The Colorado River

The plan was to go to Needles, CA and then continue on to Las Vegas. There, I’ve been to California. When I arrived at the motel I asked the desk clerk what I would see when the sun was up. She said mostly AZ. I also mentioned seeing the Colorado river and that I was disappointed that I didn’t get any good pictures. She quickly pulled out a hand drawn map of the area and showed me how to get to the Colorado.

I went back to the room and showed Ray the map and told him we were going to the river in the morning. We looked over a few brochures I had picked up to see what else we could do while there. I must have mentioned that I was picking up rocks as the clerk told me that if you went into California toward Barstow there was volcanic rock lying along the road. I mentioned this to Ray and also looked for information on Barstow. We saw that there was a Route 66 museum there. We checked over the fire maps to make sure we would not be driving into danger.

When I got up in the morning I went outside to investigate. The last picture in my previous travel post was what I saw when I looked up the hill behind the motel. I was just not satisfied that Inhad really seen California. Barstow here we come!

We drove down through a small resort community into a public park. There it was! The glorious river.

We watched the ducks paddle against the current. The water was so clear and smooth. It was very deceptive of just how forcefully the water was flowing. We skipped rocks, picked up a few rocks to take and explored the sandy beachy edge. It was a remarkable experience.

We left the river heading to Barstow.

We stooped along the way near the Mojave National Preserve.

Not many miles later we began seeing black rocks along the road. We stopped and picked up a few. I looked over the landscape to see if I could figure out the source. Nothing stood out.

We continued on to Barstow and found the museum.

Ray will talk to anyone!

I snapped a picture of this motorcycle only to find out later Ray’s grandfather owned one just like it. They had lots of interesting artifacts there that people had donated to the museum over the years.

I found these street lights interesting.

This was on the side of the road to note we were on route 66.

We continued on to Las Vegas from here. We have now been on the road for a week. My goal was to be heading back East by Saturday so that we could get home by the 24th.

More from Vegas!

Swooze