We headed back to the west and followed the road to the big washout right before the freeway. Explored a bit more and then headed back into Needles.

By now we’re pretty hungry. We were going to eat at the 66 Burger Hut but it was full and seating is outside, we’re ready to cool off. Decided to go to the Museum. Not bad for a small place. It’s right across from the El Garces train depot. They have some very interesting stuff inside. The El Garces is in the process of being remodeled, we couldn’t tell, looked the same as when we saw it years ago. We asked about progress in the museum and were told that they were in the process of cleaning and replacing the tile floor. They’re also going to be replacing the roof soon. The Burger Hut is still full. We head west towards home. The Wagon Wheel is full also. By now we’re past caring about eating in a Route 66 place and settle for Carl’s Jr. Back home. We see that the temperature is 90 degrees! Time for a tall cool one and a dip in the pool.

Friday we decided to go check out the remaining section of road that we have never been on. We follow the route through town and head south on Hwy 95. We turn east at a Y and head towards Kingman. There is a place to pull over and get on the old road right before you get on the Interstate at the Five Mile Road exit. We are following directions from the Spring 2000 Route 66 Magazine, “The Lost Highway” by Bob Moore. This is a stretch of about four and half miles. Interestingly, we had talked to Bob this morning and asked him if we would be able to take the Vette on this stretch, he didn’t recommend it. We decided to drive with caution and see how far we could go before having to park and hike. Luckily we were able to drive a little over two miles. This is a great section; the white line is still visible in quite a few spots. The road is real sandy and rocky in some spots. After a previous problem with a rock and the oil pan we are extremely cautious. It took us a half hour to drive the two miles where we encountered the huge washout in the road. We got out and checked things out and determined that we would be able to drive around the washout. We were elated; we thought we were going to be able to drive the entire length. Wrong! A mere two-tenths of a mile mother nature prevented us from driving any further. There was a deep dip in the road, cut by the recent winter rains. The Vette only has a three inch clearance, if we would’ve had our Blazer we could have sailed right on through. We parked the car, grabbed the canteen and headed out on foot. We hiked for about a mile further and decided to call it quits. It was just too hot for us. And the end was not in sight. There really isn’t that much to see along this section.

Old alignment off Five Mile Road near Needles, California - Directions from - “The Lost Highway” article by Bob Moore. (I recall this area very well as it was in March and hot as hell. The first day we didn’t take water with us on the hike the next day we did!)

Although the wildflowers were spectacular and it is quite green here. We were rewarded with a beautiful prickly pear cactus all decked out in fuchsia colored blooms. There were several birds following along and singing as we hiked along. No snakes, but lots of little lizards sunning themselves on the rocks and wondering what these humans were doing out here. We headed back home. Another nice day. Tomorrow we will go over to Laughlin for a Corvette show and will move on to Kingman on Sunday.

We are making our camp at the Ft Beale RV Park. They have a modem hookup in the office. They also have a computer available for checking email and surfing. Yesterday we cruised through Kingman and checked out what was new, not much. We then took a little trip that we hadn’t done previously. We began our journey at the corner of Fourth St and Andy Devine Blvd (Route 66) and turned south to follow a beautiful section of early road. This stretch was originally the National Old Trails Highway. It winds through some beautiful rock canyon country. It dead ends at an old eighth mile drag strip. Will have to see if we can find out more about this place. It only goes for about three and a half miles and you have to return the same way. We stopped at Mr Dz Diner for a root beer float for me and a strawberry shake for Earl.

Old Trails Highway (Route 66) - Near Kingman, Arizona. (Enough of the Corvette shots already! At times we just could not resist, especially when you have such great old postcards.)

Today we went back to Oatman from the east side. This is one of our favorite stretches of road. Just can’t get over all the wildflowers that are blooming, it’s beautiful. Some of the cacti are also starting to bloom. And it’s so green. Hope it stays like this for the Fun Run. First stop was the ruins of Cool Springs Camp. We had to do some serious looking around. It must’ve been years since we actually did this because it all seemed new to us. Didn’t remember that many old foundations here. While we were there an older couple pulled in to walk their dogs and we ended up giving them a little history lesson about the place. Showed them my old postcard of how it used to look. Told them about it being used in the filming of “Universal Soldier” and was blown up. The husband really got interested and started looking around with a different view point. I think we have some new Roadies.

We continued on up the hill and stopped at Ed’s Camp and took a few more photos. It didn’t look like anyone is on the property any more. But not certain. We went another two and a half miles for another thing we’ve never done before. We climbed the steps up to Schaefer Springs Fish Bowl. What a great view from here. The water in the fish bowl was really murky looking. Didn’t see any of the goldfish that are supposed to be living in there. Some great little red wildflowers blooming all around. Amazing how they grow right out of the rock.

Site of “Fish Bowl Springs” near Oatman, Arizona on an old alignment of Route 66.
(Cheryl hardly ever wore a ponytail but did this day because we took the top off the car.)

On into Oatman. We had two goals in mind today. A Navajo Taco at the Oatman Hotel. We were lucky enough to get a seat since most of the people in there wanted to get outside for the gunfight. It was as good as we expected it to be. Another thing we had never done was go upstairs and check out the Clark Gable/Carol Lombard room. The doors to some of the other rooms were opened and we got to check those out too. Our next goal was to catch Jackie at Fast Fannys. We struck out again. She had friends visiting and was out showing them the town. Maybe next time. We headed home the same way we had come. Earl just loves all those hairpin curves, so it was a fast trip.