North Ranch, Congress, AZ

We spent the last two nights in Laughlin, Nevada. Suffice to say the casino gods were not smiling upon us. We never lose much, and we almost always win back, but not this time. We left without making the rounds to all the casinos. We were parked at the Riverside Casino RV Park and it was sufficient, but you were packed in like sardines. No room for awnings, back to back hookups. Some of the other levels had larger sites and if we ever go back, we will request one of those sites.

Yesterday we traveled up the mountains to a little town called Oatman. It was renamed Oatman after two white girls who were captured by a band of Apache Indians. They were later traded to the Mohave and the youngest died in captivity. The oldest, Olive, survived and was traded to whites 5 years after her ordeal started. It is quite a remarkable story of courage and faith of these two young girls. The town is set up in the mountains and was actually a mining town with a still active gold mine nearby. The buildings, which all house artsy style merchandise, are old and it is easy to imagine it back in its heyday. The hotel where Carol Lombard and Clark Gable spent their honeymoon is here and it is said they returned often and Clark would play cards with the miners.

I forgot to mention the burros. We saw the first ones on the road right outside of Bullhead City on our way up the mountain. That was 13 miles from the town. They were on the side of the road scratching each other. We stopped along with other cars, and they made their way from car to car. It is illegal to feed them on roadside. Once we got to Oatman, there are about a dozen that roam freely through the streets. You can buy carrots to feed the adults, but the babies are supposed to only drink their mother's milk. It is illegal to harrass, harm or distress them, but you can take their pictures. The shopowners have names for all of them and see to it that they all get fed properly.

Leaving Oatman, we traveled toward Kingman on the mountain road, aka Route 66. It is quite the mountain road with plenty of switchbacks and scenery which is quite splendid and breathtaking.

Today we broke camp and drove to Kingman to the Flying J for a fill up of diesel ($2.389) and propane ($1.799). We waited to hookup the toad, as we had a 12-mile 6% grade to climb and Terry was worried about it. He needn't have been, as Phaeton Place performed flawlessly and made it up the grade without any problems. We then drove on highway 93 south out of Kingman through the Joshua Tree area. I remember seeing these trees when our family drove this route from Phoenix to Las Vegas during my high school years. The trees are quite different and this is one of the few places where they grow.

We arrived around 3 p.m. at North Ranch, the Escapees Park in Congress, Arizona. It is a nice park, well appointed and for once we have a decent site large enough for the dogs' ex-pen and our truck. People were outside and ready to talk with their new neighbors. It is a friendly park. We signed up for the chili supper tomorrow night. I don't care for any chili but my own, but this is more about meeting people and making friends. I doubt I will starve.

Neal had a bad gran mal seizure tonight. The poor little guy just does not deserve this on top of his mobility problems. After he regained his composure, I gave him 3 doses of honey to stave off the cluster seizures and before long he went outside to take care of business. With this routine, within 2 hours, he is usually back to normal. He is now fast asleep in his bed, and I hope we are in for a quiet night.

We are going to stay here for about a week or so before heading to Phoenix.

I still haven't gotten the problem worked out with blogger, IE6 and the runtime error, so I downloaded Firefox and am running that. I will add some pictures back tomorrow, so check back then!

Till next time. . .

Dale