Route 66 follows the railway again here and just out of Needles we saw this service vehicle that had road tyres and special wheels to ride the rails.
On our way across the Mojave Desert this small town appeared, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. We got out of the car and discovered that it may be small but there is an open air museum just behind this sign.
About half way from Needles to Barstow we entered "The Route 66 Public Art Corridor". Thousands of people have picked out their names or initials using the surrounding stones - so we added our contribution.
The mountains created the dramatic backdrop for the art, which stretches for miles. Still blue skies and plenty of heat.
Every so often along the route we saw tiny oases of green like this palm edged drive up to a ranch.
Continuing the public art theme, this lone tree by the side of the road is festooned with cast off shoes of every colour, size and design - a true "shoe tree". As we had no spares we were unable to add to this.
This is "Amboy Crater", a well-preserved volcanic cone that is a National Landmark. We got close to it by driving up a rough dirt track so were glad that we have the SUV.
The volcanic lava makes the scenery look strange, bleak and bare. You can see our car at the end of the track as we couldn't get all the way to the cone.
We took a break at the Ludlow Cafe, a ("Googie"-style?) building. We sat at the counter and had coffee, apple pie and coconut cream pie.
Further along the road, at Newberry Springs, we came across Bagdad Cafe, evidently famous from the 1988 film, which we have not seen.
A bit further on we came across this now abandoned experimental array of mirrors. It was called the Solar 2 Power Plant and was designed to reflect and collect the sun's heat in a way that could be converted into power. We both remember hearing about this years ago.
We have been across lots of these level crossings but this was the first one where we had to stop. It took the train several minutes to pass.
This afternoon we drove up and down the Main Street in Barstow then relaxed by the pool.
Sorry Rachael, your comment re yesterday's blog seems to have disappeared. Please send it again.
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