Friday, October 29, 2010

The desert brings us back to civilization. Sigh.

Thursday, Oct. 7, Needles, Calif. --

This morning the group is splintered:
• Bill and Doris are in Kingman, Ariz., planning to drive to the Havasu City truck stop, and Les and Jo, who are in Needles, are driving back to Arizona to meet them, then shadow them through the day to Rialto, Calif., changing batteries as needed until the alternator conversion can be done tonight.
• Jane is at the wheel of the VolvoBird because Earl is feeling poorly and sleeping in the back seat. They're skipping Route 66 and heading straight west on I-40. Depending on how Earl feels, they'll either go straight to Rialto or meet us in Victorville, where we will be visiting the Route 66 Museum this afternoon.
• We are with Duane and Nancy, two red 1957 Birds setting out to cross the Mojave Desert on our way to Victorville.

Straight as a ruler to the horizon.
















The desert is remarkable -- we'd feared hot HOT weather, but we're lucky: It's pleasantly warm, the sky is dotted with a few clouds, the air is clean and we've got the top down. On Route 66 we have mountains on either side, with flat scrub growth near the highway. Again, we appear to have lucked out on the weather; two days ago, L.A. had record rainfall, so it looks like we've managed to avoid heat, rain and tornadoes. Lucky us!

There are few other cars on 66 in the desert today, and it feels as though we have the road to ourselves. If we had auto-pilot we could snooze -- the road runs straight to the horizon with nary a single curve or turn. Except for a 139-car train (Nancy counted) that gave us a huge, long whistle as we went past, we have no vehicular company. There's even time to stop and photograph our cars by the painted Route 66 emblem on the pavement. We stop to check on what's left of the town of Essex -- not much, just a boarded-up cafe and some abandoned trailers.

Between Essex and Amboy, desert travelers for years have used medium-sized rocks to spell out names along a miles-long berm on the north side of the road. The plant growth is so sparse that it's easy to read the names and to wonder how long they've been there. We opted not to add ours lest we come face-to-face with a rattlesnake.

At Amboy we come across Roy's where it appears that a motel is primed and ready for guests, even to the little blue-and-white cabins, freshly painted and waiting for occupants.







We've been in touch with Les and Jo by cell phone, and they and Doris and Bill are making good time toward catching up to us. They've decided to stop in Ludlow, and amazingly enough, we are able to meet them there within mere minutes of their arrival. Once again, except for the VolvoBird, the group is back together. Lunch at the Ludlow Cafe was good but slow, and to meet our hosts at the museum, it becomes apparent that we have the need for speed, so we reluctantly hop on the cement slab (sigh) and make tracks for Victorville.

Jane (left) hurries to get into the group photo.


What a great museum, and what a wonderful reception for us. The folks in Victorville really know how to make people feel welcome. This clever collection includes Route 66 memorabilia, gifts, and a "flivver" that provides a great photo op.


Our thanks to Paul, Saundra and Chick who made us feel so at home and also arranged for a surprise 65th anniversary cake for Bill and Doris. The lucky people who happened to be at the museum at same time were included in the celebration as well. Unfortunately we had to leave too soon, mainly because Les and Bill needed daylight to do the generator-alternator conversion in Rialto.


A surprise cake in Victorville
Jo and Les in the Route 66 Museum's flivver










The trip into Rialto took us out of the desert and over Cajon Pass. The descent was breath-taking, not because it was scary (although those California drivers are something else!), but because it was so spectacularly beautiful. There was some haze that contributed to the sight as layers upon layers of mountains unfolded in sun and in shadow at every curve of the road. It was a spectacular part of my native Southern California that I'd not seen in 45 years.

Nancy, left, and Lucy Clark
Getting to the Wigwam Motel was a GPS challenge -- using their GPS, Les and Jo were in the lead. We had ours, "Gypsy," programmed as well. And they did not agree! So as we followed Les and Jo on a crazy and impossibly convoluted tour of "beautiful downtown" Rialto, railroad and steel yards and residential streets with barred windows and iron security gates,

our GPS kept talking back to us!

Bill and Les look over the parts for the generator conversion.
But at long last we arrived at the Wigwam on Route 66 and were greeted warmly by California T-Birders Lucy Clark and Doc Dockter. As promised, Lucy (bless her heart!) had the conversion kit in hand for Les and Bill, and they quickly went to work.





It was past 5 o'clock, so cocktails were in order after we were situated in our individual wigwams. These 30-foot-high vintage motel rooms are great fun, and really helped us hark back to the days when Route 66 was in its heyday. The sunset was beautiful as it silhouetted tall palm trees against a light golden sky.

While the mechanical experts toiled, the rest of us went to dinner -- and an unplanned tour of local shopping malls, courtesy of Doc!

This was our last full day on Route 66, with just a partial day tomorrow as we make our way into Santa Monica, but with our return to civilization, the Mother Road is now pretty much behind us.

For us, there's a sense of sadness that it's almost over, and that although we logged more than 5,000 miles -- one mile at a time -- the 21-day adventure went way too fast. Tomorrow we complete the last leg by driving to the End of the Trail on the Santa Monica Pier. Are we ready for it to be over?

More to come.

Judy and Gordon

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