Day 2 - Showtime!
- Paul Mullan
- Apr 23, 2017
- 1 min read
The usual route from Los Angeles to Las Vegas is through the Cajun Pass but we climbed up over the mountains to Big Bear Lake for a short stop with friends Carol & Jerry Van Tine and their neighbours Larry and KC Huffman.
They threw on traditional American Root Beer floats, told good ole country stories and thanks to a surprise appearance from local entertainer Art Harriman we were serenaded 'Route 66' style.
Down the other side of the mountain, through Yucca Valley we stopped at the Californian Route 66 for our first sample of things to come.
R66 is full of the weird and the wonderful and our best example to day just could have been the Bottle Tree Ranch. Why?... it's anyone's guess but that's the Mother Road for you!
At Peggy Sue's we grabbed some good old
fashioned tucker and shared the restrooms with
some strange looking folk!
The bright lights of Nevada's show town were drawing us closer along the i15 and we almost made it.
In the desert about 30 miles short of our destination we toasted the past at the Pioneer Hotel where Clark Gable stopped for a week or two while they searched the surrounding hills for the body of his wife Carol Lombard. The movie star tragically died with several others in a light plane crash.
By night Las Vegas was at her best - fountains, lights and the usual buzz of tourists, gamblers, local girls... and more tourists!
