Goffs, California sits about thirty miles west of Needles and sixteen miles northeast of Essex, along the lonely ribbon of highway long celebrated as America’s Mother Road. Founded in 1883 as a Santa Fe Railroad station, Goffs became the junction where the Nevada Southern Railroad met the Santa Fe main line. It was one of…
Cadiz Summit didn’t just sit on Route 66, it perched there, like a stubborn outpost daring the Mojave to knock it down. Cadiz (pronounced Kay-deez) was one of a series of alphabetically named railroad stations built across the Mojave Desert; Amboy, Bristol, Cadiz, Danby, Essex, Fenner, Goffs, Homer, Ibis, Java, Khartoum and others. The Arizona…
The Mojave Desert has always been a place where ideas arrive quietly. They drift in like a shimmering mirage, settle into the sand, and wait for someone stubborn enough, or visionary enough, to pick them up. In Newberry Springs, one such idea took root four years ago: revive a forgotten stretch of Route 66, restore its…
Route 66 is celebrating its 100th year anniversary this year–and what a fun kick-off Amboy gave it on March 7, 2026. Town manager, Kenneth Large, explained Roy’s Motel and Cafe in Amboy, California, owned by the Okura family, always wanted to have a car show. Last year, Amboy finally got to see a dream take…
The Bristol Mountains rise between Ludlow and Kelbaker Road like a long, sun‑scorched barricade, the kind of range that looks less formed than forged. On one side, Route 66 snakes past in its slow, nostalgic way, carrying the ghosts of road‑trippers and the last stubborn believers in Americana. On the other side of that big…
Chambless, California, located about ten miles east of Amboy, is a ghost town now. But travel a mere mile and a half west of where the settlement used to be, and you would have found the Road Runner’s Retreat, a true desert landmark on Route 66. Dominating the landscape was a massive 30-foot-wide sign, its…
Now, if you’re thinking this might be a story about the storied ‘Highwaymen’ of years long passed, you might want to read on and become elucidated a bit on southwest lore. Because this, dear friends, is a story about those desert dwellers who built and maintained the roads between Needles, California, and all points west…
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…
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…
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…