Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Barstow Community Hospital
HOSPITAL
(
760-256-1761; 820 E Mountain View St;
emergency room 24hr)
Getting There & Around
You'll need a car to get around Barstow and drive Route 66. A few major car-rental agen-
cies have in-town offices.
Frequent Greyhound buses from LA ($37, 2½ to 5¼ hours), Las Vegas ($32, 2¾ hours)
and Palm Springs ($44, 4½ hours) arrive at the main
bus station
(1611 E Main St)
east of
downtown, near I-15.
Amtrak's
Southwest Chief
runs to/from LA (
www.amtrak.com
, from $30, 3¾ hours, ad-
vance reservations suggested) daily but is often late. There's no staffed ticket office at
Barstow's historic
train station
(685 N 1st Ave)
.
Barstow to Needles
Leave Barstow on I-40 east and exit at Daggett (exit 7), site of the California inspection
station once dreaded by Dust Bowl refugees. Drive north on A St, cross the railroad tracks
and turn right on Santa Fe St. On your left, just past the general store, you'll see the
moodily crumbling, late-19th-century
Daggett Stone Hotel
, where desert adventurers such
as
Death Valley Scotty
used to stay.
Continue on Santa Fe, take your first right, then turn left to pick up the National Trails
Hwy going east.
Shortly after the highway ducks under I-40, you're in Newberry Springs, where the
Trails Hwy, Newberry Springs; mains $6-12; 7am-7pm)
was the main filming location of the
eponymous 1987 indie flick starring CCH Pounder and Jack Palance, a cult hit in Europe.
The interior is chockablock with posters, movie stills and momentos left by fans, while
outside, the old water tower and airstream trailer are slowly rusting away.
The National Trails Hwy runs south along the freeway, crosses it at Lavic and continues
east along the northern side of I-40. This potholed, crumbling backcountry stretch of
Route 66 crawls through ghostly desert towns. In Ludlow turn right on Crucero Rd, cross
I-40 again and pick up the highway by turning left.
