.................... on ROUTE 66!!!!

We said goodbye to the Harmony Motel and headed east on the highway. Once you get out of 29 Palms there is quite literally nothing, just desert and mountains as far as the eye can see. And the roads don't bend here, they follow the terrain of the land creating one hell of a rollercoaster (specially if you use cruise control!). You can see the road opening up in front of you for miles. We made good time, following the I95 to the I40. Jcn 1 of the I40 is the entrance to this part of Route 66, which starts off tame enough, passing through a little town called Topock. Once you get past there, the fun begins. :D

It's hard to believe that this path was created before cars were invented - it's the most incredible driving terrain, full of tight twists and turns with incredible scenery all around you. Sometimes you can see the road snaking ahead for miles other times you haven't a clue what lies around the next bend. After passing through Oatman, a completely bizarre town that appears to be straight out of a western (complete with gunfights and donkeys), the road climbs up into the mountains in a series of tight curves back and fore right to the very top, before falling away on the other side. Just thinking about following this route on foot makes you break out in a sweat.

The road straightens out again, and returns to that up and down rollercoaster state as you pass through mile upon mile of desert toward civilisation. What a ride.

We hit Kingman in the late afternoon, and managed to squeeze in a trip to the Route 66 Museum. It's a tiny place, set in what was once the town's power station. Despite it's size, there's a whole lot of information (and even more love from the people that have contributed) and you could spend ages in there thumbing through old newspapers, photographs and reading about the experiences people have had on Route 66 and it's predecessors over the last couple of centuries. And at $4 a person, an absolute bargain!

We found a great Mexican place for dinner, with the cutest waitress called Mindy - the food was exactly what we wanted, but despite being absolutely starving, neither of us got past half way with it. What is it with the portions over here?! Mindy offered us takeout boxes, but we'd really had enough.

So with full tummies and smiley faces, we retired for the night. We needed to get lots of sleep in before we hit the Hoover Dam and Vegas today!!!!