Route 66! Part XVI: The Final Leg

After leaving behind the gas station at the Cadiz Summit, as you're traveling east towards Needles, the historic highway drifts closer and closer to Interstate 40.  You can almost sense that you're in the final leg of this segment as you have left behind what you saw.  Oh, you can still drive many segments all the way east to Chicago, but as you approach Needles you find that I-40 is now on top of what used to be Route 66.  There was also more than one alignment back to Needles.  This segment that I am presenting is the post-1931 alignment.

All photos in this post were taken 11/30/11.

My recollection is that this abandoned gas station is in what is called Danby.  I might be wrong, as that this might have been Essex.

I think this scene is from Essex.  This final stretch, in my opinion, didn't really provide that much in the way of photographical opportunities of relics.

I imagine that there might still be some hermits living in what's left of this place, but they're probably not very receptive to visitors as that I didn't see any open businesses in this part.

An abandoned old house, behind a chain link fence.

This abandoned gas station is behind a chain link fence.  These days you'd best leave Needles on a full tank if you're going west and wasn't smart enough to tank up in Arizona, as there's nothing on I-40 until you get to Ludlow.  Back in the day of US66, you had more options, though I can't state that gas was cheaper in this remote location than it was in Needles.

I'm not sure what this used to be.  I'm more sure of what it is now:  a graffiti magnet.

This was the last photo that I took on the 11/30/11 trip.  I didn't take any on the 7/16/13 trip.

* * * * * * *

As you're heading east from this point, you rejoin I-40 in ten miles or so, unless you turn off at Goffs Road and take what was the pre-1931 alignment of US 66.  National Trails Highway, which is now what 66 is called in this area, unceremoniously rejoins the Interstate, and you're on the way to Needles.  

As you approach Needles, there is an opportunity to turn off an exit that will take you back to "Historic 66".  We took that last July, and found ourselves going through the main drag of Needles; passing by a Best Western that I've stayed before on a few occasions.  I had no idea that the road in front of Best Western used to be 66, so I traveled the Mother Road without knowing it that time.....and, several years before that along I-15 in the Cajon Pass, as that I've read where southbound I-15 overlays what used to be US 66 until you're at the Cleghorn Road exit.

Passing through the main drag of Needles, you will see the historic shields painted on the road, like you would see in Victorville, Barstow, and along various points of what is now called National Trails Highway.  It's still a neat drive, and I regret not taking any photographs.  

When Sheila and I passed through Needles that day, having enjoyed a drive that both of us would do again in a minute, we followed what we could until we rejoined I-40.  It was time to return to Arizona, and we continued on to Lake Havasu City, and from there we were back home the next day.

As for this drive......I'm very glad that I got to share it with her.  

We both hope to see more of this historic road, and I'd like to think that it will happen later this year, from Kingman to Flagstaff.

* * * * * * *

One final note.  I haven't been posting here a whole lot.  Earthlink gave me another 48 hour Internet outage, the third in six months, and I have since switched to CenturyLink.  It took almost a full two weeks before that switch was complete.  I will post about my Earthlink experience in the near future, but in the meantime, my personal website is now gone, and I don't know if I will replace it on my new host.