Ahhh, having fun in the desert! I blew through Vegas during morning rush hour by following the route 93 signs to Kingman, AZ. The last time I came this way I had to grind over the Hoover Dam on a two lane road. I kept waiting to hit the dam site but they built a freeway over the mountain, sweet!
It’s been a year of extremes for me, from -35 in the dead of winter to, yes, you guessed it, 119 isn’t a mile marker :-) Coming out of Needles CA into the Mojave desert my car thermometer topped out at 119. The windows were down, doing 65, and the sun wasn’t shining on it. Crazy!
Dead tires litter the landscape everywhere. I’m not concerned, I have four sweet used tires I picked up in Kent, WA. Ok, make that two. I stopped in Kingman for an oil change and when Jill was up on the lift the owner of the shop called me over. He pointed out that two of those used tires were starting to fall apart. Why yes they were… Visions of me on the side of the road in the middle of the desert, unloading my truck to change a tire caused me to fork out my debit card for two new tires up front, with the two decent used ones in the back. It’s still risky, but check this out:
The name of the shop is All American Tire. That caught my attention as I do a lot of business with All American Tire and Brake in Victor, both with our Trpta busses and my personal vehicles. So I asked the owner if this is a chain. He said no, this is the original and we have another one in Victor Idaho. :-) What a small amazing world. The guys who started the Victor store all migrated from this little shop in Kingman Arizona. Everybody here knows everybody there and once the word got out shop people were walking up to me smiling and saying “So, you’re from Driggs?” Holy coincidence, Batman!
btw: The last shot is the new freeway that bypasses the Hover Dam. Also, I’ve been thinking about this latest coincidence in my life with American Tire. I was going to skip Kingman and head to Bullhead City for the oil change. How I rolled into this city and swung into this location totally blows my mind. And I didn’t notice the name till later!
SlideShow (One Nineteen)