More on Laughlin Run - Desert Heat

On Saturday we took a ride out to Oatman, AZ which is an old mining town up in the hills and off of old Route 66. Part of what amazes me most every time we ride up there is imagining what it must have been like about 70 years ago during the depression and dust bowl days when folks would make the trek out west in their beat up cars to start a new life. I always get this "Grapes of Wrath" feeling and can imagine how brutal the conditions must have been for those people.

This year, with the beefed up law enforcement, we hit sobriety check points going up to and coming back from Oatman. As I'd had nothing to drink before we headed up I wasn't worried but I knew that I'd want some cold beer once we got up there and had to deal with that issue.

By the time we got up there, Laurie was already getting nailed by the heat and sun. It's about a 30 minute ride from Laughlin and we left at about 11:00 am so it was already in the 90's. Once there we walked around and were able to get in some shade and eventually wound up in a restaurant for lunch and some beers but as I was concerned about drinking too much and hitting that checkpoint on the way back, kept it to just a couple Bud lights.



There really isn't much to do in Oatman except walk around and hit some of the cheesy t-shirt stores or if you're into it, antiques. But it is always fun to hang out with a cigar and a beer and check out the parade of bikes and in some cases the women.


Of course, there's always those crazy burros wandering the streets that are so amazingly tame. They really are fun to hang out with and if you're willing to spend a buck on a bag of carrots, you've got a friend for life.

All in all a great afternoon although I did wind up having to take a field sobriety test at the checkpoint on the way back. It was random, they asked my buddy who was ahead of me if he'd had anything to drink and he said a couple light beers about two hours ago (truthfully) and the let him go but when I answered the same question with the same answer, the cop politely asked me if I'd mind doing a quick check. No problems ensued and we were off in less than a minute. The heat became brutal on the way back, about 112 degrees and we had to stop in a fast food place for a drink and to let Laurie cool down but it was another great day.