2015-5
Laughlin Nevada
Blythe California
Campground: Arizona Oasis (formerly Colorado River) Rv Resort. $20 Passport America rate. Full hookup. Sits along the Colorado river. Cable tv: 125 channels, swimming pool, clubhouse with breakfast served on weekends in season.
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| Blythe Sunset, Colorado River |
Free food, a Boat Ride, Movies and Route 66
I’m completing my stay in the Laughlin area, enjoying my free buffet lunches of course, doing the river walk along the Colorado river, with all the big casinos hugging the shoreline and signing up for a boat ride along the river. I wasn’t expecting too much from it, as the double decker boat travels up to the dam and then back down along the river bordered by all those tall casinos. But anytime I’m on the water I feel just wonderful and the trip turned out to be very enjoyable. Talking to a family of Minnesota farmers, away for a vacation before the planting season starts. Most of their cattle had already given birth this spring and they had left a daughter behind to look at the remainder of the herd about to give birth. Cruising along, the boat had a very good sound system with a great history presentation on the area with a couple of very interesting stories of some of the people living in the area, including the founder, Mr Laughlin himself. Well worth the discounted $9 fair.
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| the River walk |
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| the boat tour |
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| Colorado river running through the desert |
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| Davis Camp |
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| a dozen casino's in Laughlin Nevada |
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| Bullhead City side of the river |
Old Route 66 and Oatman Arizona
The next day, I got an early start and drove down to the old gold mining town of Oatman. Now a ghost town with ramshackle tourist shops and burro’s that were left behind at the end of the mining days. The town was sleepy when I arrived and only a few shop owners were stirring, but my goal was to take a few pictures of the town (having been to the town in the past) and then drive a section of the original Route 66 from Oatman to Kingman Arizona. This would have been one of the roughest sections of the original Route 66 and still is today. With numerous twists and turns over solid rock outcroppings as the road wrapped it’s way around hills and mountain passes. What a great ride. A note to Rv-ers, this is not a road to take your camper on. I’m not sure but as I was only driving my truck, I could have sworn on one particularly twisted section of the road, I swear I saw the tail end of my truck beside me! By the way there is still one Gold mine in operation just outside of town. With lots of barbed wire surrounding the main operation area. And for drivers and passengers who might be a bit intimidated by roads with drop offs, I would suggest driving the route I took which was from Oatman to Kingman as you will be on the inside of the road the entire way, and not hanging over the edge of the road and those steep cliffs, which I might add have no guardrails. The final leg of the journey being a gentle sloping downward section leading into the valley and Kingman.
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| Early morning in Oatman Ghost Town |
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| Route 66 between Oatman and Kingman Arizona |
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| a part of the original Route 66 |
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| what a great ride, not recommended for Rv's |
While at the Riverside Casino Rv park, I of course have been enjoying those daily buffet lunches for free, but have also taken advantage of an 8 multi-plex movie theatre. Having seen the movie “Woman in Gold”. A true story portraying the Austrian woman now living in America who wished to get her family’s painting back that were taken by the Nazi’s during WWII. What a compelling and well performed story. Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds are the lead actors in the film. Also saw the “Second Best Marigold Hotel” which enjoyed even though the reviews said it wasn’t as good as the first, I would disagree. The Riverside also has a bowling alley as well which I might do as well since one gets a free game for taking the boat ride and for each film you see. So it’s not all slot machines and gaming tables.
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| 8 movie theaters at the Riverside Casino |
Distance Traveled: 126 miles
Blythe California
Between Laughlin and Blythe there are two route 95's. One follows the Colorado River on the Arizona side and one travels through the desert on the California side. I took the California side this time, just because I'd never taken it. The California side has little traffic, lots of desert and bare mountain scenery and is an easy two lane road. I did see a number of Rv-ers indicating it may be a favored route because of having less fewer towns and less traffic.
I’m actually camping on the Arizona side of the Colorado, with Blythe California just a hop and a skip across the river from here. Just outside of Blythe are some Intaglio Petroglyph’s the only ones in North America. You’ve probably seen pictures of the ones in Peru, those symbols that can only be seen from the air. Well the Native American Indians also created a number of them right out here in the eastern end of California. I’ve reported on them in the past, so won’t take up any more time discussing them here.
Blythe is a small town along Interstate 10. It is a stop over for many traveling between Los Angeles and Phoenix as it is approx. half way between each city. With a population of around 20,000 it does not have much to offer the traveler, except as a winter spot for Rv-er’s in the winter. Though I’ve been told they seldom stay for more than a month, as it is used by the Rv-er as just a stop over between other destinations.
A few more shots from Route 66
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| old gas station/gift-shop along route 66 |
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| each bug made from old light bulbs and wire |
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| very creative, scorpions made from light bulb and wire |
1 comment:
I Just Love Your Blog Of Laughlin And Oatman .. My Husband .. Jerry And I Was Their Last Summer And Enjoyed Our Visit In That Area! We Will Be Doing It Again In The Summer Of 2016 ..
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