Kingman is where Route 66 gets down to business in the Arizona desert. The town sits at about a thousand metres between the Hualapai and Cerbat mountains, with creosote flats stretching in all directions, and it has been a railway stop, a mining supply town and a highway halt in turn. Today it is a tidy, sun-bleached place of nearly thirty thousand people, with a long main street, Andy Devine Avenue, named after the gravelly-voiced Hollywood actor who grew up here. A small museum devoted to Route 66 occupies an old powerhouse, and a neon-lit downtown has diners, motels and murals that keep the mid-century atmosphere alive.
Kingman has a few celebrity footnotes. Clark Gable and Carole Lombard were married here in 1939, driving out from Los Angeles for a quiet ceremony away from the press, and the town has remembered it with pride ever since. Locomotive Park, a small public green near the old railway, displays a steam engine, and the surrounding streets have vintage signs and shops selling kitsch and memorabilia.
The ride out of town to the west is one of the best segments of old Route 66. The road climbs over the Black Mountains through Sitgreaves Pass, a twisty, narrow, steep stretch of old pavement with hairpins and cliff drops, built before modern engineering smoothed things out. The old gold-mining town of Oatman, on the other side, is home to wild burros that wander the main street, descendants of animals left by miners, and they are happy to be fed, though they can be pushy. The road is narrow, with no guardrails in places, and the surface is rough, so take it slowly. To the east, long, straight sections cross open desert toward Seligman and Peach Springs, with big skies and distant mesas.
Summer here is brutally hot, with temperatures regularly above forty degrees, so start early and carry plenty of water. Spring and autumn are better, though winter can bring cold nights and the occasional snow. Kingman has several fuel stations, supermarkets, motels and diners, and the next services can be far apart, so top up the tank and water bottles before heading out. A classic breakfast in a Route 66 diner, with eggs, hash browns and bottomless coffee, sets you up nicely for the day.