a visit to Oatman Arizona

This is the Avi casino's RV Park. I don't know what they charge to stay here because it didn't interest me since I'll be staying across the street in the boondocking area.

A beautiful day today to go running around, get a few things done, and take a couple of pictures. It was mid 70s not a cloud in the sky and humidity in the single digits. Just an average late fall day in the desert.

I drove over to the Avi casino and looked at the available boondocking there. It looked kind of crowded as I was driving up but once I pulled into the area there was plenty of room so it looks like that's where I'll spend a few days when I leave the Riverside casino parking lot next week.

I went to the old gold mining town of Oatman and had a good time while I was there. It's all just tourist shops now and doesn't look like much is left of their history other than some tailing piles where the mines were, a few holes in the ground, and some ruins where the mines used to be.

But this is what happens to old towns in the West, there's no reason for them to be there anymore other than to attract some tourist. And the only way to make money is to cater to the tourist. When I was in the tourist business I used to call them the T-shirt and rubber tomahawk crowd because that was about all they were interested in.

I stopped at the Verizon store on the way back home and talked to the only guy in there that seemed to know what he was talking about and even he had not heard of this new Jetpack unlimited data plan, but he said he would call the powers that be as soon as he had a chance and find out what's going on.

He told me normally they get notified days ahead of time with any changes in plans but nobody in the store had heard of what I was talking about. I showed him the video on the Internet about the new plan, so he believed me, he just didn't know what to do about it. No big deal, there's a Verizon store in Lake Havasu, and another one in Parker so I'll get it figured out sooner or later.

                                  theboondork

this is where I'll probably be staying next week. This is the Avi casinos boondocking area. This picture makes it look crowded but when I drove through the area it's really not.

if you're interested this is the boondocking rules at the Avi casino. it's mostly just CYA. And a guest is anyone who might go in the casino every once in a while.

On the road to Oatman Arizona.

as is typical of a lot of mining towns Oatman was built in a very rugged and desolate area. Oddly enough It's places like this where God decided to put all the gold.

When you're in an area of the West like this it gives you an insight into the kind of men and women that tamed the West and brought civilization and rudimentary comfort to an area such as this with nothing more than hand tools, a good work ethic, and the desire for a better life. I think there's very few people living today that could even survive in this area, much less build a town.

By the looks of this sign Oatman is looking at its salad days in the rearview mirror......Tomorrow I'll post some pictures of downtown Oatman.