Day 21 – September 29, 2018 – Day 2 Route 66
We mostly slept – but some of the air conditioners in CA seem to be temperature regulated – meaning if you set the thermostat to 70 degrees you get 73 degrees and forget trying to set the temperature to less! Guess what the weather is – yep, sunny and warm. A hot breakfast and we are off for our second day on Route 66.
The California Route 66 Museum is here in Victorville – we find the museum and take lots of photos even before we get to the front door! This place is definitely a museum – wow! Some much information, so many things to look at, and the volunteers are so friendly and helpful.
Rooms and rooms of memorabilia and most of the items we recognize! We are surrounded by all things nostalgic – a juke box, a soda shop, a love bug, and a model T (1917). We have a chance to get photos taken in some of these features – and then we spot what we remember – George Maharis and Martin Milner – the television show – “Route 66.”
One of the volunteers puts a quarter in the juke box and lets us chose three songs – so we chose ones near to our hearts: “Going to the Chapel” because we got married in a chapel, and then Roy Orbison and then Conway Twitty. So happy with our choices!
Actually, the volunteers are quite chatty, and we get a lot of good information from them. Like the tunnels in Victorville used to move moonshine from the rail yard during Prohibition. The stories keep coming and we have a hard time leaving – just because we are having so much fun!
A quick donation for their efforts and we find out that Oklahoma has just given them a huge donation – including Buffalo Bill Cody statue – an authentic rifle – and even more artifacts. This museum will have to expand and change their space – now we feel we will need to go back to see what they have done with the place in a year or so.
Katri, our Las Vegas daughter texts and asks to meet for lunch. Okay – that is a challenge we are up for – so we start looking for how to make that happen!
We continue along Route 66 to Barstow and the Mother Road Museum.
This museum is housed in the same complex as the Railroad Museum – so there is a lot to see. As we enter the Mother Road, Route 66 Museum, we immediately see some of the same type exhibits we have just seen – but in a smaller space. There are several rooms and a lot to see – just not quite so passionate about the space or the exhibits.
We decide to meet Katri half way between Barstow and Vegas – how about Baker, CA on the 15?
That seems to work – so we are off to the Mad Greek’s Café in Baker, CA. We are about 20 miles ahead of her so we gas up the car and scout out the area for the puppies.
There are several shady areas to “water” the pups and then the Mad Greek Café has a patio that is dog friendly – yeah!
We have a great reunion – a great lunch – a great time. But we need to get back on the road and Kate needs to get home. Another sad goodbye and we are headed back to Route 66.
We would like to say that this is an easy journey but Route 66 doesn’t exist in many places so we are looking at three maps, two GPS’, and road signs to make sure we are following the right route. The sand blows across the road like snow!
We are seeking to pick up Route 66 in Newberry Springs and make a stop at the Bagdad Café. There was a film shot there with the same name, in 1987. Evidently this film has become a European cult classic and we notice a lot of Europeans on the 66.
Along the Route we see Amboy Crater – a long extinctic volcano, and a town long deserted and recently bought up by an unidentified benefactor. Can’t wait to see what he does with it because it isn’t much now.
Oh no – a detour – the road is out ahead – now what do we do? We head for the Interstate – not happy of course, because we are really starting to dig traveling on Route 66.
Okay – we are only on this road for a short time and then back on Historic Route 66.
We arrive in Needles, CA just at dark and find a place on the Colorado River to stay. Next door is the Giggling Cactus and we can walk there for dinner. Seems like a great place to stop – we unpack a few things and set off for dinner.
Home-made tomato basil soup – which is really good! Then pot roast stroganoff for Dale and BBQ meatloaf for me. Very good food – large portions – and topped off with a vanilla ice cream brownie sundae.
Walking back to our room in 88-degree weather is so nice – showers and then an early night. Hurricane Rosa is coming this way from the Pacific and forecasted to drop a lot of rain in Nevada and Arizona. Knowing how these roads can flash flood we are mindful of the weather.