66 in 14 Day 2 – Vegas to Flagstaff

Sunday morning started off warm and sunny.  Perfect for a road trip.  The plan for today was to head south to Kingman AZ and pick up Route 66.  So off I went ignoring the prompts from the GPS to take Tropicana, and onto I-15 South.  Maps told me the I-15 to I-215 would be quicker than Tropicana to Highway 95.  Once we were in agreement and on Highway 95, it was a quick trip to Kingman.

Cruze
See the USA in your Chevrolet.

In Kingman, it was breakfast and a picture of the car, then off to Route 66.  Before I headed east, I wanted to go to Oatman which is near the California border.  I’m glad I did.  This is a great road to drive.  Lots of corners, great scenery and on this Sunday, no traffic!  Best of all, any vehicle over 40 feet is prohibited from using the road, so no RVs or big trucks!

Once in Oatman, traffic was brought to a halt by the wild burros.  Story has it that they are descendants of the burros used buy the gold miners.  They are very tame and have the tourist trained to feed them.  If you have a carrot, you’ll have a new friend!

After Oatman, is was back to I-40 to Kignman to pick up 66 again.  From there, it was east to Hackberry where I stopped at the Hackberry General Store where there are many old cars in various states and a good looking Corvette.  A popular stop in the middle of nowhere.  A trend I would soon learn is quite common on 66.

Sign
A signpost at a rest stop before the final climb to Oatman

From there, it was through many more ghost towns until reaching Seligman.  There I wanted to have a look at a popular souvenir shop, however four busloads of tourist pulled up at the same time.  I only managed to have a quick look then got out.  Too bad.

After Seligman, it was onto Flagstaff.  I was looking forward to a quick trip on I-40, however Mother Nature had other ideas.  It started to snow!  Not just fluffy flakes, but hard driving, almost ice pellets.  The freeway was covered in white and the Cruze’s traction control even kicked in a coupe of times to stop wheelspin.  Traffic on the freeway dropped from 130 KMH (80MPH) to about 60 KMH (40mph).  Nobody spun out.

Finally, Flagstaff was reached and the day was done.  A quick dinner, then upload pics.  Another great day!  Even with the snow.

Giddy up!
One of the wild burros in Oatman.

Please check out my Flickr or SmugMug page (links in the header bar) for more pictures.  All pictures for this tour will be geotagged so you can see where it was taken.

See ya tomorrow!