That aside the flight was pretty boring really and landing in Los Angeles and clearing immigration and customs were a mere formality. I collected my luggage and happily found it all in one piece so made my way to the shuttle bus stop and boarded the bus to the Holiday inn. I checked in and made my way to my room ready for a shower after the flight closely followed by a cold beer and some food. Feeling somewhat more human I collected a rental car and spent the afternoon wandering the length of Venice Beach soaking up the craziness of the place before heading to bed around 9pm.
The following morning I checked out early and headed East out of LA I planned to pick up Route 66 just outside of San Bernardino and follow it as best as I could until Williams Arizona. I was amazed at how well signposted the old Route is and found it easily, turning off the 3 lane interstate and settling into the old road with its unmistakable 66 shields painted on the bitumen and old cruising music on the radio courtesy of the MP3 player.
The first place of note I came across was the Bottle Tree Ranch, and what a crazy place it is. Blink and you will miss it but it is a truly amazing place a real monument to one mans creativity.
I searched around for the owner but could not find the man responsible for this roadside icon, after the Bottle Tree Ranch Route 66 winds its way through the desert plains past a junction in the road with a sign saying Hinkley (the town Erin Brockovich brought to prominence) to the town of Barstow where I stopped for breakfast.
Leaving Barstow with a full stomach I headed East toward the emptiness of the high desert and ghost towns with names like Siberia and Bagdad now nothing more than concrete foundations where buildings once stood. I came across a town without even a name to identify it, nothing but empty buildings occupied by birds, the people just up and gone, I took a few photos and left again continuing on toward the Lava fields of Amboy. I pulled off the road in the middle of the Amboy lava field and stared at the emptiness, soaked up the desolation and thought of the depression era Okies like the Joads in Steinbecks "Grapes of Wrath" heading West to escape the Dust Bowl over this very same road.
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| Amboy Lava Fields. |
Leaving the Lava fields and Amboy Crater the next place of interest is Roy's Motel and Cafe, situated on a desolate stretch of road opposite a Marine Corp's bombing range. You can sit in the air conditioned comfort of the restored 50's era Roy's Cafe and watch the bombs explode in the distance. It is great to see that someone has gone to great pains to save a piece of history such as Roy's Cafe and I appreciate the effort required in the restoration. I served in Submarines for 10 years and I have seen some gruesome stuff but none of that prepared me for the horrors of Roy's public toilets!!!!! please for god sake restore the fucking toilets, enough said.
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| Roy's Motel and Cafe. |
Heading East from Roy's toward Needles across the Mojave Desert is perhaps one of the most desolate and lonely stretches of the old road in California and I couldn't help my mind drifting back thinking how desperate the depression era Okies must have been to even attempt the journey in the vehicles of the day. There was no bitumen back then, only a rough track across the desert it's hard to even comprehend the difficulties they faced let alone fled.
The next town of any consequence is Needles Ca right on the Arizona, Nevada border. The Colorado river runs through Needles providing the otherwise desolate area with water for crops and drinking. The water is cold and green, a ribbon of colour in direct contrast to the hot grey dusty surrounds. I stopped for fuel in Needles both for the car and myself. Here I encountered a family of 5 that despite the 40 year spread in ages all appeared to be at the same stage of teething as the baby accompanying them. Having seen a snapshot of the local population I did the proverbial "got the hell out of Dodge" and promptly left.
From the town of Topock I wound my way still further East up into the mountains to the old mining town of Oatman, where wild Burro's (Donkeys) roam the streets and harass the tourists for food. The story goes that when the ore from the mine ran out the miners left and turned the Burro's loose and these are their descendants. The young ones have stickers placed on their heads saying please do not feed me, the idea being they must first learn to forage for their own food and not become dependent on a hand out. A safe guard to their survival should the tourists stop providing an easy source of food.
The old stores of Oatman have been preserved and now trade in souvenirs instead of the goods of yesteryear, evidence of the towns history lay in the rusty ruins of poppet heads on the hills surrounding the town. Just outside town is one of the few remaining working Gold mines and I easily recognized the main components of the extraction plant and screwed my nose up at the familiar smell of Xanthate that hung in the air and reminded me of and earlier career in a similar plant.
Leaving Oatman the road twists and winds through the mountains for a while before descending once again to the desert plains and the town of Kingman.
From Kingman the road travels through numerous small towns such as Ashfork, Seligman and Peach Springs before winding up in the town of Williams.
Williams is a welcome stop a small town with excellent facilities surrounded by tall forest a much welcome change in scenery from the emptiness of the desert plains. It is the last town on Route 66 to be bypassed on the 18th of October 1984 but it still retains the character of the 50's mother road stop it once was. It is also the gateway to the Grand Canyon and features the Grand Canyon Railway as a major attraction. From here one can board a restored Steam Locomotive for the journey to Grand Canyon Village, something I passed on as I know all too well the difficulty in washing soot from ones clothes that comes with a steam train ride.
I spent 2 nights in Williams at the Best Western and would recommend the place to anyone looking for a place to stay.
After eating at one of the many great eateries in town I settled into a few evening beers by the fire outside the hotel bar with a half a dozen like minded travelers and discussed where we had been and where we were going.
3 or 4 bottles later and my body told me it was time for bed.
After a good nights rest and a big breakfast I headed out to see the Grand Canyon, It's hard to say what is so impressive about this great big water carved hole in the ground but when you first lay eyes on it you can't help but be impressed. Its a little over an hour north of Williams but be sure and put aside a whole day to drive the South rim you will need it. In typical US style there is a massive RV park and resort at Grand Canyon Village and it comes very close to actually ruining the place, but somehow they managed to control themselves and stopped short of installing an amusement park with wave pool and roller-coaster. This is all quite some distance from the Canyon itself which is just as well otherwise it surely would ruin what is otherwise a truly spectacular sight and deserving Natural Wonder of the World. I spent quite a few hours driving the South Rim and stopped at every lookout along the way before completing the circuit back to Williams via Flagstaff.
I spent another night around the same fire this time with a different group of travelers discussing similar themes as the night before. This time not so tired and with a big glass of Captain Morgan on ice, watching the kids attempt to toast marshmallows and ending up with the inevitable bubbling inferno on the end of a stick.
Ah happy days.
The following morning I began my journey back LA this time using the less impressive interstate 40 to enter the lunacy of the city once more and continue my journey South to Baja.
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