Historic Highways
RVing America's Historic Highways: Route 66 Relics in the Mojave
By Jerry (RiverGuy) Brown

Red Rt 66, green this column

After spending a couple of weeks exploring southern California's old highway routings, we were on our way back toward Arizona. This was the perfect opportunity to retrace the Mojave Desert section of Route 66. From our camp in the San Diego Mountains, we drove straight north on I-15, arriving at Cajon Pass early in the afternoon.

Cajon Canyon divides the San Gabriel Mountains from the San Bernardinos to the east. This deep cleft is a result of the infamous San Andreas fault slicing through a massive uplift. Several historic trails, the Mojave, the Santa Fe, the Mormon, and the Spanish all converged at the only wagon pass through the mountains to the Los Angeles basin. The route up the canyon climbs over 2000 feet in the 16 miles from Devore to the summit. A few miles west of there, Mt. San Antonio towers over 10,000 feet. Both mountain ranges provide rich recreational opportunities for area residents.

1950s Camping, San Gabriel Mountains. U.S. Forest Service photo

The old Route 66 roadway follows the Interstate closely and much of it is still drive-able. We however stayed on I-15 past the summit exit where the vast Mojave Desert opens out below. A few miles beyond, we took US 395 to the town of Adelanto. I had decided to break our journey there at a small city park where overnight RV stays are permitted at no cost.

Next morning we drove five miles east to pick up National Trails Highway just north of Victorville, its pavement bearing stencils of the official Route 66 shield. This is an original

Bottle Forest, Oro Grande, CA, by jbrown

two-lane section of the old highway that follows even older Native American and early settler trails along the Mojave River to Barstow. First stop: Oro Grande, a small mining town and former Butterfield Stage stop, now mostlycovered with dust from its cement operations. Nearby I stopped to investigate the roadside bottle forest that, along with various metal sculptures, filled a large lot. No one was about to explain it, so I concluded it was a relic from days of yore. Judging the roadbed by the roller-coaster paving over hills and washes as opposed to cut-and-fill construction, this is obviously an early highway along here.

On the way into Barstow I noticed a pink 66-shield advertising a quilt shop, but I was surprised that no other businesses bore Route 66 signs or shields. In Barstow as in many other towns it passed through, Route 66 went down Main Street. East of here the route now generally follows I-40. For about 50 miles sections of original roadway closely parallel the Interstate as frontage roads.

Roys Motel, Amboy, CA, by jkbrown

We exited at Ludlow, where several abandoned gas stations told of more prosperous times. Here 66 veered off to the southeast to Amboy. After the first mile or so the pavement began to disintegrate. It was so bad in places that I had to drive under 30 mph, sometimes half on the shoulder. The terrain out here was very desolate: barren soil with loose lava and little vegetation. Occasional cinder cones broke up the monotonous landscape.

Roy's Motel, a landmark and Route 66 icon, identifies the ghost town of Amboy. Only the store and gas station at Roy's still operate, but the motel office with its soaring triangular roof and red flying wedge sign still dominate the scene. Amboy Road brings Las Vegas-bound Palm Springs traffic from the south, so the highway east of here is in much better shape than the sorry section to the west.

Old Rt 66 toward Cadiz Summit, CA, by jkbrown

Ten miles on, it swings back northeast, then joins I-40 at Mountain Springs Summit. An earlier routing connected the towns of Fenner and Goffs on the north side of the Interstate. I didn't have that information at the time, so we finished our California Route 66 exploration in Needles. This city seemed to want to capitalize on its 66 heritage. Besides a genuine –- as opposed to historic –- Route 66 shield on a light pole, I noticed the Original Burger Hut 66 and the 66 Motel along Broadway. South of Needles there is a five-mile section of original road which is also part of US 95. The final 10 miles in California is now part of I-40. Just across the Arizona border a fascinating section of old Route 66 runs north to Kingman. We'll explore it in our next column.

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