Tomorrow I am again off on the road, into the desert… This
time mostly solo… The original reason for the trip… a family gathering in
Tucson and evolved into larger journey…
wandering across the Mojave desert, in search of ghosts of old railroads
and mines and libraries (where I will also search for ghosts) It is likely I may find some dirt roads...
I will start by heading south to Barstow for the night… then
head east… Leaving I-40, exploring the
area around Daggett… There were once
railroads here… narrow gauge railroads… four of them… I am looking for remains, in particular a tie
from one, to measure… to find the gauge… I plan to drive Mule canyon… a dirt road which
once saw 20 mule team wagons… I will be
visiting a local museum, the Mojave River Museum, with a large photo collection… then following Rt 66, the “Mother road” across
the Mojave desert through Newberry Springs, Ludlow, Amboy, Cadiz and Goff… I will rejoin I-40 at Needles crossing the
Colorado into Arizona and Kingman.
Kingman also has a museum, the Mohave Museum of History and
Arts, with photos… this time I will be searching for photos and refernces to a railroad which ran from the river to the
mining town of Oatman… Oatman is on old
Rt 66… west of Kingman… I will explore that bit of old highway on Thursday
afternoon, then back to Kingman…
Friday I will visit the Mojave Desert Archives… of the Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural
Association in a former railroad station in the one time community of Goffs.... somewhere in the desert west of Needles...
The Mojave, or Mohave is the theme for this trip… The Mojave River, the Mojave Desert, Ft Mojave
and the Mojave road… but also Mohave
with an “H” as spelled in Arizona… Mohave
County, the Mohave Mts, and Ft Mohave…
(yes there are two Ft Moh(j)aves… and the Mohave & Milltown railroad…
The Mojave River Museum… the Mohave Museum of History and Arts… Kit Carson preferred Mohave… as did anthropologist
A.L. Kroeber … (Tina’s mother took classes from Kroeber…) but the Government and the Mojave Indians like
the “j”… to make things interesting, apparently General Fremont favored the
unique spelling “Mohahve” during his 1840’s trips…
Leaving the Mohave behind, Finally I will spend the night in
Parker Arizona… along the Colorado River, before heading east to Phoenix to
pick up Tina (aka the wife) at the airport… Now no longer a solo trip, we will
head south to Tucson for the family party…
The weather forecast is favorable… mostly high 80’s… maybe 100 on Saturday… Likely a bit less when we reach Tucson.
We will be in Tucson for a couple of days… a couple of
parties, lots of family… There is a
chance that I may get to spend some time with fragments of President Lincoln’s
railroad car… that is not a certainty, but I am hopeful…
Early Monday, having
partied and visited we will head north… it is about 850 miles home… Google says
a bit over 12 hours… I note that Philippes
(“The Original”) in Los Angeles is
pretty close to half way… It might be a
good place to stop for lunch… I am
beginning to crave a French dip sandwich…
Road reports to follow…
Randy
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