2026 Western Route 66 - Day 3

 Ludlow CA

After a nice breakfast at Denny’s, we packed up and headed east. Rolling through town I picked up this train and we rode together for the first 20 miles of the ride. With the strong tailwinds I was happy to set the pace and did! We hopped on the Interstate for a couple of miles, the pavement was fresh and we had a strong tailwind. Soon we exited and rejoined Route 66.

Today’s destination is the Chevron/Cafe/Motel in Ludlow about 50 miles away. We will make a stop in Newberry Springs for the highlight of today’s tour; the Baghdad Cafe!

The town of Daggett, not much here except a sign trying to entice us to visit the Calico Ghose Town, 6 miles away. That would be a 12 mile detour so a relatively easy decision to press on. Besides the strong tailwinds were predicted to become headwinds soon after arriving at the Bagdad Cafe. You know what they say; ‘never waste a good tailwind!’

The motel sign next to the Bagdad cafe, no rooms in sight. This site was the location for the movie and it was certainly recognizable after our viewing last night.

Not sure if this is the same unit, but a Slipstream Trailer like this one was home to one of the characters in the movie, Rudy Cox. He was played by Jack Palance in the movie.

It’s no longer a cafe, but is a busy Route 66 roadside attraction. I picked up some nifty Route 66 socks inside. Several monitors were playing loops from the movie. 

English version movie poster

German version movie poster

Generally the movie starts out with a German couple getting into an argument in their rental car. She decides to leave him and walks to the Bagdad Cafe and checks into the motel. A classic ‘buddy’ movie where the antagonists (Tourist and Cafe Owner) start out at odds and become besties by the end of the movie. Apparently it became somewhat of a cult classic and some say was a major driver that influenced Germans to tour in the western United States. I don’t know about that, but today we did run into a good size group of French Tourists on rental Harleys!

Welcome to the Mohave Desert!

These Black Lava flows were prominent as we neared Ludlow. Tomorrow we will roll by Amboy Crater, a volcanic ring which was one of the sources of these flows.

And in the middle of nowhere, the PacTour vans form the last SAG at the top of the 7 mile downhill run to Ludlow. No need to rush, our rooms won’t be ready until 2 pm. I push out at about noon, and planned to have lunch at the cafe.

Lots of wide open spaces, some sand dunes could be seen in the distance, and drifting around the peaks in the distance.

The ‘World Famous’ Ludlow Motel. Only 10 units and we are occupying them all. Not enough rooms for single occupancy, so we have roommates for the evening. Mike from NJ and I are sharing a room. We were both on the Eastern Route 66 tour 2 years ago and he is a great guy. Our guide book noted that the ‘bare bones motel consistently receives favorable reviews for cleanliness.’ I don’t know about that. Mike saw that there were no soaps in the bathroom so he went to the office to get some. They told him they don’t have soaps for the bathroom. Luckily the PacTour guys keep a stash in the trailer and we got some there. Maybe they use those little soaps to keep the rest of the place clean.

Oh, one more thing, don’t drink the water here. It’s contaminated with arsenic and uranium. According to the heath notices at the restaurant, the levels are considered ‘safe’ but long term exposure is not recommended. There are gallon water jugs at the trailer to fill water bottles and drinking needs!

PacTour water supply

You might wonder why on earth are we staying here. Tomorrow we ride 107 miles to Needles. Today was just over 50 miles from Barstow. This on the only motel large enough to handle our group between the two towns. So lunch today, dinner tonight, and breakfast tomorrow are here at the ‘World Famous’ Ludlow Cafe!

Note the wind!

Speaking of breakfast, 5:30 in the cafe, then load and depart at 7am.  More huge tailwinds are predicted tomorrow, and they should last the whole day! Good thing, we need to get to mile 43 by 11am or get shuttled past a construction section at mile 65. Get some rest and find that spinnaker sail to deploy in the morning! 

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2026 Western Route 66 - Day 2

 Barstow CA

After another great PacTour parking lot breakfast we rolled out of the Wigwam Motel into a wonderful sunrise. It was a few miles of downhill through town before we turned north and started the climb to Cajon Pass.

We rode on Cajon Boulevard out of town which became the frontage road for Interstate 15 and eventually became the old 4 lane alignment of Route 66. The old northbound lanes are closed and we had a two lane bike path!

Yours truly rolling into the van SAG stop at 17 miles. From here you made your route choice. I decided to take the dirt option and soon rolled out.

We had one mile of I-15 shoulder riding to get to the National Trails Highway for 2 more miles before finding the hidden entrance to the old wagon route.

Initially there was a bit of pavement, but soon it gave way to beach-like sand that required us to dismount and walk the bikes. Note the footprints along the bike tracks.

We crossed over and under several rail lines. As the trail steepened, the hard pack was exposed and we could remount and ride to the next ‘beach’ section, then repeat.

The views were great from the top and most of the rest of the way was ridable to SAG stop at an old closed gas station. 

From the SAG it was downhill with a huge tailwind all the way to Victorville. I was rolling along at about 30 mph here and was able to catch a photo from this stand of Joshua trees (I took a burst of photos and got one good one)!

The Victorville Route 66 Museum was great. Outside a great mural and spare caboose, and inside several detailed exhibits. The jukebox was pounding out great period tunes

This Model T in a service station was in great shape. Notice the spare water bag blocking a good portion of the radiator! Lunch was just up the road so I headed back out.

This restored Ford Woody was parked out from of an auto repair shop, it was in perfect condition.

The Famous Holland Burger is closed on Mondays so we continued up the road.

Several riders found the Cross Eyed Cow Pizza spot and I rolled in. Most of the rest of the group filed in as well. I had a 6” Sub that was nearly a foot long and it was great,

A retired welder from the nearby cement plant decided to weld trees to display bottles collected by his father. It became a roadside attraction and contains over 200 bottle trees and tons of Route 66 artifacts.

Hard to believe that yesterday we had 80 miles of city riding and could not find the edge of town. 50 miles into today’s ride and there is nothing in sight!

Ruins of the Dunes Motel outside of Barstow

Rolling into Barstow, there was an optional side trip to the Harvey House and Western American Train Museum. I was ahead of schedule and headed over to the Museum.

The Museum was closing but the staff gave us some time to check out the train exhibits. Here a Harvey Girl mannequin was on display. 

The Harvey House hotel museum was closed, but since its a working train station I was able to go inside and check it out.

Back outside there were dozens of engines, cars, and cabooses to check out. Even with the limited amount of time we could spend in the museum it was well worth the stop.

Back to the hotel for the regular end of day chores, then Mexican food next door, then finish which a screening of the Bagdad Cafe movie. A 1987 cult classic that takes place at the Bagdad Cafe in Newberry Springs which we will see tomorrow.

It’s only 52 miles tomorrow, so breakfast at Dennys 7-8 am then pack and load at 830 for the run to Ludlow!

Steve 

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2026 Western Route 66 - Day 1

 San Bernardino

After a great parking lot breakfast of steel cut oats, danish, and coffee, we rolled out of the hotel and headed 2.5 miles to the Santa Monica pier for the official start of the ride.

The sign says the End of the Trail, but for us it’s the beginning of the ride. 

We rolled out onto the pier to check out the beach and the attractions. Not much open at 6:30 in the morning! 

This was a common site for the day, lots and lots of traffic lights. The cue sheet said there were 250 stop lights, and I think we stopped at most of them!

We rolled through Beverly Hills and downtown LA mostly along Sunset and Santa Monica boulevards.

Our first Muffler Man sighting was after we rolled through Hollywood. He’s empty handed, but it might be tough to put a windshield up there from the Auto Glass Shop.

Rolling though Hollywood we passed the Crossroads of the World. In 1936 it opened as an open air shopping mall. The main structure was designed to resemble an ocean liner. Various shops and businesses surrounded the ‘ship.’ It originally had 57 shops and cafes that were themed from places around the world. Initially it was successful and became a model for other outdoor malls. In the 1950’s the land became more valuable for offices and businesses supporting the entertainment industry.

Steve, Kathy, and David

Next stop was Monrovia. Debby’s sister Kathy lives there, only a mile or so off our route. Based on the mileage and expected pace, I figured I would arrive between 10 and 11 am. After a couple of hours of riding, we narrowed it down to a 10:30 meet at the Starbucks on Route 66 and we all arrived right on time. We enjoyed some coffee and a nice visit while most of the group rolled by! After a 45 minute stop it was time to get moving and catch the group!

Lots of Route 66 shields on the road and on many different businesses.

I caught the group at Brandons Diner and was able to order a grilled ham and cheese with fries and a tall sweet tea and get it finished before the first riders started to head out.

Most of the towns along the way are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Route 66. Here in Upland there are banners sponsored by various local businesses. Little Miss Sunshine’s VW bus also made an appearance!

Bike wash 

Kit wash

The end of the trail today is the Wigwam Motel. 20 spacious teepees are arranged in a semi-circle on well kept grounds. This is the first of our Historic Motel stays. I must say the rooms are much more spacious than they appear from the outside.

The original alignment of Route 66 is underneath the current I-15 highway. So tomorrow’s route has three options to climb Cajon pass; ride the I-15 shoulder, ride in the van to the top of the pass, or ride/hike an old dirt/sand wagon route that predates Route 66. You can decide tomorrow when we reach the 21 mile mark on the route.

Another PacTour oatmeal breakfast at 0600, we load and roll out at 0630.

Steve 

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