Day 11 Sunday, Sept 14 White Knuckles!

Last night we pulled in to Kingman, AZ...not too far from CA border ... and SW Colorado. Kingman is an interesting place with lots of history. Clark Gable and  Carol Lombard were married at a Methodist Church on Fifth Street (now county office building) in 1938.

During WWII the Kingman Airfield was one of the busiest training facilities in the country. Bob Hope and The Andrews Sisters performed here.

Clayton Moore worked here as an air traffic controller before becoming The Lone Ranger!

Lots of old neon signs for once famous motels and diners.

We decided to stop at the Flea Market (Les loves them) where we met an old toothless miner who had some great stories to tell. 

From Kingman  we headed to the Historic 66 Oatman Highway through the Black Mountains.  The road is 48 miles long  but will take at least two hours because of all the steep/crooked (and sometimes rough) road with scary drops. It was quite a ride! I kept thinking about Clark Gable and Carol Lombard making this trip!

We passed Ed's Camp, an old prospector's Route 66 claim, as well as an active mine. We were told it was a modern gold mine...whatever it was, it was surrounded by razor wire.

When the switchbacks and hairpin turns finally came to an end, we were at the little town of Oatman. Apparently during mining days they used donkeys as pack animals. When mines failed, they turned the donkeys loose. Now they are all over town and make for quite a tourist attraction!

As we crossed the Colorado River we could see the Old Trails Arch Bridge, as seen in Grapes of Wrath.  Very pretty...once an auto bridge but now carries pipeline. 

It was so good to see water and green plants in the desert..if even for a little while!

There were lots of other bridges and tunnels. 

We finally made it to the California border, and what a welcome we got! We had to follow I40 for six miles west of Needles, CA. About 2 1/2 miles before our exit to get back to Route 66, the traffic came to a standstill because of a serious accident. I'm sure Les was wishing we had a three wheeler by this time! The Harley's oil pressure dropped with all the slow going and it got harder and harder to inch along or even hold it up.  Semi trucks surrounded us on all sides and I was scared to death! Eventually we realized we would be there awhile so we just parked the bike and sat in the shade of one of the many parked semis. A kind trucker from Kansas gave us water...did I mention we were in the Mojave desert area? We couldn't get through on the shoulders or anywhere because there were semis all over. We were there on the side of the road the from 3:30 p.m. til the sun set, about 7:30 pm. I entertained myself by looking at the desert plants and tossing stones at a target.

I got a little nervous when two little lizards came my way! We had no cell service but I was able to text son Derek to ask him to find us a motel room. The only lodging was in Barstow, about a150 miles away. I wanted to cry! We finally managed to drive on the shoulder of I 40 to the exit and then access Route 66. A few semis figured it out too, so we were in their dust. At one point (now remember it was dark and we were in the desert on small rough road) the semi in front of us got in some sand on the road (happened in low spots quite often) and a huge dust cloud blinded us. I thought we were goners!

Did I mention that I had been collecting crosses along the way? It started because I wanted to replace the one I used to have on my saddle but lost. I bought a little tin one (pierced, hammered) in Texas, one with a fake turquoise in New Mexico, one with beads in Arizona. I figured with all those crosses on board (and plenty of prayers) we'd be alright.

What a relief to get to Barstow! We stayed at the restored Route 66 Hotel. We hadn't eaten all day but just crawled into bed...a ROUND bed! What a day!

What a day..,.what an adventure!