Route 66! Part XIV: Chambless

Chambless was another one of the stops along Route 66 that travelers back in the day frequented.  I'm going to guess that we came across this one some six miles after Road Runner's Retreat.  Online research suggests that there are still residents of Chambless, but only six of them.  The town, like Amboy and Ludlow, refuses to to die.  Amboy is being restored by a wealthy owner; Ludlow gets some life from having I-40 next to it (and providing an opportunity for gas if you don't have enough to make Barstow and Needles), but Chambless has no such blood to keep it going.  The only visitors are those who journey this historic highway who stop and take pictures, maybe rearrange some rocks, and then move on.

All photos from this post were taken on 11/30/11.

This is a historical marker in Chambless.  If you click on the photo, you'll be able to read what's on the sign.

I'm not sure what this used to be.  All this does now is tell you where you are in case you don't see the historical marker.

This is looking east.  Nearby this spot some folks have stopped to re-arrange rocks to spell their names.

Looking towards the north.  Stop and think for a moment......many people passed by this spot, in the harsh Mojave Desert, escaping the ravages of the Dust Bowl in the 1930s.  They risked their lives in this journey.  How many people died not far from here; due to a breakdown, lack of water, and lack of help?  This road could tell you a lot of interesting stories if it could talk, but you might not want to hear some of them.

My last shot of this desolate place.  I'm now thinking that I could have taken more pictures, but there must not have been much there as that I didn't take any while I was with Sheila on the second trip.

Next up will be a series of photos further down the road.

Route 66! Part XIII: Road Runner's Retreat

On my first journey down this historic road in late 2011, I knew that I was in for an adventure, but I did not know just what it was that I would see.  I had seen the abandoned gas stations, the decaying structures, the old motel rooms, the Amboy Crater, but there was still more to see.  At this point Amboy had disappeared into the rear view mirror but the desertscape was still surrounding me.  I had seen this desertscape before on I-40 and now I was seeing it again but from a different vantage point.  I had been seeing several miles of the road and its attendant scenery when somewhere up ahead, there loomed this abandoned restaurant that has since, to me, come to embody what Route 66 was all about.

That restaurant is the Road Runner's Retreat.  I have tried some online research into this and even though you'll see some neat photographs of it, very little seems to have been documented as to its history.  When was it built?  When was it abandoned?  What kind of food was served there?  (I'm presuming hamburgers, fries, perhaps Reuben sandwiches.)

This post is solely dedicated to that interesting relic, which although is no longer in commission, it remains a favorite stopping point of the Route 66 buff.

A closeup of the sign as it appeared on 11/30/11.

Another closeup of the sign, taken on 7/16/13.  Notice the nest that's on the left support.

From further away, on 11/30/11.  In addition to being a stop for eats, one could also gas up here.

A view of what used to be the restaurant.  This is behind a fence, for which I am grateful as that it keeps this from being hit with graffiti.  Yes, I would love to have wandered up to it and gone inside, but this relic can only be enjoyed from a distance.  11/30/11.

A view of the gas station, 11/30/11.

This is the sign as you see it from the other side, looking west.  11/30/11.

Another view.  The gas station was in front of me at this point.  11/30/11.

The gas station, as seen on 7/16/13.

Again, the gas station.  There wasn't any lodging that was here.  This was out in the middle of nowhere, about six miles west of Chambless.  If you were on your way to Needles from Ludlow back in the day, this would have been a welcome sight.  I'd like to think that at one time billboards were advertising it so that the eastbound travelers would have known about it upon leaving Chambless.  7/16/13.

The view from the side of the road, looking north on 7/16/13.  Somewhere beyond those mountains, some twenty miles to the north, is I-40.

The gas station again, 11/30/11.

There was still more of US 66 ahead of me, but when I had first encountered this, I felt like I was really living.  I enjoyed seeing downtown Victorville as well as Amboy, but being here in this spot was therapeutic in its own way.  Even though the ravages of time had taken its toll on this, it made for an interesting stop.

Once again, I find myself wishing that I could go back in time and see Route 66 in its prime.