Andrew and I had a busy weekend …

We headed out to Las Vegas so I could photograph a wedding (more later) .. and Andrew got it into his head that we were going to make it a super-fun road trip with the help of the internet and Jamie Jensen’s Road Trip USA (we have the 2006 version).

and he was right, I have to admit.

We started out … leaving SCV around 830a on Saturday morning. The rain of the week before had stopped, but it was still really foggy as we left the valley …

… going North on the 14.

We took the 14 to Pearblossom Hwy … and found snow.

Andrew even drove off the main hwy for a bit for me. We found this … path, basically. Another car had obviously been there before, as there were tire tracks in the snow/dirt, but you couldn’t even call it a dirt road.

But I got some fun pictures …

Snow on the mountains, scenery, joshua tree (I think) … so fun…

And not that farther down the highway, we came across this …. car graveyard.

I could have spent all day here shooting … so much fun stuff. Gutted-cars with snow in the open trunks. Spray-painted Xs on doors. It’s all golden.

I forget exactly what the next part of the path was …

We drove through Victorville via Route 66.

It was all so sad. Not only were all these buildings/companies going out of business because Route 66 is no longer the main highway, but now with the recession things are even worse.

I’d say well over 50% of the buildings we passed in these small towns were boarded up.

Also, we spent most of this trip wishing we could watch Cars … amazing movie.

Then, after Victorville, we got on the I-15 and arrived in Barstow.

There is nothing in Barstow.

Oh, geez. Not even anywhere interesting to eat. Fast food, IHOP and Coco’s. … that’s it …

But! While in Barstow, we got gas and were driving back through town to give it a 2nd chance and we just kind of stumbled across this old railroad bridge which took us to …

the Western American Railroad Museum.

Which was very cool.

The building it’s in (mentioned in Road Trip USA and we just happened upon it) used to be a hotel, I think, when the railroad was the main method of transportation .. .. now it houses the railroad museum, the Barstow Chamber of Commerce and a Route 66 museum.

It is also the most interesting building in town, so I hope there’re weddings there every once in awhile….

We got there at 11am. Literally pulled in to the parking lot the same time as the 2 people who were opening the museum. … but, so as not to rush them we took a look at the old railroad cars that were on display in the parking lot …

And we came across this -
(can’t you just picture Dwight Schrute saying this to the camera in a future episode?)

the railroad museum had all kinds of equipment and memorabilia, and all kinds of things donated and on loan. … It was really interesting. Surprisingly large (for Barstow) … and if you happen to be on a road trip through that part of the state, I would recommend it …

Andrew and I kept picturing all the stuff his dad has, and wondering what museums we should donate it all to when he dies! …

(outside of the museum – you can see the bridge we crossed on the left).

As we left the museum, we kind of happened on a back road …. and all we could think about was The Hills Have Eyes. Scary middle of the desert….

We decided to try Route 66 again … it ran basically parallel to I-40 at this point, and away from the I-15…

The first small town we got to was Daggett. By ‘small town’ … I mean there were a few buildings and I had to take Road Trip USA’s word for it that we were driving through a town … />
Just outside of ‘town’ we came to …. the Daggett Pioneer Cemetery.
Accessible by dirt road.
Also scary.

There were newer gravestones too … but it is these unmarked white crosses that lead me to believe this is a really old cemetery …

Finally, last stop.

Bagdad Cafe

Apparently, there was a movie filmed here once.

When we walked in, the guy behind the counter was playing the Oldies station on the radio and singing as he went about his work (we were the only customers) … .. when he saw us, he apologized, turned down the music …and asked if we like Oldies.
When I said, yes, he took that as an invitation, turned the music back up and went back to singing.
And then defended his action to his coworker.

It was pretty entertaining to be at this little truck stop cafe, with the ‘server’ singing “Can’t Buy Me Love” at the top of his lungs. No inhibitions. really…

After lunch, we were on Route 66 for awhile … still going parallel to the 40. ..

but then the road got really bad. Really really. Almost like driving on a gravel road…..

so, we finally gave up the ‘adventure’ and got on the ‘real’ freeway …
… finally rolling into Las Vegas around 4p.

It took us 2x as long as the trip could have taken us, but we had SO much fun!

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