The Great Walker Road Trip, Day 4

Starting Day 4 in Barstow, CA was....well...HOT.  We were thankful for the pool and a late check out so we could get some energy out before embarking on the next leg of our journey.  The 'continental breakfast' was actually a voucher for the restaurant.  Now, before you get too excited, they do this so people don't pig out!  You get a different menu and have to stick to that, regardless of whether or not you like weird eggs with your fruit.  You get one small glass of whatever and no refills, and you aren't even offered water.  We were hungry for lunch pretty early.

We drove.  We drove.  We drove.  Are we there yet?  Nope.  75 mph...didn't really feel like we were getting anywhere!  We finally got off on the Historic Rt 66 to head into Oatman, Arizona.  Oh yeah, and along the way we crossed in to AZ, but it was unspectacular...there weren't even any signs!  Just cross a little river and PLOP, you're in AZ, hope you're good with that!

So...Oatman, AZ is a 'ghost town' but not really because it's a tourist trap with burros walking the streets begging for food.  It was fun to see things, but we have added to our agenda finding a more real ghost town.  One where we cannot purchase root beer floats at the friendly saloon.  (yes, we did, and they were well worth it in the near 100 degree heat and beating down sun).  The burros were cute though; there was a baby with stickers on his head saying "Don't feed me!  I don't have my teeth in!" and he was all fuzzy and cute.  He let us pet him.  His cuteness offset his smell.

Leaving Oatman, we continued down 66 until we could get back on the highway.  They have left it historic...which means it's hard to pass through and rather treacherous.  Grateful to not drive that at night!

Recalling a book I had read about Laura Ingalls Wilder, I relayed info to Emma that she had driven that exact route when they opened the Rt and she had gotten a car.  This thrilled Emma to no end.  The thing to do, really, is taylor anything to reading and she's game.  Perfect! :D

Back to the 75 mph highway.  Mundane...keep driving.  Finally we stopped in Williams, AZ, about an hour south of the Grand Canyon.  Had some fun chow at a local place that served it up country style - canned green beans, mashed potatoes, etc.  Homemade pie, my personal fav.  You just can't go wrong with homemade pie!    We took some back with us because we were too full from supper!

Emma enjoyed her grilled cheese, and had such a look of delight on her face that the gentlemen at the next table were getting a good laugh from this.  What struck me is that the one guy laughed like my dad!  He was looking at her in the same fond way - eyes twinkling while chuckling as she did something tremendously cute.  I guess this struck me most because I remember dad talking about driving Rt 66, and we're on 66 now...

Seems to be a lot about Emma!  She finally dozed in the van today!  She's caving, and the mountains were just too mundane after a while.  Magnificent, mind you, but it gets to be too much along that 75 mph stretch of highway.  I even had to crack a 3rd diet coke today .  Tried really really hard not to...

So going from CA to AZ, there was a distinct change in the landscape.  Both had mountains, but the further we went the more green things got.  We started at desert with barren land, barren hills.  Gradually we started to see mini trees and then eventually regular trees.  The mountains became much more of a deep red color as well.  Just beautiful!  We kept looking for elk, since there were signs warning of them, but we never saw them.  We also didn't see deer, with or without the antlers, because those signs depicted both!  As if males and females have a preference for which part of the road they decide to be suicidal on.  "Oh, Romeo Deer, I'll go yonder, and when you see my guts on a Volvo in your neck of the woods, it's your time to off yourself...so we can be together forever without our families feuding (because Juliet Deer's parents wanted her to mate with a buck with a different caliber of antler..)"

What else struck me today?  I got a sunburn from 10 minutes at a rest stop.  I'm not even that fairly complected!  Geesh.  Gonna bath in sunscreen tomorrow at the Canyon!

Total miles today: 315