Laughlin, Nevada is 90 miles south of Las Vegas, but if you’re looking for something milder while still waltzing with Lady Luck, then Laughlin just might be the winning ticket. The Avi Casino Journey KOA is conveniently across the road from Avi Casino and just eleven miles from downtown Laughlin’s riverfront casinos. Avi Casino sits…
Corn Spring is in the Chuckwalla Mountains of the Colorado Desert seventeen miles southeast of Desert Center. Native Americans relied on the springs, and they engraved many petroglyphs on the rocks in the area.
The Chemehuevi, Desert Cahuilla and Yuma bands frequented the spring and carved elaborate petroglyphs in the nearby rocks. Some of the oldest rock art is over 10,000 years old…
Consider the town of Goffs for a moment. You really should. You’ll feel much better. With a current population 23, plus or minus a few jackrabbits, and situated eleven miles from Interstate 40, Goffs is today a wealth of history, and ground zero for any serious study of the Mojave Desert. Originally named Blake, Goffs…
It wasn’t Camel cigarettes that paved the way for Route 66, although that would come later with its billboards and imagery appearing along the iconic Mother Road. It was living, breathing dromedaries (one humped Arabian camels) and Bactrian camels (two humped) acquired from Turkey, Egypt, and Tunisia. A persistent legend of the Southwest is the…
In 1915, Stephen “Desert Steve” Albert Ragsdale, originally from Coffeyville, Kansas, rattled his way west, coaxing an early‑model automobile across the Mojave as if stubbornness alone could substitute for horsepower. He was bound for a business conference in Los Angeles, because apparently the best route to professional success was straight through a sun‑scorched nowhere, but…
While we have been known to move around a lot in the style of a comedic witness protection program, this is the first time we have actually written about our current hometown. That says something about La Quinta, California. Located in the Coachella Valley surrounded by the Colorado Desert, La Quinta was founded as a…
On February 16, 1867, the quiet expanse of Rabbit Springs Dry Lake in Lucerne Valley erupted with vengeance. Three years after the Las Flores massacre, another clash flared. What followed was less a battle than a sudden strike: a posse of settlers descended on a small Indigenous band—likely Serrano—wrongly believed to be Southern Paiute (Chemehuevi)…
Visiting Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch is an experience for the senses. Not only are you mesmerized by the colorful bottles combined with antiques in creative ways, but there are soul-pleasing sounds to accompany it too.
Elmer told us his most beloved pieces are the ones he found with his Dad during his youth. One of his favorites is a handmade pitch fork Elmer found in 1959 or 1960 in a fallen down homestead near Edwards AFB, now at the top of one of his colorful displays.
Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch is not just another roadside attraction on Route 66. It has rightfully earned it’s designation as a destination in and of itself. Come see why this quirky slice of Americana and the humble artist who created it attracts people from all over the world…
Update 12/08/21: Efforts to build a new community park at Historic Gilman Ranch in Banning will move forward after it received a grant from State Parks for more than $6 million for Stagecoach Stop Park. James Marshall Gilman was born in Meredith, New Hampshire, on June 9, 1842. As a young man, his parents sent…
Driving along Pearblossom Highway (Hwy 138), it’s just you and maybe a few hundred cars and trucks passing by in both directions. Perhaps lost in thought, or just concentrating on surviving the drive, you look ahead and the roadway becomes a beacon to place unknown to most people, even though they may pass it every day. You’re approaching the ruins. Soon, you will know what others don’t. The history of a failed dream. Welcome to the Socialist community of Llano Del Rio…
