A Ghost Town, Route 66 And Rock ‘n’ Roll: Yosemite-Barstow-Arizona
It’s not hard to work out why we chose the town of Barstow, and the Route 66 Motel, as our overnight stay on our longest drive of this trip. A Route 66 town? Route 66 Motel? Classic cars preserved in the motel grounds…why wouldn’t you??
The route from Yosemite to Barstow is ridiculously diverse: first the mountains of Yosemite, then the richly verdant fruit farm regions, then the flatlands as the world becomes more and more spartan. Once past Bakersfield, Spanish language signs reappear, something we didn’t see to the same extent in Northern California but are commonplace down here. Over the mountains we go, dropping next into the Mojave Desert, barren and arid, miles and miles of nothing but desert scrub. No wonder flying saucers chose to make experimental landings here. Well we think they did, anyway.
But did we really know what one night in Barstow might constitute? This is as much a desert town as anything we’ve seen in North Africa, the hours of nothing on the drive to get here, the pink tinged mountains surrounding the town, the sand blowing through the town on the hot wind, the sense that the rest of the world is a far off place, somewhere some distance away from here.
It’s 102F as we pull into the motel car park, the dry desert wind only serving to increase the heat. There’s no mistaking the fact that we’re on Route 66; reminders are everywhere, from the preserved old cars to the murals on the walls to the “66” logos every hundred yards or so. Barstow is clearly very proud of its Route 66 history. Ours is just one of several similar motels in town – Barstow is a strange mix of a substantially isolated community mingling with a constant stream of those “passing through”, on a one night stand. Like us.
But Barstow has long embraced transience: as well as the draw of Route 66, this was a major tourist and hotel centre during the heyday of the passenger railroads. There remains today a gigantic rail freight terminal but the passenger service is long gone – mind you, the quadruple-header two-mile long freight trains are a sight to behold as they rumble through.
A few miles outside Barstow, nestling just off the LA to Vegas freeway, is an American diner which is such a destination in its own right that the car park is nigh on full at 8.30am on a Sunday morning, way out here in the desert. This is Peggy Sue’s 50s Diner, a crazy retro establishment stacked with 50s memorabilia, its walls adorned with rock ‘n’ roll and Hollywood history.
The stars have dined here; autographed photos abound. Waitresses wear 50s dresses and bobby sox, a mannequin Elvis watches over the diners, John Wayne looks from the walls with just a hint of menace. The menu is Grandma’s cookin’, the front door is a giant juke box. We smile our way through breakfast – a breakfast where the omelette is accompanied by “home made biscuits in country gravy”. It’s hard to tear ourselves away, this place is so unusual and amusing.
But we do just that, because just up the road is something else: the deserted town of Calico. Calico was a boom town of major proportions when silver was discovered here, enjoying a phenomenal period of wealth as pioneer miners extracted both silver and borax from the hills. The small Calico community, which never exceeded 3,000 inhabitants but developed 22 saloon bars and a red light district, a school and a jailhouse, reaped Gold rush style rewards. In the 26 years between 1881 and 1907, Calico generated 131 million dollars in revenue from its mines, equivalent to around 4.5 BILLION today.
Eventually silver prices crashed, the boom was over as quickly as it had begun, and every one of Calico’s residents moved on, leaving behind a ghost town. During the 1950s, the owner of the land, one Walter Knott, funded renovation and restoration, creating what is now a fascinating insight into those unique times, a living museum of a boom town in the wild West.
By the way, as a charming little side story, the town of Calico was split into two halves, a mile and a half apart. Each time the mail stagecoach arrived, it would drop the mail at only the main village, meaning that Dorsey the local postman had a 3-mile regular walk to ensure the relevant mail reached the second village. Nothing odd about that – except that Dorsey was a dog, trained and kitted out with mailbag and boots.
And so from Calico we continue our long drive east, across more hours of the Mojave Desert, through startling scenery which features sand dunes and tumbleweed, dramatic rocks with colourful strata, mountain ranges with serrated tops like a giant chainsaw, and miles and miles of broken landscapes. At one point the temperature gauge hits 115F (46C).
Across the state line into Arizona and across the wide and deep Colorado River which is such a startling change after so many hours of desert driving, we happen upon our last break of the journey at Seligman, self proclaimed origin of the Route 66 phenomenon. As if we haven’t seen enough quirk already today, this is the Roadkill Cafe….”you kill it, we grill it”……with menu items such as “Bambi Burger”, ”One Eyed Dog Hit In The Fog” and the “Chicken That Nearly Crossed The Road”. Ah, the madness of it.
As you may have guessed, we’re headed for the Grand Canyon. It’s been a long drive over two days from Yosemite to here, but it’s going to be worth it.
“I’m gonna issue you just a warning, no fine this time, but you be careful now, ok?”, says the traffic cop who’s just pulled me over for infringing an Arizona driving law which I didn’t even know existed.
Well, that’s a relief. And there’s always something new to learn, huh?
21 Comments
Mike and Kellye Hefner
Loved this, especially the mannequin in the women’s restroom! I am just so excited to hear about your trip to the Grand Canyon!
Phil & Michaela
Thank you
Heyjude
A route I would have loved to take, nothing like American kitsch, but the mountain roads were always closed on our visits to California. Now I want to know what the infringement was.
Phil & Michaela
Ah well…the police car was on the hard shoulder with lights flashing, and I just drove by. It turns out that to pass him, I was meant to pull out – it’s against the law to stay in the nearside lane when passing an emergency vehicle with lights flashing.
Heyjude
Ah, yes, I know of that one. I actually do the same here if I see someone on the hard shoulder.
Phil & Michaela
You might have told me before I did it ha ha ha
wetanddustyroads
Barstow almost looks like a city in the desert – you describe it so well. And Peggy Sue’s sounds like the place to enjoy not just breakfast, but any meal (the ladies restroom might give me a fright 😄). Calico is definitely an “upbeat” ghost town … great drive guys and has “Route 66” all over!
Phil & Michaela
Yes that gave Michaela a fright too!
Brian Tucker
Oh wow,Calico,we remember going there, like you on the way to The Grand Canyon in the 1990’s
Your trip brings back so many great memories,thanks for sharing!
Enjoy the canyon!
Brian
Phil & Michaela
Cheers Brian
Jeanette Carroll
Lived in the eastern state of Ohio most of my life, I now live in Barstow, (about 10yrs) what a culture shock. It’s nothing like people describe it back east. It a totally different country in It’s self. Beautiful scenery and so much fun history. Visited Calico, which is very pet friendly, our dog (a pitbull I may add) was welcome with open arms at ALL the places we visited. People greeted us with smiles on their faces and a nice pat on the back of our dog (they always asked for permission 1st), Peggy Sue diner is one of the finest places to eat and they also have a great gift store inside where you can find a lot of the 50’s memorabilia. It was a great place to spend the day. And Calico offers tours and camping as well. It’s well worth the trip to take time out and visit. Highly recommended.
Phil & Michaela
Hi Jeanette, thank you so much for visiting and commenting. I hope you gleaned from our post that we too enjoyed all three places – Barstow, Calico and Peggy Sue’s – even though it was a one nighter on a long drive. One of our photos of Barstow we think really sums up the American road trip…the town with the desert in the background. As one night stays go, it was a good one.
Toonsarah
This is my sort of US road trip – the Rte 66 memorabilia and kitsch, Peggy Sue’s diner, a ghost town – fabulous stuff!
Phil & Michaela
All very American! There was definitely a feeling of remoteness about Barstow, almost like an island feel.
grandmisadventures
Fantastic places that you have discovered on this part of your trek! I love all the Route 66 things. On my bucket list is to drive the entire of that historic stretch of road. And Peggy Sue’s just look like a wild good time, and like you say a destination of its own. 🙂
Phil & Michaela
There are definitely some fun places to be found along the route
Phil & Michaela
There’s definitely some fun places to be found along the route!
Annie Berger
So much fun reading about the part of Route 66 you drove as we haven’t been through Barstow and Calico – definitely our loss and your gain! Happy that your interaction with the police officer resulted in nothing more than a warning.
Phil & Michaela
Annie it was a fun couple of days and lived up to our hopes for the “road trip bit”
Joe
More wacky California adventures! I love the neon signs and preserved businesses along Route 66. Glad you found a couple of eccentric cafes for Sunday breakfast and lunch. I wonder if the local citizens of Calico liked to chase Dorsey the mail dog as he made his daily deliveries?
Phil & Michaela
Ha ha I wonder!