Vegas, NV to Williams, AZ

Monday...May 9th...Up early heading for more adventure. Route 93 wound around as we prepared to cross the new by-pass bridge across the Colorado River below Hoover Dam.

Crossing the bridge...









View from my side of truck.........below.......
We have entered Arizona.

There is the Colorado River winding its way towards the Gulf of California.

 Look at those squared off rocky tops.









We switched off onto I-40 East.

The Purple Heart Trail...


No we did not run this speed. 58-60 mph is the sweet spot for our rig.

In Kingman we bought gas on Andy Devine Avenue named after the man who played "Jingles" on the Wild Bill Hickok of the American Old West.

 As we wound through the high desert cuts, there was a sign to watch out for elk. We did see one elk cow and 3 Pronghorn Antelope...too quick for a photo shoot.

The white billowy clouds (below) were so pretty.

                                                Here we are at last...Williams, Arizona.

Williams, AZ, located in Coconino County lies on the route of Historic Route 66, I-40, and the SW Chief Amtrak train route.  It is the southern end of the Grand Canyon Railway with daily trips to the Grand Canyon Village.  Williams is named after William "Old Bill" Williams, a mountain man and trader famed for trapping in the area.

Grand Canyon Railway RV Park...with our site #115 two sites from the exquisite bathhouse with laundry and backed up to the RR tracks with nightly wake-up whistle blows from the passing trains.

 Around town sites.......








Williams main drag is a two-land one-way street full of shops and eateries of all types.

 

 Williams is the last town bypassed by I-40.......
Oct. 13, 1984.









Below is the Burlington Northern Santa Fe train that blows daily as it passes by and nightly wakes you from a sound sleep.
 

Below the Shay No. 5 manufactured in 1923 never operated in Arizona; but, is representative of the type of locomotive used by various logging and short line railways in Northern Arizona.  It was designed to run at slow speeds (5-10mph), go up 10% grades, and take tight curves.  Today's Grand Canyon train goes faster only taking 3% grades and 16% curves.

                   Here is the Grand Canyon train from Williams, AZ, to the Grand Canyon Village.

We took a National Forest drive along miles of cindered road through Ponderosa pines taking in the FREE dry camping sites and those at White Horse Lake Campground with plenty of crappie in their lake.  We drove around Williams Mountain where each summer the mountain phenomenon is the hatching out of lady bugs with numbers so large...many trees turn an orange hue with the bugs.

This was Open Range for cattle.









As we drove along we came upon a few elk.

Below, J was fascinated with the tasseled long ears of the Abert's squirrel.  This tree squirrel loves the cool dry ponderosa pine forests.

There was a section of forest where pines were being cut and logs hauled to the Williams Lumber Yard.

There is gunslingin, shootouts, and mayhem along Historic Route 66.  A cowboy is gunned down daily in the streets of Williams, AZ.  The Cataract Creek Gang perform every night.

Until next time...take care...see you by the campfire.