Oatman Saved our Asses*

*sorry! I'll explain that word later ;)

Getting up for the sunrise at Grand Canyon NP meant that Danielle and I had a lot of time on our hands and what we did with it was drive.  And drive some more.  We probably over-did it a little because by the time we got to the California border we were "hangry" and tired and more than ready to be out of the car!  But it was a really fun day with lots of little towns along the way and many memories to be made.  

The beginning of our drive was on the longest continuous stretch of 66 still intact after all the re-routing and diverting it has experienced since its original construction.  Welcoming us to this section were several Burma Shave signs! The only reason I was excited for this was because a former ranger at Salem Maritime told me about them before his last day at the park and before I left on my trip.  I enjoyed reading their broken messages along the side of the road.  I memorized one and thought I would re-produce it here:

'Twould be more fun

to go by air

if we could put

these signs up there

-Burma Shave

The reason that this stretch in Arizona is so long and unbroken, we learned, is because of a man named Angel in a town called Seligman.  Seligman is a sweet little town that was rescued by Route 66 running through it again instead of being by-passed by I-40.  We stopped for lunch at the Snow Cap and enjoyed taking pictures around town.  We also got to see the small, one-room barber shop where Angel works.  Everybody in town was very friendly.

After that we passed through some other towns... if that's even what you can call them! Some of these places along Route 66 have a sign on a rock announcing their presence when in fact you could drive right through them and not even know that a soul lived there.  How do these random places survive? Some of them don't even have a gas station or a grocery store for miles!

Yes, we did go to another cave. This one's claim to fame was that the air inside reportedly comes directly from the Grand Canyon!  Hence the name Grand Canyon Caverns.  It was a fun tour! 

We enjoyed looking around the small store (inside and out) in Hackberry.  I bought an old fashioned coke because it made me feel like I was back in the 20's driving along a dusty road looking for something cool and refreshing to drink.  It put me in the spirit of driving a historic road again.  It will also make for a good souvenir.

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Shortly after all that, we entered the middle-of-nowhere.  This long stretch between Kingman, AZ and Needles, CA was desolate but beautiful.  We had no indication before we started into the Black Mountains just how long the drive would be and how much gas it would take.  The only warnings in our maps were to expect hair pin turns and narrow roads.  What an understatement!  We wove up and down and around those mountains expecting to see a town at every turn.  When we finally did, it went by the name of Oatman.  After we walked into the Hotel expecting it to actually have real rooms and a place to stay the night (which it did not), we wandered down the burro lined streets (they let them roam free there) to a place called Saving your Ass.  We met the most friendly people there! And they saved our asses.  They gave us directions and let us use their bathrooms and Danielle walked away with some pretty cool souvenirs too.  They encouraged us by telling us where the nearest gas station was, the best way to get there, and they suggested some cool places to see along the rest of our drive.  I would have stayed in Oatman longer but we had to get moving if we were going to make it to Needles that night.

 
And make it to Needles, we did!  We arrived to warm air and palm trees and a hotel with the best color scheme we have seen yet.  It feels good to finally be in California!