Route 66 Day 53 Nov 30, 2019

Victorville is another one of those towns that embraces Route 66 culture.  They have a museum and historical lcoations and murals and signs.  It was too early in the morning for much to be open, so I took my photos and moved on.  Spent a little time at the famous Elmers Bottle Tree Ranch and a few old restaurants that are still kicking.  I explored Daggett a teeny tiny town that has a few surviving structures from the 1800’s.  There is an old Pioneer Cemetery I found interesting and the train runs through the town.  Actually, there are multiple tracks and there are lots of trains.  North of Daggett I discovered an old ghost town.  There were a number of signs directing people to it, but once I got there, I found a line of cars and a required admission fee.  Not exactly the ghost town I’d expected.  Later I Googled Calico Ghost Town and it really is a historical old mining town.  Some of the structures are still original, but its also been turned into a little tourist attraction and educational attraction for kids.  It might be worth looking into at some time.  But not this time, I turned around and headed back to Route 66.  Spent some time around Barstow, which also embraces the full Route 66 culture and I’d like to go back there at some point to check out some of the museums.

Onward towards the Mojave Desert and many interesting things it holds.  Amboy Volcanic Crater, the famous Roy Motel and Café, which isn’t exactly functioning as either at this point, but you can shop at the gift shop and use the toilet.  From here a chunk of Route 66 was closed and I had to detour back to the expressway for a while. 

The lack of gas stations in the Mojave Desert made me very grateful to find a gas station in the middle of nowhere and paid $6.00 a gallon for gas.  The gas station also was a little bit of a rest area, the family that owns it has put some effort into making it nice.  There are picnic tables and fountains and interesting things on the property.  I expect they’ve been the sole gas station on this stretch of highway for a very long time.

Quite a bit of Route 66 is also part of the National Trails Highway and it made it easier to follow and I think much of Route 66 is well maintained in this area because it has more than one historical relevancy.  I made a quick stop at Goffs California when I ran into an odd little museum that wasn’t on my list.  The center of the museum is an old refurbished schoolhouse that was built in 1914 and renovated fairly recently.  The town itself is practically a ghost town, with the current population being only a couple dozen and they mostly live in RV’s around the museum.  Outside the schoolhouse are pieces of the town’s past, from mining equipment to old cars.  There is a little cemetery in the back with only a couple of the graves marked with names.  I ended up staying here until after sunset.  I played with the museum cat and took photos of the odds and ends of things that have been discovered in the area and brought to the museum.  I considered crashing somewhere in Goffs but figured Needles might be a better option.  Drove the short distance to Needles and decided to splurge on a hot, sit-down meal. 

I googled BBQ in Needles and it sent me to a questionable restaurant set in front of a questionable motel.  I probably should have turned around, but I really wanted BBQ.  The restaurant is split on two sides, food and alcohol.  You can order food on the alcohol side, but you can’t order alcohol on the food side.  Weird.  So… I grabbed my menu and worked my way over to the alcohol side.  There were pool tables and a jukebox and a couple of drunk locals.  The drunk locals were very friendly and very talky and at one point the owner sent the waitress over to tell the drunks to let me eat in peace.  That led to a major fight and screaming match between the drunks and the waitress.  I asked for a to-go box.