Route 95 Southbound, Heading Towards The Mohave Valley, AZ
So what do people do out in the desert?
Well, they enjoy the windy roads and the beautiful scenery.
Dune Buggying In The Desert
They take their dune buggy’s out of course and go crazy. No, we did not do this. We saw some people enjoying the desert on their dune buggy’s on our way to the Mohave Valley in Arizona. There is a lot of open BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land out in this area. BLM land is free recreational land that you can camp on, ATV on and as you can see, dune buggy on. People come out here to get away from it all and enjoy the quietness of the desert (when the ATV’s aren’t running around that is). Plus, it’s a lot of fun.
There’s obviously no trees to speak of in the desert, so people use the sun to their advantage. A lot of rv’s out here have solar panels on their roofs. Here is an example of a large solar array to generate and collect electricity for a nearby town.
David finally found a nice day to fly his stunt kite again.
David Flying His Stunt Kite. Our Coach In The Background.
Taking Full Advantage Of The Sun In A Solar Array.
And yes, that is our coach in the background. Thanks for asking.
There are also some ghost towns out here. So we went back to one of our favorites, Oatman, AZ.
David Feeding A Burro In Oatman, AZ
Where the burro’s roam free. But they are no dummy’s, they know that if they hang out in town, they will get carrots.
David With A Burro In Oatman, AZ
David With A Baby Burro In Oatman, AZ
Oatman, AZ is an old gold mining town. The mine is long since shut down and their are actually very few people that live there now. The burros helped the miners transport the carts full of gold. Once the mine shut down, they let all the burros go free. Well, the burros hung around and the people that stayed in the town took care of these burros. Now it’s a tourist destination. But you don’t feel like your walking around a tourist trap that popped up overnight. Yes, they do have all the touristy t-shirts and trinkets. But the buildings are the actual buildings that were standing way back when.
We went back to the Oatman Hotel that was established in 1902. Here’s our post from that first trip. It’s a neat hotel/restaurant where the miners would eat and drink. The restaurant is full of dollar bills stapled to every surface imaginable. Story has it that when the miners would go to work they would staple a dollar bill to the walls of the restaurant/bar. So if anything would happen to them in the mine, their bar tab would be taken care of and their family would not have to worry about paying it. Well, now it’s somewhat of a tradition for tourists and townies alike to leave a dollar stapled somewhere in the restaurant/bar.
We of course did this last time we were visiting two years ago. So this time we went back to visit our dollar and have lunch.
Our Dollar Bill Still There Two Years Later
The Oatman Hotel And Restaurant
It was still there. Here’s a picture of it.
What? You don’t see it?
Here’s a close up.
Our Dollar Bill Still There Two Years Later, Closer Up
Yup…it says Feb 1st, 2010. Pretty cool.
While walking around town there are many murals painted on various buildings. Here’s a couple that I don’t think we got last time.
A Mural On One Of The Walls In Oatman, AZ
The people of Oatman have a great sense of humor. They also take pride in there town and it shows. Whenever we get back to this area, I’m sure we’ll stop in again and visit our dollar.
A Baby Burro In Oatman, AZ
A Mural On One Of The Walls In Oatman, AZ
And bring more carrots of course.
Some day we’ll get you out to Moab with our Jeep… it’ll make up for skipping the dune buggy. ;)
I have quite a few stunt kites, but I’ve never been a big fan of the quad-lines. I might have an extra set of lines and handles from when I had one at one time.