GRAND CANYON (Day 7 - part 5)

Kokopelli has been revered by the Southwestern peoples since at least 750 AD. Who he truly is, however, depends on whom you ask. To some, he is a fertility deity with feathers on his head and carrying unborn children on his back to distribute them to women. To others, the humpbacked flute player is the spirit of music and trickery. He may also represent ancient traders who carried their goods in sacks on their backs, using flutes to announce themselves as friendly as they approached a village. Some even think he might be a giant human-like bug. The only thing that is for certain, however, is that Kokopelli is one of the most easily recognized figures in the petroglyphs, pictographs and tourist souvenirs of the area.

An old police car

An old John Deere tractor

We got back down to the main highway, but instead of just heading out, we took a small side highway which turned out to be a stretch of the original Route 66. It led us into Williams where we found a traditional Route 66 diner... Goldie's Route 66 Diner, to be exact!

The arch into Williams was erected in 2013. Founded in 1878 by a cowboy named C.T. Rogers, the town was named after William Sherley "Old Bill" Williams, a famous trapper, scout and mountain man born in 1787. By 1881, the town had enough inhabitants to warrant a post office.. and an official name.

Betty Boop waits to seat us.

Savoring a delicious root beer float on a hot day!

Williams is the last town on Route 66 to be officially replaced (or in this case, bypassed) by Interstate 40 in 1984.

We returned to Interstate 40 and continued west.

A man slowly pushes his heavily laden bike in extreme heat through the middle of nowhere.

PP&L Global and Duke Energy built this 600 megawatt, gas-fired power plant near Griffith in 1999 with the purpose of generating energy for Mohave County and its residents.

The Arizona Proving Ground is a vehicle test facility established in 1955 in Yucca. Originally an Army Air Corps training base used during World War II., the field was declared surplus land by 1946 and ownership was turned over to the Ford Motor Company in 1954. In 2007 it bought out by Chrysler. Harley-Davidson also uses the facility to test their motorcycles.

Originally called the Dinesphere, this 40-foot diameter geodesic structure was built in the 1970's as a restaurant/nightclub for the "Lake Havasu Estates,"which was actually little more than a huge land swindle. Developers bought parcels of arid desert land then tried to sell them as lakeside property (Lake Havaus is a good 40 miles away). The plots didn't even have utilities... or building permits! The development went bankrupt by 1972 and the giant golf ball stood empty for next decade until it was purchased by Hank Schimmel for his wife Ardell as a birthday present.

It's getting pretty toasty out here!

California’s Border Protection Stations are intended to keep out invasive species. First established in the early 1920's, there are currently 16 of these agricultural inspection stations located on the major highways entering the state.

We passed the test and were allowed in!

A Joshua tree is a type of Yucca and is mostly confined to the Mojave Desert. It was named by a group of mid-19th century Mormon settlers as they crossed the desert since the tree's shape reminded them of the Biblical character Joshua reaching his hands up in prayer. It can live for hundreds of years and reach an upward height of almost 50 feet.

The Mojave Desert is the driest of the North American deserts. While it is commonly referred to as High Desert (in contrast to the "low" Sonoran Desert to the south), it is home to Death Valley, the lowest elevation in North America at 282 feet below sea level.

At less than 50,000 square miles, it is also North America's smallest desert.

It was still 109 degreed F when we pulled into our hotel in Needles at 7 pm. Suffice to say we stayed indoors for the rest of the evening... in air-conditioning!

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