Kingman, AZ

April 18, 2010

This northwestern Arizona town of roughly 30,000 is a railroading center. The trains pull through nearly every 15 minutes blowing the whistle loud and proud! And, yes, that is around the clock! It does become soothing, but takes some getting used to. It is nestled between mountains that have the appearance of clay sticks stuck together and arranged by a toddler. It really is interesting. In Mohave county, we made the assumption that this is the Mojave Desert, but research shows that it is the Sonoran Desert.

Kingman has a couple of claims to fame. Andy Devine grew up here and they have every right to be proud of him. I can still hear his raspy voice from the many western movies he was in. The story is that he was running with some kind of stick in his mouth as a young boy when he fell and jammed the thing through the roof of his mouth. He had to relearn to talk after healing. This sounds way too much like the story we all heard from our mothers. I wonder if they knew about Andy Devine.

The second claim to fame also struck a cord with this child of '60's TV. This is the heart of the longest remaining section of Route 66. I immediately drew a mental picture of George Maharis and Martin Milner cruising in their Corvette. The stuff of pre-teen dreams! We headed down the historic highway that carried so many dreamers to California in the '30s, and '40's.

The switch-backed road took us to the mining towns of this area, most notable, Oatman. Oatman is a former ghost town of some note. It has old wooden buildings full of souveniers and tourists. We opted to eat our picnic on the west side of town and by-pass the hoopla. A good choice, because we got to see several Model-A Fords chugging into town. We wondered if any of them had made the original trip west. The flowers were blooming and the scenery interesting, so we kept going until it ended at I-40. Later I looked up Route 66 in the Atlas and found it in only a few scattered locations. It seems to have been displaced by freeways like I-40.

We headed back to Kingman with a side trip to Lake Havasu City, which just happens to be the USA home of London Bridge. We had to see it! The bridge spans a channel of the Colorado River/Lake Havasu to connect to an sizable island. We enjoyed walking around after a full day of driving. Many of the other tourists were bikini-clad, cruising in their speed boats, but there were enough geezer types to help us blend. Interestingly, the next day we were watching some learning channel at the perfect time to hear a story about how London Bridge was indeed Falling Down in its original home when a wealthy Arizona oilman bought it to grace the newly built lake and city. Many of the shops surrounding the bridge look like they have seen better days, but it is still an attraction worthy of the time to get there.

Our last day trip from Kingman was to Hoover Dam. The drive out was not nearly as scenic as Route 66 until the very end when you get into the mountains and canyons of the Grand Canyon area. You get to the bald red mountains about the same time as you arrive at road construction and then car inspections. Homeland Security wants to feel comfortable with every vehicle that crosses the iconic dam that provides water and electricity to the entire southwest. A beautiful new highway is openning in October that will take the bulk of traffic up and over the dam, easing congestion and security issues.

The dam is really impressive, probably why tens of millions have visited since its completion. The tours do a very good job of helping visitors appreciate the engineering achievement it is and the vast improvements it brought to the area. The dam controls flooding, provides a reliable source of water and hydor-electric power to millions. It is also beautifully adorned with '30s art deco sculpture and mosaics. We were awed by the attention to all the details the builders considered for the present and future value of this man-made landmark.