Kingman, Day One

Before leaving Wickenburg, Cary set up the tripod so we could get our picture in front of the office at the Horspitality RV Park. Just as we got everything ready, the camp host drove up and asked if he could help! Part of the town is along the Hassayampa River, a Yavapai word supposedly meaning "river that flows upside down," since most of the year its waters are beneath the surface. A local legend has it that if you drink from the waters of this river, you will never tell the truth again. I am not sure where the RV park gets its water.

The drive from Wickenburg to Kingman is really pretty, especiallly if you have an appreciation for wide open spaces and the desert. It is very difficult to capture its beauty from a moving vehicle, however. But I did the best I could,.  There is a huge area of Joshua trees, more than I had seen together except in the Joshua Tree National Forest near Indio, California.

 After running a few errands we were glad to meet our friends (met while working together at the lighthouse in California two or three years ago) for a yummy Mexican dinner.They used to live in nearby Yucca and know lots of Kingman history. Bob even has a copper still that had belonged to a local whose dad made whiskey during prohibition. Revenuers hacked it up, but the man kept it in the family, eventually giving it to Bob. We had to go see it, but the picture didn't turn out because by the time I took it it was dark! Just picture a barrel made of copper with lots of hatchet marks in it!

This is very interesting. Right now it is pretty modern looking, but at one time this trap door was more primitive. It is in El Palacio where we ate dinner. Kingman built up around the railroad, and like many railroads, it depended on Chinese labor. It is rumored that the Chinese would work during the day, then go into a tunnel like this one (and many are scattered throughout town) to sleep--but upon doing some research before writing this, I found an article in a newspaper from the Kingman archives, that this probably was not completely true, but came out of the fact that perhaps some Chinese lived in basements. Hmm, I need more time to look further!

This is Willie, a macaw who lives with the owners of the Ft. Beale RV Park where we are staying. He is very smart. His previous owner died, so rather than have anything bad happen to him, they adopted him. They are teaching him to fetch and already he is pretty good, and it is amazing, because he has no claws! I missed taking his picture, but when I went back with my camera, he came down about 20 stairs when she called him and I said, "I am here to take your picture, Willie,' and he came over and actually stopped by me and posed before going to the front door to look out! He is about 15 years old, the equivalent of the terrible twos in humans, according to the vet!