Day 11 – July 18, 2026 – Flagstaff AZ to Needles CA

A little cool this morning, low 60’s and it was partly cloudy. Looked like a good day for traveling. We stayed a little later this morning. I gave Kelso a little more time to rest. He seems to start getting nervous when he sees me packing things up.

We left Flagstaff and moved west on Interstate I-40 to Williams, AZ. I bought gas there and then we toured the town. It had some relic buildings and closed up places but for the most part the town was not a ghost town or even close to it. We then got on Interstate I-40 and moved west to Ash Fork, AZ that was a quite empty when we rolled thru but it was early on a Saturday morning. Next we took the interstate to Seligman. This town is featured in a lot of the Reels I watch on Facebook. Nice town and it seem fairly lively with some traffic. Then we drove the Historic Route 66 that actually get separated by quite some distance from the interstate. We went thru Peach Springs, Hackberry before coming to Kingman. The GPS Maps showed several other names along the way but if there was a town, it was gone. Several times we past a building or 2, but nothing that resembled a village/town. Peach Springs was a pretty small town and I did not see a lot of Route 66 signage or old car along the way. Hackberry had some of that and I have seen it featured a time or 2 in the Reels. Kingman is a much bigger town and has Route 66 around, it has been in the Reels.

From Kingman we continued on what had signage labeling it as Historic Route 66, but after driving it, I think the local took some liberty in labeling it as Route 66. The first dozen or so miles was fine with a speed limit of 55. There were low areas and the signs said not to enter if they were flooded and in those areas there was water on the side of the road in a few places and some sand on the road that was washed there. The next 10 miles or so to Oatman was very twisty and curvey with some switchbacks that were almost 180 degrees. This road truly was going up the mountain and the drop off in some cases was only a foot or two from the pavement. The posted speed limit was 15 mph and in most cases that was quite applicable. The biggest fear I had was meeting another vehicle going the opposite direction around one of the essentially bling corners. We did meet some vehicles but not at the corners. I do not think this road could have been part of the original Route 66 because it is dangerous and I certainly would not want to drive it at night.

Anyway we arrive in Oatman with its main claim to fame being the wild donkeys that wander all over the road and the village. They are tame and the first one I saw was maybe a mile or 2 as we approached town and a car had stopped and the donkey was at the window of the back door. I have no idea if they were feeding it or just petting it. In town the wild donkeys are all over the place, on the sidewalks, on wood porches, in the road. The town in not all that big, maybe 1/4 to 1/2 mile long, A lot of people were there and not much parking. You crawl thru town at about 5 to 10 mph because of the donkeys and all the people that seem to just walk in the road. All the buildings were tourist oriented buildings with lots of Route 66 signs and logos. Leaving town you had to be careful of the wild donkeys in the road and there might be 4 to 6 in a pack, There was one in my lane and I pulled half off the road to go around him and I thought he moved right toward me as if I was going to roll the window down. Kelso I am sure saw some of this but he did not bark or growl which was kind of surprising, he barks at animals on the TV and he has barked at horse and cows when he has encountered them. I am glad he did not react.

We end up in Needles California. Upon arrival at the Days Inn, it was 105 F outside. It was nice there is a Dog Park right across the street from the Motel and it is a dead-end street so there is no traffic. We have already visited it twice.

Another interesting note is the time. I read that Arizona is on Mountain Time and California is on Pacific Time. When wwe crossed the state line I expected everything to fall back one hour, but it did not. My nephew, Michael Handley who lives in Torrance CA say that during the summer, Arizona and California are on the same time because Arizona does not observe Daylight Savings Time. That explained why nothing changed when we crossed the State Line.

The 1st three pictures are from Williams AZ.

The following pictures are from Seligman AZ.

The rest of the pictures are from Oatman AZ. They are from the North side of town, thru town and the road leading out of town.

If you took all the cars out of Oatman and placed a few horses, it would look like an old wild west town.