Three days ago I left my parents' house in San Jose to start the drive home. Yep, I spent Thankgsiving Week up there with them, but chose not to advertise here that I was away from home.....even though I have a housesitter and two sets of neighbors who will shoot first and call 911 later. It was a good visit, getting to spend time with my folks, family, and some close friends that I've known for several years.
On Tuesday, I decided to start the drive back. I knew before this trip that I was going to budget three days of drive so that I could accommodate a stretch of the old US Route 66. I've been fascinated with highway history for some time, and of course the Mother Road was part of that fascination. I had paralleled it before on previous trips via I-40 and I-15. This time I wanted to be on the Main Street of America.
I arrived in Victorville Tuesday evening. I drove up and down 7th Street that evening, which was once signed as US 66. After dinner and a night of rest I set out the next morning, determined to take as much of 66 from there to Needles.
Victorville is home to a Route 66 museum, but they were closed on Wednesday. (I had to leave San Jose on Tuesday morning as that California's San Joaquin Valley had a wind advisory forecast the following day). From the outside the museum did not look all that large but I'm sure that it would have made for an interesting stop. I took some photos of 7th Street before leaving on National Trails Highway, which is what the former US 66 is now called in California.
It was pretty much a smooth ride all the way up to Barstow. South of Helendale, I encountered my first abandoned gas station, and across the street from there someone filled their large front yard with sculptures that had bottles intermixed with metal frames. Route 66 was known for interesting roadside attractions, and this was one of them. Further up the road past Helendale, I encountered an abandoned structure on a remote stretch. What was it? It may have been a roadside store or maybe someone's house. I don't know, but I took several photographs of it before moving on to Barstow.
Near Barstow, to the east, Route 66 is interrupted by a Marine base, and you have no choice but to get on I-40 for a few miles. I encountered an exit near that base after I was past it, and so I rejoined the old highway for the next several miles. On the north side was another abandoned gas station.....a large one at that.....an old truck stop? There were several bays where at one time gasoline was dispensed, and two large parking lots. This was not behind a chain link fence so I was able to wander around there for a bit before resuming my journey.
The road continued on past that, and right next to I-40 where there was an exit there was another abandoned gas station. The sign indicated regular for $3.19 per gallon so this one was a more recent closure. The brand of gasoline was Spirit, and most of the property itself was behind a chain link fence. I'd guess that this one was in commission before I-40 was built, and managed to hang on several years afterward before joining the ranks of those structures that will be regarded as relics twenty years from now.
After that stop, I continued on. The sun was out, the skies blue with only intermittent interruptions from the clouds, the temperature about 70 degrees, and I had Bachman & Turner playing in the truck. I was really enjoying it! That is, for only the next ten miles or so! At that point, Route 66 was a frontage road to I-40, paralleling it, and in very rough condition. I had to slow down to 25 mph at that point and it was still a rough ride. I finally took to driving on the shoulder which was smoother than driving on the road surface. A few might argue that 66 was still driveable at that point but I wasn't enjoying it. I rejoined I-40 at Hector Road and continued on I-40 until Ludlow.
From Hector Road to Ludlow, Route 66 appeared to be a frontage road in a state of disrepair. In one way I was wondering why no one was taking care of it, but in another way I knew why. No one uses a frontage road when there's an interstate where you can go 70, especially in that remote part of San Bernardino County. The old 66 was to the south of I-40 and then to the north of I-40. At the Ludlow exit, it crosses I-40 again, and at that point it veers off to the south, being separated from the interstate by several miles.
After gassing up in Ludlow, I resumed using the Mother Road. I encountered some interesting ruins at Bagdad. There was what used to be a restaurant (the sign is still there) and a motel. I was able to wander inside a few of the rooms and I took several photos there. I was envisioning where the bed used to be and what it must have been like to have stayed there. There was some trash along the floor which I did not pick thru, and an old chair lying in ruin in one of the rooms. The ghosts of the past that were there were not talking to me, as that they were instead presenting a visual record that only filled in some of the blanks and beckoning my imagination to fill in the rest. What kind of conversations took place there? How many now-valuable silver coins were carried into there and then out? Did somebody famous stay in there before they became famous? These were some of the things I was wondering about.
From then on, the condition of the road was much better. It wasn't quite up to snuff as I would have liked, but I also could comfortably drive 55 or 60 and not worry about engine parts falling out of my truck. I saw some more abandoned structures, the Amboy Crater, lava fields, and occasionally I would encounter a few other Route 66 buffs. At Amboy, I entered another open abandoned motel room and again wondered what kind of stories that room would have told me if only it could have talked. After that was Chambless, Essex, more abandoned structures, and yes, I took several more photographs.
At Goffs Road the older pre-1931 alignment continues, but the post-1931 alignment of the route takes you to I-40. From what little research I've done, I-40 overlaid Route 66, and does so until you're a few miles outside of Needles. From there you can exit the interstate and drive down the historic 66, which is Main Street, and yes, I drove most of that stretch. I stayed on that, taking US95 south, which is concurrent to the old 66 until you're about five miles south of Needles. US95 was under construction at that point and had I known that I might have jumped on I-40 and taken that to Kingman. Oh well.
As for the drive itself......as for what I saw......I had a blast! Sure, it added one day to the return trip home, but it was worth it. To be honest, I want to repeat that drive again someday. All along that way I kept thinking about how what I was driving on used to be one of the more important federal highways that millions of people once traveled on. In its prime, people chased dreams, caught their dreams, lost their dreams and died, and who knows what else. I'm convinced that this road spawned the motel industry as some enterprising folks early on set up roadside rooms where the weary traveler could zonk out for the night before resuming his quest for whatever it is that he was thirsting for the next day.
I'm sure that many of you have heard that famous song about getting your kicks on Route 66.
Well, you can still get them, as I found out just two days ago.
My only regret is that I can not go back in time and see Route 66 in its prime.
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