Here are the details on our upcoming tour of Route 66. 

Itinerary

• Friday Afternoon: Everyone should be on site at our motel, the Ramada Inn, on Main Street, by about 3 p.m. We’ll check in and have a brief hello session.

- We will gather in the parking lot at 3:30 p.m., and drive a few minutes to the wonderful Tom's Welding and Machine Shop, on the north side of town. Tom has collected an amazing amount of industrial age objects. We may be able to enter the premises. If not, there’s plenty to see from the road.

- We’ll explore the oldest part of town, where the sands of time have literally swallowed part of Barstow.

- We will have dinner at Di Napoli’s Firehouse restauran. Ken and Dave will pick up the cost of dinner, you’ll be on your own for alcoholic beverages.

- We will conclude the evening with nighttime photography near our motel.

• Saturday:

- Dawn photography session: location to be announced. If you want to attend, be in the lobby by 6:30 a.m. A basic breakfast is available at the motel.

- Depart by 9:00 a.m. for the Daggett Cemetery, the Daggett market and a jumbled junkyard. Then it's on to the famous Bagdad Cafe, where we'll stop for photos and perhaps meet the owner and some of her friends.  

- We will travel to the community of Ludlow for a rest break at the Dairy Queen Grill and Chill. We can grab a fast food lunch; you can bring your own lunch, too. There are a couple of gas stations in Ludlow, too. Then we’ll travel to the little community of Amboy. We’ll photograph Roy's Cafe and Motel and look for some desert water at an old salt mining operation. 

- We will return to Barstow after sunset, which will take about 70 minutes of drive time. The instructors will have dinner at Peggy Sue's diner, off of Interstate 10. There’s lots of room, good food. Then we will head back to our motel after a long day. Up for more action? Meet in the motel lobby to view some of our photographs, either from the trip or those you've brought.

• Sunday: Optional dawn session. Meet at 6:30 a.m. in the lobby. Or meet at 8:00 a.m. for breakfast at our motel, where we will share photos and thoughts about photography. Then our group will visit the Route 66 Mother Road Museum, about 10 a.m. Afterwards, we will depart Barstow and travel west along Route 66 towards Victorville, where we will end our trip at Elmer's Bottle Tree farm.

Directions

From the west, Barstow can be reached from Highway 58 out of Bakersfield - it's about 130 miles to Barstow, coming up over Tehachapi Pass and the Tehachapi Mountains; watch for the wind turbines. Take the 58 to the W. Main Street exit. Turn left onto W. Main St - go about 2.5 miles east and the Sleep Inn will be on the left.

From the L.A./Orange County/Inland Empire, Barstow can be reached via the I-15. From the junction of the I-210 and the I-15, it is about 60 miles to Barstow. Exit off the I-15 at Highway 247, turn left onto Barstow Road and drive about a mile to W. Main Street, turn left again and go west about a 2.5 miles to the Sleep Inn, on the right side of the street.

From Arizona and points east, take the I-40 to Barstow. Take the first exit onto E. Main Street and keep going through town until reaching the motel, on the right side of the road. Or exit at Barstow Road and drive about a mile north to Main Street, turn left and go e about a 2.5 miles to the Sleep Inn, on the right side of the street.

Ken Rockwell and Dave Wyman will be on site about 1:30 p.m. - we should all be on site about 3:00 p.m. for introductions, and we'll be ready to visit our first location about 3 p.m.

Locations in the Field

Note: you can put locations in your map apps.

Friday

Directions to our first field location: Tom's Certified Welding and Machine Shop - from the motel, turn left onto W. Main Street, then turn left again onto N. 1st Street.

Just before going over the bridge, notice the Del Taco - it's reputedly the first Del Taco, built in 1964. Continue over the old bridge and down past the Casa Desierto building (on the right). It’s the train station. The route 66 museum is located there, which we will visit on Sunday morning.

Just past the Casa Desierto, turn left onto Irwin Road and follow it north about a mile to Old Highway 58. Turn left onto 58, and drive west about half a mile to Tom's, on the right side of the road. You can't miss it.

Park in front of the machine shop. We can regroup with Dave and Ken; we can also wander into and around Tom's on our own. There is a vast assemblage of objects to photograph here, from discarded fire extinguishers to old cars, gas pumps, colorful pvc pipes, and some terrific signs emblematic of Route 66 and the open road.

- Back to the Motel: Return the same way we came, to Casa Desierto and across the bridge, and make the right turn onto Main Street in Barstow. (We'll have a 5 minute restroom break at the motel.)

Directions to the Route 66 Pizza Palace: Walk carefully across the highway from the motel, turn right and walk to the restaurant. Dave will purchase several pizzas and salads for those who want them; you're on your own for drinks.

Directions to some neon: After dinner, we'll drive east along Main Street, and over the hill to the Route 66 Motel, on your right. Park on the street or in the little lot just past the motel. 

Saturday

Directions to the Daggett, the Dagger Cemetery, and Bagdad Cafe. Once we leave the motel, by 8:30 a.m. or so, we will turn left out of the parking lot and then right on Barstow Road to the I-15 freeway.

Take the I-15 east, then the I-40 east, and drive about 10 miles, exiting at the Daggett - Yermo Road. Head north, over the tracks and turn right - east - onto Historic Route 66 (National Trails Highway). Park in the dirt lot on the right, just past the market on the left. 

After making some photos, we'll continue a short distance east to the Daggett cemetery. 

Return to the I-40, and take it east, exiting at the little community of Newberry Springs. Follow the National Trails Highway (Route 66) east about two miles. The Bagdad Cafe will be on the left. 

Directions to Ludlow: From the cafe, continue on the National Trails Highway (Route 66); we make make a stop or two along the way to Ludlow before we make an official rest stop at the Chevron station across the street from the Ludlow Cafe. We will re-group and drive a short distance to photograph some of the old buildings in the Ludlow area.

Directions to Roys: drive another 25 miles east, on Route 66, to the little community of Amboy. Let's regroup at Roy's Motel and Cafe. This is a good place to have the lunch you brought. There's a restroom and gift shop at Roy's. We may drive a few miles east of Roy's to visit some abandoned structures before returning to Roy's.

Directions to National Chloride Company: From Roy's we will retrace our way about a mile, crossing the railroad tracks and turning left onto Amboy Road. Continue south about 5 miles to National Chloride - continue just past the entrance (on the left) and park on the right, next to the salt flats. We'll explore the salt flats and walk together to the "bone yard." Time permitting, we will return along Amboy to the Hill Brothers salt factory, on the right, about a mile before Route 66, and make some final photographs while we await sunset.

Directions to Peggy Sue's and Barstow: We will simply turn west on Route 66 (National Trails Highway) and follow the signs back to Barstow. We'll want to eat dinner, and one place to do it before reaching Barstow will Peggy Sue's in Yermo. Exit Daggett - Yermo Road, follow it north to the I-15, turn right just before the freeway underpass, and Peggy Sue's will be on the right. If you go under the freeway underpass, you went a little to far. Otherwise, make the 75 mile drive to Barstow, where there are a multitude of restaurants.
 

Sunday

- Early session: TBA

Directions to the Route 66 Museum: From the motel, turn left onto W. Main Street, then turn left again onto N. 1st Street.

Continue over the old bridge and down to the Casa Desierto building (on the right), where the museum is located

Directions to the Bottle Farm: For those following Dave and Ken towards Los Angeles, take W. Main Street west. W. Main is also Route 66. We'll caravan back to the Bottle Tree Farm before calling it quits for the weekend. The Bottle Tree Farm is about 25 miles west of our motel, on the right. It won't be hard to spot.

 Remember: Bring a good California road map and/or make sure you have Google Maps and/or Apple Maps on your phone.. For those who enjoy exploring the Internet, it's possible to view and download maps for all the places we will visit over the weekend. 

Bring enough CF/SD cards and/or film, and enough battery power to run a camera for an entire day. Batteries can be recharged on Friday and Saturday nights.

Car pooling: Once we are in Barstow, the fewer cars we have, the better. Trip leaders ask that participants try to form car pools when we meet at our motel. Cell phones should work if you become separated from the group.

Our motel: The Ramada Inn, on W. Main Street, in Barstow. Phone: 760-256-5673. If you’d like to stay there with Ken and Dave and the rest of the group, call the motel directly and mention you’re with the Dave Wyman/Ken Rockwell group. It’s a pleasant motel. Breakfast is included.

Dave's cell: 323 377-7565. Use if you're lost or lonely.

davewyman@imountainman.com

Phone: 323 377-7565
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