Getting our kicks on Route 66 between Santa Monica and Barstow - podcast 346
Highlights of RVing Route 66 between Santa Monica and Barstow - Podcast 346
Join us on our Route 66 adventure! This week we traveled the mother road from Santa Monica pier to the Barstow area. We hope you enjoy our photos, videos, and memories as we celebrate 100 years of Route 66!
Among the things you’ll see:
The Santa Monica Pier
Two muffler men including Chicken Boy
Fair Oaks Pharmacy
The McDonald’s Museum
Multiple donut stops
More food than we should be eating - some great Route 66 eating stops
The world-famous Elmer’s Bottle Ranch
…and a lot more!
Other places to hear the podcast
Mentioned on this episode
Our guide to traveling Route 66 in your RV
We’re now an official part of the Route 66 Centennial Commission
We are so pleased with our water hoses from AirGear
Our journey begins at Santa Monica Pier
The official end of the Route is near Mel’s Drive-In
We enjoyed a phosphate soda and a root beer float at Fair Oaks Pharmacy in South Pasadena
Donuts for lunch? Why not! We visit the Donut Man for donuts larger than our faces
We thoroughly enjoyed a tour of the Cucamonga Service Station
Speaking of eating well, we try the pastrami dips at The Hat
If we didn’t have RVs maybe we would sleepee in a teepee at The Wigwam Motel in San Bernardino
If you love McDonalds you might love the Historic McDonalds Museum at the site of the original McDonalds hamburger restaurant
Ready to eat again? Try Emma Jean’s Holland Burger Cafe in Victorville
Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch is truly Goofy USA!
Traversing the desert in a group of RVs is easy when you have a solar and lithium system from ABC Upfitters
Some history, some kitsch, and some beautiful sunny days made for a nice visit to Calico Ghost Town
Don’t skip a meal when you can fill up at Peggy Sue’s 50s Diner! Nope, not your podcast host Peggy Sue. Another Peggy Sue.
Despite what we read online, The Historic Mother Road Museum at the Harvey House in Barstow is open for business.
Places we’ve eaten on this trip
Pasadena - Fair Oaks Pharmacy - a vintage soda fountain
La Brea - Hollywood - Pink’s Hot Dogs (not really Route 66)
Glendora - Donut Man No. 5
Glendora - The Hat famous pastrami dip sandwiches
Places we’ve camped on this trip
LA is tough but Malibu Creek State Park is relatively central and affordable
California’s Inland Empire Rancho Jurupa Regional Park is pretty great
We also camped at Calico Ghost Town
If you’re confused about solar, battery power or just want to upgrade your RV we have found the solutions from ABC Upfitters are both reliable and exceptional.
We have a podcast episode and video where you can learn more here.
Automated transcript of StressLess Camping RV podcast episode 346
Peggy
Join us on our Route 66 adventure!
Tony
This week, we travel the mother road from Santa Monica Pier to the Barstow area.
Peggy
We hope that you enjoy our photos, videos, and memories as we celebrate 100 years of Route 66.
Tony
We have this week's podcast, along with the notes and all the stories that go with this episode, plus discounts, deals, helpful tips, and more at our home on the web at stresslesscamping.com.
Peggy
We really appreciate your likes and your shares. Thank you for joining us for podcast episode 346.
Tony
Stressless Camping!
Peggy
Stressless Camping.
Tony
I'm Tony.
Peggy
I'm Peggy.
Tony
And we're getting our kicks on Route 66.
Peggy
That's right, and we have people joining us off and on, and this week we're going to show you and tell you about the route that we've done so far, which is starting in Santa Monica and ending in the Barstow area.
Tony
Now, we appreciate the fact that the vast majority of you are audio listeners.
Peggy
Yes.
Tony
And we have always tried to respect that, but this is such a visual episode that maybe this week you might wanna check out the video version, which is at stresslesscamping.com, and YouTube, and all of that.
Peggy
Yes.
Tony
So just a, a heads-up, but-
Peggy
We will try to describe what we're showing everybody so that if you're listening, you can hear it, but you- hopefully you'll be intrigued enough to go check out the pictures and videos.
Tony
Right?
Peggy
So we officially started our Route 66 journey on Tuesday, February 3rd. We camped at Malibu Creek State Park Campground.
Tony
Yeah, this is a no-hookups campground, although there are water spigots.
Peggy
So we took advantage of those water spigots by filling our fresh water- ... not with our Wolverine bags, but with our water hoses s- dragged across the street and all the way over to our camper. I think we might actually be needing to buy a third water hose from the Air Gear store, because we didn't have quite enough. Luckily, we carry a white hose as a emergency backup, and we needed it this time. But the Air Gear water hoses-
Tony
Yeah, and one of the good things about them is we stretch the living daylights out of them, and they just snap right back, go back in their bags, and, and all of that. We have more information about these hoses at stresslesscamping.com.
Peggy
On Wednesday, February 4th, is the day we really started to go exploring.
Tony
Yeah, and we saw our first muffler man, and-
Peggy
Yeah
Tony
... he's been there for quite a while, uh, pitching tacos, but now we are going to the Santa Monica Pier.
Peggy
Yep, so I went to the Santa Monica Pier, and Kate went to the Santa Monica Pier, and Bill went to the Santa Monica Pier, and what did we almost do?
Tony
Wait, you almost forgot me!
Peggy
Almost forgot Tony.
Tony
What about me? The Santa Monica Pier started life as a municipal pier, where they had the idea in the early 1900s to build a municipal pier and send the sewage out to sea. Now, it's got all these rides and stuff. It's pretty great. So here we are.
Peggy
You used to be able to drive on the pier, right?
Tony
Oh, yeah.
Peggy
And that's kind of why it's sort of the unofficial end of Route 66, is you could actually drive all the way up to the pier instead of just driving to some random spot in Santa Monica where the highway ended.
Tony
Oh, yeah, when I was in high school, we drove on the pier all the time. It was part of a cruise that we would do.
Peggy
Oh, cool.
Tony
So yeah, I've been on dri- I've driven big old heavy cars on that pier many a time.
Peggy
Huh. So the pier really celebrates Route 66 as the end of the trail.
Tony
It officially isn't the end of the trail-
Peggy
Correct
Tony
... only because it's not- it can't be a highway, 'cause it doesn't go anywhere.
Peggy
Right.
Tony
Well, unless you want a car wash.
Peggy
Unless you wanna try to drive across the ocean, but it's kind of a fun place to just hang out. There's a lot of shopping, and a lot of restaurants, and, you know, beach, and you can watch the surfers, and it's just a fun place to hang out and kind of pretend like it's the end of Route 66. There's a lot of gift shops, too, so we bought our first set of souvenirs here at the pier.
Tony
Yeah, absolutely. I've decided, by the way, that I'm gonna collect pins on the route rather than T-shirts, because, A, I don't have much more room for T-shirts-
Peggy
Oh, gosh
Tony
... and pins are less expensive.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
But they put this end-of-the-trail marker as a kind of a great place to have pictures, and we also-
Peggy
Yeah, we stayed at... We got a drink at the rooftop bar, which was said to be the, uh, best rooftop bar on the pier. It's kind, kind of the only rooftop bar on the pier-
Tony
Yeah, yeah
Peggy
... so but that's okay.
Tony
There it is, the end-of-the-trail marker.
Peggy
We hung out until sunset, and then after sunset, we just took a short drive over to Mel's Drive-In, which is more at the actual official end of Route 66. It's on Lincoln and something.
Tony
Olympic, I think.
Peggy
Olympic or something like that, and but Mel's Drive-In hasn't always been a Mel's.
Tony
Did we meet at Mel's? American Plus again.
Peggy
It is time to begin Route 66. I love that the bell kept ringing itself. It's so crazy.
Tony
Yeah, there it is, the official end-
Peggy
There's the official end
Tony
... of Route 66. By the way, those bells are kind of all over, and the next-
Peggy
Yeah
Tony
... day-
Peggy
On Thursday, yeah, we went to San- we went to-
Tony
Fair Oaks, which, uh-
Peggy
Fair Oaks Pharmacy
Tony
... Fair Oaks Pharmacy, which is in Pasadena.
Peggy
In Pasadena, yeah.
Tony
And the significance of this is it's been there since before Route 66... Oh, my gosh. The accordion-
Peggy
Tony found an accordion to play.
Tony
Yeah, accordion to the information, it's been there since before Route 66. They have the unique-... thing of what's called a soda fountain, and that's a soda jerk.
Peggy
Yeah, they actually have soda jerks.
Tony
And so what that dude does is he will actually mix up custom sodas, and that's how it used to be back in the old days! Now, the secret ingredient he's putting in is phosphate.
Peggy
Phosphate.
Tony
So that gives it kind of a tart kick.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
Is that the, the famous phosphate?
Speaker 3
It is.
Tony
Ah, the famous phosphate. So he- you can kind- there's a bunch of different sodas that you can request. Uh, Bill and I got cherry Cokes.
Peggy
Yep. So it was fun to watch and just kind of, you know, watch him build it up like in the old days. Then I also ordered a root beer float, which he also made for me, and it was really delicious.
Tony
Yeah. Look, there's Bill. He's like-
Speaker 3
Watching.
Tony
Bill is ready for his- Bill's watching ... soda. My mom was a jerk when she was a kid. People as a kid-
Peggy
My mom was a jerk as a kid.
Tony
Wow. Hey! Why I, uh-
Peggy
And Kate actually bought an egg cream, which I learned is... does not have egg in it. It's actually basically carbonated chocolate milk-
Tony
Yeah
Peggy
... which is interesting, but she said it was good.
Tony
But if-
Peggy
But we-
Tony
Oh, uh, you know, if there were more soda fountains... I'm not a big soda drinker, but I would probably be if there were some-
Peggy
Yeah, I think so
Tony
... 'cause they're so good. Oh, look, there's Peggy's root beer float.
Peggy
That's the root beer float.
Tony
All right.
Peggy
It was so pretty and delicious.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
So then we took a little drive.
Tony
Our second muffler man of the trip.
Peggy
Chicken Boy-
Tony
Chicken Boy!
Peggy
... is an old muffler man that actually, uh, has a chicken head on it, and it holds a bucket of chicken-
Tony
Yeah
Peggy
... oddly enough.
Tony
And then, um, we diverted from Route 66 and went to Hollywood.
Peggy
Right.
Tony
And so now we're at Pink's Hot Dogs.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
And, you know, for us, we never can't not put our heads in those-
Peggy
Yes,
Tony
... head hole things.
Peggy
Head hole pictures.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
Uh, we forgot to take pictures of our hot dogs. Kate took one. Hers had bacon and nacho cheese on it. They were all really, really good, but we just dug in and forgot about pictures. Right next door to Pink's is Voodoo Doughnuts, so they- ... were all ready for Valentine's Day. They had all their Valentine doughnuts, and I got a voodoo doll, which is basically a stuffed- a chocolate bar. It had some strawberry cream in it, uh, but it was shaped like a voodoo doll.
Tony
Yep. Okay, Friday, February 7th, and we drove by the Aztec Hotel, uh, which is no longer a hotel- or Aztec Motel, but it's so iconic. Um, it's, it's just beautiful architecture.
Peggy
Right. Then we also found a couple of old gas stations. One is currently being used as a gas station, so it's not that exciting. The other one is a huge building for a gas station, and I know that they are working on it. I saw a worker there, but I don't know exactly what they're doing, because it was on a little street, and there was really no place to park.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
But we were on historic Route 66. Tony's over there at the Donut Man getting a donut. We're just waiting for our friends to show up, and, hey, here comes one now.
Tony
We stopped at Donut Man-
Peggy
There's Kate
Tony
... which is a seemingly tiny donut shop. We got great parking, by the way. It was really impressive, but it's this tiny little donut shop-
Peggy
With gigantic donuts.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
There was, like, a whole basket of strawberries stuffed into a strawberry donut. The bars were, like, more than 12 inches long. Every... I mean, even normal, you know, basic donuts were kind of on the bigger side, but some of them were just giant and so good-looking.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
It was really hard to choose.
Tony
Apparently, they're known for peach donuts when the peaches are in season, but they're-
Peggy
Right
Tony
... not at the moment.
Peggy
So right now they had strawberry instead. None of us got a strawberry donut.
Tony
No.
Peggy
But they- the apple donuts looked really, really good. I didn't get that either. There was just way too many choices.
Tony
Yeah, there were a lot of choices. Bill got this donut that was quite literally as large as his head. It was, it was crazy. Something that surprised me is, here it is, like, late in the afternoon. They're still making donuts. There's a full crew, so there were constantly donuts coming out. So this teeny little shop had, like, four employees that I saw-
Peggy
Making donuts constantly.
Tony
Yeah. Anyway, it's a- apparently an icon on Route 66 now.
Peggy
So from there, we did just some driving, and I did some drive-by photo- photos- ... because we couldn't find parking for three rigs. We saw the Madonna of the Trail. We saw the Magic Lamp Restaurant, which I thought had closed down, but it was very clearly in operation, open the day we drove past. And then there's a bridge not far from the Magic Lamp that, uh, I couldn't get a great, great video, but it says, "America's Main Street Route 66," and it has all the states represented from, uh, the, that are on Route 66.
Tony
Now, for me, a real highlight of these first few days was in Cucamonga. There's an old Richfield gas station, and they have restored this thing just beautifully, and if you look at a lot of people's pictures from Route 66, uh, this thing shows up, 'cause it's just so pretty.
Peggy
Yeah, it's lovely, and, and you're right. Everybody takes pictures of it, w- for good reason.
Tony
Yeah. They are actually working on recreating the mechanic shops behind the gas station-... uh, so that's in the plans right now, and of course, it only takes money and volunteers.
Peggy
And then those mechanic shops will be a kind of a event center and more of a museum, because the building right now is- they've got a lot stuffed into that building as museum pieces. So it'll be nice for them, I think, to be able to spread out. Don't you wish you could pay 17 cents a gallon for gasoline?
Tony
I know, right? Oh, my gosh. Yeah, it's- it- there's just so much to like about this, and it really kind of takes you back to well before we were-
Peggy
Yeah
Tony
... when we were born. But there was a couple of volunteers inside told us a lot of the history and what's going on and all.
Peggy
And it was a beautiful day for it.
Tony
Oh, gosh, it sure was.
Peggy
Just the mountains were so clear and beautiful.
Tony
Uh, for those of you young whippersnappers, they used to have those bells at filling stations that you would run over to indicate that you were there. They have one, and it worked.
Peggy
And they're pretty sensitive. Uh- ... you stepped on it, but I think even Zappo, the dog, set it off by accident.
Tony
Yeah, Zappo did a- ... he, he got some dings.
Peggy
There is a picture here. They have a little model of what the whole thing will look like when they've got it completely built out with the new garages behind and everything.
Tony
Yeah. They have a really nice map mural on the back wall inside this place, and like I say, the volunteers there were, were great at helping explain stuff.
Peggy
So then we got to our next camp, and, uh, if you wanna be stressless, all you have to do is go camping. Nothing ever goes wrong. It's a... uh, hey, what's happening here?
Speaker 3
Hi!
Peggy
Hi.
Speaker 3
This is the fun part of camping.
Peggy
Yeah.
Speaker 3
We had a low tire. We had it repaired. I listened to my tires when I got here. There was air coming out.
Peggy
Coming right out of the tire. Shoot.
Speaker 3
Yep, apparently the repair didn't take.
Peggy
And then we went to dinner at The Hat.
Tony
You might notice a theme here about all the food we ate- ... but this, uh, it was just insane, this, this, like, symphony of workers making these pastrami dip sandwiches, and, and other things, too, but there was a line outside that it was just hoppin' hoppin'.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
And the pastrami sandwiches, ooh-
Peggy
Oh, my gosh, they put so much pastrami in their pastrami sandwiches, which is fantastic, and by the way, a, an order of onion rings is definitely enough for two or maybe even three people.
Tony
Yeah. Then we drove through the Wigwam, and we actually have a story about our stay here. We didn't stay this time. We stayed here, like, 20 years ago.
Peggy
Yeah, it was a long time ago.
Tony
It's pretty well-kept and nice. There's a fence on the outside, 'cause San Bernardino can be a little rough.
Peggy
Yeah, so they keep it up really nice, and the- even the, uh, inside, you know, where you would go to check in, we went in, and they had a tiny but really good gift shop, and I bought a sticker, and we got pins, and- ... um, the guy behind the counter was super nice and really helpful. So the Wigwam is a place that, you know, if you're hotel traveling, it's, uh, kind of a fun, kitschy place to go stay.
Tony
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, look at that. Nice. That's like a postcard, that picture-
Peggy
Yeah
Tony
... Peggy took. All right.
Peggy
On Saturday, we drove a little more, and we actually drove past a modern McDonald's that actually has a vintage Speedee out front, which was kind of fun to see, and we did that on our way to the McDonald's Museum.
Tony
Yeah, and it's amazing. They have collections of, uh, the Happy Meal toys from different decades. There's stuff there from the movie The Founder, and this-
Peggy
Yeah, the whole... like, every toy that was ever sold, and I love they have a display that says, "Please don't eat the displays," and it was, like, all different foods, and, uh, some of it looked a little bit appetizing, but, you know.
Tony
Yeah, and here we are getting our kicks at the Mix.
Peggy
At the Mix.
Tony
At every stop, it's always, like, this confab of, like, "Okay, now what? Where are we going?" And of course, we were dealing with multiple RVs, so, uh, it was fun.
Peggy
Yeah, we had to be careful to go places that we knew we could get.
Tony
Yeah.
Speaker 3
You need something different-
Peggy
Since Route 66 follows the train tracks, I wonder if we'll still be able following this train by the end of the day or the end of the week. We did not see that train anymore that day. We, uh, drove on the, on the open road next to the closed road next to the freeway, so the road itself has been closed because of, you know, geologic activity. It's just not drivable, but Cajon Road, a- adjacent to it, is still a valid kind of old Route 66 drive, and you can watch the highway go by as you drive it.
Tony
Yeah, and then here we are in Victorville.
Peggy
Yeah, in Victorville we also went to a Route 66 museum, and I guess we were interested in what we saw, 'cause we didn't take very many pictures, but Tony took a little ride in a van.
Tony
Yeah, but then, again, food. Emma Jean's Cafe- ... was an old truck stop, and it's now being run by the third generation-
Peggy
Yeah
Tony
... a lady running it there, doing a great job. And we actually found parking outside, which was remarkable.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
So there are all our rigs.
Peggy
Well, we found- th- those are actually at Elmer's-
Tony
Oh!
Peggy
... Bottle Tree Ranch, but we found parking in both places, which was-
Tony
Yeah
Peggy
... pretty remarkable. Uh, if you don't know about the Bottle Tree Ranch, it is-... hundreds of welded tree frames. We actually met Elmer in 2006 when we visited there. He is unfortunately gone.
Tony
The phone's for you.
Speaker 3
The phone's for me?
Tony
Yeah. There's a caretaker working there, uh, and- Yeah ... just a fun guy. You know what kind of conversation you're gonna have? I saw a sewing machine. It was the inevitable. So sew.
Peggy
Yeah, absolutely.
Tony
These bottle trees are just things that Elmer, uh, has found in the desert. It's amazing! My tribute to Heelhauser. Ah, here's an old coffee grinder.
Speaker 3
See the huge bottle up on the top of that tree?
Tony
Oh, my gosh.
Peggy
Yeah, there's all s- sizes of bottles, all colors of bottles, all styles. Trees made of just glass insulators.
Tony
I like the hubcap.
Peggy
He's actually designing a souvenir tree that's really small-
Tony
That you can buy.
Peggy
You can buy, and then it- you can put, like, little-
Tony
Oh, dude
Peggy
... like, airline bottle sizes on it.
Tony
Believe that's the bottom of a bong. Yeah, the collection of stuff is, is remarkable, and just how big this has gotten. I have so many places to be.
Speaker 3
I have so many questions.
Peggy
So, m- there's not as much to say as there is to see.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
So the video-
Tony
Right
Peggy
... the audio's gonna be a little boring right now, because we're because we're just wandering through the-
Tony
Yeah, when we came here last, this was remarkably smaller. I mean, s- like... Yeah, that. By the way, we're recording this by watching it and recording over it, so sometimes we're talking over ourselves. I tried a little fancy photography, too.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
Why wouldn't I?
Peggy
Turned out pretty cool.
Tony
Yeah, I kinda like it. Something that has really worked well for us on this trip is our solar and lithium system from ABC Outfitters. It has allowed us to take advantage of Harvest Host, uh, boondocking spots, desert camping-
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
It has truly been, uh, outstanding on this trip, and as usual, reliable, works great. Um, so if you would like to make your boondocking fantastic, you can give our friends at ABC Outfitters a call at 574-333-3225.
Peggy
That's 574-333-3225.
Tony
It really expands what you can do on the road.
Peggy
Tony did have to tighten the low point drain, so he took a second shower that day because it sprinkled right in his face.
Tony
My buddy Tom made his fire pit even better by putting a pole in the middle, so that he could use the lid as a deflector, and there's Tom enjoying his creation right now. Good job, Tom! You're heating up the campfire super well. Yeah, that made that propane fire pit work well.
Peggy
Yeah. We took a little side trip to Rainbow Basin. It's not officially on Route 66, but it's got really cool geology and lots of fun hiking. So we did go and check it out for a day, and drive through the very, at times, narrow drive. Had to pull in the mirrors. And the, uh, washboard road to get there is a little bit washboardy.
Tony
Oh, my gosh.
Peggy
It's a lot washboardy, so we have a little hanging bee in our truck, and it was dancing, dancing, dancing while we were driving down the washboard road.
Tony
That road was pretty- That's where we broke the fresh tank in our first Mini Lite.
Peggy
Yeah, in our first Mini Lite. We also took a little bit of a visit to Calico Ghost Town. We have been there and talked about that a couple times before. The schoolhouse is my favorite part. It's, uh, said to be the most haunted part of town.
Tony
And of course, uh, it's pet-friendly. There's Bailey and Zapple in jail.
Peggy
And that night we celebrated Kate's birthday at Peggy Sue's '50s Diner.
Tony
Yeah. It was, uh, it was pretty good food. I got this pot roast dinner, uh, with a baked potato, and honestly, uh, I could've eaten half of that and still been stuffed.
Peggy
Yeah, and strawberry malts.
Tony
Yeah, I also saw my buddies from the Blues Brothers-
Peggy
Yeah
Tony
... and we're all getting our kicks on Route 66.
Peggy
Yeah. The next day, we went into Barstow, and we went to the Mother Road Museum, which was really interesting, and if you see signs that say it's closed, those are old signs. It's no longer closed.
Tony
Well, the lady there said that it's under new ownership.
Peggy
Under new ownership.
Tony
So-
Peggy
Yes
Tony
... I guess it's a private museum.
Peggy
Right.
Tony
They had some interesting cars there. They had... I loved the vintage, just appliances and that sort of stuff, but-
Peggy
Yeah, a bunch of old cars, great old appliances, and a whole room of photography, which was really great. The only thing about the photography is I wish that it said where it was taken, because some of them I said, "Oh, I've been there, I've been there," and some of them were like, "Where is that? I wanna go there!" And I didn't know where it was.
Tony
Yeah, I'm, I'm s- I suspect that since it's sort of newly reopened... Hey, Rockwood.
Peggy
Yeah, so there's a Rockwood US 66 photograph that we saw, and we're- I'm not exactly sure where it's from, but it says Rockwood.
Tony
Yeah, absolutely.
Peggy
Then we went to the Harvey House after that.
Tony
Yeah, so the, the Barstow Museum is right on-... the tracks there, and there is an old Harvey House. Uh, so it's, you know, if you like trains, there's also a railroad museum. However, it was not open the day that we were there, which-
Peggy
But there's a lot of cars and engines and stuff outside that you can just kind of look around at, and-
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
I was gonna say climb on, but you can't climb on
Tony
No, you're not supposed to. And cabooses, or are they cabeese or caboosei?
Peggy
Mm-hmm. So it is active train tracks, and then the Harvey House is... Oh, gosh, they're all such beautiful buildings, those Harvey Houses. This, of course, was a, a train stop, and it was a hotel at one time. Now, I wish that they still kept one room of the hotel, you know, like, intact so that people could see what the rooms looked like, but they no longer have that. Um, they do have a NASA display, and NASA is taking up that floor, which is good for the museum, because NASA provides some money, and NASA has a good place to make a display.
Tony
Yeah. They had the space for the display.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
Then we went to downtown Barstow and went on a walking tour, 'cause they have a ton of old murals.
Peggy
They do.
Tony
Barstow's a little... I- it's seen better days, for sure, but-
Peggy
Sure
Tony
... it's nice with the murals. There's just all kinds of tributes to history and Route 66 and such in these murals.
Peggy
Yeah, some of them were, like, so vibrant, because they don't face the sun
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
And others were kind of faded out, because they do face the sun. There was one that explained how Barstow got its name. It used to be called Waterman Junction, but until William Barstow Strong was here. There was a mural with some people standing out front. They're metal people, so we took the opportunity to pose with them.
Tony
Yep.
Peggy
And we saw a mural that had a bunch of animals, including the Mojave tui chub, which was a lot bigger than I remember it.
Tony
And this mural was interesting, because that old car is heading downhill, and they don't appear to be horribly frightened-
Peggy
I know
Tony
... by the fact that the brakes will never stop.
Peggy
I love these, uh, kind of signposts, Route 66 pi- signposts with different cars on top of them all over town.
Tony
Yeah, yeah, it's pretty cool.
Peggy
We did go to Barstow Station. Kate got a free pie from Ronald McDonald himself.
Tony
Yeah, for her birthday.
Peggy
For her birthday. And the train station actually was never a train station. I just learned that. It was just all built in 1975 as a kind of a tourist attraction, but there are kind of train cars you can sit in to eat, and I like this window here, that you can see between the cars. So you, you know, you really feel like you're sitting in a car.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
Well, you kind of are, but just not used.
Tony
We also saw the mural for the Daggett Stone Hotel, and we saw the Daggett Stone Hotel.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
So that was kinda cool.
Peggy
That was pretty cool. That was a actually hangout of Death Valley Scotty, which is... A- and among a bunch of other people, but that's the name that kind of stuck out to me.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
Uh, there's also in Daggett is a Daggett garage, which for several of its lives was a railroad garage, and now, uh, more of a, a car garage that kept the railroad and the mining, you know, uh, machinery alive for the-
Tony
Yeah. Well, that's what we have for you on this first leg of the Route 66 adventure. Um, we are keeping a daily journal with more details and links out to specific stories and things like that. Hopefully, you'll find that at our website at stresslesscamping.com, and, uh, there's a whole Route 66 travel guide as well, so something to look for there with details about all the different stuff we're, we're highlighting here.
Peggy
Yep.
Tony
We are gonna continue our Route 66 journey, and we will see you for that next week. Of course, follow us on all the usual social places- ... because we are doing our daily updates as well. We really appreciate your being here. Hope you're getting your kicks somewhere- ... and that those kicks are...
Peggy
Stressless camping!
Tony
Stressless camping!
Peggy
We camped at Malibu Campground. Malibu Cr- State Cr- bluh. We, we camped at Malibu Creek. So we officially started Route 66 on Tuesday, February 20... We never mess up like that.
