Back on the Road Again!

After four days in southern California and

the Los Angeles Pen Show behind us we're ready to get back on the road again!

 

Foothill Blvd is Route 66

 
 

We're back on our Big Hill Route 66 bypass road again heading away from the congestion. I love these US Route 66 roads shields painted directly on the road bed.

 

The New Corral in Victorville

Wonder what happened to the Old Corral?

A Visit to the Victorville Route 66 Museum

The Victorville Route 66 Museum has been on our list of places to stop for several years now.  The fact that they are on Twitter got us to thinking about it more and more.  The timing was right so we stopped on in.  We were not disappointed.  This is a very well done Route 66 Museum.  Well worth the stop for a trip down memory lane.  Nice volunteers in the museum, too.

 

  

  

  

  

  

 

There's the Arrows again, a little smaller than the originals!

 

Adorable Tear Drop Camper!

 

There was a little sign next to this gravestone explaining that Brownie was a stray dog that always hung out at the Railroad Depot in Victorville.  Apparently Brownie was loved by all and would greet passengers and was a longtime Depot Dog.

 

Leaving Victorville.  The trains made me feel right at home.

 

We have grain elevators all across Iowa, but this is without a doubt the largest grain elevator I've ever seen.

 

This bridge on Route 66 north of Victorville is not all that unusual, but take a close look at the beautifully detailed railing.  It's stunning.  Hope they don't notice and replace it with concrete or something equally awful.

 

The bottle trees snuck up on us and we should have stopped for better pics.  Frank got a quick photo as we drove by.

Quirky bit of Route 66 road art.

 

If only gas were still 18 cents a gallon!  We did manage to stay under $3 gallon by not filling up in metro areas on this trip.

 

Obviously more rain than usual in this area.  You can see where the trucks have pushed the sand back off the road.

 

Taken out of the back window of the truck since we

were dazing off again along this section.

 

Beautiful Palms

 

The Do Drop Inn

A wannabe U Drop Inn?

Photos below were taken in Barstow on Route 66

which is the main drag through town.

Nice signage and murals

 

  

  

  

Barstow Railroad Depot and La Desiderata

We've been waiting to visit the restored Railroad Depot and attached Harvey House, La Desiderata for some time.  We actually did a quick drive by last year, but it was closed.  Turns out it was closed again today, only open on weekends, but we stopped for awhile to explore anyway.  The sun was out, a beautiful day and nice to get out and wander around a little bit.

The architecture of the Depot and the Harvey House is just amazing.  This is a huge complex of buildings.  Some have been restored, others are in the process of being renovated.  The fact that they were closed didn't keep Frank from putting camera to window and getting a few inside photos.  The chandeliers were amazing!  There are also a lot of old rail cars on display here.  

 

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

I can just imagine this old container car cruising down Route 66

 

Everyone always tells us that In-n-Out Burger has THE best burgers around and so we decided that it was time we checked them out.  The guy at the gas station told us how to find it in Barstow.  Turns out is was located at the outlet mall at the edge of town.  Bad idea to go there on a Monday holiday when hoards of people were out shopping, well at least they were trying to find a parking place to go shopping.  After several times around the parking lot, we found a spot big enough for the truck and went to stand in a long line for our In-n-Out burgers.  To their credit, the line moved quickly in spite of the place being packed to the gills.  The next challenge was finding a table and of course since it was nice out, I wanted an outside table like everyone else there.  Success at last, even if the table was in the shade.  However, I think Frank and I are too used to eating non-fast food.  The burgers were fine, but definitely of the fast food variety.  They didn't float my boat enough so that I'd say I want to go back right away.  I guess if there was an easy to get to In-n-Out and we were starving, we'd stop back again, but I wouldn't go out of the way to find one.  We can check that "to-do" off the list now!

 

Abandoned east of Barstow on Route 66

 

Long stretch of Route 66 in the Mojave

 

  

Roy's in Amboy, California is looking better and better each time we drive through.  The best part was going inside the cafe (not serving food yet) and browsing through the old photo albums they had laid out on the counter.  Wonderful old pictures of Amboy and Roy's in their heyday.

 

Last minute snapshot of the Shoe Tree east of Amboy.  It's turned into a tradition to toss your shoes up on the tree.  Sorry, I've read about it before, but have forgotten how this all got started.  I don't usually have shoes with me that I'm willing to sling over a tree!  I suppose I could carry out this tradition if I planned a little ahead and saved a pair of shoes for the Shoe Tree instead of throwing them out.  If I can remember until next year, I'll do that.  

 

The Roadrunner Restaurant

Long closed

 

Cute little cafe in need of some attention

We dropped off Route 66 to spend the night in Lake Havasu City.  Enjoy Frank's sunset shots from our hotel balcony!

 

  

  

Photos shown were taken on February 15, 2010