Oatman
is an old mining town on Route 66 halfway between
Kingman and Bullhead City in Arizona. It is in the
mountains and at one time over 30,000 people called
it home, mainly miners living in tents and shacks.
Today there are about 100 people living there along
with 100 or so wild burro's that where let loose
when the mining stopped. Today they wander the desert
and also look for handouts of carrots from
the many tourists visiting Oatman.
Oatman
is about 25 miles from Laughlin and there are several
ways to get there. We followed our GPS which took
us on a gravel road through the desert. There were
a few times I almost turned around. My new car and
the pot holes in the road, gravel wash board and
narrow road made me wonder why I was going to Oatman.
Route 66 from Bullhead is the other way, paved, winding,
narrow, but much more suited to cars!
Never
the less, there are beautiful vistas to look at and
when you get to Oatman, sure enough, there are lots
of wild burros wandering the street looking for handouts!
.
There
were various sizes of burros and they seemed to be
everywhere. There were several babies, which you
should not feed, since the carrots could get caught
in their throats.!
.
The
miners would spend there hard earned money in the
local bars. Many were afraid they would loose their
money so they started a custom were they would pin
their money to the wall. When they had used up their
funds from either drinking or on food, the bartender
would remove the money from the wall. This custom
has extended to today, however now tourists will
pin a dollar bill to the wall and write their names
on the dollar.
We
asked the waitress how much money was pinned to the
wall and she estimated at least $65,000! Money is
everywhere, on the walls, the ceiling, behind the
bar even on the doors. The restaurant was basically
a burger place, licensed, a place to visit once.
.
Of
course they had to stage a local gun fight in the
middle of the street. Interesting to watch with a
few jokes thrown in. This is part of route 66 and
part of the history of the western part of the US!
Next
stop is Las Vegas for a few days.
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