For nearly 140 miles between Barstow and Needles, there are no signs of human presence except for endless lines of barbed wire fence and the Interstate straight on to the horizon. Plus two rest areas 80 miles apart. No gas. No food. I can't imagine that the east coast has anything like this experience. There are a few named communities on the map, but we saw no buildings.

A very hot drive through the eastern California desert and on into Arizona. With a brief stop at the Historic Route 66 Museum in Kingman.

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elf1 > At this rest area, where we stopped for lunch, the heat nearly singed the hair from our arms. We avoided the picnic tables in the sun and set up our chairs in the shade. The wind ADDED heat as though we had stepped into a blast furnace. It was hot-hot-hot; we estimated 110 F. I did find a named community in the area on the road map: Essex, which reported 111 that day.

elf1 > For nearly 140 miles between Barstow and Needles, there are no signs of human presence except for endless lines of barbed wire fence and the Interstate straight on to the horizon. Plus two rest areas 80 miles apart. No gas. No food. I can't imagine that the east coast has anything like this experience. There are a few named communities on the map, but we saw no buildings.

elf1 > Linda tries to let the air circulate.

elf1 > This section of I-40 is apparently a Blue Star Memorial Highway. Out here, in the middle of nowhere, two guys were selling jewelery.

elf1 > The rest area also had this nifty sign saying that your vehicles can crush burros. I guess those donkeys are so wiped out from the heat that they can't escape!

elf1 > The only other sign of humanity were the trains--billions and billions of trains--crossing in the distance as we sat and ate. Here are two trains coming from opposite directions. The rail traffic was constant; we could see 2 to 4 trains at all times whipping by on the tracks.

elf1 > Late in the afternoon, we arrived at Kingman, Arizona, and checked out the Historic Route 66 Museum in an old power building. The building was comfortably cool--yay!--and the exhibits interesting.

elf1 > Life-sized dioramas showed the history of people traversing Route 66 (or its predecessor). Covering all those miles of nothing--no water, no shade, nothing--in our air-conditioned van at 70 MPH, we pondered 19th-century walking/wagon-based travelers with awe.

For nearly 140 miles between Barstow and Needles, there are no signs of human presence except for endless lines of barbed wire fence and the Interstate straight on to the horizon. Plus two rest areas 80 miles apart. No gas. No food. I can't imagine that the east coast has anything like this experience. There are a few named communities on the map, but we saw no buildings.