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| Bagdad Cafe, Bike trip |
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| Bagdad Cafe, yesterday |
I left my Pasadena apartment with its thrift store furniture early yesterday morning, and headed east on I-40 for what matters more. It’s a good life in the City of Roses, with so much beauty and possible discovery close by, but it often feels like I’m wasting away in a form of incarceration, a captivity to escape from.
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| Gilbert |
So it was last summer when I mounted the bicycle and headed for Chicago on route 66. And on this first part of a trip to West Texas, I’m driving much of the same route. The Bagdad Café, east of Barstow, looks the same, except that Gilbert doesn’t run it as much anymore, sleeping in this morning. I miss him.
If you saw the movie, bagdad Café, you may recognize the locations in these pictures. The motel isn’t there anymore, but its sign doesn’t look any more weathered.
And inside, the piano the boy played is still there.
The vinyl booth where many much of the drama took place. But Gilbert, not in the movie, not serving eggs-over-medium today.
I could not ride on Route 66 through Amboy last summer because the road was closed. It was still closed yesterday, but I could drive as far as Amboy and listen to the nice man there say that the bridge is still out and there is no more water.
Therefore, the motel is closed, and gas costs five dollars a gallon. But the Route66 Root Beer was good—worth the thirty-mile detour.
I came to Flagstaff, AZ last evening where altitude make the temperature drop to below freezing. I will hang out here today and move on in the morning, possiblyly in light snowfall.
Aw no more hotel? Good to see the piano still waits for your music to liven the place up. Happy to once again follow the poetry trail. 🦋🦋
ReplyDeleteMaybe the poetry trail for me, Lois, is the Permian Reef Trail, coming up in a few days, and other lonely places.
Deletebtw, did you post your comment using a smart phone? I ask because some people say they can only comment from a computer. Anyone reading this, please send me your experience by email.
Sharon
Smart phone! And here's smart phone again.
DeleteDear Sharon
ReplyDeleteBon voyage!, and many thanks for your continuing evocative and inspiring blogging, including your great photos.
I did't understand your comment about there being no water in Amboy. A search led me to a report from August 2017 of a couple who died of the intense (solar) heat near Amboy Crater (an extinct volcanic cinder cone). There is a dramatic image of the crater in the article at https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mercurynews.com/2017/08/14/2-hikers-found-dead-near-amboy-crater-in-the-remote-san-bernardino-county-desert-2/amp/
There is also a very nice article about Amboy, written in 2014, at https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.curbed.com/platform/amp/2014/12/10/10013546/weighing-the-fate-of-one-mojave-desert-ghost-town
Paul, Altadena
Paul, I am happy that you are able to comment via a smart phone. Your comment is a bit garbled, however.
DeleteAs for water in Amboy, the man who runs the only store/gas station there said that all water must be hauled in, that there is no local watter supply.
Hi Sharon
DeleteI wonder why you wrote that my post(above) is a bit garbled.
To me the post looks nice, clear, complete and as intended - on my phone and on my computer.Three short paragraphs, including two working hyperlinks.
By the way, in the image in the article on Amboy Crater it's worth clicking on the link to google maps.
By the way FYI, I have been unsuccessful in my attempts to post/comment to your blog from pc-Linux-Firefox.
Paul
Paul, I will send you a screen shot of the problem as it comes up on my computer.
Deleteopoen road closed motel
ReplyDeletestarting a new movie
on old sets
the heart longs familiar comforts
adventure fills in the blanks
with the past
that feeling
of the open road
the greatest comfort
savoring the beauty
of uncracked eggs
sending inspiration and love from home!
Kathabela
I love "adventure fills in the blanks with the past" Not sure about uncracked eggs. thanks for following.
DeleteDid you use your smart phone to leave this comment?
Tried twice to comment under my google id, oh well
ReplyDeleteWe are in Needles. The draw of this desert country is as much about the scent as the scenery.
I drove through Needles on Tuesday, spent Wednesday in flagstaff. Now I'm in Gallup, NM. We might have done lunch.
DeleteSorry about your trouble with leaving a comment. Were you using a smart phone? Many people cannot leave comments using smart phones. I don't know why. I've complained to the management many times over the past ten years with the same problem. No response. Blogger is not treating me right!
I did use my "smart phone" to leave my comment. I am glad you could see it.
ReplyDeleteUncracked eggs: I got that idea originally from the fact that your favorite waiter was not there to serve the eggs as before--but an uncracked egg is like an adventure in the future, what has not happened yet, as in your quest for the unexpected, the intriguing, the yet to come that the open road gives, different from home.
Uncracked egg—Yes! I get it. It’s a poem in itself, “the yet to come.”
DeleteWhat a Journey I Will See through the Eyez Of Our Dearest Sharon�� an Adventure I long to do myself and one Great Day I Will...
ReplyDeleteBrownie, Wish I could join you at Harrison's Equinox, where all things are equalized and we can all do all the adventures. Alas, I will poke around in my own little old corner of rocks.
ReplyDelete