Day 17 - Kingman, Arizona via California to Las Vegas, Nevada and home


We started the day literally a couple of miles down the road at the old Kingman powerhouse which has an excellent display celebrating the 100 year history of Route 66:


Mr Dz legendary diner (not visited this time) in the background ⤴️

Imagine the early Pioneers crossing America in one of these, travelling at night to avoid the scorching heat of the day on rutted, mud trails?

In the 1930s during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl thousands of mid-westerners loaded up their worldly good and headed towards California to seek a better life, as described in Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath":

Finally, post WW2, America boomed and in the 1950s and 1960s Amercans loved nothing more than a road trip on Route 66 in cars like this immaculate Studebaker:

This classic Cadillac appeared in the car park:

On then to our last section of Route 66 on this trip, the Sitgreaves Pass otherwise known as the Oatman Highway. 50-60 miles of twists and turns rising to an elevation of 3500 feet with stunning views:

Arguably the most interesting, and potentially the most dangerous, stretch of Route 66 with vertical drops to catch out the unwary. 

We picked up I40 again at Toprock and drove towards Needles actually passing through a few miles of California before picking up I95 due north to Las Vegas, Nevada for our flight home.


We arrived at Harry Reid Airport in good time (a couple of hours early if truth be told) and waved goodbye to the Subaru Outback having put on just short of 2500 trouble free miles:


So another great Route 66 road trip celebrating my 66th birthday and the 100th anniversary of Route 66 with great friends and travel companions Gill and Jan.

All put together by expert travel consultant extraordinaire, Duncan Harwood at Complete North America:
https://www.completenorthamerica.com/

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