Williams - Oatman
We set off down the Interstate, but soon got onto some disused 1932 Route 66 pavement, which is now a mountain bike route, but was quite navigable by car, as long as we slowed right down for the bumpy bits.
At Seligman we stopped for a drink at the Sno-Cap Cafe, because the books told us to. True enough, the experience is insane.
The two men running it have a patter they've been using for decades, with props and everything. "You wanna straw" they ask, thrusting a handful of straw in your face... You have to wonder if telling the same jokes to every passing tourist for 40 years gets a little wearying.
Our next stop was the Grand Canyon Caverns. This is on a loop of old Route 66 which takes you way off the Interstate. We're a long way from the Grand Canyon, but these caverns have been proven to link up to the Grand Canyon, by setting off gas grenades in the cave and seeing where the coloured smoke comes out.
This place didn't have formations as spectacular as Meramec Caverns, but it had its own charms. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, pretty much every mine and cavern in the country got conscripted into being a fallout shelter, and here the supply drums were still left down there - although the dums had rusted and the water had evaporated long ago.
The cave also boasts a mummified bobcat and th stuffed remains of a 15 foot tall ground sloth.
I'd recommend the place. On the way out Debbie overheard that the business was up for sale since it was $1.5M in debt. Hey, why not buy it, it's worth it for the model dinosaur outside alone.
We continued into the desert. I'm still not happy with the amount of vegetation in these so-called deserts. In Hackberry, the General Store as become a Route 66 curio shop and tourist trap.
The mens resroom here is noteworthy as a shrine to soft porn:
We emptied our bladders, bought a Hackberry, AZ fridge magnet, and carried on to Kingman. On the way we couldn't help but notice that there were fruit trees being cultivated. Desert, indeed.
We didn't want to stop in Kingman since we had already done so the last time around. Instead we pressed on with the sun low in the sky, on the quiet desert road into Outman.
Kingman to Outman is a magnificent drive through winding mountain roads, with cows and burros (wild donkeys) wandering across the road.
In Oatman, we got a room at the Outman Hotel. The place turns out to be a relic. For $35 you get to choose a room -- no en-suite bathroom, no TV. If you want the room where Clark Gable and Carol Lombard spent their honeymoon it's extra. The rooms haven't been changed since the 1930s, yet they're not revolting like the Star Motel in Holbrook...
With our room secured, we went out to find some food. It turns out from speaking to some locals, that everything shuts at 4pm. Oatman has a population of 300 in the summer, 150 in the winter, and daytime tourism is its only livelihood. Our hotel is the only one, and it only has a few rooms. The only food we could get was microwaved burritos at the hotel bar. After enjoing our burritos, we joined all six locals in Judy's Bar until it closed - at 10:00. Still, we drank enough beer in that time to put us to sleep.