It was off toward Kingman, AZ today. We needed to stop in Barstow, CA to make a visit to the local Credit Union to withdraw some funds. Our trusty GPS took us right to the front door, as usual.

Back on the road we picked up I40 and headed east. In Barstow, the main street is old US66 and we decided to drive the old "Mother Road" for a few miles. We turned off of I40 at the town of Daggett and took US66 several miles. If I remember correctly, we visited the ghost town of Calico many years back when we toured the west with the boys, but that was a long time ago.



It was on east on US66 which ran alongside I40 most of the time and then it would cross under and run along on the other side. there was a railroad that ran close by, but when the terrain got more rough, the railroad would go away and take a more level route and then would appear again. We drove the road for several miles and then it became rough and we had to slow to about 30mph, so we took the next opportunity to get back on I40.

The terrain is so deceiving that you think you are going downhill but the transmission shifts out of over drive and you know you are pulling, so you check the altimeter and find you are really going up.

In Boron, CA where we spent the night we were about 2300 feet and then going east we climbed to over 3300 feet and then back down to the desert and when we crossed the Colorado River in Needles we were down to 450 feet. From there until we got to Kingman it was a steady climb, however it was not noticeable but in that 50+ miles we gained altitude to the point that we are at 3382 feet here at our campground in Kingman.

Interesting enough, the location of the Hamfest we will attend this weekend is about 5 blocks east of Stockton Hill Road, in the next block north is a Staples, which we need to visit, two blocks on north is a WalMart and the next street and 3 blocks east is our campground, so everything we need is all within about 6 blocks. So it should be an interesting next few days.