{"id":718,"date":"2015-06-20T15:04:18","date_gmt":"2015-06-20T22:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kokomoman.com\/wordpress1\/?p=718"},"modified":"2015-06-20T15:04:18","modified_gmt":"2015-06-20T22:04:18","slug":"the-mother-road-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kokomoman.com\/wordpress1\/2015\/06\/20\/the-mother-road-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mother Road – Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Get Your Kicks On Route 66<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A little while ago I teased ya\u2019ll with a bit about the adventures I was starting on late this spring. Then I disappeared off the face of the earth, and the blog till I ended up in Key West a few of weeks ago. Since then, I\u2019ve \u201chad my head down\u201d writing the first draft a new book from inspiration I got while in Key West\u2026 \u201cKey West With a bit of Rum, A Shot of Tequila, and A Grain of Salt\u201d<\/em> (working title). While working on that I\u2019ve ignored the blog and \u201cTravels With a Naked Parrot.\u201d Well, this starts back in the beginning of the adventure when I spent a little time on route 66\u2026 with a Naked Parrot. I hope you like it. Most of the pics are on my facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

As I was driving into town\u2026 trying not to smooth out all the folks just walking down the middle of the street\u2026 I heard from the peanut gallery:<\/p>\n

Barraaaakkk \u2013 Look at that ass! Look at that Ass! \u2013 Barraaaakkk<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/h1>\n

At first I thought Sgt Pepper was talking about a guy wandering into the street without looking. But instead, a little ways into the town there was a four legged animal just walking along the street. I turned and sternly said to Sgt. Pepper, \u201cThat\u2019s a burro.\u201d\u00a0 I laughed to myself and under my breath said, \u201cthat guy\u2019s the ass\u201d.<\/p>\n

I thought\u2026 hummm, \u201cburro\u201d is Spanish, so what is the translation. With the help of \u201cUncle Google\u201d I found out that burro translates to \u201cass\u201d. So the guy wandering into the street was indeed a burro.<\/p>\n

The town I was driving into was Oatman\u00b8 Arizona. I first passed through here by accident. I was on a trek to Wally-World in Florida. I hear ya\u2026 why in the world would I go all the way to Florida when there\u2019s a Wally-World close by in La-La Land. Well, let\u2019s just say for now that I was on a quest. I played \u201cdestiny road\u201d on the CD player as we headed out each morning of the trek\u2026 really, I did.<\/p>\n

Anyway, on that earlier trek I sorta got lost. I missed the sign pointing to Kingman, Arizona via the main road. So, a few miles later down the road, on the Arizona side of the Colorado river, I finally came to a sign that pointed to Kingman. It didn\u2019t take long till I knew this was not the way I intended. But since the sign did show this was a road to Kingman I kept going.<\/p>\n

The area looked very interesting. But since I didn\u2019t have time to explore anything I just drove on trying to make good time to Wally-World. At that time I said to myself, \u201csomeday I\u2019ll come back here and check it out.\u201d This was that trip I promised myself I would make.<\/p>\n

Signs all along the way proclaimed the road was, \u201cHistoric Route 66\u201d\u2026 the \u201cMother Road\u201d. It\u2019s a two-lane road that winds away from the Colorado River. It heads off into the nothingness of the Arizona desert and up into the Black mountains. One of my favorite characters from movies, Capt\u2019n Barbosa, would have said, \u201cArrrrggggghhhh, they be more like foot-hills.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"IMG_3152\"<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t a bad drive but you can\u2019t make good time. The farther you go, the more twisty it gets. If you make this trip, don\u2019t be in a rush. Pull over and look back toward the river. It\u2019s an amazing view and pictures just don\u2019t do it justice. As you get close to Oatman the road gets a even more twisty. For the last couple of miles you can only do about 35 or 40 MPH. I wasn\u2019t in a hurry so I was only doing maybe only 30 MPH.<\/p>\n

There are lots of stories about Oatman. Perhaps they are more in the realm of \u201clore.\u201d If I were to do a lot of digging I could find out the real truth. But that\u2019s the lure of the town. The stuff could be true, and I choose to believe everything the town folk say\u2026 even if the aim is to attract tourists.<\/p>\n

Even the town\u2019s name\u00b8 Oatman, evokes a bit of a mystique. Olive Oatman was captured by Indians when she was 14 years old. Stories tell of her years with the Indians. After five years she was she was released. One story is that here release was near the current site of the town. According to some, she lived in the town of Oatman till she married and moved to Texas.<\/p>\n

\"The

The Olive Oatman Saloon<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

A little before you get to town you start to see signs of the town\u2019s mining heritage. To the side of the road you can see \u201ctailings\u201d from various mines in the area. Starting in the early 1900s and until World War II, Oatman was a mining town\u2026 GOLD! For a while it was a \u201cboom town\u201d. One of the signs in town proclaims that the area produced 1.8 million ounces of gold.\u00a0 At today\u2019s prices, that would be a couple of BILLION dollars.<\/p>\n

\u201cRoute 66\u201d goes right through the middle of the town. Of course Route 66 doesn\u2019t even exist any more. But don\u2019t tell that to the town-folk. Every store, mercantile, emporium and tourist trap has some kind of sign exhorting the town\u2019s heritage of a Route 66 stop. Indeed, Route 66 kept the town alive after the gold mines closed. The town became a stop along the route. Eateries, hotels, shops and gas stations were kept in business by \u201cmother road\u201d travelers.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_3158\"<\/p>\n

The Oatman \u201chotel\u201d proudly proclaims that Clark Gable and Carol Lombard stayed there on their way west during their honeymoon.\u00a0 I have something of a romantic view of what it must have been like during the glory days of Route 66. Folks traveling west were on an adventure. I vaguely remember the adventure it was when my parents moved from Georgia to California and we traveled portions of Route 66 to get there.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, today the Oatman Hotel is not a hotel. I would love to have stayed there to imagine what it might have been like to sit down to dinner next to Gable and Lombard. Of course today it\u2019s a grande tourista trap. But who cares. There is a coffee shop. Go in and check the place out. For just a minute you can pretend to be a famous actor from the past.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\"My

My favorite… of course. *smiley face*<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

When the highway bypassed Oatman\u2026 and Route 66 was \u201cdecommissioned\u201d, it became virtually a ghost town. Today it\u2019s only the tourists that keep the place alive. There are shops and trinket vendors in every little place in town. The owners have come up with a lot of clever names to pull in the visitors. \u201cThe Bucktooth Burro\u201d, \u201cFast Fanny\u2019s Place\u201d (my favorite), \u201cThe Classy Ass\u201d, \u201cJackass Ron\u2019s\u201d, and \u201cThe Nugget Corral\u201d are just a few of the most clever names for the tourist traps.<\/p>\n

They even have daily gunfights in the streets\u2026 right on time at 11:15 and 3:30. I don\u2019t think they ever really had gun fights in the town, but it\u2019s just another way to entertain the tourists and keep the town alive.<\/p>\n

\"Gun

Gun fights and bed races<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

The biggest draw is the wild burros that wander into town each day. After the gold \u201cpetered out\u201d\u2026 and the miners went off to mine copper for the war effort\u2026 the miners just released their burros into the Arizona desert. The burros that wander into town today are decedents of the ones the miners released.<\/p>\n

I started on a walk-about down Route 66 when:<\/p>\n

Barraaaakkk \u2013 Where do the burros go at night?\u00a0 \u2013 Barraaaakkk<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Before I could answer one of the old timers working on setting up his trinket stand answered with a perfectly straight face, \u201cWherever they want to go\u201d\u2026 and then went back to his work.<\/p>\n

That made me ponder… where they really go. Do they really just wander off into the hills?… or does the local tourist bureau have them herded to a nearby coral so they will still be here for the next day\u2019s tourists. I considered hanging around to really find out. But I decided to take the old timer\u2019s word for it.<\/p>\n

Barraaaakkk Watch Look out!!! Watch yur step\u00a0 \u2013 Barraaaakkk.<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Ah yes\u2026 the Oatman two-step. You see, those burros really do \u201cgo\u201d wherever they want to. That means Route 66 through the middle of Oatman\u2026 and the only street of consequence\u2026 is peppered with \u201croad apples\u201d from the burros. So indeed, watch yur step.<\/p>\n

\"Look-out.

Look-out. You’ll be doing the Oatman 2 step<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

I stopped in at a t-shirt shop just before I left town. The last thing I ever need is another t-shirt. But I couldn\u2019t help myself. This shop had shirts that were not like all of the ones I\u2019ve collected over the years\u2026 they were for Route 66. So I had to have one. Ummmmm, make that three.<\/p>\n

\"Stopped

Stopped in for a Route 66 T-Shirt<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

.\"IMG_3475\"<\/p>\n

Next up, The Mother Road \u2013 Part 2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Get Your Kicks On Route 66 A little while ago I teased ya\u2019ll with a bit about the adventures I was starting on late this spring. Then I disappeared off the face of the earth, and the blog till I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kokomoman.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kokomoman.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kokomoman.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kokomoman.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kokomoman.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.kokomoman.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":857,"href":"https:\/\/www.kokomoman.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718\/revisions\/857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kokomoman.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kokomoman.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kokomoman.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}