2023 Road Trip: Route 66: California I (5/17-18/2023)

Wednesday, May 17, 2023 (continued)

After seeing London Bridge in Lake Havasu City, AZ, we drove across the border into California. Route 66 covered 314 miles/505 km in California.

Borax Wagon (c 1880, by the Studebaker Wagon Co) was
pulled by a team of two horses and 18 mules; borax
was mined in Death Valley and transported to railheads

Needles Route 66 sign

Needles is reputed to be one of the hottest places in the country. It was hot, but it had been over 100^o F/38^o C in Arizona.

El Garces Hotel (1908) was a Harvey House hotel and
restaurant, and Santa Fe Railway train station

We had dinner at the Wagon Wheel Restaurant (1955
as Lynn's Broiler, became Wagon Wheel in 1973)

Wagon Wheel Restaurant interior

They split a Pot Roast Skillet meal for us

Thursday, May 18, 2023

Goffs Schoolhouse (1914, in Mission style) in Essex, CA

Replica (2008, as the Dennis G Casebier Library) of the
Goffs Santa Fe Railway Depot (original 1902)

Roy’s Motel and Café (1938, in Googie style/futuristic
Space Age style) in Amboy, CA (a Roadside America attraction)

Roy’s Café and Gas Station (the current price of gas
is $6.95.9/gallon here in California)

Golden Buddha (2020) in Amboy, CA

We later learned that the owner of the Juan Pollo chicken empire in Southern California, Albert Okura, purchased the town of Amboy in 2005. He is a third generation Japanese American, and he believed in fate. Perhaps he placed the Golden Buddha on the side of the road.

Amboy Crater National Natural Landmark features a
dormant volcanic cinder cone (a Roadside America attraction)

Route 66 pavement marking

Ludlow Café was originally the Coffee Shop that
was built on the site of the original Ludlow Café,
in Ludlow, CA; note mining cars in the foreground

Bagdad Café (1975 as the Sidewinder Café) in
Newberry Springs, CA was featured in the 1988
film, Bagdad Café; the name was changed in 1995
(a Roadside America attraction)

Barstow, CA Route 66 sign

Casa del Desierto (1911, by Francis W Wilson in a mix of
Spanish Renaissance and Classical Revival styles, with Moorish
touches) was a Harvey House hotel and Santa Fe Railway depot

Also in Barstow, CA was the Route 66 Motel (1922)

The Route 66 Motel is known for its "longest mural"
(a Roadside America attraction)

Molly Brown's Country Café (mid 1940s) in Helendale, CA,
with a tricycle, small stepladder, and metal toy car on the roof

Elmer's Bottle Tree Ranch with over 200 creations, in
Oro Grande, CA, is dedicated to “those who have lived and died
on the Mother Road" (a Roadside America attraction) (KSS)

Elmer helped with his father's bottle collection, which he
inherited and decided to use the bottles along with
other found items to make these folk art bottle trees

It's a forest of bottle trees! (KSS)

There are so many bottles,
not all of them have been used (KSS)

The Roy Rogers Double R Ranch (1950) where Hollywood’s
“King of the Cowboys” raised Palomino Tennessee Walkers;
the ranch in Oro Grande, CA appears to be up for sale

Are the horses included in the sale?

Mojave River Bridge aka Rockfield Bridge (1930)
is a Modified Baltimore Through Truss Bridge, where
the sides are parallel, yet not placed symmetrically

Next: Route 66 in California continued.