Sometimes You're the Windshield, Sometimes You're the Bug

Friday morning we pulled out of Mike and Pat McFall's second site at the SKP North Ranch RV Park and headed for Kingman, Arizona. About 9 miles from their place, and within a mile of US 93, we literally ran into a swarm of bugs. "Rat-a-tat-tat" noises lasted about 3 to 4 seconds, and the windshield was covered with former bugs, BIG bugs, from the size of the splatters. There must have been thousands of bugs in that swarm, and we did our best to kill them, but I fear some may have gotten away.

After a 10-minute break to clean the windshield and Rosie's face, we were on our way again. We climbed and we descended several times, curling over and around the hills, along Arizona's Joshua Tree Parkway. Unfortunately, there was nearly nowhere to pull over for photo ops. To tell the truth, the majority of those Joshua Trees didn't look terribly healthy. We were also into and out of saguaro country, saw some very nice ocotillo in bloom. But again, little chance for pictures. We have the pictures in our minds, though, including some wonderful rock formations.

Now we are in Kingman, staying at Blake Ranch RV Park, just off I-40, but far enough off that there is little noise. And they give Escapees a 15% discount off their daily rate. That's good enuf for us!

Big adventure Saturday! We drove eastward out Historic Highway 66, "The Mother Road."  Driving out across the flat semi-desert from Kingman, it was easy to imagine the Joad family of The Grapes of Wrath passing fitfully though the area.

But no, this wasn't the days of the Dust Bowl, the Depression, the great migration to California. This was today, and we stopped at the Hackberry General Store. The place itself was a throwback to those old days, but it is now basically a tourist trap. We spent $4 for a patch and about $3 for some ice cream bars, and that was it. But as we left, in came an armada of MOTORCYCLES, probably 25 Harley Davidsons, everybody in black leather with black helmets. Did we wait to take pictures? Nope! We got outta there, but here are some pictures we took before the HOGs arrived.



No kidding - the outhouse is reserved for handicapped only?

So that was the first stop of the day. We moved on to The Keepers of the WILD! We'll tell you about that next time on ... Our Life on Wheels!