02-19-10

After breakfast at the Black Bear Cafe, we headed down AZ 95 to Mojave Valley where we turned east on Willow Dr. After about 5 miles, the back road to Oatman began.

The road is not real challenging but is very bumpy due to the many fist size to basket ball sized rocks in its bed. We bounced along for about 2 hours keeping a mountain called Boundary Dome in our sights.

We followed the directions in;
"A Guide to Arizona Backroads & 4-Wheel Drive Trails" by Charles A Wells.
His description was very close to what we found on the trail. And historical information about things to see were informative. Such as, the concrete reservoir near the old town sight of Milltown.

The water was used for the steam engines that ran the 40-stamp mill that crushed ore from the mines near Oatman and the old railroad bed for the Mojave and Milltown Railroad that brought the ore from the mountains.
Boundary Dome loomed larger as we neared Route 66

We turned north on 66 and drove into Oatman.

The mines have played out but now they are mining the tourists.

It must be a character flaw but I have always had trouble with Tourist Traps. They are all the same with their "T" shirt stores and gift shops.

Oatman isn't much different than other old west towns; it has the obligatory fake gun fights and western style saloons. The one difference in Oatman is the tame/wild Burros.
They wander up and down the main street begging for carrots and some times being very insistent, nipping at loose clothing when the tourists run out of the sweet veggies.
Its hard not to be enchanted by the creatures though.

Especially the babies.

This one didn't want us to leave and stood behind the Jeep for a long time . I finally had to have Patti get out ans shoo him away. I didn't think I would make any friends if I backed into him.

Well that was our trip to Oatman.
When we got back to The Colorado Bell, Patti headed for the casino while I went to the room to go through the pictures of the day.
She returned around 4:45 and we went to The Outback for dinner.
Even with what Patti spent for last nights dinner she came out even for the two days of gambling. She is a winner as far as I am concerned.

We will head for home (Quartzsite) in the morning.