You may be familiar with the large marble Chinese Guardian Lion statues between Route 66 and Kelbaker Road but did you know Amboy may have once had its very own living African lion? “Old Man Miller,” as he was known in the Amboy area, was the first person to spot a large African lion near…
Last week we wrote an article about our favorite desert books on our shelves. We would be remiss to our Texas friends and family if we overlooked our collection of Texas books. As many already know, we traded in the California desert for Bandera, Texas for a couple of years before returning to the land…
We originally referenced 100 of our favorite desert books five years ago. We still enjoy browsing museum gift shops and used book stores for nuggets of gold in the form of guidebooks, nature guides and history books. Discovering obscure out-of-print books is extra fun. Many new books have been published recently that also deserve our…
We recently went to a historic mural and monument reveal at Roy’s Motel and Cafe on Route 66 in Amboy in honor of Amboy owner and Juan Pollo creator, Albert Okura, who passed away last year. It had everything an honorable tribute should have, live music, raffles and and delicious food, in this case, complimentary…
How many have driven by this older building with a bright green extraterrestrial on its door, located on Old Woman Springs Road in Lucerne Valley without knowing the startling history of the former mild-mannered owner with a French accent? Do they know an author of five books sat in the corner of the store, then…
UPDATE July 9, 2025: Will the 625,000 acres Chuckwalla National Monument in Riverside County keep its designation? This spring President Donald Trump asked the Department of the Interior to consider removing those protections. In May the Department of Justice concluded that the president “can and should” reverse the monument designations. Many thanks to La Quinta…
Update: January 2026: UMPI added American Studies to their Master’s Degree programs. Update, May 1, 2025: UMPI recently changed their academic policy about accepting certain ACE credits for some degrees. New students should check with their student advisor for clarification. “How long have you been working on your degree?” someone asked me as I neared…
Update: The Mother Road Route 66 Museum has since re-opened under new management. Route 66 has lost another gem. On July 23, 2024, the Route 66 Mother Road Museum in Barstow, California, announced on their Facebook page they were closing. The museum’s webpage says that they are “closed indefinitely,” stating water repairs in another part…
Note: We gave a presentation about this subject on September 14, 2023, to the Big Bear Historical Society. This article is the culmination of a month’s long research project. We also debuted a video, which we plan to upload to our YouTube channel. Our warmest thanks goes to historians Anne Roark, Jonni Vindiola, Mark Durban,…
We visited Salvation Mountain for the first time with my sister, Dawn, when she recently flew in from the East Coast. We recalled watching television host Huell Howser visit there in 1997 and were intrigued. Salvation Mountain had again recently landed itself into the news media. So a mere 26 years later, we decided to…