Roy's on Route 66

Needles, California - January 14, 2007

We spend all day cruising north and east on back roads though the Mojave desert. The roads we choose have no gas stations or services.

At 29 Palms Mrs. Phred says turn right. I think straight ahead is the right decision. After five miles, we top a hill and the road suddenly ends and turns right. I brake hard and skid the RV and Toyota to a stop 20 feet into the desert. We both remember the first National Lampoon "Vacation" movie with Clark Griswald and family. We back out and turn right twice find Mrs Phred's road.

We finally hit Amboy. It's in the middle of a huge dry salt lake basin. Amboy is on the old Route 66. It became a ghost town when Interstate 40 was built 40 miles to the north.


There is a 6,000 year old volcano just outside town. The "Amboy Crater" is a National Landmark. A ranger runs a visitor center. Lonely duty.




Perhaps more interesting is the closed Roy's Motel, gas station and cafe. It has a 1950s look and is now owned by a preservationist. He also owns the first MacDonalds opened in San Diego, which he runs as a museum. You could have blown though here in 1957 in a a black Chrysler with tail fins and a big hemi V-8. Nostalgia.



We drive into Needles on the border for the night. London bridge is nearby. We buy green chili marmalade and a bottle of merlot at the camp store.

Are We There, Yet?

Route 66 Museum - Elk City, Oklahoma – January 27, 2007

You walk in and slide behind the wheel of a pink ’56 Cadillac convertible. The leather seats are surprisingly comfortable and roomy. The signature “bullets” are on the front bumper. No seat belts, of course. Step on the gas pedal and a video of a two lane road unfolds though the windshield. Engine and tire bumping noises accompany the slow road trip. After about five miles, a loud child’s voice from the rear asks, “Are we there, yet?”

Route 66 is the symbol of the freedom to go anywhere you want to go anytime you want to do it. The small towns along the route allowed people to meet each other and experience exotic locations like the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. After the Interstates were built it became entirely possible to drive from the Atlantic to the Pacific and never see anything at all.

Here you can also watch parts of “The Blob” from the back seat of a red’59 Chevy convertible with the strangely curved fins. There are drive-in theatre speakers.

Next you watch a 15 minute video that traces the development of transportation and highways in America. Route 66 earned the nickname, “The Mother Road” It leads from Chicago to Santa Monica.

Motion sensors note your presence and tell you stories as you walk though the extensive museum. There are stories about the Oklahoma dustbowl and about the “Jackrabbit Café”, last stop for 177 miles in the Arizona desert. There is an old recreational vehicle from 1929, a marvel of airy woodwork and windows.

There is a large agricultural museum in the complex with old tractors, washing machines, combines, farm trucks and many windmills. This is not surprising since Elk City is clearly an agricultural center with many tractor dealers and other businesses that exist to support farming.

Here are a few

Route 66 Museum pictures

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The World’s Largest Antique

Lake Havasu City, Arizona – January 17, 2007

We saw and drove over the world’s largest antique today. It is the London Bridge in the Arizona desert. It hardly seems right to buy the heritage of a formerly great empire and use it to support a shopping center. The whole thing is embarrassingly American. I wonder if Captain Bligh’s tombstone in London might also be up for grabs. It’s my personal favorite London landmark.



Yesterday we drove a 100 mile stretch of historic old Route 66 looking for photo opportunities. There are still a few small businesses trading on the nostalgia of this historical period. Brolean has recently submitted a nice Route 66 entry to the H2G2 edited guide.

When Perseus cut off Medusa's head, the red winged horse, Pegasus, sprang spontaneously from the blood soaked ground. Rollie Free drove a Vincent Black Lightning with a Pegasus on the gas tank to a world record speed in excess of 150 MPH in September, 1948, on the Bonneville Salt Flats...he was wearing a bathing suit..I got my first bicycle that month.

We drive old Route 66 between Kingman and Seligman, Arizona. The map shows a 75 mile gravel road to the north leading to the Grand Canyon at a spot tourists don’t often visit. What the hell. We have a Toyota rental car while our Toyota is being repaired. We decide to do it. 25 miles down the gravel road into the Haulapai Indian Reservation we stop a friendly tribal policeman and ask advice about the road.. He says the road turns to mud in five miles and suggests that a four wheel drive truck might be a more appropriate vehicle. We turn back.


Here are a few more Route 66 images, including a blown ‘56 Chevy V-8 engine with two four barrels and some old Ford flathead V-8s. My first car was a ’50 Ford I bought for $50 in 1959.


In tennis today, Mrs. Phred and I played three sets near the London Bridge. Scores were 6-1, 6-1 and 6-2., her favor. I make some good shots, deep return of serves she can’t touch, but I’m still hopelessly outclassed. Even a blind pig finds an occasional truffle.

The repairs on the Toyota are not covered by Warranty. It seems that the original dealership improperly installed an aftermarket security system that shorted out the headlight assembly switch. I’m writing to the “Toyota Experience” center to request binding 3rd party arbitration on the repair cost. If the arbitration costs are more than the repair, there is still a point to be made here.