Oatman, Arizona, is a pretty cool place. It’s an historic authentic western ghost town and mining camp that began in 1906 but pooped out in 1942 when Congress declared that gold mining was no longer essential to the war effort.

Oatman, Arizona

It’s right on Historic Route 66 and suffered another setback when a new road was built elsewhere. Now tourists  are drawn here by its history and to see the friendly wild burros that come in to town and beg the tourists for food. The shop owners will sell you a bag of burro food for $1. The burros are descended from the pack animals that were turned loose by the early prospectors.

Do not feed the babies.

If you buy burrow chow, they know it!

We cruised the shops and stopped at one restaurant for a mid-afternoon snack. The restaurant was wallpapered with $1 bills, they estimate about 100,000 of them.

After our visit we continued driving up Rt 66 for a few miles which snakes through the mountains. Not far from town is a small unsigned parking area with a short trail leading to the top of a hill. Thinking it was a scenic overlook we stopped to see. Definitely, it was scenic, but also there were about 15 stacks of rocks with crosses and memorials to people who have died. I don’t think it’s burial ground because there were no signs, but only the memorials. It was very interesting.

We’re still in Laughlin, Nevada, and plan to stay here a few more days.

• Gasoline:  none
• Lodging:  free