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| Casa del Desierto |
Barstow, California
It's a day of rest today, spent in a
town we sought out for its convenient location, not for anything
special it has to offer. Not everyone would agree with us: it is,
after all, one of the many towns along the historic Route 66, and
here, too, reminders of this fact can be found here and there. From
our hotel room window, for instance, we can see “Pub 66”, and
several of the older commercial buildings have signs mentioning Route
66 as well.
With little else to do we visited the
“Mother Road Museum”, run by volunteers, which celebrates the
famous highway with mementos from its history, most prominently a
Model T Ford. We spent most of our time there watching a video about
Route 66, starting (we came a little late) in the Ozarks and moving
on once it had reached Barstow.
This museum is at one end of the “Casa
del Desierto” (House of the Desert), built in 1911 and now
beautifully restored, one of the so-called Harvey Houses built by
Fred Harvey that served food and provided lodgings for railway
travellers along rail lines in the western US. The other end of the
building houses a railway museum with artefacts from the early years
of railway travel. Outside, several locomotives and cabooses are on
display. The surrounding grounds are immaculately kept, with blooming
trees and shaded walkways. It felt like spring, and in spite of
trains rumbling by – a frequent occurrence day and night – the
place had a peaceful quality.
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