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Gotta share my own Route 66 tale. About a month ago, surfing the 'net, stumbled across info about a jet fighter crash from almost exactly 30 years ago, in the desert south of Rte 66, near the Pisgah Crater (you drove past it, Tom, a few miles west of the Amboy Crater). The thing I found online included GPS coordinates. So, we hit the road... the closest we could get was about one mile from the pinpoint of the wreckage, so we parked and lit out on foot, handheld GPS pointing the way.
That one mile was intense... very rugged lava beds. The beds are dangerous, because there are huge caverns and crevices, some only covered with a 1/4 inch shell of lava rock that one can break through by stepping on. The lava is sharp (my son, who had gotten new shoes the day before, was left with ragged, beaten footwear that had to be replaced the FOLLOWING day, after the two-mile roundtrip!). One cool thing was that, unlike the rest of the desert, there is no litter on the lava beds... nobody goes out there. Nobody parties, nobody target shoots, nobody dumps TVs or refrigerators. No vehicles can access this moonscape. Nobody leaves debris.
Took an hour an half to get to the wreckage... the military, of course, had long ago removed weapons and sensitive equipment from the site, but wings, fuel tanks, tail, and millions of little pieces litter the crater where the A4 Skyhawk crashed.
We got a few pics (I'll try to post them later), then headed back... for our return trek, we took a different route, and, unbelievably, about 1/2 mile from the crash site, we stumbled across the ejected ****pit window! Not the whole thing, but a large piece about 20 inches X 30 inches... very cool. (We had read that the pilot successfully ejected before the crash... he is alive and well today). Brought that piece home, and would like to do something cool with it.... not sure what, though. Moonroof for the Camaro?!?!?
Very intense hike (and that's coming from a fairly experienced hiker), but highly rewarding.
Rte. 66 has given me many adventures over the years... but this one ranks pretty high on the list!
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