Sunday, April 7th – Day 5 – Barstow to Amboy

Best part of the day: Nice tail wind on almost all of our ride

Worst part of the day: Ludlow Motel had no vacancies

Distance: 74.9 miles   Riding Time: 5hrs 10min

Bed count: 0                 Sleeping Bag count: 5

It was nice to have a fairly quiet night even though we weren’t that far from I-15. Awoke to a nice morning with blue skies. The outlook was for winds out of the west!! Yay!! Tailwinds for the ride!

(One of our views along the National Trails Highway east of Daggett. Trucks are traveling along on nearby I-40.)

After our first rest stop, we passed the movie-famous Bagdad Café.

Adventure Cycling had an update to their map which said that after Ft. Cady Road, the Route 66 road (a.k.a. National Trails Highway (NTH)) was very rough and not very friendly for cyclist. The alternative was to take a short jaunt onto Ft. Cady road and enter I-40. This would be at exit #23. We wouldn’t be leaving the interstate until exit #50, 27 miles later, at Ludlow! What a treat it turned out to be on I-40. A nice wide, smooth shoulder, trucks moving over to the fast lane so as to not hit us too hard with their air pressure wave, and a nice tailwind to help push us along!

(Just after entering I-40 at Ft. Cady Road. Nice to know that cars might expect to see bikes!!)

Now, Ludlow is not much of a town, more like a way station with a Chevron gas/convenience store, the Ludlow Café and Ludlow Motel.

The Chevron was the only fueling place “in town”, so it was quite busy when we arrived there (there was a Union 76 gas station and DQ on the other side of the freeway, but, they were closed for renovation, bummer! We had hoped for lunch at the DQ.). But, we found a spot for another break with shade (unfortunately, it faced the outdoor trailer bathroom! Ugh!).

We had called the Ludlow Motel last night to see if they had a couple of rooms available for the 4 of us which was the only lodging available (no campgrounds at all!). But, it was not to be. We would’ve only had a 48-mile day had we been able to stay there. So, we opted to press on to Amboy, another 28 miles further!!

More tailwinds and nice gradual downhill had us coasting at around 20mph!! There was nothing to see out on the route except scrub brush and mountains on either side. But, still there was a simple beauty about this desolation that is the Mojave Dessert.(Fay zipping down the roadway towards Amboy!)

(Our views along this lonely stretch of Route 66 towards Amboy. Pretty much only the passing trains kept us company along with the very infrequent car.)

Arriving at Roy’s, the place is a working gas station and there were a few vehicles getting fueled up.

In addition, it was pretty busy inside store. We asked where we might be able to camp and, Kevin, Amboy convenience worker who seemed a bit frazzled with all the business going on, said we could set up behind the “hangar”. We found it, but, it was not much of a hanger. It was only identified by a wind sock on top of the “building”. Walked our bikes back to the area having to navigate around small shards of glass and sticker plants and got set up.

The place had a public restroom open  24/7, but, the water for the sinks was non-potable! Water was for sale in the store (which closed at 8pm) and we picked up more for dinner and tomorrow.

After getting set up, it was dinner time! Freeze-dried Chili-Mac and pasta with marinara sauce!! Yum! Business had quieted down considerably. So, we were able to set up our stuff right in front of the store where there were a couple of tables with chairs already there. (Enjoying our evening’s meal! The “table cloth” is a Route 66 bandana which we picked up at the Barstow Route 66 Museum.)

As mentioned before, Kevin, works at the station once a week. Other days, he’s the postmaster! He’s been out here 6 years. After getting to chat with him as he closed up the gas pumps, we found him to be an interesting person. He’s pretty much all alone here in Amboy where the population is somewhere in the order of what you could probably count on with one hand!! (Sorry, no picture of him.)(The Amboy Post Office! Kevin said he is one of a few people with an Amboy address on their driver’s license!)

Until tomorrow’s post….