Our planning stages were complete a few days ago. Our route has been plotted by AAA on TripTiks and fully supported by maps and GPS devices. We have reservations at motels, hotels and B&B’s for our entire trip. We have requested lodgings with accessible facilities throughout our itinerary and have packed the car with crud to make us comfortable along the way. We have insulated water tumblers, a small cooler, collapsible chairs, a first aid kit, snazzy insulated coffee mugs, cheesy bamboo disposible silverware, cameras, binoculars, huge hordes of elderly-person medications and all the other items old folks take travelling. We are prepared. For some reason, Peggy even brought along a plastic container full of carrot chunks which we store in the cooler.

Today was our first real trip since December, 2019, and it was initially a bit strange returning to the road. We have not spent more than two hours in the car in the last 18 months but we broke that rule today. We started at 9:15 AM in San Diego and headed north, then east, on a journey through the Southwest of the U.S.

The first few hours were filled with miles of miserable and quite jerky traffic, passing out of San Diego into Riverside County. However, once we escaped the Riverside metro area, the traffic diminished and the climb up Cajon Pass started. At the top of the pass used to be the Summit Inn, a venerable and welcome stop, but a horrible wildfire a couple years ago razed the former greasy spoon and all that remains is a charred foundation. We then passed into the Hesperia / Apple Valley area before wandering out into the Mojave Desert on I-15. Unsurprisingly, it was hot outside but our new vehicle’s air conditioning works very well so we didn’t pop on the way through. After an hour or two, we arrived in Barstow where it was even hotter and we left I-15, turning onto I-40 eastbound.

This part of the Mojave is bleak (if you are afoot) but it has a strange beauty. There is a tremendous variety of plants but they have each evolved a stout defense, like nasty spines. It must have been almost unendurable to cross this area for those pioneers of California’s early history. Some time after the passage of the pioneers was the construction of the railroads and they are open for business in this otherwise uninhabited space.

After a few more hours, we arrived in Needles at about 3:30 PM. At first glance, it seemed unremarkable.

This trip we have embarked on sort of a theme regimen – we are primarily going to stay in old motels along state roads, shying away from large hotel chains and interstate highways but our first day driving was on I-something all day. Our initial lodging here in Needles was at a Red Roof Inn which looked okay upon arrival but we soon found out better. Despite getting off I-40 a few blocks from the lodging, we found that the road we took to the hotel actually runs adjacent to and parallel with the Interstate which passed very nearly directly behind our room. The traffic on the Interstate never stops, particularly for something as ordinary as nighttime. Across the street, concealed behind a chain link fence, were multiple rail tracks. All of the trains we saw in the Mojave, plus an equal number going the other way, are required to pass through the bottleneck that is Needles and they rumbled by about every 15 minutes all night. There are big climbs from sea level over 4000 foot passes to the west and the trains have multiple locomotives at each end. Capping our slumbers (or lack thereof) was a small party in the room adjacent to ours culminating in one of the revelers having an overdose around midnight. Most of the noise from next door ceased after unknown civil and management personnel arrived. By morning, there was almost nobody to be found in the room when management came pounding on the door at 7:00 AM. Unfortunately, our room’s air conditioning unit made a noise that was almost Biblical in volume but torrid outdoor temperatures required its continuous operation. The noise did somewhat overwhelm the racket from next door. We do not recommend the Red Roof in Needles. It turned out that disabled access rooms at the Red Roof do not exist. Their toilet was so tiny it was almost hard to see and definitely hard to sit on or arise from. The bath has slippery floors and no grab bars. The tub has a high edge making access difficult for an old fart like me.

We did find a restaurant called the Wagon Wheel in Needles. The prices were quite reasonable, the service was good and the food was great. Other than the adjacent Colorado River, this place might be the best thing we found in Needles.