day 4: feeling hot, hot, hot

            started out a little later than the last two days as we checked out of our teepee at about 8:30am. 

 

we quickly headed out to Victorville and saw the ruins of the towns that once were. the signs for route 66 are not always well marked and on our way out of Victorville we somehow ended up in the middle of nowhere which is apparently easy to do in the desert. we thought we might be on the right path until we passed a sign saying “Walmart 4 miles” hmmm that can’t be right. we thought we would keep going because maybe that would hook up with a main road. we rounded the bend and saw before us a walmart distribution center. not helpful. so we turned around and finally found the actual route 66 road and we were back on track. 

we made it to Oro Grande which holds the glass bottle forest. There we meet Elmer Long who has been working on collecting and assembling these glass bottle trees for the last 12 years. 

talking to Mr. Elmer Long

after a nice chat we continued through the desert looking out across the California desert and trying to make sure nothing fell apart as we drove on the rough old road. we made Barstow around lunch time and after cruising through town and seeing all the old gems {like a hotel made of railroad ties that Marilyn Monroe supposedly used to go to} we headed to the Barstow Station which is a gift shop and restaurants made of passenger railway cars. 

we enjoyed the cool air and lunch before heading back out into the heat. our next stop was the Bagdad Café in Newberry Springs which surprisingly in the summer has 60% of its customers from France. {if you’re interested i learned it is because there was a film that was shot there in the 80’s which became popular in France} 

after the stop at the café we continued onto more desert and dry dry dry land. we ventured into Ludlow and saw an old firetruck that people have been writing their names into the dust for years so we wrote ours before heading out. 

{Eric: I wrote L hearts E just for you :) } 

we wrote on the green one behind this one.

just before Amboy we saw the Amboy crater which we wanted to hike up but when we got outside it was nearly 100 degrees and there was a mile hike before even arriving to the crater. so we enjoyed the warmth and sights before heading to the actual town. we passed through Amboy catching a glimpse of the old Roy burger joint. 

then it was more desert and dry land. {sensing a theme here? that was why these little towns became so popular because people had just made it through the desert and needed gas and a cool drink} we finally got out of the desert and into Needles, the last stop in California. there wasn’t too much there actually and so we continued onto the second state on route 66 ~ Arizona! on the interstate there was a sign that said Historic Route 66 next right and those haven’t done us wrong yet so we took the next exit. after getting off there were signs for following the route until we came to a dead end. 

we were supposed to see this from the freeway we had gotten off of...

what? that was just a section of the old road and didn’t actually connect with the rest. so we turned around and headed back to find the rest of the road. we followed the interstate until we reached the Arizona state line on the other side of the Colorado River. 

we made our way to the first town of Topock which was another old once was cluster of buildings. this lead us to the Oatman Highway where we figured we would hit the next town of Oatman. we found ourselves on a very curving and hilly road which led us further and further up into the mountains. we finally came around the last bend into Oatman, an old mining town. all the shops were closing for the night but we wandered the short main street and took in the cool old town. 

then we took off to find a place to park for the night. we thought the road to the next town would be easy like it had been so far but we were wrong! the road took us higher and with sharper turns than mom was comfortable with but it gave beautiful views of the valleys surrounding. we even saw a wild burro mere inches from the RV as we headed down. after breathtaking views and small, winding roads we got to the bottom and into Kingman a few miles later. we pulled into a well kempt KOA and settled in for the night. Arizona has beautiful weather and we enjoyed dinner outside while the sunset. Route 66 is proving to be intense and fun at the same time. it wont be a stroll in the park but we’ll have a blast tackling the next challenges!