Event Coverage B-bop's Laid off, make the most of it Solo road trip

Good story and pictures, THANX for the ridealong.......

Lynn W

 

Forgot to mention that I met a couple HAMBers over the weekend. Was great to meet Eric(Daddio211) and Felix(dagato) and put real faces to the names.

 

I left the big city on Sunday night. I figured I might as well put on some miles before dark. I headed for Kingman, AZ. I had been trying to track down some friends in Lake Havasu City, or LHC as the locals call it. Why does everything have to become an acronym? I figured if I could not get in touch with my friends, I would continue back to Vegas, but as luck would have it, I did get in touch with them and got to do a piece of old Rte 66 through Oatman, AZ. If you have never been up this road, it is a great drive. I slept on a vacant road in a new subdivision in Kingman, I really should take pics of all of my "campsites". This drives my wife crazy. How can you just stop on the side of the road? she always asks. Easy, you pull over, turn off the car, get in the teardrop and go to sleep. Most of my time on the road I will try to overnight in remote areas, or smaller towns. In the summer months, I tend to park in school parking lots. Churches also are ok as long as it is not a Saturday night. How do I chose you ask? Wi-fi is prevalent almost anywhere you go in North America these days. When I am searching for a good spot, I will look at Google Maps in satellite view and find a nice neighborhood and like I said, a good parking lot with some tree coverage or a brand new neighborhood that does not have all the houses built in yet. I have only been kicked out of one parking lot in 7 years of travel. Sleeping in my teardrop saves me a ton of cash and in most cases I get a fantastic sleep.

This would be a typical campsite in a town, in this case Kingman, AZ. I would go to the end of the road that is at the top and center of the screenshot and just park against the curb. It is far enough away from any houses to be bothered. I also try to stay far away from train tracks and highways. I do have some pics as I go along of nice spots that I stayed in far from civilization.

 

I had visited this area of AZ before and had heard about the donkeys of Oatman, no not the drivers, but the four legged variety. If you have some time while traveling in this area, it is an awesome road from Kingman, through Oatman, and down to Golden Shores or in my case LHC....there I go again with those acronyms. The scenery is fantastic, the road, good and twisty, and very little traffic. I can only imagine what it was like for the first cars to travel this chunk of Rte 66, back in the day.


Cool mural on the side of a building in Kingman, AZ


I was up kind of early and this gift shop/gas station was not open yet. It was on the way up the hill.


Gotta love it when the GPS looks like this. One of the better reasons to stay off the interstates.


Awesome views.

 

At the summit of Sitgreaves Pass, elev 3550 I sat and had breakfast and took in the views and the wonderful silence that comes with driving the roads less traveled. One the way down the west side of the pass you can see all the way to California. There was another pullout and as I am standing there taking in the view I look down and see what looks like a graveyard or memorial site of sorts. I have no idea what is was but looked like a great place to call the end of the road for many.

Breakfast selfie at the top of the hill.


The memorial field. That is California out there on the horizon.



I have no idea what this meant, but it was very "Cosmic"


Even car guys have a spot on the hill.

 

On the way through Oatman, there are wild....ok actually tame donkeys wandering around everywhere. Parallel parking is tough enough, never mind trying to avoid wandering donkeys. The town is basically a tourist trap with a bunch of gift stores. I was driving slow enough so I didn't have an "ass" on my grille and looking in most of the shop windows, there was not much that grabbed my interest enough to stop and have a look. Before you blink twice you are out of town and towing a trailer, I didn't think it was worth the effort to turn around for another look.


Stopped at a gift shop on the north side of town and spied this in the side yard. It is called a "Palace" Built around 1948. I have never seen one in such incredibly good shape. The interior was set up as a diner car. This would look fantastic behind my 51 Suburban............No its not for sale.


Same gift shop, photo op in front of a couple visible pumps.


Yup, there they are. This is what Oatman is famous for. Two and Four legged donkeys

 

I spent a couple of great days in Havasu with friends and then headed back to Vegas. Somewhere north of Searchlight NV is this Grampas road, sign. One day I am going to stop and pinch it.

 

Back in Vegas for a couple days, both grandsons are in preschool so I play tourist for a day and go see the reality TV clowns. I don't watch much TV, especially the reality shit, but what the heck I am in Vegas with time on my hands. I went to Counts Kustoms, and American Restoration. Both were underwhelming. Although I could make good use of Danny's COE for hauling more junk home.


OK, gotta give em credit here, the paint on this Riv is spectacular. Would love to see this one in the sunlight.


Only took two pics at American Restoration. This bus would be fun on road trips. Maybe with a 6.1 Hemi??

 

I went to a cars and coffee event one Saturday morning and this thing cruised through the parking lot. I really have no idea why I am sharing this on this forum, but its just one of those "what the hell was that?" moments that makes you laugh.

 

Great pics. I see you found the secret burial ground of the deleted threads. They have over a half acre reserved for me.

 

Great story and pictures so far! Looking forward to the ride back to Canada

 

We will have to get together at GG next year if not sooner. That old 66 is lots of fun , the old gas station has some great rock collection. Blue

 

So do you run red wheels on the drivers side and yellow wheels on the passenger side???? Just an observation.

 

Sounds fun, thanks for sharing!

 

Good catch, yes, its my split personality I guess. It started when my car was still in black primer and I didn't know which I liked better. After painting the car yellow, I still liked both combinations and it just kind of stuck. You would be amazed that most people never notice this. Its only when there are back to back pictures that it stands out.

 

Glad you are along for the ride, but there is a long road ahead yet before I start heading home......stay tuned.

 

There just may be another reason rather than graves for the crosses you took pics of in the mountains.
Back in the 50's I did a lot of hitchhiking back and forth from GA to CA and other points West. A lot of the roads of those days, in fact just about all of them were 2 lane and wound thru the mtns. like a snake. There were also a lot of copper and other mines that were active.
Guy I was riding with one time said that the crosses were from people killed in accidents at that point. Lots of the miners lived in dry counties and would travel to other towns for an eveningf at the bar and didn't survive the trip back home, he said.
Even today here in GA, friends and relatives often mark the spot of a fatal accident with a cross, and sometimes a wreath.
Since that cluster of crosses appeared to be on the outside of a sharp bend and the drop was considerable, that may be what this was.
Enjoying the thread immensely, especially the scenery and old stuff that was in use in the days when I traveled those roads.

 

No, Dave , this place was quite a ways off the road. It was a memorial point or something of that nature. Maybe someone that lives in the area knows what it is. I know what you mean about crosses on the side of the road. Montana Highways marks every death with a white metal cross where the accident happened. It is a good reminder when you are zipping down the highway to pay attention to what you are doing.

 

Hoping you headed over to Oklahoma for some tornado observation. I mean, why not? You already drove through a blizzard...

Just kiddin' - safe travels! Now, and in the future.

BUMP!

Attention fellow HAMBer's: A THREAD WORTH READING!

 

I am loving this road trip. Thanks for sharing.

 

Great road trip, I always wondered why with all that flat desert they ran Route 66 through the hills like that. I did get a cool hotrod tee shirt at one of those tourist traps.

 

Enjoying the trip with you. We love our roadtrips, but have never posted anything. I guess we should.

 

Thanks for sharing Be-Bop's Big Adventure. I tour a lot on the M/C and the back country roads are always the best .

 

Thanks for sharing the trip. Have always had a soft spot for teardrops, but the wife doesn't share in the vision! Be safe on the road, Carp

 

After resting up for a couple days, I packed my little buddy Braxton into the back seat and we took off for California. The Pomona swap meet was happening on the following weekend so that plus Braxton had never seen the Ocean, so away we went. There is not much to see or take pics of between Vegas and LA so we made a bee line for the coast. We found a place to park just down the road from the Orange Country Fairgrounds. ( I doubt this was a legal place to overnight) There were washrooms, and best of all for the wee man, a playground. We played on the playground, chased ducks, watched little kids learn to skateboard, played soccer, and had all our meals out of the back of the trailer. So this may be a boring post for you guys that don't have kids, there is no car stuff in this post, but memories to last a lifetime. Hang up the tools from time to time and spend it doing what your kids or grandkids want to do for a day. The payoff is enormous.

Gourmet Breakfast while sitting in your Lightning McQueen chair.........Priceless

Burning off some steam

About to take the leap.....

Discovering bugs

There was an instructor teaching these little guys how to skate. He was amazing with these guys. If I lived there we would have bought a board and gear that day.

 

We stopped in to see Chip Foose. Unfortunately he was on the road traveling.



Braxton liked the P-32. He said it looked like "Angry Birds" If you don't have the video game, you wouldn't understand.


Bottom side of the P-32



I love this shot. I had got down on the floor to have a look and take a pic, as soon as I stood up he had to do the same thing to see what was so interesting under the car.


Funny expression, he was trying to convince me to buy him a Hot Wheels out of the vending machine in the background. I told him they were Chip's cars. So after the tour we went to Wally World and picked up a couple cars.


Love this bike. Gotta build one to haul around on the teardrop.

 

b-bop, those memories of your time with the little guys will be priceless when you get to my age! Good on you.

 

That's cool you got to take your grandson for part of the trip. It's something he'll always remember! My grand kids love riding in my 33

 

I'm really enjoying the trip log ya got going here. Great pics too. I was amazed to see all the snow and ice on the car - you da man !! I love teardrops as well. Once my car is done eating all my money, I'll find one to tow behind it. I'm loving the fact you brought the little along for the experience. I'm sure it means a lot to both of you.

Waiting anxiously for updates

 

After the Foose tour, we headed to Huntington Beach. He had never been to the ocean before so we had a lot of fun with the waves chasing him up the beach. We had borrowed his cousins '55 ragtop that I built for Christmas a couple years back, so we went cruising the beach lookin' for babes.


The squeal of delight from a grandkid running from waves is better than lighting up your tires on your hotrod for the first time after you build it.



The beach was packed that day


A little apprehensive about the waves coming to get him and wash him into the ocean.


We had parked a couple miles from the HB pier. While I pushed him he was dragging his finger in the sand and having a ball. All of a sudden it dawned on me that he may be wearing the skin off his finger without knowing it. Sure enough, I look at his finger, and there are no prints left. I caught it just in time, before he wore through to the blood vessels. So we got some shells and we played grader all the way to the pier.


Come on Grampa, lets go, enough pictures already.


Checking out the surfers from the pier. He figured we should go down and try it.


Photo op with HB lifeguard truck. We looked everywhere for Pamela Anderson, she was nowhere to be found.


On the way back to the car, I notice he is bobbing and weaving. He looks like a drunk at the wheel. He was DONE. I slip him down into the car and he slept all the way back to the trailer.


And so ends a perfect day at the beach.