Route 66

Departing Needles this morning we drove east to Kingman, Az, them turned left onto a section of the old US Route 66 highway. Remnants of the old highway still exist along sections as this one we traveled between Kingman and Seligman where we rejoined the interstate. Here are a few shots from my iPhone.

Old Sign just outside of Kingman

Balmy weather gave way to crisp cool air as we climb in elevation up to over 5,000 ft.

Old quonset hut greenhouse.  Hmm. What are they growing?

Along the highway are many older and campy places quite unique in character.

Hackberry General Store.  A real historical site

We found one place, Hackberry Store, which collects old gas pumps and cars and signs. We met the owner's son and grandson inside.

Entrance to Hackberry Store

Inside were all kinds of memorabilia.

Wow

We drove through the Hualapi reservation following the railroad line of the old Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe.

Old trucks abound

The Grand Canyon caverns is a private venture. The caverns were discovered back in 1921 and the land bought by a man named Peck.

This greated us at the entrance

Old man Peck thought he had discovered a mine with gold, silver and diamonds so he bought the land only to discover it wasn't.

And this one at the Gift shop.
No Dinasours down in caverns though.

So, he developed the place and them sold it to a other people. Who really commercialized it. They put in a 22 story elevator down to the entrance.
The cavern boasts the quietest motel room in the world.

Rated amongst the 10 best places to sleep in the world..right...
They do a nightly ghost tour in the caverns.

And Enough food storage that was put in place during the Cuban missile crisis to feed 2000 people for several weeks.

Somebody takes this stuff seriously to pack away all this water and MRE's

Apparently they have recently updated their inventory in light of recent world events and concerns.

More food storage.

And why is it called the Grand Canyon Caverns? Apparently they discovered the air I'm the caverns actuall comes from 40 miles away in the canyon. They did this by releasing red smoke bombs in the cavern. Takes 2 weeks for the red smoke to reach the canyon through the limestone. And there you have the tidbit of the day.

It was interesting. Now onto Winslow Arizona.

Location:Kingman,Az

Tehachapi loop

Departing Bakersfield we head up Hwy 58 towards Mojave desert. We see this beautiful light in the hills. A good omen.



As The rain pours down back home we enjoy a refreshing ride up the mountain. We always enjoy a visit to one of the railroading mecca's, Tehachapi loop. Pulling off at Keene we follow a train up the pass. I was driving so no good pix. We stopped at overlook to watch the train circle the loop.



We stop further up to have our breakfast. And we could see way down into the loop.


Then up over pass and into tehachapi for refuel. We ❤ Love's.


Across the Mojave desert. Thru Barstow at 2100 ft then descend to Needles, ca along the Colorado river.

Location:E Tehachapi Blvd,Tehachapi,United States

Camping in the Orange Groves

We stopped tonight after dark just east of Bakersfield at a place called Orange Grove RV park.  

Literally in the middle of an orange grove.  How cool is that?  Pretty cool, if you ask me.  But you are not asking, you are reading.
It is relatively quiet here and after a long day of driving on the interstate (because we do not like 99) and departing later than we like this is as far as we could get.  We still have 3 days to reach Albuquerque.  We could do it in 2 days but why push too hard.
We would prefer to take back roads, however the back roads to Albuquerque from here are: 1) not many, and 2) very very long drive time.  So we will drive up through Tehachapi and the Mojave, then head east over Interstate 40 across the Kaibab Plateau through Flagstaff (almost 8,000 ft) then down into southern New Mexico and explore that area for 2 weeks.

Location:Rosewood Ave,Bakersfield,United States

Off the the Desert Southwest today

Update: We elected to drive down the interstate then east on Hwy 58 past Bakersfield up through tehachapi to the Mojave Desert.
So It appears we did NOT try to make it over Donner Pass which we haven't been able to do in past trips. Snow level above 6500 (Pass is 7200) and weather very light so w think the highway could be light slushy snow on top so we were going to try it.  Then down through Nevada to pick up I-40 across northern Arizona.  Planning to spend Thanksgiving in Albuquerque.
All packed and now to shut down here at home and be off.  Stay tuned for more soon.
This morning as we departed house at Ananda Village

Down to Village center to hook up Jeep in towing mode.

On the road late afternoon with sum on Yogananda statue on our dashboard.




We will stay in an Orange Grove tonight.

Location:I-5 S,Buttonwillow,United States

A movie extra

a few weeks ago I, along with 60 of my friends from Ananda, spent the day in Grass Valley at Empire Mine State Park. Where the Ananda movie, Cities of Light is filming the Garden party scene from Yogananda's autobiography.
AI am an extra in the crowd. This has been a big deal with about 50 of us dressed up in 1949 period costumes.

Amazing how we all look like we lived in those times.

Oh yes, here I am: