me. I don’t gamble. My opinion is that I may as well throw my money on the floor considering the luck I have. The Riverside Resort just happened to have a car museum in it. Yay! So it was a win-win.

 

The Kingman Elks Lodge was one of the friendliest lodges we have visited. We were invited to play card games ( the sporting kind where money is involved) and to participate in their Wii bowling league. Unfortunately it is a smoking lodge and the smoke was quite strong.

We offered to pay for our stay, but there was no charge and they even told us to stay as long as we like. But we still had country to see and explore, so after 7 days it was time to move on.