Day 14: Kingman, AZ to Barstow, CA

Route 66 in the Mojave Desert

Only about 60 miles from Kingman to the California state line but what a 60 miles it is.

The Hill Top Motel in Kingman AZ

The Orchard Inn Motel in Kingman, AZ

Since we stayed on the east-side of Kingman last night, we started off by driving through the city.









Kingman has a lot Route 66 woven into its history and this was very evident by the many businesses that are still alive today.

We still saw several motels and restaurants from the hay day and their historic downtown had many activities around Route 66.

Stretched out section of Oatman Highway

After Kingman, one enters the Oatman Highway - a long stretch of Route 66 towards California that deviates from the interstate completely. The first 20 miles or so are through the Arizona desert before we got to the Black Mountains.

Route 66 through the Black Mountains in Arizona

This is where Route 66 really took us for a spin with hairpin turns, narrow roads and no fence next to us. The heat started to crawl up to the 100 degrees here. However, this passage was very nice to drive and we got some great views on either side of the Black Mountains of the valleys below.

Small town of Oatman, AZ

I know it's not polite to take a picture of a nursing
mother but I couldn't help myself

About 5 miles into the mountains, we got to Oatman, a town once dedicated to gold mining, but has now been completely converted to tourism. The old buildings (western style) are all still there and there are many attractions one can see. We happened to arrive at the time when a gun fight show-down was about to happen so we stuck around for that.

Le Brun Motel in Needles, CA

We did have to watch out for the wild burros that are walking around in the town, trying to get food from whomever they encounter. They are tame enough to approach you but we got warned several times by the locals that they do bite and kick when they get annoyed.

Welcome sign to Needles, CA

After Oatman, we got back on the road through the Black Mountains and made our way down to the Colorado River and the natural divider between Arizona and California.

Once we crossed the Colorado River, we got to Needles, the first city on Route 66 in California. Lots of history here again with dozens of motels along the route. We also saw several really nice murals throughout the city that were displaying scenes of what the road would have brought.

Mural of pretty much the route we took today - on top of a grocery store in Needles, CA

The Mojave Desert

From there, we took the National Trails Highway across the Mojave desert. The temperature quickly started  rising, hitting a peak of 109 degrees/43 celsius according to the temperature reader in our car. And of course, there was nothing in front or behind us - just a long stretch of road along the railway.

Abandoned grocery store in Essex, CA

After dozens of miles, we started hitting some old towns, some completely abandoned, in the middle of the desert. Most of them had at least one motel and a gas station - signs that Route 66 had a significant purpose for these towns.

Ruins of a gas station/garage in Cadiz Summit, CA

In Goffs, the only thing we found was an abandoned gas stations and motel. In Essex, the sign claimed the city has 100 people living it, even
though we could barely find a couple houses that did not look completely abandoned or burned down. Danby just had an old abandoned gas station.

Roy's Motel and Cafe in
Amboy, CA

Abandoned Motel in Goffs, CA

Cadiz Summit had a couple ruins of an old gas station/garage, completely covered with graffiti.

Amboy looked like a hopeful rest place in the middle of the desert with its amazing tall sign, yet the school was all boarded up and the steeple on the church was crooked because it was sunken in.

There's me....

The gas station was still open for business and happily serving gas at 5.09 for unleaded when the nationwide average is 3.83. I guess when you are in the middle of the desert and you need gas, you don't really care what the price is.

.... and my dad, Frank

Around Chambless through Amboy and  beyond is what our guide calls the "Route 66 Public Art Corridor." It is miles and miles of a dirt berm where hundreds of travelers have written their name in the dirt with rocks found alongside the road.




It was pretty neat to see and given that we were are close to finishing Route 66, we had to leave our mark as well. So in the 104 degree weather in the middle of the desert, we began collecting rocks to write our names, hurrying up to get back in the air-conditioned car. I wonder how long we will be part of the landscape here.....

There are miles and miles full of names

Entrance to Calico Ghost Town

As we got closer to Barstow, our final stop for the day, we came really close to Calico, a ghost town near Daggett. Calico used to be a mining town for silver and is located up near the mountains. It has a particular meaning to me because exactly 20 years ago, I came to the U.S. for the first time with my family to tour the entire West coast of the United States.

Downtown Calico. You can see the name written
on top of the mountain

We started off in Los Angeles and made our way up to Washington state to then come back down to San Francisco. One of the early stops we made was to visit Calico and although I was 12 at the time, I vividly remember visiting this ghost town.






So it was only appropriate that I would revisit this with my dad this time. While the town "closes" at 5pm, you could still drive in and walk around, which is what we did. There were many things we still remembered from the first time we were here and it was nice to relive these old memories. As we drove away, my dad and I started reviving some of the segments of the trip we made then and the route we took. I can only imagine we'll do the same about this trip sometime in the future.

Miles driven today: 261
Time driven today: 7hrs 15min

Total miles driven: 1,948
Total time driven: 60hrs 5min