Some six miles east of Chambless, Route 66 does a small climb before it descends back to the desert floor. At the summit was a gas station called Cadiz Summit Service of which there is slightly more online documentation about it than Road Runner's Retreat. As far as I can tell this place is named Cadiz Summit but there was never any settlement there.
With this posting, I am going to start off with a photograph that was taken in 1948 by Burton Frasher, according to the source I got it from. This can be found on more than one web page, and the one that I got was from a photo postcard collection that's at the Pomona Public Library.
The view of this is looking northeast.
Some years after Route 66 was decommissioned as a federal highway, this too was abandoned, and online research tells me that it fell victim to a fire. What's left are the stone foundations and ruins. The wooden structure is long gone, and has been replaced with a collection of debris that is typical of abandoned roadside stops in the Mojave Desert.
This is Cadiz Summit as it appears today. Photograph taken 11/30/11. This is the easternmost part of the ruins.
A closer look at the graffiti, 11/30/11.
Where the gasoline pumps once stood. 11/30/11.
At the western edge of this site are these ruins. I would not have known that this was also a lodging site had it not been for that old photograph up above. 11/30/11.
The "entrance", if you will. I did not go inside. 11/30/11.
Another view. As I was to find out a year and a half later, there would be new graffiti here. 11/30/11.
Here's a view of the area, looking east, with my truck visible in the background. 11/30/11.
This was a particularly beautiful day that November, gifting me with an unforgettable blue desert sky.
This is one of my favorite shots of the historic shield, taken on 11/30/11; looking west.
When I came back here with Sheila on 7/16/13, I noticed the new graffiti, left by six Canadians (presumably from the Montreal area) the previous May.
Yes, Montreal. If you look closely at the upper left corner, you'll see the logo of their favorite hockey team.
The eastern structure, from a different angle, 7/16/13.
Saving the best for last! Sheila, standing alongside the Route 66 shield!
This series is just about over......one more post and we're done with this photo essay. I will try to get that up here in a few days, so that I can tell you what's gone on in life at this end these past few months.
