Old US66 (California Mojave Desert)

[TOMS1SS]

Today I went down the Old US66 Route in California. This section of the Old US66 is infamous for having many modern ghost towns as I40 bypassed this section of the Mojave Desert in 1973. This section of the 66 was known for being extremely dangerous in its time due to the desert of the Mojave causing cars to overheat. Basically it used to be almost mandatory to strap a water bag onto the front bumper of your car just in case the radiator boiled over. There is actually a family story that my mom told me about a cross country trip that went through Old US66 in the Mojave in 1959 that confirmed the water bags were real. It must have been miserable back in 1959 to drive through the Mojave with no air conditioning, no so much today being only 70 degrees.

My route started at the US95 interchange just over the California border heading west near what was once Homer, CA. First town up is Goffs which was a home for workers on the Sante Fe railroad. According to the 2009 US Census Goffs had 23 residents.

From Goffs the 66 Route heads into Fenner, CA which is mostly just an RV park off of I40 exit 107. Apparently Fenner also runs the rest area on I40, the gas prices were a little out of line at $5.39 for regular.

As the 66 passes I40 to the southwest it comes to Essex, CA. Essex is apparently a former desert oasis that was discovered when a car broke down at the townsite. Essex was also known for being on the Johny Carson show in 1977 for being the last town in the United States without a TV, today it has less than 100 residents and 50 abandoned buildings.

From Essex its a short drive to Danby, CA which mainly consists of just one property and the old town road. The house at Danby had one of the very apparent signs of habitation during the entire trip until Ludlow.

From Danby the 66 continues west to what was Summit, CA. Summit was a tourist stop with a gas station and many wooden cabins. Today the cabins are gone and a hollowed series of concrete ruins is all that is left.

Down a couple miles west from Summit is Cadiz, CA and Chambless, CA. Cadiz has an old airstrip along the railroad and Chambless was known for the Roadrunner Cafe. I'm not sure about the population of Cadiz but apparently Chambless has 6 people left.

From Cadiz and Chambless and before Amboy there was once a town named Bristol which is named after the Bristol Mountains. The Bristol Mountains lie to the north of the Old US66 section and are where the I40 goes through now. The Bristol range was originally going to be part of Opperation Plowshare which was a government project to use nuclear weapons for excavation purposes. In the case of the Bristols the nukes were going to be used to clear a path for I40 during construction. Opperation Plowshare tested 27 nuclear bombs and found very quickly that they couldn't make a clean nuke...go figure.

Amboy is probably the best known of the Old US66 towns that was bypassed by I40. It is mostly known for being movies like The Hitcher and Roy's Motel and Cafe which, opened in 1938. Amboy is also home to the Amboy Crater, an extinct volcanic crater about a mile south of US66.

Nine miles west of Amboy is a lone tree on the north side of the road which is all that remains of Bagdad, CA. Bagdad was the home of the original Bagdad Cafe and holds the longest consecutive days streak of 767 straight days without rain in the United States. Bagdad was abandoned when I40 opened in 1973 and was demolished by a piping company in 1991.

West of Bagdad is a lone standing wall of a building, the only remant of Siberia, CA. Siberia was also abandoned in 1973 and almost everything was removed in 2001.

The original section of US66 rejoins the I40 allignment in Ludlow, CA and heads onto Dagget, Newberry Spings, Barstow before merging with I15. All in all the road is in decent shape for being out of use for almost 40 years, albeit some sections are better than others. Strange to see many towns all in one section abandoned....

Let's start with the area around Homer and Goffs.

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Fenner

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Essex

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Danby

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Summit

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Cadiz and Chambless

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Amboy and the Amboy Crater

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What's left of Bagdad and Siberia.

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Ludlow

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Apparently this is Summit, CA back in 1940.

[Avenging Orange]

Great pics! I made the trip from Chicago to Rialto, CA. on the 66 in Sept 2010. Was going to try to make it all the way to Santa Monica, but LA was just too congested.
Its a shame what the hiway system has done to so many towns. Seems AZ, NM and CA sufferd the hardest. Sadly, I bypassed that chunk from about Goffs the Daggett.
I plan on revisiting Route 66 again this year. Gonna take more time to explore less area. Prolly fly to AZ and drive AZ-CA and back.
This hiway is a piece of our history....and I hope we can keep it alive.

[2010SLVRBULIT]

Fiesta!

[TOMS1SS]

Originally Posted by Avenging Orange

Great pics! I made the trip from Chicago to Rialto, CA. on the 66 in Sept 2010. Was going to try to make it all the way to Santa Monica, but LA was just too congested.
Its a shame what the hiway system has done to so many towns. Seems AZ, NM and CA sufferd the hardest. Sadly, I bypassed that chunk from about Goffs the Daggett.
I plan on revisiting Route 66 again this year. Gonna take more time to explore less area. Prolly fly to AZ and drive AZ-CA and back.
This hiway is a piece of our history....and I hope we can keep it alive.

What is sad to me is how California treats the road and the communities on it. In Arizona Route 66 is very celebrated, hell the state took the Seligman to Kingman stretch and made it State Route 66. Places like Oatman, Hackberry, Peach Springs, and Seligman which are all where I40 diverted are still popular and inhabited today. It probably doesn't hurt that some large communities like Flagstaff, Bullhead City, Lake Havasu and Kingman inhabit the general area...but its not like Barstow isn't close by to the California section. Well there was at least a sign of hope around Amboy, Caltrans is repaving that section finallly.....it must have been at least 30 years. The irony about the Mojave stretch is from Fenner to Ludlow going through the Bristols only saves about 4 miles being more direct. Seems like I40 hosed a lot of businesses for no apparent reason when a reroute wasn't needed.

[TOMS1SS]

Originally Posted by 2010SLVRBULIT

Fiesta!

Yeah, I was on my way from Laughlin, NV to Menifee, CA for work. That being the case I had the work car. But to be honest, the road past Amboy would be very difficult with the sport tuned suspension of an SS chipping your teeth.....lots pot holes, I was driving in the center of road to stop the jarring about 5 miles.