Well, we got an early stat today (8 AM) as we wanted to see the other side of Joshua Tree National Park. We drove from the East entrance to the West entrance a distance of about 12 miles.  Our objective was to visit the “Hidden Valley” area.  We arrive at the parking area about 9 AM and got our water and hiking poles for the one mile loop trail.  Back around 10  AM.  It was a nice walk and before the heat of the day!

Joyce in a tree!

Joyce on a rock.

We made a decision to cut off a few miles of the historic route 66 so we could make it to Glendora, CA instead of San Bernadino.  Upon exiting JTNP, we took CA-247 NW to Barstow and reconnected with 66.  Granddaughter Leah would really have like to travel this road!  She likes traveling over the hills where you defy gravity for a fraction of a second.  This road was rolling hills over the undulating terrain of the Mojave desert.  It was a beautiful drive!

Barstow at 11:30 AM.  We tried to find a geocache here, but were unsuccessful.  Did get some photos of a Harvey House hotel and an old iron bridge still in service today.  Other places we passed through were:

Lenwood
Hodge
Helendale

Just before reaching Oro Grande, we paced a BNSF train for a couple of miles.  Joyce couldn’t resist rolling down the window and waving at the engineer until she got a toot from the train’s horn.  What fun!
Oro Grande (here we stopped to take some photos of a place that had been there since 1929–the Iron Hog Saloon.  We didn’t go in!!

Victorville (got lost in this town due to unclear instructions and heavy traffic.  a small detour got us back on track.  We had to take about 20 miles of I-15 after Victorville)

Between Victorville and San Bernadino we exited to take an older section of 66 through the mountains.  It was an area called the Blue Cut and was built as a 4 lane in 1931 and was an improvement over the earlier alignment.  We found a virtual geocache there.  When we got ready to return to I-15 the on ramp was closed and we had a detour.  This required a return to I-15N for about 10 miles to get back on (-15S.  Construction!

San Bernadino resulted in a visit to McDonalds–something Joyce swore she’d never do, but in this case insisted that we stop.  Of course, this was the original site of the McDonalds restaurant.

Rialto (passed the other Wigwam Motel without hardly blinking!)
Fontana (saw Bono’s Historic Orange  (shaped) drink stand.  Closed.)
Rancho Cucamanga
Upland (we stopped for a Buffalo Burger at the Buffalo Inn)
Claremont

Driving across the desert one is reminded of how large the country is. There were many changes in the scenery and vegetation as we made our way.  Traffic was never a problem until we got to the larger cities.  Then urban sprawl and heavy traffic made for slow driving.  Another thing, you don’t have to mow lawns out in the desert!  Of course, I can’t imagine what possesses people to live in this environment anyway.  I’m sure they would say the same about Wilmington though.

We had wind in our hair most of the morning and only switched to A/C around 2 PM for a while.  Later in the day (after dinner at the Buffalo Inn) we changed back to wind in our hair.  It was nice driving in the morning and early evening.

Glendora was the stop for the night.

Tomorrow we get to Santa Monica and the end of Route 66.  We plan on starting our return drive almost immediately.  We still have no plan for that part of the journey other than we will be in Salt Lake City to visit with Jeannie, Mark and Riley for a few days.