Two Lane Adventures: August 31st, 2021 … Summer of Fun continues! Day 35 Route 66 Caravan

Last night, we had a fine farewell as all the caravanners gathered to share memories, laughs and lots of hugs!

The final gathering at any caravan is always bitter-sweet. It's never a good-bye, its a "See you later."

We headed out from San Dimas to Las Vegas, with only 1 other coach. Will meet up with 2 other caravanners in Las Vegas. The sunrise was very pretty as we started to see Los Angles in our rear view mirror! Have I mentioned how terrible the traffic is? Thank goodness, we are heading east. The traffic heading west is horrible! We started to see some of the traffic lighten up as we headed into the Cajon Pass.

Cajon Pass is a mountain pass at an elevation of almost 4,000 feet above the sea level. The pass almost 20 miles long. The pass had been used during thousands of years by the Native American people who lived in the area. In Spanish the word cajón refers to a box or drawer. The area is known for high wind, turbulence and fog. The weather over the pass can vary, from foggy days with poor visibility to clear afternoons. Cajon Pass is notorious for high winds. It has been known to cause high-profile vehicles such as RV’s to lose control or tip over. The road is steep, hitting a 15% of maximum gradient through some of the ramps.

A wildfire burning in the Cajon Pass was threatening both homes and people, igniting just days after another active blaze that started in the Lytle Creek area. The fire had a moderate rate of spread.

The blaze was burning in grasses and chaparral. Helicopters and planes were used to help extinguish the fire alongside firefighters on the ground. The fire charred about 819 acres and destroyed 20 buildings, including nine homes.

We could see the evidence, everywhere.

As we drove, the sun tried to peak out of the clouds. I love how the light filters through the clouds!

We stopped at Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diner for late breakfast. It is about the half way point from San Dimas to Las Vegas. The diner is such a treasure trove of memorabilia! The food is so good too!

I tried to find more information on this graffiti covered closed business on I-15 near MM 95. No information to be found, I am sure there is a story to tell!

The town of Baker is home to the largest outdoor thermometer. Willis Herron grew up in Corbin, Kentucky, and moved to the California desert and operated a restaurant named Bun Boy. When it burned down in 1990 he rebuilt it with a roadside spectacle even grander than any restaurant: the World's Tallest Thermometer. The Bun Boy Thermometer is a skyscraper of symbolism. It's in the town of Baker, "Gateway to Death Valley" and one of the hottest populated places on earth. The highest official temperature on the planet was recorded in Death Valley at 3:30 pm on July 10, 1913: 134 degrees. Willis wanted his thermometer to record temperatures just as high and stand 134 feet tall. In the dry air it would sail skyward, visible for miles. Willis figured that it would pull traffic off the freeway and into town.

Young Electric Sign Company, designer of some of gaudiest neon showstoppers in Las Vegas, built the Thermometer's three-sided towering digital display with over 38 tons of steel. It wasn't enough, because Baker's desert winds immediately knocked the Thermometer flat. Willis, undeterred, had it rebuilt, this time filled with 125 cubic yards of concrete. Aside from an occasional gust popping out some of its 5,000+ light bulbs, the Thermometer stood strong. When Willis finally switched on the Thermometer on October 9, 1992. It had cost him $750,000, but he was proud of it for the rest of his life. He died 15 years later, and the image on his tombstone is not of himself, but a color photo of the World's Tallest Thermometer.

By then the Thermometer had passed into new ownership, and without Willis's loving oversight it fell into disrepair. By 2011 its light bulbs showed only random numbers and letters. In 2012 the owner switched it off completely, complaining of a thermometer-topping $8,000-a-month electric bill. In 2013, on the 100th anniversary of the world's hottest day, the Thermometer was dark, and there was dark talk in Baker of tearing it down. Barbara Herron, Willis's widow, visited the Thermometer and found frustrated tourists still stopping to take photos with the dead landmark. She vowed to get it back, despite the owner's $1.75 million asking price. Thanks to a foreclosure and a court order by a federal judge, she did. She installed a new Thermometer computer and wiring, replaced its light bulbs with LEDs, gave it a fresh coat of paint, built a picnic area around its base, and opened an adjacent gift shop, Temp 134. On July 10, 2014, the revived Thermometer was lit, displaying its first official temperature of 102 degrees. Back in August 1995 the temperature topped out at 127, the hottest and highest ever recorded by the Thermometer. Willis had built it just tall enough. Inside Temp 134, Thermometer history is displayed in artifacts such as the original Thermometer circuit board array that captured the outside temperature and signaled the Thermometer lights to change. A framed oil portrait of Willis and Barbara Herron benevolently hangs on a wall.

Clark Mountain is the highest point in the Mojave National Preserve. This large and impressive mountain dominates the landscape near Mountain Pass for miles around. Although few people pay much attention to Clark Mountain itself, many are familiar with the long haul up Interstate 15 to Mountain Pass. The steep and sometimes treacherous grades of the highway as it crosses the mountain's southern flanks are usually enough to capture anyone's attention. Clark Mountain is located in the Mesquite Mountains BLM Wilderness Area. Although it is close to a major highway, Clark Mountain has virtually no tourist attractions. There are no campgrounds or trails on Clark Mountain. With an elevation of 7,930', Clark Mountain ranks way down on the California elevation list.