“USA 🇺🇸 ~Arizona in Kingman, a Birthday, and the Roses and Thorns of Living This Lifestyle”

• October 28, 2022
• By Pen
• 0 Comment

Fun Fact: in 1857, Lieutenant Edward Fitzgerald Beale was appointed, to survey and build a 1,000-mile wagon road from Fort Defiance, New Mexico to the Colorado River.

The survey incorporated an experiment using 25 camels. According to Beale, the camels worked well in the American desert, but they were discontinued due to the soldiers disposition towards them, and pressure from the mule lobby. This wagon road helped pave the way for Route 66 in Arizona. The City of Kingman is in a broad valley between the pine-forested Hualapai Mountain on the east, and the rugged Cerbat and Black Mountain ranges on the west. Kingman offers the best of Arizona’s high desert. The city of Kingman had a total population of 28,068 and nearby communities bring the total population to a little over 50,000. Located in the midst of breathtaking natural beauty with the sunbelt lifestyle, Kingman’s elevation is ideal, at 3,336 feet.


Soooooo, I officially just had to cancel all the reservations for our trip to the east coast for the much anticipated holidays with family. It apparently was not meant to be, and believe me, we tried!

First, we found out our VW restoration won’t be done by end of November, as originally planned, and the project got pushed off till January. Okay, disappointed, but we rolled with it and plan B would be our 2,500 mile trip to the east coast to be with family for the holidays.

MOST RECENTLY

On the 25th of October, the night before Daryls birthday, around 9PM, all of a sudden half of the power in The Whale went out. Well that’s never happened, before. Long story, short, while we were still plugged-in to 50AMP power, our 12-volt system failed. We have six lithium batteries, which normally work like a champ, but apparently the “brains” of the whole power system, relies on the two batteries from the engine part. (think semi truck size, because we have a 450 HP Cummins engine). So, we were dead-in-the-water in a lot of ways, without 12v. This meant no toilet flush, heat, or A/C. Anything “plugged in” to an outlet in The Whale still worked; like fridge, fireplace view, and some lights.

As I understand it: The engine batteries were no longer charging our lithium batteries.
Without the “brains” of this outfit working, we would be unsuccessful at boondocking, which is key to our set-up, because we would more likely be without a plugged-in power source in a real emergency situation; not the other way around.

This was actually a very good thing to have happen WHILE we were plugged-in to a power source, because had it happened WHILE boon-docking, it would have been a bigger struggle.

The next morning, Daryl was up and out the door, and he found two new batteries to fix our whole 12v electrical issue. Yay! The original batteries from around 2016 were old and worn out. We were operational again, just in time to get going for a (later) birthday date.

Daryls birthday celebration, started off really well. I had all kinds of stops and adventures planned for his big day! The first stop was for breakfast at a cute Route 66 Diner. Totally fun, and totally yummy!

Kingman once served as a popular tourist stop along historic Route 66. While the “Mother Road” has been decommissioned for years, you can still find plenty of roadside Americana in the form of vintage roadside motels and retro diners. Mr D’z Route 66 Diner is one of those such diners that stirs up memories of yesteryear.

We were greeted with black and white checkered tile, brightly colored vinyl booths, memorabilia hanging on the walls, and even an old school jukebox. The 1950s-themed diner is housed in a former 1939 Kimo Shell gas station. Walking through the doors, felt like walking back in time.

After our bellies were full, we were off to the train museum in town. It was closed. (I checked online and it said it was open) 🙃

The Kingman Locomotive Park 

Kingman was founded in the early 1880s and was established as a railroad stop in 1883. Visitors can explore Kingman’s historic railway roots at the Locomotive Park.

The park is located across the street from Mr D’z Route 66 Diner and features the original AT&SF (Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway) engine #3759.

This coal-burning steam locomotive was in use from 1927-1953. This was the last steam engine to run on the Kingman railway line and was gifted to the city of Kingman after it was retired

Thirty years after the Steam Engine was gifted, the Caboose was, as well

Next up was to find a Route 66 shield, painted on the roadway, which are very hard to find, now, since road maintenance do not want to keep them up.
Not far out of Kingman, I got info there was one! So, we drove there, only to discover, it was gone.

Here is a picture from the internet, of what the shields look like, if one can still find them.

More pics from driving around Kingman 

Next, we head out of Kingman, for a ghost town visit to Santa Clause, Arizona!

We drove straight to the “town.” There was nothing there, any longer, except a for-sale sign for said town.

The town is just….gone, and now, there is bare land, since all the old building have been clearly bulldozed and removed.

I saw photos of the old town as it once stood, so I know they used to be there! The land is still for sale, I learned, but no longer at $90,000. The price-tag is now set at $735,000, due to future Highway 11 going in, soon, right behind it. 

Okay, we still had another ghost town to check out, in Chloride, Arizona. This one; a Living Ghost Town.

Daryl was being a good sport on all the fails, so far, but he’s not one to complain a lot anyway.
I thought for sure we were due for a big win!

Chloride is a notable place to visit, if in the area. But, aside from seeing two deer in this crickety old town, that was about it for any “movement.”
That being said, Chloride’s  history hasn’t changed and for this reason, the visit was worth it!
There were no signs to direct us to any petroglyphs, though, and  we were interested in seeing them. Supposedly, there is a trek to take up to the petroglyphs, in addition to some murals; painted by a local artist from the 1960’s.
It is a bit of a hike to get to them, but they can also be reached by four wheelers, or if the road is in good enough conditions, a passenger car can make the trip-very slowly.

We may go back and try again, when we have more time.

Chloride

Chloride, Arizona is off U.S. 93; south of Las Vegas and north of Kingman, Arizona. Now, the town has far fewer residents than in its beginning years. However, it is inhabited with just over 300 residents, has that ghost town feel, and is ever so quiet.

Chloride happens to be the longest, continually inhabited mining town, in Arizona, with the longest continually operating post office in the state to boot!
In addition to being the first incorporated town in Arizona, it is also home to the state’s oldest all-volunteer fire department.
Chloride was once served by the famed Butterfield Stage and the Santa Fe Railroad

Chloride town was founded in the 1860s, when silver was discovered in the Cerbat Mountains. Silver mining was the biggest business in the area, with more than 70 working mines.

During the mining days, about 2,000 people lived in Chloride. The town had a bank, hotels, a pool hall, barber shops, restaurants and saloons.
A railroad connection to Kingman, carried passengers and ore.

“C” for Chloride

The longest, continually operating Post Office in Arizona

Chloride almost became a total ghost town, due to the mines shutting down when workers went to fight in WWII.

During the ’50s and ’60s, the town became a place where musicians and artists lived. Plus, movies have been filmed in the area; including Jack Nicholson’s “The Rebel Rousers,” and many music videos.

If you are lucky, you may see a real working cowboy/cowgirl who rides into town to collect their mail. Otherwise, there is an antique store, some tiny shops, a restaurant and the Jim Fritz Museum, operated by the Chloride Historical Society. It is open every Saturday, and gun reenactments by the High Desert Drifters are the first and third Saturdays, at high noon.

Alrighty then! Now we have Laughlin, Nevada left to visit, where I reserved a hotel for the birthday, where we would have fun for a night out (it’s like a Reno, Nevada, but even smaller). So off we went!

We were not even five minutes out of Chloride, when the automatic transmission started acting up on Rusty!
Oh bother…..

We drove about 35-40 mph, all the way back to Kingman, but we made it! Whew! First stop at an auto shop, the diagnostic test indicated a celanoid issue, only that shop just installs (whole) new transmissions, so they couldn’t help us.

Next auto shop we found could dismantle a transmission to get to the celanoid and put it all back together, if that’s truly all that’s wrong. But, we SCORED.
The good news is, this auto shop is 9/10’s of a mile from where we are glamping at. Because of this, we limped it over to the campground where we unloaded it, first, before limping it back to the repair shop to park it. Rusty is in que with a long line.

After Daryl dropped the vehicle off at the transmission place, he walked over to the bicycle shop to pick up my new electric bike, which was ready, with its new tire, which had previously “exploded” on me, during its maiden voyage.

While Daryl was doing all this, I was calling the hotel in Laughlin, since obviously we weren’t checking in. Fortunately, I was able to change the date to a “future date,” so as not lose the money and booking. What date? Had to pick a random date, next month, because we have no idea when we will have a vehicle again.

When we do get our rig back, we will definitely have a re-do on the big guys birthday!


Have electric bikes, can travel!

To try to salvage a little of Daryls Birthday on his day, we rode 3 miles to Dairy Queen and back.

In addition to our vehicle in the shop, and not knowing how long it will take to get part(s) or service, the straw that truly broke-the-camels-back for our pending east coast trip, was when The North Carolina campground just charged me $755 for a deposit! This would mean $755 x2, before we would even arrived there, by December 20th!

We pay camp rates in real time for doing this lifestyle, so how in the heck are we expected to pay for another campground (in full) each month till we arrive, almost two months from now? (This camp spot was literally the only one we found available, too, as full-time people live in the campgrounds in their RV’s in this area, and don’t move).

This was a first, to be charged that kind of a deposit, and I think the world has officially gone mad!
Longer story short, I am getting a full refund, since I called to cancel. Thank goodness this didn’t turn into a “thing” to get my money back, ‘cause I was pretty fired up! 🤣

While we are used to $50-$100 deposits, we have never had to pay for a full months cost as a deposit, EVER! I’m still in shock!

We have decided to extend our stay in Kingman, Arizona till our VW is all done and we can pick it up. I mean, winter time in Arizona is NOT hard to take, after all.

For realzzzz though, making travel plans has been very difficult since the “pandemic” started. It seems like all I’ve been doing is making plans, only to have to change them; always with deposits on the line and working hard not to lose them!
Whether overseas or in the USA, this has been my life.

With looming fuel shortages, more upcoming closures, and the high cost of fuel, as well as such high costs of securing campgrounds, apparently, I’m definitely burned out, and as a result, we are hitting the pause button.

For now, I’m waving a white flag!

As I am writing this, Daryl informs me he just read the USA will hit diesel shortages within three weeks; beginning on the east coast.

While I’m confident our not-too-distant future life of travel; USA and overseas will be better than ever, if we must wait to get on with it, we will. But, we ALL HAVE world-issues to overcome, first, no matter where or what you live in. Once we get over that huge hurdle, I know we will have a happy ending. For now, we just aren’t in that normal happy state of consciousness, like we used to be. I’m sure others can relate.
In the meantime, we count the blessings we do have, know God has his reasons for every set back, AND know he continues to have our back, no matter what.

Incidentally, while I was cancelling the rest of our reservations across the USA, since plan B also failed, Daryl just brought up, from our basement, some flour he bought in Mexico, we put away for food stores (we were in Sonora for three months, in our RV, around Easter)…..Get this: the flour was put into a sealed, thick plastic tub, and it’s now full of black bugs!

This can only mean one thing. The bag of flour from the store had eggs in it, when he bought it! It’s been sealed since. No holes! 

🤮 Given how the last few days have gone… I’m somehow not really surprised! 🤣🤣🤣

Our extended stay, in Arizona. It’s quiet, and clean
Kingman KOA Journey ⬇️

For my record keeping, here’s further reading. This, in part, was what led up to waving the proverbial white flag.
I had previously posted this on social media, before this blog posting.

Life happens, and it matters little “where” you are

1. Grew my hair out for over a year. (so not a fun thing), and had a ways to go, so decided to get a perm with soft curls to help me be able to stand the grow-out process for longer.
Made an appointment with an experienced stylist of 15 years to look at my hair, first, to confirm it was okay to perm, she knew how to do perms, etc, as I didn’t want any issues.

Got the okay.

Came back and got the perm.
MY HAIR GOT FRIED!
Not a happy camper at all. I spent the following month trying to infuse moisture back into fried hair and save it.

Didn’t improve. It was like straw!
Had to chop it all off, back to my pixie style cut I had, before traveling overseas for so long…where I went even shorter; spike on top, shaved on the sides and back.

So, I’m starting all over, growing it out. Very bummed.

2. Came back to Arizona to wait the final month for our much anticipated pick up of our VW Bug in November, (after six months) which is getting restored.

Have to reserve campground way ahead these days. Just before we arrive, we learned the VW won’t be ready now, till January.
Had to come to Arizona anyway, so we did not lose deposit on reservation. (shortened our stay here, though for sure).

ALSO, I had found the electric bike I wanted, and it was being shipped to said campground in Arizona and could not change it, either. Get my new bike delivered and it’s all busted up, inside the box that looked like it got thrown off a truck and driven over by a tank or something.

Daryl takes bike back to UPS for the return. I ordered another bike (same bike) and wait for another week.

Yesterday evening, we got the second bike. The box looked better for sure. Big guy puts it all together, as nothing seemed to be broken.

Today we had up to 40 and 50 Mph winds. Wanted to go bike riding together, anyway. (Daryl got his bike, previously).
We make it to the end of our ride and began the trip back.
My inner tube on back wheel came out of the tire, as I was rolling along!
I didn’t know that could even happen like that.

Daryl rode back home and got the truck, to come pick me and bike up, whilest I waited in a dust storms and dodged tumbleweeds 😝
Local bike shops closed till next week, and we hope we can get another tire, when they open.

3. Decided to leave Arizona early, since our VW isn’t ready.
We want to go to the East Coast for the holidays (2500 miles) to be with family. Super excited!
Hoping and praying for fuel along the way!

There are many campgrounds in Jacksonville, NC, but NONE of them had any vacancies!
My cool kid got right on it, though; literally driving to the many campgrounds and by some miracle, she found one campground with one spot for us, so MeMa and Grandpapa could come for a visit! Chelsie did good!