The best of Route 66 and London Bridge

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The next day and we were back following Route 66, coming across two treasures in the towns of Seligman and Oatman. This is the longest surviving stretch of the road, and in these two towns particularly people really try to exploit their Route 66 links, with Route 66 merchandise and memorabilia. In Seligman we caught up with Angel Delgadillo, “Mr Route 66”, co-founder of the first Historic Route 66 Association, shop owner and barber. Though retired, he still does the odd hair cut - but he had a coach load of tourists to deal with when we were there, so unfortunately Tom didn’t manage to get his hair cut!

Later in the day and high up in the desert, we came into the small town of Oatman - just in time to witness the staged gun fight that probably happens every Sunday afternoon for the tourists. This was a great stop - we spent several hours here, including a lunch break at the run-down and haunted hotel where Clark Gable and Carole Lombard spent at least one night of their honeymoon. Best of all are the wild Burros that come down into the town every day for food - direct descendents of the pack animals used by the original gold miners that prospected here.

We spent the night in nearby Lake Havasu City, just a few miles off from our original planned route. Believe it or not, the lake here at Lake Havasu City in Arizona is spanned by the original London Bridge (which was sold by the British government in 1962 because it was falling down- no, really!) The bridge was bought by the Chairman of an Oil company in Arizona, who paid $2,460,000 for it. He proceeded to dismantle it, ship it to Lake Havasu City and rebuild it stone by stone. The bridge was opened on 10th October 1971 and dedicated by the Mayor of London himself. Strange, but true!

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