Getting our kicks...

We left Williams this morning after hearing the "all aboard" call from the nearby railway station form which trains run to the South Rim of Grand Canyon, 57 miles north. That sounds like a neat way to visit the canyon...

Twenty five miles down I-40 we took exit 139 to Seligman, and in doing so began our journey down one of the last remaining stretches of historic Route 66, the "Mother Road" od America.

Seligman is a quirky little town that is cashing in BIG time on Route 66 tourism.

We didn't stop there. but rather just cruised through slowly before pressing on to Peach Springs where we planned to get petrol. That was pretty much a ghost town, with no services. We were able to fill up in Truxton, but apart from the service station, there was nothing much there either.

We took our lunch break at Mr D's Route 66 Diner in Kingman AZ.

From Kingman, Route 66 headed across Sitgreaves Pass. At less than 4000 ft, it is not particularly high, but the road up to the top is a narrow strip of old blacktop that clings to the side of the mountain and winds in and out of every gully on the hillside. There are no guard rails, and some off the drop-offs at the side of the road are high and steep.

Once across the top, the road down the other side is much easier, and not far from the pass we reached the tourist mecca of Oatman.

This was a mining town, but the ore ran out. The miners then released their donkeys, used to pull carts of ore out of the mines, into the wild, and they bred as furry animals with long ears usually do. Now they wander the main street looking for tourists with carrots or other food, all of which are in plentiful supply.

There were a lot of bikes in town, and a greater than usual proportion were BMWs. We quickly got talking to Grant and Gary, two members of EMO, the European Motorcycle Owners club (aka Eat More Often) based in Las Vegas.

They told us of a meeting of BMW owners every Saturday morning at the BMW dealer's, from where they ride to lunch somewhere. Since we are going to be in Las Vegas next Saturday, we are planning to join them.

Every building in Oatman is given over to selling t shirts/handbags/carrots/junk food/beer/all manner of tacky souvenirs. We couldn't resist stopping, wandering around and feeding some of the donkeys.

Route 66 rejoined I-40 in Topock, where they crossed the Colorado River into California. We stopped for the night in Needles, CA. Once again we were lucky and found a motel within walking distance of a supermarket. It was a shame the internet didn't work in our room...