May 29 Get your kicks on Route 66

May 29  We finish the first half of our journey reaching the western terminus of Route 66 at the Santa Monica Pier.    Now we just need to figure out a route home.

                                                    Get Your Kicks On Route 66

If you ever plan to motor west
Travel my way
Take the highway that's the best
Get your kicks on Route 66

It winds from Chicago to LA
More than two thousand miles all the way
Get your kicks on Route 66

Now you go through St. Louis
Joplin, Missouri
And Oklahoma City looks mighty pretty
You'll see Amarillo
Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona
Don't forget Winona
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino

Won't you get hip to this timely tip
When you make that California trip
Get your kicks on Route 66

Won't you get hip to this timely tip
When you make that California trip
Get your kicks on Route 66
Get your kicks on Route 66
Get your kicks on Route 66

May 28 All I wanna do is have some fun...

 May 28   about 56 miles.  Pomona to Huntington Beach.  Airbnb for 2 nights.

Headed into Los Angeles proper today.  Not a long distance , but following Route 66  kept us off the main hiways so lots of stop and go traffic.   Just not fun driving.  Requires too much concentration for  both the driver and navigator.  

We must be in LA - look at the palm trees!

We finally made it to LA's Museum Mile.  We hit 2 museums.  Petersen Automotive museum was first.  Three stories of cars set into unique displays.  Section showing automotive advances over the years, section on return to electric, section on supercars, section on customized  cars, section on vehicles from movies,  section on 4 wheelers, and a display of Chip Ganassi winning NASCAR, Indy and IMSA cars.  Very unique building on the outside.   Got there a bit late then spent more time there than expected. 

The Petersen Museum - you can't miss it

Jaguar XJ220, Saleen S7, and Maserati MC12. 

Who wouldn't want that collection in their garage?

Obligatory Porsche picture 1951  356 SL Gmund Coupe

Willock Swivel Frame Chassis on a Dodge Power Wagon - for the serious off roader

1934 Packard custom created for James Hetfield of Metallica fame 

The original 1966 Batmobile = got to love it!

Then we walked down the street to the La Brea Tar Pit Park and Museum.   These tar pits are still gurgling away today.  The odor is distinct.  Pretty fascinating that these tar pits have been here at least 40,000 years and mastodons, sabre tooth tigers and other now extinct animals would succumb to the tar and eventually fossilize.  Huge collection of fossils are still being unearthed, cleaned and categorized. 

A tar pit - still catching bugs, birds and whatever else falls in 

We considered heading to Santa Monica Pier and crossing the Route 66 finish line but it was getting late, we were getting tired and hungry, and we still had to get to our airbnb for the night.  Our original plan was to go to the pier tomorrow so that's what we'll do.

May 27 They paved paradise put up a parking lot...

 May 27  119 miles     Barstow to Pomona    Travel is starting to become a grind as we get closer to  LA.  Staying at a Comfort Inn. 

So the day started with some very yummy donuts and coffee from a small shop a block from the hotel.  May have been the high point of our day.  We headed to the Barstow Harvey House Railroad Depot also known as the Casa Del Desierto.  Built in 1911 with an odd combination of  Spanish Renaissance,  Classical Revival and Moorish influences.   Another impressive early one of his hotel restaurants on the Santa Fe line.  Town acquired it in 1990 and spent $8 million rehabbing the building including fixing previous earthquake damage.  Sadly, it sits alone in the railyard just outside of town and isn't used at all as a hotel or restaurant.  All the sources we read said the building was open for touring as it holds the Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Center as well as 2 other museums.  A Railroad Museum and a Route 66 museum.  We knew the railroad museum was closed but again had read the Route 66 museum was open.   Well, nothing was open. Nothing!!  We walked around the building , took a few pictures, peaked in a few windows and climbed on a few of the railroad cars outside then left disappointed.  

 The ride down from Barstow to Victorville on old Route 66 traveled alongside the Mojave River Basin and was scenic desert.  One interesting stop was Elmer Long's Bottle Tree  Ranch.  Elmer and his dad used to walk the desert and collect things.  His dad wound up with a big collection of bottles that Elmer ultimately inherited.  To put them to some good use he started building bottle trees and this was the result. Never used all the bottles before he passed away in 2019 but his family has kept the ranch open for curious visitors. 

Bottle Tree Ranch - one of those places where the more you look the more you keep seeing

 We made it to Victorville with a stop at the Route 66 museum there.  This is the official California Route 66 museum.   Again, all our  checking said it had reopened back in April.   Sign on the door for us - "We will reopen on May 28" !!!  Tomorrow!!.  ARGHHhh....!!!!.   Quick stop outside Victorville at Emma Jeans Holland Burger Café.   Shot a scene here from one of my favorite cult classic movies - Kill Bill: Vol 2.  It's where Uma Thurman  walks into a café covered in dust after having been buried alive and sits at the counter and asks "May I have a glass of water please?".

Emma's

The driving from there to Pomona was no fun.   Following the old route, but virtually no original roads.  Now just side streets going through industrial areas, then constant stop and go through multiple small towns that had been part of the mother road at one time as evidenced by numerous old motor courts now mostly in decay and being used for hourly/ weekly/monthly  rentals.   In the nicer towns it was just a constant line of commercial/retail  shops and fast food restaurants. At one time this was all prime California  agricultural land full of citrus trees and vineyards.   Makes one wonder about "progress"...

May 26 Welcome to the Hotel California

May 26   321 miles .  Lots of old Route 66 made for a long but enjoyable drive . We're finally in Barstow,CA at an unassuming Travelodge.  You know the type - says "No Smoking" on the door but the previous 20 years of use smell otherwise. 

Started the day with another nice breakfast at the Southwest Grille then retraced our way back across some mountain ridges and into the desert  going down hiway 93  some 75  miles to Kingman to rejoin Route 66.  

Not far outside Kingman the old Route 66 heads up Sitgreaves Pass through the Black Mountains.    During the dust bowl years this was a feared passage.  After nursing their vehicles across many miles,  they now had the daunting task of asking those vehicles to climb a steep twisting narrow road with shear cliffs in the cold of winter or sweltering heat of summer.   A stop just part way up at Cool Springs was a welcome sight for many as it offered the only available water for miles around.  The  building  had fallen into ruins until a man bought the property in 2001 and rebuilt it to preserve the history of the store.  And as an added bonus there's wild donkeys that roam these mountains. 

Heading up into the Black Mountains  

Cool Springs - no cabins - no tasty food - just a gift shop

From there it was further through the mountains to Oatman.  It had all but become a ghost town when the interstate opened but has a rich history.  During the early 1900's up until the start of WWII it was a very successful gold mining town.   The $36 million in gold pulled from the mines during WWI are said to have been a key source of funds for that war effort.   But the gold paid out and the main route got moved and the town pretty much died.   When the mines closed the donkeys that worked in them were turned loose and have prospered in this rugged terrain.    They become another hazard to this already tough stretch of road as they'll be standing in the road as you come around a blind bend.  In Oatman they have become accustomed to the tourists (and their handouts) so walk freely through the town which now embraces the donkeys and their "ghost town" history.  Oatman was named as a tribute to Olive Oatman.  While her family was traveling west in 1851 most of her family were massacred by Indians.  She was held captive and traded as a slave to several different tribes before finally settling in with the Mojave tribe and being accepted by them.  So much so that her chin was tattooed in their style.  She was eventually found by her brother who had been left for dead in the massacre and returned to a celebrated life in white society.   

Crazy twisty uphill drive

 

At the peak of the pass

Donkeys own the town

Oatman - once a ghost town - now a tourist trap

Finally got down off the Black Mountain successfully.   Crossed over the Colorado River into California. Next came the long trek across the Mojave Desert.     Long stretches of the old route  going through pretty inhospitable land. Not many cars out here and very limited services spread far apart.  This is true desert.  Temperature hit 102. Plenty of sand and dead brush.   One bit of interest out here in the middle of nowhere is the Bagdad Cafe.  Made famous in the 1988 cult classic movie of the same name.  I'll need to watch it one of these days.  

Long  stretch of desert

Got stuck at this rail crossing for a massive train.

5 engines on the front and another 5 engines in the middle

Dirt devils in the desert - been a common sight all week

The Bagdad Cafe

It was a long run today but finally made it to Barstow. CA.  This has always been a big railroad town shared by Union Pacific trains headed to Kansas and Santa Fe ones headed to Chicago.   Still has a  huge railyard in use today. 

May 25 Viva Las Vegas !!

 May 25  65 miles?  Still in Boulder City at the Best Western

We hadn't intended to do any traveling today but things went faster than expected here at the Hoover Dam.   So we shot up to Vegas to look at the lights. 

Started the morning with breakfast over at the Southwest Grill.  Nice arrangement at the hotel. You get a voucher for breakfast over there.   After that we headed towards the dam but made a turn into the city park first as we read that mountain longhorn sheep oftentimes come down to graze on the lush green grass.  Locals call it a buffet the sheep can't resist.  There were a number of them resting in the shade scattered around the park.  Just needed to watch where you walk - apparently they are spending a lot of time in the park. 

Then headed over to Hoover Dam.   We knew all the tours had been closed for Covid when we started the trip but were hoping they might be opening by the time we got here.  No luck, everything inside was still closed.  Other than being able to drive across the top of the dam and walk over the new Interstate 11 bridge for a view and stopping at the various observation pullouts there just wasn't that much for us to do/see there.  Lake Mead is down almost 150 feet from full pond so even that was a bit disappointing.  So after an hour or so we headed back to Boulder City and the museum at the historic Boulder City Hotel museum.  The hotel was built in 1934 and primarily served dignitaries coming to see progress on the dam. Glamorous life at first to pretty run down at the end. Finally resurrected  by dedicated locals to save it from demolition. Now serves as a small hotel on the top floors and the town museum on bottom floor.  Nice free museum that goes over the history of building the dam and town.  Then a late lunch and a siesta to get out of the heat. We've been in cooler weather for weeks and all of a sudden today we've got this high 90 degree heat with strong sunshine and its killing us.   This dry heat is weird - seems you can't drink enough fluids. 

Front of the dam from the new I-11 bridge walk

New I-11 Bridge overlooking the dam

Back side of dam with intake towers for hydropower

Lake Mead. Water should  be up to the left side of the picture and the dark section of the island.  Currently down 150' from full pond and expected to reach a new low this year. 

So late afternoon we headed to Las Vegas just to look around since we've never been there and we're only about 25 miles away.  Drove up and down the strips as  it turned to night with Martha wildly  snapping away on the camera. Plenty flashy for sure.   Personally, I can mark it off the bucket list as a place I've been.  Been there, done that.  No need to go back.   Just not for me. 

Hail Caesar!!

Sorry - but Miss Liberty in Vegas just ain't right.

May 24 "Come Happy, Leave Broke" - we head for Nevada

 May 24  248 miles.  Flagstaff to Boulder City, NV  Side trip to Hoover Dam. Staying at the Best Western for 2 nights in the historic downtown area.

 Left the cool refreshing wooded and green confines  of Flagstaff  headed back out into the desert on our way to Kingman along the old route 66.   There's a long stretch of old mother road that peels away from I-40 for about 100 miles.   It's great for giving you that sense of traveling into yesteryear although it's unfortunate to see the impact the interstate brought to a number of the little towns along the way that were once vibrant communities serving weary travelers.     A stop at Hackberry General Store is a required stop as it was where Route 66 artist Bob Waldmire spent many seasons working on his pencil illustrations.

Headed down the Mother Road

Another abandoned motel on old Route 66 - this one in Ash Fork "Flagstone Capital of the World"

Entire town of Seligman is surviving by being a Route  66 centric destination

The only thing left in Hackberry - The General Store tourist shop

Our "giant" of the day - The dinosaur at the Cavern Inn

 Route 66  and I-40 come back close together at Kingman which has kept that town going.   We spent a few hours there at their museum and then had a late lunch at Mr. D'z Diner.  Delicious chocolate malt!  Even got the extras in the metal mixing cup. Great display at the museum showing the locations importance for travel and the evolution of Route 66.  It was also a WWII training center for air force gunners.  Trained over 35,000 men.  It's been a transportation hub since the original wagon train trail was surveyed going right through the area.  Followed by the railroad. Followed by Route 66.  Followed by the interstate.   It's geographic location between mountainous ridges makes it a natural throughway.  It was also the hometown of Andy Devine.   If you're over 50 the name probably sounds familiar but do a search and you'll go "oh... that guy"..  A  mainstay sidekick character in westerns. 

Old steam engine from Sana Fe line on display at museum

Mr. D'z

In Kingman we took a planned detour north 100 miles off Route 66 up to Boulder City, NV.  The most boring 100 mile drive I've ever done.  Straight road and flat desert almost the entire way.  The town is cute and sits aside Hoover Dam which was originally called Boulder Dam -  hence the towns name.  It was a completely federally planned and built town to accommodate up to 7,000 men working on the dam.  Interestingly, it's one of only 2 towns in Nevada which prohibit gambling.   Availability of water from Lake Mead makes for a lush oasis with golf courses, green lawns and lush palm trees in an otherwise inhospitable area.  Forecast for tomorrow as we go look at the dam is upper 90's.  

Headed down to cross over the dam

Motel in Boulder City

Did I mention there was a craft brewery in town?