TR SNIPPET OATMAN

Oatman was a disappointment. It has become quite shabby. The burros were there and beautiful, but the owners of the concessions were clearly annoyed with them, seeing them perhaps more as pests than as the reason anyone comes to the town at all.

They chased them from the fronts of the stores, put up signs not to feed them in certain areas, sprayed them from a water bottle to get them to move on, and treated them poorly in my opinion.

Some of the shop keepers were friendly and easy. Others seemed uptight, probably struggling with no customers.

I bought a nice agate left over from stone work that will be a good card protector. It was just a dollar. I also found a hat that said Oatman and route 66 in a bargain bin for $3. I'll send that one to my buddy Robin who loves that old route and once drove all of it.

All these tourists towns seem to do the same thing, they overprice their goods so they get few sales. In an age where I can have almost anything I want sent to my house by Amazon, I won't pay those prices. I'll do what I suppose others do, shop for ideas and then buy that product when I get home.

I guess I am not as astute a businessman, but I don't see why these towns don't price things in a reasonable way and make up the loss of profit in volume.

But then I am also a thrift store shopper, especially during our months in Florida where wonderful things come at rock bottom prices.

I did not remember the public bathroom that is just as you drive into town. I parked there and thought it a good idea. There is no water, just hand sanitizer but it was positioned well with a parking lot. However, the lot had not been maintained and was full of ruts and huge dips and just terrible.

The mountains along the way were very nice, but can't compare with Red Rock. On the way out, I set the phone GPS off highways and got a winding route that was interesting and avoided the stores on 95.

The desert is flat there and very deserted. I passed a “family shooting range” along the way set out in the middle of huge flat land. Some of the land was marked “open range” ??

PHOTOS

I walked a bit off the road at one point and looked for cactus and any flowers I might find, using my book to identify names of plants. It was not of much use, since it organizes by color and nothing much is in bloom. There were these very, very tiny yellow flowers for PHOTO. And I think I found Paperflower which does bloom in the fall. I liked the pattern of rings on the branches of this plant. PHOTO

In between the noise of passing cars would come that great quiet of the dessert with no sounds at all. Just wonderful! I thought I should wait until after dark and come back out to see stars away from all lights, but I never did that.

On the way home, I stopped at Avi Casino and was very disappointed. It was very dull in architecture and décor. Even Turning Stone reflects more Native American culture than this place, and Mohegan Sun outdoes it in every way.

I thought I might play the poker there, but there was just one table and it was 2-6 spread and looked like a collection of local old men.

On the way back I had the sun behind me, and it was just at sunset, so the light highlighted the mountains ahead and slowly moved up until it no longer caught the color of the rocks. It was a grand view. Good timing.