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…
It may not have followed a three hour tour on the S.S. Minnow but Bombay Beach was founded on October 8, 1929 by R.E. Gilligan along the shore of the Salton Sea, the largest inland lake in the southern California. Mary Ann approves. Here’s some more fun facts: But wait, there’s more. The California Department…
Shoshone, California, “The Gateway to Death Valley” is an interesting village with a full-time population of about 31. That’s 31 people who can wake up and go to sleep with this panoramic view of their home. Dublin Gulch is on the southwest outskirts of Shoshone. The caves were dug out of compacted volcanic ash from…
As the saying goes, so many books, so little time. Picking out your favorite book would be akin to picking out your favorite child. Each has its own unique character. We’ve always had a special affinity for older books. Where words took center stage, not glaring, over-edited photos. Their crafty use of language painted vivid…
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…
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’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?
Just what keeps the memory of this old town alive more than a century after it was born in the midst of the mining boom of the 19th Century?
Walk down Butte Avenue and, in the middle of the block, you will surely find the answer at the Rand Desert Museum.
Founded in 1943 and given over to Kern County in 1948, the museum is the heart and soul of the old town…
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…