The Golden Valley is defined by the several mountain ranges that surround it. The valley itself has little to offer other than generally good weather (although hot in summer) and inexpensive retirement housing. Looking across the valley, it's obvious that the combination has attracted thousands of people. Roads in the valley are mostly unpaved, and dust produced by traffic forms a haze over much of it. Not very appealing, I'm afraid.
There seem to be quite a few roads into the nearby mountains, so I took the opportunity to explore some of them. I found a variety of colorful, twisted formations that reflect a cataclysmic period of upheaval and volcanic activity. It would not have been a pleasant time to live in this region.
Some of you will remember when Route 66 was a major highway between Los Angeles and Chicago, described by John Steinbeck as the "Mother Road". Although it was displaced by Interstate 40 in 1984, there are still places where it is a separate road. Many of the communities that thrived due to Route 66 traffic fell into disuse. The few lucky ones served by the new I-40 continued to grow. Kingman is one of those.
I wanted to go into Kingman for grocery shopping, so decided to drive a distance beyond to revisit some of Route 66. About thirty miles east of town, I found a new "attraction" since my last time here. It's an animal sanctuary called "Keepers Of The Wild" that takes in injured or otherwise unwanted exotic animals.
Hoping to photograph lots of animals, I was disappointed in that respect. Lighting was all wrong and most of the animals were napping in the shade, unwilling to pose for me. Others were so close to the chain link fence I was unable to eliminate the fence through focusing on the animal. Despite the difficulties, I did make a few "keepers" to share.
The rocky hillside looked like a perfect habitat for llamas and alpacas, who originated in the Andes Mountains of South America.
The wolves were quite active, providing a few photo ops.
This young mule deer seemed to want to be friends, or maybe was expecting to be fed. And the two bobcats asleep in the "spoon" position were just too sweet to pass up.
In Hackberry, the old General Store is still hanging on. It really is an interesting museum of Americana. Having toured it once before, I settled for a photo of the outside this time.
I stopped for lunch at a cheesy motel/restaurant that I knew would be overpriced. It was worth it just to see the "treasures" from the past.
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