Eddie World’s ginormous ice cream sundae cleverly disguises its water tower. The lighted sundae draws weary, curious and hungry motorists on the 15 Freeway like a beacon to a desert oasis. But this, boys and girls, is no mirage…
Henry M. Robert, the author of the “Pocket Manual of Rules of Order for Deliberative Assemblies,” also known as “Robert’s Rules of Order” (first published in 1876), played a very important part in the establishment of the Mojave Road and its military presence. As a matter of fact, Major Henry M. Robert surveyed the road and helped give us the route we know today…
Not quite the desert, but Cucamonga was on the border. At the end of the 1960s and early 1970s, Route 66 was still the way to or from the great Mojave, from where I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley. I remember many trips to Cucamonga to explore the abandoned stone houses of early…
We’re not saying Apple Valley, California, is in the middle of nowhere, although Los Angelinos may argue differently. This 62 foot labyrinth is great place to go to clear your head and get back in touch with nature. To listen to the wind and not much else. Despite its popularity, of all the times we’ve visited here we’ve never come across anyone else at this spot. We hope you enjoy the same pleasure…
An unassuming yet historically significant midcentury-modern building can be found on a small patch of land in a desert city known all over the world. Without further ado, we present the Owen Coffman American Legion in Palm Springs. The original American Legion in the great town actually goes back to the late 1930s, when a…
Harper Dry Lake bed in the Mojave Desert was the site of secret flight test programs conducted by the Hughes & Northrop aircraft companies during the 1940s, including the first flight by an American rocket-propelled aircraft. Howard Hughes tested aircraft and built a hangar here. Years later, it was decided Harper Dry Lake was the best place to launch the space shuttle’s heir apparent, the Lockheed Martin Venture Star…
Remember, while exploring remote parts of the desert, the true test of character is doing the right thing, even if nobody else is watching.
Rustic cemeteries dot the outskirts of Old West ghost towns where the early inhabitants lay in eternal rest. We thank you for being mindful and respectful of the departed. Their lives touched many and in retrospect added to the complex tapestry of history known as the Mojave Desert.
Modern unsung heroes continue to pay homage to their legacies…
Cronese vs. Coronise Figuring out the origin of the Cronese Cat’s name has just about as many theories as a storybook feline has lives. It was believed the natural wonder is either named for early explorer and author Titus Fey Cronise or William H.V. Cronise. In 1870, both were officers of the Piute Mining Company….
Sometimes you find some mighty strange things in the desert. Dolls, for instance. Abandoned, ragged, caked with grime. The creepier, all the better…
Team work makes the dream work. In hardly anytime at all we were packed up and ready to evacuate. Left the RV park in the middle of a sideways blizzard with no regrets. Still no electricity after 16 hours…
