Ms Dozey's Daily Diary - 7

Day Fifteen

Gone with the Wind?  After a night in a surprisingly spacious Wigwam (fairly basic but functional and good value) we travelled through the National Park of the Painted Desert.  This is a petrified forest with evidence of primitive people through art and simple dwelling places. However, between leaving the park and arriving at the Wigwam, I found my cotton shawl had disappeared.  We can only think that the high winds caught it from the seat and carried it off.

Although it had little monetary value, I bought it in Egypt in 2000 and will miss it and have now had to use something else to line the nylon car seat. 

Day Sixteen

Our room in Williams is in a western themed hotel – we had the “movie”room complete with a Winchester over the headboard, dynamite on the shelf, gorgeous coffee table books of the old west movies and other western memorabilia.  It had the biggest bathroom so far and a cook-house dining room.

The main street in Williams is devoted to R66 gift shops and some 50’s wings and fins cars.  For the more culturally minded (fed up with the same old made in China souvenirs) town plaques showed their original  history so we were able to locate the original telegraph office, drug store, hotel, etc. 

Day Seventeen

Another hot day – approaching 100 as we arrived in our last state of California. 

We went straight to the outdoor pool after check-in.  It was lovely to get some exercise as the huge American meals and lack of exercise are now taking their toll and I want to try to get into a healthier regime.

Oatman was a picturesque old mining town with donkeys roaming the street and boardwalks .  Although there are only a few buildings it is a huge tourist draw and was once a quiet town where Clark Gable and Carole Lombard spent their honeymoon.

Today has featured more trains – the old Grand Canyon steam train is an exhibit at Williams station opposite to the modern trains.  We also visited a huge old loco in Kingman and counted 120 goods coaches on the modern one passing through. The train health and safety is almost nonexistent – you can get close enough to check the fuel tank and when I was videoing at track side, the ground shook so violently as it thundered past just a couple of feet away it was terrifying!