By 5:00am we woke up and checked the window searching for signs of strong winds. Thankfully they had lowered already and everything was fine for us to move forward. We packed and headed to a local café for breakfast. There we had a nice omelet each and, an hour later, were on our way towards Barstow.
The road started OK, with just a few bumps here and there. We took the wrong road and had to go back about two miles before entering the actual Route 66. There we found a road in very bad condition. Full of bumps, holes and cracks, that road slowed us down considerably. Every mile represented about 10 minutes of suffering as we inched forward little by little. At some point the road was so bad that we considered taking a detour through an unpaved back road. Unfortunately the soil there was too soft for bicycles and we were forced to return to Route 66. And there we remained for a few hours until we reached Newberry Springs. There the asphalt finally improved and we were able to move forward.
About two miles after reaching that city, a major unexpected roadside attraction: the coffee house where the motion picture “Bagdad Cafe” had been filmed, in 1988! There we found many tourists and even a few buses with excursions, all stopped to visit and take pictures at the place. It was a fully functional coffee house and restaurant, so we parked our bikes and got in to have lunch. The food was good, and the staff was very friendly.
We prepared a note to post on the café’s wall and then prepared to keep going. Before we left, though, we asked their appointed cameraman to take a picture of us outside in front of the Café. He did, but just as he was handing my uncle’s camera back to him he let it slip out of his hands and dropped it. Unfortunately the LCD glass broke. The guy was very sorry but there was nothing we could do about it, so we just said it was OK and left. It was just the glass though, the camera kept working fine.
The rest of the way was much smoother then the first half. We approached Barstow not much after leaving the café. We stopped at a gas station and found out there was a Walmart nearby, so we passed over there to get food and then headed to the hotel. The hotel was not the best, but more than enough since all we really needed was a shower and roof.
