Home / Mojave Preserve and Desert bikepacking trips / Fall 2011: Route 66 bicycle-camping—Cady Mountains, Sleeping Beauty and Kelso Dunes Wilderness / Day 1: Route 66 bicycle ride from Barstow to Sleeping Beauty Mountains foothills near Ludlow, CA 31
After yesterday's train and bus ride to Barstow, CA, to start this trip... 48 miles, cool, cloudy weather, but I'm riding into a strong headwind all day long (the wind direction here is usually in the opposite direction). Ugh!
Hardly any sun today because of heavy clouds, but the temperature reaches a comfortable 60F anyway. Late-night temperatures drop down into the mid 30s.
- It's time to leave the gritty, but interesting Route 66 Motel in Barstow, CA and start another week of bicycle camping
- So what's in that old car in front of the Route 66 Motel anyway?
- An old vending machine sits in an alcove between units at Barstow's Route 66 Motel
- OK, it's time; I pack up the 10-ton bike and leave the Route 66 Motel—I'll be in sleeping in a tent tonight; I can't wait
- I start by riding the two miles down Barstow's Main Street (Route 66) to the end of the east side of town
- Before leaving Barstow, I stop at Walmart (a place I usually avoid) to buy a new Camelbak
- I leave Barstow eastbound on a frontage road and then ride the I-40 freeway for 2.5 miles to get past the naval base there
- I get off the I-40 freeway at the Nebo Street exit, turn left, then go under the freeway and rejoin old Route 66 eastbound
- Old Route 66 passes through the interesting little village of Daggett, California
- Daggett has numerous unused structures, such as this old gas station
- The Daggett post office is decorated with heavy bars on its windows
- On the other side of the train tracks from Route 66 is Daggett's general store, the Desert Market
- East of Daggett, one of several long cargo trains passes by
- To my right, not far away, is the I-40 freeway, and just beyond that, the Newberry Mountains are now close by
- It's almost 2 pm; I've just passed under I-40 again on Rte 66 near Newberry Springs and here's a gas station
- There's a bit of traffic on Route 66 in the Newberry Springs area
- The abandoned Henning Motel in Newberry Springs appeared in the famous Bagdad Café movie years ago
- Next door is the famous Bagdad Café itself
- An old Italian restaurant and gas station sits in Newberry Springs behind a fence
- I stop to look across a dry lake on the east end of Newberry Springs toward the I-40 freeway on the opposite shore
- The worn-out pavement on old Route 66 makes for rather rough riding east of Newberry Springs
- Some of the remaining structures along Route 66 east of Newberry Springs are deteriorated or no longer in use
- This prefabricated house in east Newberry Springs has no front steps
- Old motel sign east of Newberry Springs
- A different kind of no-trespassing sign: an entire trailer
- I ride up a gentle hill through the lava field area of old Route 66 east of Newberry Springs
- It has been cloudy most of the day, but a bit of sun is peering through the clouds as sunset approaches along old Route 66
- It's getting close to darkness here on Route 66 and my cheap camera is trying to compensate by turning everything blue
- It has been dark for an hour now, and I'm finally on the dirt road off Route 66 leading up toward Sleeping Beauty mountain
- Tired when I get near the top of Sleeping Beauty road, I walk around in a fog for a while looking for a campsite not by the road
- The rain on my tent makes it look metallic with the camera flash; the rain has stopped and it's time to go to sleep!