Saturday, April 6th – Day 4 – Victorville to Barstow/Daggett KOA

Best part of the day: Our visit to the Historic Route 66 Museum in Barstow

Worst part of the day: Getting a little sunburn

Distance: 52 miles    Time: 4hrs 5min

Beds:  0                        Sleeping Bags: 4

The traffic on the nearby interstate never really lessened all night long. We were able to get some sleep last night. The morning was nowhere near as cool/cold as the night before at Glen Helen RP. Had our leftover McDonald’s “egg McMiffins” for breakfast (Rob) and oatmeal (Fay’s favorite). Packed up and were on our way by 9am under a nice blue sky.

(Our campsite at the Shady Oasis Campground in the morning before heading out.)

Had the same short hill at the start, but, with only one climb of any kind after that, today’s ride was pretty nice. Had mostly a tailwind for the the entire route. After leaving Victorville, we came upon the tiny mining town of Oro Grande. The main road, the National Trails Highway runs right through the center of town. Today, there was a car show!! Some beautiful vintage cars were on display along with craft tents and a food vendor.

Today’s ride brought us into the Mojave High Dessert. And the temperatures were definitely warmer than what we’d had on previous days.

(The backside of the San Gabriel Mountains, we think. Beautiful view of the snow-capped mountains.)

Later, we came upon an odd site, Elmer’s Bottle Tree Farm! You got to see it to believe it!

As we were coming into Barstow, we saw a number of these type of “memorials” to Route 66. All had different car images on top of them!

Then after a rest stop, we made a side trip to Barstow’s Route 66 Museum. A real neat place to visit, lots of history on display. The two volunteers there had not seen bicyclists come into the museum (of course, they only are there one day/week), only motorcyclists. They were amazaed at what we were doing. They provided some eatery suggestions as well.

(And old  time gas pump inside the Route 66 Museum (top), picture taken outside the Museum (bottom).)

Returning to the road, we made one final stop at the Walmart to stock up on supplies for the next couple of days as there will be slim pickings after today for the next few days.

Tonight’s lodging in at another KOA, the Barstow/Calico site. Hots showers and a load of laundry were the main order of business. We’re in the KOA’s club room having dinner and watching the Texas Tech/Michigan State Final 4 game. Peggy is a big TT fan.

Tomorrow’s temperature is looking at being warmer so we’re looking at getting an earlier start.

Until our next post….