Before leaving Kingman on Sunday morning, we went to the Route 66 museum there. It was interesting to learn how the road started off as a trading trail for the Native Americans, was used by the pioneers, became the path for the railroad, and eventually paved because of the logistics requirements of World War II. Route 66's demise was also related to WWII as Eisenhower built the interstate highway system based on the German autobahn which Hitler built.
West of Kingman, Route 66 went from a relatively straight road following the contours of the desert to a winding mountain road through a mining area. We stopped at Oatman, an old mining town which has evolved into a tourist destination. Besides the giftshops, Oatman is known for it's donkeys.
Donkeys were used as beasts of burden in the mining industry. Some were released into the wild when they were no longer needed (and I imagine some escaped), forming a wild population of donkeys in the Oatman area. Lacking a true wild animal's fear of humans, the donkeys come into town looking for handouts, and both the tourists and locals are happy to oblige. There's a stand that sells carrots for the tourists to feed to the donkeys, and the tourists buy more than just carrots.
After Oatman, we followed Route 66 to the Colorado River. As much as we would have liked to take Route 66 as much as possible, we needed to get back also. Vacation was over, and my husband needed to work the next day. We got back on the interstate for the long drive through the desert. In Barstow we took a brief detour to take the historic Route 66 through town where we stopped for ice cream. This is when we noticed that our daughter was not well. It was late, and we were all tired by the time we got to San Bernardino, so we did not stop there.
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