Hannah had some time off, so took her travel trailer and went on a long trip (Pahrump, Las Vegas, and Bullhead City). The timing worked out so that we decided to go visit her in Bullhead City for the weekend.
Packed up Adventure Truck and headed out right after work on Friday. I wanted to take a detour to drive past Joshua Tree National Park (recon for a future trip), and our timing was perfect for some sunset pictures. Would have been better if I had actually gotten a picture of a Joshua Tree.
We ended up at Hannah's Campsite after 10 pm. It was still in the 90's, but the campground was super nice. Sunset Adventures Ridgeview Resort (Hannah has a membership). We got camp set up, but since it was so hot, Hannah let Tasha sleep in her camper. We had a couple of fans AND these little portable swamp coolers, but it was still miserably hot.
In the morning we packed up the truck and headed to town to find some breakfast. Not easy in COVID times, but we found a Starbucks.
Now we went off to find Silver Creek Road which should take us over the mountains to the old mining town of Oatman. My parents have been talking about this town for 20 years and this was my chance to check it out. Plus, a dirt road to get Adventure Truck dirty.
Silver Creek Road starts off as this wide, smooth graded dirt road, but the further you go, the narrower and rougher it gets. It was exactly what I was hoping for! We took it fairly slow because we heard there were wild burros wandering around and wanted to see some. Stopped at one point to take some pictures.
Silver Creek Road ends at a remnant of Route 66. Hang a right and a few miles later you enter Oatman. Oatman is an old mining town that has become this quaint little tourist town. It's biggest claim to fame (if you can call it that) are the wild burros that wander around the town looking for food. There must have been 30 of them when we drove in. We found a spot to park and went exploring.
Unfortunately, it turns out that burros HATE dogs! We had several people come up to us pretty quick to tell us to be careful with Tasha. The burros will smell her and think she's a coyote and proceed to trample her to death. So my job was to keep Tasha clear of maniacal burros while Pam and Hannah went shopping.
Lots of touristy little shops, plus some museums and art galleries. Plus burros and places that sell burro food. No restaurants open, and the ice cream parlor was closed, so we didn't hang out for very long. Just long enough to watch the cheesy gun fight reenactment.
The way back to Bullhead City was faster, partly because I was playing in the dirt, and partly because I didn't have to watch out for wild burros (they were all in town). We dropped Hannah back off at her trailer and headed home.
Took a detour through Havasu City to see the London Bridge, then took a route that drove us through Glamis. There was nobody out on the dunes (too hot), but we took Adventure Truck for a quick spin in the sand. Fun, but next time air down the tires and switch off traction control.
Oh, and on the way home we start hearing around the riots taking place in San Diego and that a curfew is now in place. We didn't make it home in time, but we made it home safely.
