Mathilde “Ma” Preston: Queen of the Desert
Cafes and rooming houses in Daggett sprang up. These were used as meeting places for business, as well as entertainment. One of the more popular joints was known as “Ma Preston’s”…
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What’s on Our Desert Bookshelf? Part III: 20 Guidebooks
We get asked quite often, “How do you find all the places you write about?” Here’s our secret. It’s all about guidebooks. Some armchair experts may try to tell you how challenging it is to get to a particular site, but if you have the right information about how to get there and what to…
A Trip Through Time: The Mojave Desert Then and Now Part IV
Victorville and Route 66: 7th Street meets D Street, and the year 2018 meets the roaring ’50s. The Hotel Stewart was originally the Turner Hotel more than a hundred years ago, and was serving full-course dinners for 35 cents back in 1936. Decades make a difference, and along with fires and demolitions crews, time has…
Calico Ghost Town Campground: Spirited Glamping
Calico’s reputation as a ghost town is well deserved as there are numerous reports of actual ghosts being sighted. Lucy Bell King Lane, a longtime resident who ran Lucy Lane’s General Store has often been seen in her store.
Margaret Olivier, the last schoolteacher, has been seen teaching in her classroom. Tourists who have talked with Margaret thought she was part of the staff dressed in period costumes, only to find out she has been dead since 1932. There is even the ghost story of Dorsey, the shepherd dog that carried the US Mail between various mines.
Was that really the howling wind that woke us up at 3 a.m. at our Calico campsite, or was it Lucy Lane?
Ludlow, California: More Than Ice Cream and Gasoline
Admit it. If you’ve traveled on the I-40 or Route 66, you’ve stopped for ice cream or gasoline. Maybe a corn dog.
The tiny ghost town of Ludlow, California is just off these long stretches of roads. You can’t miss it and if you do, you have miles to go before you can turn around.
We think Ludlow is the perfect little desert spot in the middle of nowhere. Ludlow is home to quite a few abandoned ramshackle houses and countless rusted cannibalized vintage cars. Ludlow even has its own pioneer cemetery. Like many ghost towns, what Ludlow has the most of is a wealth of history.
You could say Ludlow has it all…
A Trip Through Time: The Mojave Desert Then and Now, Part II
Welcome to our second installment in our continuing series.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Captain has turned on the Fasten Seat Belt sign.
We hope you enjoy your flight with us as we return to the magical, majestic and oftentimes mysterious past.
We’ve added a few surprises along the way. It’s a short flight so don’t expect candied peanuts.
Buckle up, buttercup. It’s going to be a heck of a ride…
Daggett, California: The Tiny Town That Changed Perceptions of the Mojave Desert
“There ain’t no sin and there ain’t no virtue. There’s just stuff people do.”
—John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
Perhaps no dusty desert town from the 19th Century exemplified Steinbeck’s quote better than Daggett, California. Shootouts, saloons, hangings and frontier justice, the old town had it all, and so much more…
A Trip Through Time: The Mojave Desert Then and Now, Part I
Have you ever wondered what it used to look like in the Mojave Desert in yesteryear? When ingenuity and pure desert grit was king? Do you want to learn secrets the desert has to tell?
Please join us for Part One of many trips through time illuminating the Mojave Desert’s amazing past and present. Trip the light fantastic with us–the desert way…