The Burrow and the Roadrunner.

Monday September 6, 2010. Start kilometers 27863. Finish kilometers 28223. Total today 360 kilometers.

Today we departed Kingman Arizona and took the Oatman Hwy up over Sitgreaves Pass. This road was very steep and very crooked with hairpin curves and sheer drops coming hot and heavy. I did notice the interesting variety of stone or cable guardrails ( or the lack thereof ) that offered me faint comfort for the scary drops. Nearing the top of the Pass we stopped at Cool Springs which has a recently reconstructed 1926 store which was rebuilt the first time for the movie "Universal Soldier". This store is now run by some very interesting characters one of them being Pam who had a pet Roadrunner. She gave us a demonstration of feeding him while entertaining us with her significant cleavage. After descending back down we entered the town of Oatman which was once mined for gold and now mined for tourist dollars with shops, cafes, staged gunfights and wild burros wandering the streets. The burros are the towns most celebrated inhabitants and are descendants of forebears that were brought here in gold mining days as beasts of burden. We parked and wandered around and eventually met an old timer sitting on the front porch of the historical post office. "Walking Bill" as he is known by the locals lives two miles out in the desert. With no car or transportation this 78 year old man walks into town once a week. We spent a half hour sitting with him as he explained the history of the area. The old Oatman Hotel is where Clark Gable and Carol Lombart came for their honeymoon in 1939.
The winding highway finally straightened and took us onward into the state of California. through Needles, Essex, Cadiz Summit, Bagdad and Ludlow. The road through Bagdad and Ludlow was extremely bad and bone jarring. I was beginning to worry that Johns Harley would start loosing bolts however we did give it frequent inspections and it managed to stay in one piece. We stopped at the Bagdad Cafe for some much needed water in this over 100 degree heat and met some more interesting characters before continuing on to Barstow to settle in for the night. Tomorrow Santa Monica. Stay tuned.

"Walking Bill"

John and I pose in the doorways of this three unit abandoned Motel beside the Bagdad Cafe. This motel and three acres of desert can be bought for $125,000 or less. This could be the start of my motel chain.

Pam feeding her pet Roadrunner

Pam's Pickup

Burrow and the Bike in Oatman