Two Days in Vegas
July 7-9, 2004
Part 4: Cruising to Kingman
Suitably impressed with the Hoover Dam, we moved on. Some time ago I had read Roger Freeman's book, The Mighty Eighth in Color featuring color photography of aircraft of the Eighth Air Force in World War II. (As an aside, Freeman has written a number of books regarding the Eighth, all of which are excellent.) In The Mighty Eighth in Color were pictures of rows and rows of decommissioned Flying Fortresses, all of which were later scrapped. On the hope that maybe some bit of aviation history remained, I suggested to Joy that we drive to Kingman, about 70 miles from the Hoover Dam.
With nothing else more pressing, we set out.
US-93 runs southeast from the dam toward Kingman. Driving away from the state line, the highway runs through the foothills and mountains bordering the Colorado River. The word that came to my mind was "moonscape."
We crested a hill and entered the Detrital Valley, bordered on the northeast by the Cerbat Mountains and on the southwest by the Black Mountains. This desolate countryside has little plant life visible from the freeway except sage and the occasional Joshua tree.
As we drove we noticed clusters of house trailers littering the valley floor on either side near the mountain ranges. Occasionally, we saw some of these trailers closer to the highway. Most of them were weather-beaten shacks surrounded by junk cars. Looking closely one can see the white specks of the trailers in the distance.
The few business establishments along the highway were tourist traps and run down stores. This was one of the better:
We got to Kingman shortly before dusk and saw nothing compelling us to stay except the fine fare at the local Wendy's. We ate dinner, put the top down on the car, and headed back toward Vegas. By the time we left the air had cooled considerably, and we flicked on the heat. Out in the distance along the mountains we saw lights marking the mobile homes lining the valley.
As we approached the state line, the temperature steadily climbed. By the time we had again reached the dam the A/C was blowing steadily and the temperature was in the mid-90s.
We stopped at a couple of the turnouts above the dam on the Arizona side for some night pictures of the dam.
Joy stood up in the Mustang to take in the view.
Having seen our fill, we headed back to our hotel.