Desert Center: Desert Steve Wore Many Hats
In 1915, Stephen “Desert Steve” Albert Ragsdale, originally from Coffeyville, Kansas, rattled his way west,…
Desert Center: Desert Steve Wore Many Hats
In 1915, Stephen “Desert Steve” Albert Ragsdale, originally from Coffeyville, Kansas, rattled his way west, coaxing an early‑model automobile across the Mojave as if stubbornness alone could substitute for horsepower. He was bound for a business conference in Los Angeles, because apparently the best route to professional success was straight through a sun‑scorched nowhere, but…
General Patton: The Man, The Myth, The Museum
The U.S. Army officer slowly banked his 1940 Stinson Voyager to the left and readied it for a rough landing on the dirt runway. The small 80 horsepower airplane always got a workout during the many flights made by this solder while he surveyed the land below him during a hot summer. A cavalry officer…
Cadiz Summit: Outpost of the Mojave
Cadiz Summit didn’t just sit on Route 66, it perched there, like a stubborn outpost daring the Mojave to knock it down. Cadiz (pronouced Kay-deez) was one of a series of alphabetically named railroad stations built across the Mojave Desert; Amboy, Bristol, Cadiz, Danby, Essex, Fenner, Goffs, Homer, Ibis, Java, Khartoum and others. The Arizona…
Timber Trails: A Tale of the Old Plank Road
The shifting sands of the Imperial Valley were not just an obstacle; they were a force of nature that swallowed early automobiles whole. By 1913, the challenge had grown so dire that the Auto Club of Southern California summoned all interested parties to El Centro, demanding a solution for a road that could carry travelers…
How Newberry Springs Celebrated a Route 66 Centennial Revival
The Mojave Desert has always been a place where ideas arrive quietly. They drift in like a shimmering mirage, settle into the sand, and wait for someone stubborn enough, or visionary enough, to pick them up. In Newberry Springs, one such idea took root four years ago: revive a forgotten stretch of Route 66, restore its…
Hinkley, California: Despite Heartbreak Many Fond Memories
On March 20, 2015, the Stars and Stripes rose over the Hinkley Post Office for the very last time. We stood there as the flag came down, marking the end of a chapter for the tiny desert town 14 miles west‑northwest of Barstow, California. Hinkley’s post office had been serving residents since 1908, but like…
Amboy’s Classic Car Spectacular Commemorates 100 Years of Route 66
Route 66 is celebrating its 100th year anniversary this year–and what a fun kick-off Amboy gave it on March 7, 2026. Town manager, Kenneth Large, explained Roy’s Motel and Cafe in Amboy, California, owned by the Okura family, always wanted to have a car show. Last year, Amboy finally got to see a dream take…
Apple Valley’s Hilltop House: The Longest Goodbye
Built in 1957 by oil baron and town founder Newton T. Bass and his business partner and brother-in-law Bud Westlund, the Hilltop House wasn’t just a home — it was a modern desert mansion perched on Miner’s Hill like Apple Valley’s crown jewel. From its spot 300 feet above the Apple Valley Inn, it commanded…
Kelso Depot: Back on Track in 2026?
The Kelso Depot, formerly the Kelso Depot, Restaurant and Employees Hotel, and now home to the Mojave National Preserve Visitor Center, sits in the heart of the Mojave Desert within the National Park Service’s Mojave National Preserve. Kelso Depot is one of the Mojave National Preserve’s star attractions—it played a major role in shaping the…
Project Carryall: Almost a Blast From the Past
The Bristol Mountains rise between Ludlow and Kelbaker Road like a long, sun‑scorched barricade, the kind of range that looks less formed than forged. On one side, Route 66 snakes past in its slow, nostalgic way, carrying the ghosts of road‑trippers and the last stubborn believers in Americana. On the other side of that big…
