Eastbound past the Amboy Crater is the small town of Amboy itself. This location provides several photographic opportunities for the Route 66 buff as well as an opportunity to stop at Roy's, a small cafe that's still operational. The motel that it's next to, however, is not offering lodging although I'm sure it was active in its prime.
As a reminder, if you wish to view larger photos, just click on one of them and you'll be treated to a gallery. Unfortunately, the captions will not accompany the slideshow. I've got a lot of these with this posting. Enjoy!
Roy's Motel sign as it appeared on that clear blue skies day of 11/30/11.
The gas station is still operational, but in this remote location it's even more expensive than it is in Needles. 7/16/13.
This had to be where you checked in, if you were passing thru in the pre-I-40 days. The motel grounds are to the right. This view is looking north. 7/16/13.
The view from across the street, taken on 11/30/11. The sign is out of the picture and to the right.
A look at the cafe in the westerly direction, 11/30/11.
These structures in the front are motel rooms. Behind these is a chain link fence and a larger structure of more motel rooms, although that back building does not have the rooms detached from each other as they are here. 11/30/11.
On 11/30/11, I was able to go inside one of the front rooms for a look around. A queen bed would have snugly fit in here.
The entrance to the bathroom. Through the window, the back building is visible. 11/30/11.
A close-up of the electrical outlet. This was long before the days of the three prong outlets that are now standard in North America. I believe these sockets were last used in 1962. 11/30/11.
I took this photo through the chain link fence at the back of the front motel rooms. The building to the right of this is the now-defunct Amboy School. 11/30/11.
Same building, other end. 11/30/11.
The row of front motel rooms, as seen on 11/30/11. Did anyone famous stay in one of these a long time ago?
The Amboy Post Office is still in operation. This is across the street from Roy's. 11/30/11.
Also across the street is this old church. You can see the steeple leaning off to one side. This was how it appeared on 11/30/11.
Sometime between November 2011 and 7/16/13, the steeple fell.
This shot, taken 7/16/13, shows the sign, the main lobby, the cafe, the Amboy Crater, as well as my truck (which as I write this, is very close to 400,000 miles!)
I have a weakness for photos with clear blue skies! This is another one of the main lobby. 11/30/11.
The Amboy School, 11/30/11.
The Main Street of America, looking west. As Jeff Healey once said in a song from 1990, "Winners and losers all travel the
Highway of Dreams".
Our journey will continue in the next post. My regret about our visit to Amboy is that I missed the "shoe tree" that's to the east. We'll get that the next time we go down this road.
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