Electric Route 66 Dashcam: Barstow two-pack

-
Despite a lack of posts in June, I do still exist! As proof, I offer you a newly-minted pair of videos from the Route 66 city of Barstow, California. These were both recorded in April, 2022. The first video is quite short due to a technical glitch that left me with a bad file, but the second video is over 10 minutes, and documents the entire drive from Barstow to Lenwood.
 
Both of these videos feature a drive across the historic First Avenue Bridge, which was built in 1930 to cross over a rail yard, with nearly 20 sets of tracks running beneath it. The bridge is overall in poor condition, and is slated to be replaced soon by an entirely new structure in a slightly different location, after which the old bridge will be demolished.

The first video begins in downtown Barstow on Main Street (Route 66), then quickly turns north on First Avenue. The ending point for the first video is a parking lot at Casa Del Desierto, a former Harvey House and railroad depot which now houses some Barstow city offices and a trio of museums that are well worth visiting.
 
Casa Del Desierto is so large that it houses three separate visitor attractions!

 
The Route 66 Mother Road Museum is near the west end of the complex, and houses a wealth of exhibits and information on Route 66. They also have a great online store here if you are not able to visit in person! The Western America Railroad Museum sits at the east end of the building, and documents railroading history. Finally, on the second floor is the NASA Goldstone Visitor Center, where visitors can learn about NASA's nearby Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex.

All three attractions were closed during the height of covid, but all three have now reopened for visitors. Please visit the links above to check operating hours if you plan to visit soon.

The longer second video of this Barstow double-bill begins at the exit of the Harvey House parking lot, travels back down First Avenue to cross the bridge southbound, and then proceeds west on Main Street (Route 66), out of town and all the way through the neighboring community of Lenwood. If you have never visited this area of Route 66, these videos will show you just what it looks like, in real-time and uninterrupted. I have embedded both of them below, or you can follow these links directly to YouTube - here for the first video, and here for the second video. 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Road Closure info: Route 66 in California

-
Image
As many Route 66 travelers will know, there has been a long-term closure of a section of Route 66 in the eastern Mojave Desert in California. Due to the abundance of questions about this area on Route 66 Facebook groups, I decided to write up a summary of what is signed for travelers on the affected roads. Our October trip to the Road Runner's Retreat provided the opportunity to photograph all of the road signs that have been placed to deter travelers from the closed area. Two segments of Route 66 between Needles and Amboy have been closed for a couple of years, and there is no timetable for reopening. Many bridges were washed out in flood conditions and San Bernardino County has not finished repairing them all, as they are an enormous county without a lot of funds. After having a chance to photograph all of the signs, the source of travelers' confusion becomes clear: the signs are a jumble of contradictory and often wrong information. I will try to lay it all out here, ...
Read more

Join us at DEED and the Fun Run in April and May

-
Image
It's been pretty quiet here at Electric Route 66, but coming up soon are two (count 'em!) events that will likely be just the beginning of a very busy road-tripping season. If you are in the vicinity of Kingman, Arizona, we'd love to see there!     Drive Electric Earth Day On April 29, Kingman will be hosting their second Drive Electric Earth Day event at the Powerhouse Visitor Center. Hosted by the Historic Electric Vehicle Foundation , EV owners will bring their cars for display, and to answer questions from the public about owning and driving electric. It looks like it will be a small gathering this year, but the Powerhouse is a busy place: in addition to the Arizona Route 66 Museum, visitor information and gift shops, the Route 66 EV Museum will be open to all for free.   The Powerhouse Visitor Center is Kingman's biggest Route 66 attraction. Last year's Drive Electric Earth Day in Kingman had a great turnout for a first event. If you have a plug-in vehicle and ...
Read more

EVA 2024 annual meeting

-
Image
Coming up this weekend in southern California is a host of activities surrounding the Electric Vehicle Association's annual meeting, and Electric Route 66 will be there, as we were last year. Please join us if you are able!   Like last year, this year's meeting will be held at the headquarters of Aptera, the innovative company that is in the final stages of readying their 3-wheeled, solar-powered EV for production. We have a reservation for an Aptera and we're rooting for their success. We're eager to see the progress they have made since last year.   Get a closeup look at Aptera's vehicles this weekend! EVA membership is required to attend the EVA meeting. If you're not a member you can join today at MyEVA.org - a yearly membership is just $55 and goes to support education and electrification efforts nationally and through dozens of local chapters in the US and Canada, including the chapter we belong to, the Route 66 EVA . How can you resist a view like this? ...
Read more