Chopped Up Route 66 (8/8)

SANY1493.JPG, originally uploaded by jcbc.

There is nothing usual about this, but south of Victorville we were forced onto the freeway because it was placed on top of Route 66. At one point, we escaped the freeway for a while, only to have Route 66 chopped up again, making us get on and then immediately off the freeway. Here's view of the beginning/end of Route 66 where it is interrupted by the freeway.

Bottle Tree Man (8/8)

SANY1490.JPG, originally uploaded by jcbc.

Between Helendale and Oro Grande, California, is the Bottle Tree Man's place (http://bottletreeman.blogspot.com). We found it in our brief Barstow to Victorville Route 66 excursion almost two years ago after Christmas. We backtacked up from Victorville to pay another visit with Elmer and to see what had changed.

Museum in Victorville (8/8)

SANY1489.JPG, originally uploaded by jcbc.

On our last real day on the road, we first stopped in at the Route 66 Museum in Victorville. We saw pictures of places we'd been, plus pictures of things we had missed. We got our last Route 66 pin and we checked to see how far back up the road (towards Barstow, not L.A.) the Bottle Tree Ranch was.

Roy's Cafe, Amboy, CA (8/7)

2008-08-07-4 Roy's Cafe, originally uploaded by jcbc.

We did not find too much in our trek on Route 66 across the Mohave Desert. One old sign we did see was Roy's Motel and Cafe. It appeared that the gas station was open again, but not much else. The sun set on us out in the Mohave Desert as we made our way to Barstow and Victorville.

Feeding wild burros (8/7)

2008-08-07-3 Feeding a burro, originally uploaded by jcbc.

Second order of business in Oatman was feeding the wild burros. Oatman used to be a mining town and part of Route 66. When this stretch was bypassed and mining was not enough to support the town, it became somewhat of a ghost town. Now, however, it looks like tourism is bringing it back thanks to the wild burros, decendants of the burros used during mining days. Nearly every store sells carrots that tourists can then feed to the burros wandering the streets.

Oatman Hotel Cafe (8/7)

2008-08-07-2 Oatman Hotel Cafe, originally uploaded by jcbc.

After a very interesting drive over Sitgreaves Pass, we came upon Oatman, California. First order of business was food and so we went to the Oatman Hotel Cafe. Part of the decor is dollar bills signed and stapled all over the walls, doors, handrails, etc. After our lunch, Gillian signed a dollar bill and chose a spot on a handrail to staple it to. There it is.

"Red" (8/7)

2008-08-07-1 "Red", originally uploaded by jcbc.

Our guide at the Grand Canyons Caverns claimed that an animator from Pixar went on a tour with him once and told him all about the Cars movie, before it came out. He also claimed that Grand Canyon Caverns was the only place around before the Cars movie that had a red fire truck sitting outside. Also, Peach Springs is just down the road, and all of the towns along this stretch of Route 66 were bypassed in a big way (the interstate is not even close).