TUE 18 SEP Las Vegas to Williams AZ

Opal tired herself out playing the 5 cent slots so she had to sleep in, til about 10. So we started from LV about 2 hours late and immediately hit a huge freeway jam, 30 min for about 3 miles. Needless to say, Earl was calm cool and lovingly patient all the time....especially when Opal was unable to use the map to figure out a 'go around' route.

Nevertheless we made it to Hoover Dam and after stopping for some pictures we continued down the road toward Kingman. This is a long, almost arrow straight south shot thru the desert. I tried to convince Opal we could probably find some snakes and/or tarantulas under some of the larger vegetation and/or cactus, but she seemed content to watch the scenery from semi closed eyes, showing no signs of enthusiasm for extra vehicular activity(ies).

In Kingman, she was quick to spot the Mr D'z Route 66 Diner
. We shared a frosted root beer float, some hot wings and a wonderful texmex cheeseburger with green chiles

and sweet potato fries......was very ono!

At Kingman we took Route 66, one of the longest remnants of good ol' 2 lane, genuine Route 66, for about 90 miles when it rejoins I40 at Seligman. Lots of ghost/run down/ gas stations, motels, etc, dot the highway. At one old semi ghost town called Hackberry we found two mules
living in a small corral .... the area was littered with cajillions of old signs, rusted cars, skulls of many animals, a toilet full of cacti, and an old old general store from the years when Route 66 provided the main way from Chicago to LA....and Opal said she thinks it still had remnants of futs from that long ago. I have to agree, was a bit "ripe". The owner was laying on a huge couch, his huge "old Yeller" dog on his legs and didn't move once for the time we and many other customers were there. The page I signed on the Guest Book was all German and French visitors....but I was from Hawaii and I noted that I had been there 50 years ago when 66 was still the only way to go.

After Hackberry we arrived in Seligman (pop 500) and after a short drive thru the town we got on the freeway and before we knew it we were in Williams where we are spending the night. This part of the drive was crowded with trucks and many of them seemed to be made of mirrors as the setting sun was behind us as we headed due east and the reflections were like laser blasts. Earl had to go very fast to get around such offensive behemoths.....even tho Opal was continuously providing alternative suggestions......Earl reminded her what King of the Road means!