Day 15 along our Route 66 Road Trip from Kingman, Arizona to Rialto, California was yet another beautiful driving day with stunning scenery! We fed wild, wandering donkeys, photographed vintage signs, and stopped for the night in another wigwam!
Route 66 Road Trip Day 15: Kingman to Rialto
Our Route 66 Road Trip Day 15 and we hit the road in the morning in Kingman, Arizona bound for California!
Sitgreaves Pass is truly stunning. It is hard to imagine people driving this portion of Route 66 back in the 20s and 30s along these roads.
We got into Oatman and walked around and fed the wild donkeys. They freely roam the town except when they are chased off the wooden sidewalk storefronts by shop owners with brooms!
Then we checked out the Oatman Hotel where Clark Gable and Carole Lombard honeymooned in 1939. If we had not just eaten, we probably would have had lunch there.
The drive out of Oatman was equally stunning and it seemed as if we had the road to ourselves.
We drove across the desert and finally arrived back in California! We were supposed to stop in Needles for the night and this was my ONE planning mistake of the entire trip. We got into town around 4:00 which was way too early because there is NOTHING to do. So we canceled our hotel and just kept driving.
We drove across the California desert with some scattered rain. And it was big spit rain. I suppose we should have stopped and added our names to the rock name art wall, aka the road’s side berm, but the rain was coming down with big droplets and wasn’t letting up.
Also, some graffitied ruins.
We came across a couple of these surreal “Guardians of Route 66” and walked out to them to learn a bit more. We didn’t learn anything, but I looked online and while no one seems to know who put them there, the general consensus is that they were put there by the landowner.
We then got into Amboy. I thought Roy’s might have a cafe, but they only serve snacks. And the Ludlow Cafe was closed. So we just took some photos and kept going.
We then got closer to Barstow and I suggested a stop at Peggy Sue’s in Yermo. We have been there a few times going to/from Las Vegas, so we knew the food was good, plus the giant juke box just screams Route 66!
And we were welcomed back to California with a stunning sunset.
If you have time, I recommend a stop in the ghost town of Calico. It’s a fun little stop, similar to Oatman. You can read my blog post about Calico here.
I also recommend a side trip to Las Vegas. We almost said “screw it, let’s go!” but we didn’t have very many clean clothes, and after being on the road for over a month, I was ready to get closer to home.
I guess we could have stayed at the Route 66 Motel in Barstow and checked out the Harvey House and Route 66 Museum, but at Peggy Sue’s we made a call to the Wigwam Motel in Rialto to see if they had any rooms available and they had one left! It was fate! So we reserved the room and skipped quite a few things between Barstow and Rialto, but we live close by and will probably check them out the next time we drive to Vegas.
We arrived at the Wigwam Motel too late for photos, so you’ll have to check it out in the next day’s Route 66 Road Trip post!
STAY: Wigwam Motel Rialto: 2728 W Foothill Blvd, San Bernardino, CA 92410, (909) 875-3005