On the Road to Pahrump

We left Phoenix and headed for our next stop on our summer tour of national parks and monuments that we had not visited before.

Our destination was Death Valley National Park.

The most direct route would take us on AZ 93 to, and across, Hoover Dam.

However, I didn't want to risk not being able to drive across the dam with propane tanks on board.

Being turned back because of restrictions would add a significant number of miles to the trip, so we changed routes in Kingman, AZ.

Kingman is the hometown of Andy Devine, the raspy-voiced actor, best known to me as the sidekick to Guy Madison in the "Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok" (1951). The main street of Kingman is was renamed "Andy Devine Avenue" in his honor.

We headed west from Kingman, through Bullhead City, and then turned north on US 95.

The photos show scenes along the route we covered on "moving day" from Phoenix to Pahrump, NV.

On the southern edge of Las Vegas, we picked up NV 160 and drove the last 60+ miles to the town pronounced "PAH-rump," "Prump," and "pah-RUMP" by locals we met.

The drive was an easy one with little traffic on the largely two-lane route.

Nearing our campground in Pahrump, we became the object of these fellows' attention.