We left the Zion River RV Resort at about 10 a.m. yesterday (Thursday, Feb. 16) and headed south for Kingman, Arizona. The drive was pleasant except for trying to navigate through Las Vegas, Nevada - stop-and-go bumper-to-bumper traffic most of the way through.

When we are traveling Abby has decided that she prefers to ride in our laundry basket rather than sprawling out over the whole back seat area - go figure.

There was some pretty scenery after we left Las Vegas passing by Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam. We stopped at a scenic overlook of the El Dorado Mountains and Lake Mojave and had lunch in our trailer. It is really convenient to travel with your own cafe and bathroom.

We arrived at our destination, the Blake Ranch RV Park and Horse Motel about 12 miles east of Kingman around 3 in the afternoon. We had a relaxing afternoon and since it was Rick's birthday, we made a special dinner of fresh salmon and rice with a bottle of St. Chapelle Huckleberry Wine that we have been saving for a special occasion.

Today (Friday, Feb. 17) we drove down one of the few remaining stretches of the famous Route 66 to a "ghost town" named Oatman in the Black Mountains. Oatman was the center of a mining district which still supports a few active mines today.

The oldest remaining building in town, the Oatman Hotel, was built in 1901 and hosted Clark Gable and Carol Lombard on their honeymoon in 1939 (that's how important the town was when Route 66 was the main auto route between New York and Los Angeles).

Clark Gable apparently stopped there many times because he liked to drink and gamble with the miners. Now-a-days people sign a dollar bill and hang it on the wall or ceiling (we didn't follow the fad). But there are some really old ones that are shellacked on the wall - probably from Gable's era.

One of the main attractions in town is the herd of wild burrows that roam the streets looking for handouts (and there are many people who satisfy them - the town gives away small packages of carrots so at least they are getting healthy food). The main category of tourist there are bikers on their Harleys although we saw a lot of retired folks like us wondering through the shops and eateries.

Route 66 from Kingman to Oatman is remarkably narrow, some stretches are carved into the side of a mountain, and in many places it is barely wide enough for cars going opposite directions to clear each other. There is the rusty remnant of one old car that didn't successfully navigate a hairpin curve.

And there is one of the original gas stations with old style hand gas pumps along the route that has been preserved.

We took a walk around the campground this afternoon just to look at all the plants that we are unfamiliar with. We need to buy a "plants of the desert Southwest" book to satisfy our interests - we plan to visit Saguaro National Park south of Phoenix so we probably can get a good one there.

Tomorrow (Saturday, Feb 18) we will drive to Tempe. It is only about 150 miles from here so we continue to be leisurely about our travels. We will keep you posted on our progress.