Seligman AZ to Motel Home, Orange County, CA – XXX miles
We depart Seligman a little after sunrise. We elect to stay on Historic Route 66 for 85 miles to Kingman AZ. It was lonely with little traffic through various Indian reservations and vast expansions of open fields.
We get on I-40 at Kingman and ride 15 miles to the Oatman exit. The first is Sitgreaves Pass, a twisty mountain road through rugged desert elevations, hair pin turns and sometimes steep corners. Great riding! Not sure what the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s travelers thought when they got to Sitgreaves Pass!
Oatman, AZ – A real ghost town!
In 35 minutes from the I-40 we arrive at Oatman! This village has somewhat of a cartoonish look now with all the Historic Route 66 gimmick Wild West theme. We saw a lonely burro near the end of Sitgreaves Pass and none in town! Well, it was 8:45 AM in the morning and we were the only moving humanoids in Oatman!
Oatman was a favorite place to ride to during the Laughlin River Run 20 years ago. There would be 5-6 hundred motorcycles lining the street. Each bar was packed!
But today at 8:45AM the streets were empty! Not a human or burro in sight!
We cross into California when we cross the Colorado River. Historic Route 66 crosses I-40 many time here. It’s like a snake path and I-40 cuts through the center.
Roy’s Motel, Garage & Cafe, Amboy, CA
We’re looking for the turn off to Amboy. I miss the turn and Gary finds Kelbaker Rd. on his GPS. When we intersect Historic Route 66/National Trails Hwy a mile east of Amboy, the road east is barricaded! If we made the earlier turn we would had to turn around at some point and rerouted the way we came!
The reason to go to Amboy is Roy’s Motel Cafe. The sign is good but the motel & cafe are not in operation.
Amboy was the second hottest area we’ve experienced! 112℉ in the shade! We both hydrate while riding and are constantly reminding each other through out the day to hydrate. After walking a 150 yards to do our photos, we move our moto’s under the shade of the gas station, souvenir, snacks & drinks shop. We must have looked pretty haggard when we walked in and shuffled to the cold drink refrigerator. I grab 2 Gatorades and put them on the counter. Gary was talking to a regular sitting in a chair who was asking about our ride. When the owner learned we did the USA Four Corners AND are completing Historic Route 55 he said, “No charge!” for our Gatorades.
Not sure what this is but there’s suppose to be a shoe tree or bra tree somewhere in Amboy! We found this but …
Bagdad Cafe, Newberry Springs, CA
Site of the film “Bagdad Cafe”, the cafe continues serving buffalo burgers and Route 66 souvenirs.
Route 66 Mother Road Museum, Barstow, CA
It’s still hot!
The Harvey House was a huge railroad hotel. The Harvey House Girls were world famous. They were pretty, young, & intelligent waitresses. The museum was closed!
Hydration, Hydration, Hydration! This logo was outside the Harvey House Museum. Goofing off, I laid down on the asphalt to take this picture. Probably could have cooked eggs!
Summit Inn & the Cajon Pass
We’re in my back yard. On the bottom of the Cajon Pass was one of my favorite hang gliding sites! I’m quite familiar with all the ranges around San Bernardino.
The Summit Inn at the top of Cajon Pass burned down a couple years ago. The Cajon Pass, a modern 4-lane freeway pass is packed! Welcome to SoCal! We head west on I-15 to the 210 W to the 57 S. Instead of going to get the “Historic Route 66 END” sign late in the day, with commuter bumper-to-bumper traffic, we elect to go to Motel Home in Orange County.
Tomorrow we’ll leave at sunrise and ride 55 miles to the Santa Monica Pier area. There are three END of Route 66 signs.
1st and original is in downtown Los Angeles. (We ignore that one)
2nd is the corner of Olympic Blvd & Lincoln Blvd. (Our first choice)
3rd is the feel good, Santa Monica pier token tourist sign (We’ll do this last!)
Great recount Dean! This is a great read. Love the Phrase “Motel Cafe” Which is it…who cares!
It will fun to hear about this in person…Might I suggest a meeting a at Jimmy v’s one of these days for a barbecue in-person account? Have a great one!
I’m sure JimmyV is open to a Ride’s End party!
What an adventure, so glad you let us ride along. I had the honor of showing just a tiny fraction of the Mother Road.
Rick, thank you for hosting us in Pontiac IL. The tour and background info about was interesting. I loved riding along the Historic Route 66 for miles on end.
Welcome home Dean. Are you going to ride with Gary back to WA?
No. He’s on his own. He’s spending the night in Yreka, CA.
I was shocked to see the pics of Amboy an Oatman, like you said we did the Laughlin River run from 1988 to about 2003 and both those stops would have a 1000 bikes at them and an hour wait for gas at the one gas station. Both locations looked like everything has shut down. A literal ghost town. Thanks for logging the pics and great reporting. You are an iron man to make this run at the pace you did! Amazing! John and Sharon
You really gave a good picture of what it’s like, and you’re doing it in brutal heat! Laying down on the hot cracked asphalt… ha ha ha! And you’re the only humans in Oatman?!!
Thanks for sharing and letting us experience Rt66!
Dean – congrats – thanks for sharing, very impressive endurance on your part, welcome back home!!
Great run guys, well Done! Thanks for all the vicarious thrills.