Day 11 – March 23, 2016This morning woke up to doors slamming up and down the length of the motel. Why oh why, cannot people be a little more considerate of others? I try to gently close my door and not stand outside someone’s room talking like I am at a concert. Okay, climbing off the soap box now and get back to business.
At the suggestion of our friend Ken, we went across the street to Westside Lilo’s Cafe. http://www.westsidelilos.com
We had the biggest, bestest and most delicious breakfast to date while on the road. The home fries are definitely worth writing home about.
The restaurant has been family owned since 1996 and they are of German heritage, which is made known throughout the decor and menu. The owner served in the US military in Germany from 1958 to 1962 and brought his German wife home. Delightful to talk with, excellent service, friendly locals, interesting decor and the desserts are a feast unto themselves and a sight to behold. We got to sample the carrot cake and it was like nothing I have ever tasted. I wonder if they will ship me some, as the post office is right next door? Hmmm?
On the way out of town we drove by the cemetery, and I am not sure what word to describe it, as most of the graves where lined with rocks and wooden crosses only as grave markers. The image was truly something out of the “Wild West” era.
Some of the sights we have seen on the road today are tumbleweeds and a semi pulling half a mobile home, and all of a sudden it blew apart and insulation started flying everywhere. It was a little scary but thank goodness the situation was accident free.
Traveling on I-40 heading towards California, we saw a sign in the middle of nowhere that read, “London Bridge.” Han quickly remembered the story from way back and we in a split moment decided to make a side trip to see the original London Bridge that was disassembled in London in the 1960s and reassembled in Lake Havasu City AZ, which is basically a desert town along the Colorado River with mountains surrounding it. I have to say that Han and I fell in love almost immediately with this oasis of beauty which has every single thing you can imagine or think of to do, to eat, to visit, to shop and to live. Dry sunny climate, relaxed lifestyle and we are already looking into at least a six-month stay. I for one am very excited and the rental prices seem very reasonable.
We walked around and explored a little and cannot wait to delve even deeper into this exciting little gem.
Here is a link to learn more about the bridge and this amazing new possible temp home for us:
Quit rents are relics of medieval agreements, but there was at least one quit rent agreement that was forged in the past century, in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. It started when the city imported a bridge from London—one which had spanned the Thames river and was auctioned off in the late 1960s. Robert McCulloch, Lake Havasu City’s founder, bought the bridge, and by the early ’70s, the bridge had been reinstalled in Arizona.
As a gift to London, during the dedication ceremony, McCulloch offered an acre of Arizona land, reports the Havasu News, and years later, when the city wanted to use that land for a visitor’s center, London agreed to lease it back to Lake Havasu. They settled on a token quit rent: a Kachina doll, a carved Hopi figure representing an immortal being.
After we grudgingly left our new found oasis, we hopped back on I-40 and drove into what felt like a version of “The Twilight Zone” with never ending mountains, upon mountains, upon mountains…need I say more?
We finally crossed over into California and Pacific Time Zone. Be mindful as you cross from Arizona to Cali, that they have some odd sort of border control in affect on I-40 near Needles (don’t know if any other border crossing has the same funnel). Everyone has to stop and then to be flagged through. I thought maybe we had left the USA or maybe California thinks, it is no longer part of the union? I don’t know, but it was totally weird. Some research revealed that it concerns a permanent Agricultural Inspection Station, or Border Protection Station, although that was not clearly marked anywhere. Here are two links to clarify the oddity of this occurrence that made us wonder about being part of the United States http://www.roadtripamerica.com/forum/archive/index.php?t-20877.html and http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/phpps/pe/ExteriorExclusion/borders.html
After that we started to get hungry and being that we were in the Mojave Desert, we did not have many choices to choose from.
We stopped in a town called “Ludlow” that literally consisted of a gas station and a Dairy Queen. The ten people working at the shop consisted of the entire population of the town, once part of a Route 66 settlement. Yep, we had a lovely dinner at Dairy Queen, then back on the road towards Barstow in search of the “Sleep Inn” for the night.
Lodging Choice:
Sleep Inn in Barstow CA. I would prefer to stay in unique motels that have more of a story but we were tired and ready to settle on what we could find. Nice staff, decent rooms, adequate breakfast, kinda noisy guests, slow internet and did not feel like the safest part of town. All in all though, it was worth the money and we slept well.
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