Today, April 27th 2022 we woke the the birds chirping and the sun shining. Hopefully in two more days we will be moving into our new home. We decided to go sight seeing today, and took a drive to Oatman, Arizona.
It’s about a 45 minute drive from Kingman, and halfway there it has lots of twists and turns. thankfully there’s a rest stop halfway up.
Along the way, at the top of the mountains people have placed memorials for loved ones passed.
Oatman Arizona has wild burros, they are on the roads, in the hills and they roam the town.
The story goes, burros arrived in this town before it was a town. The town was established in 1906 and Early day prospectors brought the burros to haul rocks from the gold mines, carry water and supplies. After extracting over a million ounces of gold by the 1930’s the mines began to close and people moved away. The burros were released into the surrounding hills when they left.
These burros are the legacy of those who were left behind. They are wild, they sleep in the wild and rule the town.
We had no idea it was biker week until we arrived. They usually have an old fashioned shoot out in the streets on the weekends at high noon and 2:15pm, but since it was a special week, we too got to experience it.
To be honest, the heat, the hunger and the smell of burro droppings sent me into the hotel in search of cooler temperatures and food, but I heard it, does that count?
The history inside the hotel ( now a museum, shop and restaurant) is more than you’d imagine. As you step inside there’s an ice cream parlor on the left, straight ahead are stairs up to a museum/ gift shop and to the right, is a bar. Passed the bar and down a few dilapidated stairs is a restaurant covered in dollar bills.
On each bill is someone’s name, a date or a saying
We had to ask the waitress,” what’s the deal with all these dollar bills?” She stated that back in the day, people would take their earnings from working in the goldmines, write their name on it, nail it to the wall and use that money to pay for their tab.
The food was good, we all got burgers, Mitch got a buffalo burger and said he’d have it again, Gotta say, other peoples food looked tasty as well. Chili dogs, sub sandwiches and hot dogs. There are plenty of shops with tons of souvenirs, something for everyone. Just be careful with the mustard, nettie didn’t know her own strength.
After devouring our lunch, I was chomping at the bit to head upstairs. In 1939 Clark Gable and Carole Lombard stayed at this hotel for their honeymoon. They say Clark Gable frequently returned to the Oatman Hotel (named the Oatman in 1960, unsure of the previous names) to play cards with the locals.
Not only have they recreated the room to preserve the past, but legend has it…that it’s haunted by the ghosts of Clark and Carole. The whispers and laughter of the couple has been heard from the empty room.
Other strange paranormal activities have been noted at the hotel, from those who have passed. Drinking glasses lifted in the air, lights flipping off and on, toilets flushing on their own…but oddly enough, no ghosts have paid their tab in gold.
Nettie and I got ice cream cones and toured the town, while the guys went and checked out knives and swords. Route 66 goes right through the town, just adding more history to this uniquely preserved town.
If nothing else impresses you, you gotta be excited by the fact that they have ZOLTAR! He will give you your fortune for a dollar. The movie Big with Tom Hanks will forever be synonymous with this machine.
To top off a wonderful day of sight seeing and exploring, we got a call from the title company about 10 minutes after returning to the VRBO. The lady stated that she had our check if we wanted to stop by and pick it up. Yup, we got our earnest money back! It was a good day indeed.
Goin' Road Trippin' 