Where does one go when they have a yearning for foreign adventure and new unexplored territory? We have always been fans of international travel and seeing the world. To be candid, we have never traveled outside the United States nor do we currently have passports. Alas, the best laid plans of mice and men. We...| The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
At the northwest corner of Waalew Road and Dale Evans Parkway in Apple Valley, just across the road from the Los Ranchos Mobile Home Park, is a vacant piece of desert with a few cement foundations and a smattering of trees near Bell Mountain.| The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
We recently went to a historic mural and monument reveal at Roy’s Motel and Cafe on Route 66 in Amboy in honor of Amboy owner and Juan Pollo creator, Albert Okura, who passed away last year. | The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
When Roy’s Hotel is not ground zero for multiple thriller film shoots or welcoming the throngs of dusty tourists getting their fair share of the Route 66 experience, the quiet of Amboy settles in all around. The solitude is so profound it’s almost deafening. The peace of the ghost town with its long-abandoned St. Raymond Church and nearby pioneer graveyard consumes you. It invites you to explore and renew. Give yourself time to absorb this little time capsule of a town.| The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
Update: We are saddened to learn of Albert Okura’s passing in January 2023. Our thoughts and prayers for his family, employees and many friends. Albert will be greatly missed. Albert was owner of Juan Pollo restaurant chain, the founder of the original McDonald’s Museum in San Bernardino, author and owner of the town of Amboy. His family promised the legacy of Albert will go on and Amboy will continue.| The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
While this may appear to be a stock photo of the Beverly Hillbillies visiting Joshua Tree National Monument in 1965, it is, in fact, my father driving his creation, a heavily chopped and modified 1950 Ford with a flathead V8 and 3 on the tree. One of the earlier varieties of soon-to-be popular sand and...| The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
Not quite the desert, but Cucamonga was on the border. At the end of the 1960s and early 1970s, Route 66 was still the way to or from the great Mojave, from where I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley. I remember many trips to Cucamonga to explore the abandoned stone houses of early...| The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
When we see an old building, we have to stop and explore. We were traveling through Niland on our way to Westmorland for date shakes when a diamond in the rough beguiled us on Main Street. | The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
Biography| www.thedesertway.com
While we have been known to move around a lot in the style of a comedic witness protection program, this is the first time we have actually written about our current hometown. That says something about La Quinta, California. Located in the Coachella Valley surrounded by the Colorado Desert, La Quinta was founded as a...| The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
As the saying goes, life gets in the way while you’re making other plans. We share with you an unexpected adventure that happened last weekend. Some may even refer to it as a cautionary tale. This one involved two boomers in a yellow 2005 Wrangler TJ. We were on the way to look at some alphabet ghost towns...| The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
It wasn’t Camel cigarettes that paved the way for Route 66, although that would come later with its billboards and imagery appearing along the iconic Mother Road. | The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
The United States’ views of Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh during World War II and during the Cold War changed quite dramatically. It is important to analyze the results of changed perceptions during this period. The Tonkin Resolution in 1964, which will be summarized later, delineated the changes to United States policy and actions in...| The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
The honor of receiving the very first star on Palm Springs Walk of Stars in 1992 didn’t go to a blockbuster entertainer like Bob Hope, Ginger Rogers or Frank Sinatra.| The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
Once there was a town. | The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
It may not have followed a three hour tour on the S.S. Minnow but Bombay Beach was founded on October 8, 1929 by R.E. Gilligan along the shore of the Salton Sea, the largest inland lake in the southern California. Mary Ann approves.| The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
You may be familiar with the large marble Chinese Guardian Lion statues between Route 66 and Kelbaker Road but did you know Amboy may have once had its very own living African lion?| The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
Last week we wrote an article about our favorite desert books on our shelves. We would be remiss to our Texas friends and family if we overlooked our collection of Texas books. As many already know, we traded in the California desert for Bandera, Texas for a couple of years before returning to the land of Joshua Trees and mountains. | The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
We originally referenced 100 of our favorite desert books five years ago. We still enjoy browsing museum gift shops and used book stores for nuggets of gold in the form of guidebooks, nature guides and history books. Discovering obscure out-of-print books is extra fun. Many new books have been published recently that also deserve our nod of appreciation and delight.| The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
How many have driven by this older building with a bright green extraterrestrial on its door, located on Old Woman Springs Road in Lucerne Valley without knowing the startling history of the former mild-mannered owner with a French accent? | The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
UPDATE March 10, 2025– RIP David Myers, President of The Wildlands Conservancy, at age 73. He passed away at his home in Oak Glen of natural causes related to Parkinson’s Disease. Thank you for your hard work for conservation, tireless diligence and most of all, your inspiration to so many. You will be missed. Note: Not to be confused with David Myers, Director at the San Bernardino County Museum. They are different people.| The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
Route 66 has lost another gem. On July 23, 2024, the Route 66 Mother Road Museum in Barstow, California, announced on their Facebook page they were closing. The museum’s webpage says that they are “closed indefinitely,” stating water repairs in another part of the building were being taken care of by the city.| The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
Note: We gave a presentation about this subject on September 14, 2023, to the Big Bear Historical Society. This article is the culmination of a month’s long research project. | The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
In the midst of the Roaring Twenties, a stout young man was a Ventura, California, attorney by trade. Although Erle Stanley Gardner immersed himself in juris prudence, he found that to make ends meet he needed what millennials nowadays call a “side hustle.” Writing fiction suited the gent’s keen wit, colorful oration and flair for the dramatic, so his fan base was quickly growing. And of course, it helped pay the bills.| The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
Have you ever wondered if the vastly different cities of Big Bear City and La Quinta, California, could possibly have anything in common? | The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
Where did your intrepid Desert Way wanderers go today? Landers, California, of course. Why? Well, we were 31 years too late for the big earthquake, so we headed on over to the Morongo Basin Historical Society Museum’s Grand Opening instead. The Morongo Basin Historical Society was founded in 1999 but the museum itself did not have a permanent home until 2008. The re-grand opening follows an intensive six-month beautification project. Volunteers did an outstanding job reimagining the mus...| The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
Take a short walk on this quiet mountain trail, surrounded by pines and open spaces, and you see it up ahead. White crosses in a semi-circle, around the gnarled truck of a tree. So, what have you stumbled into here? Well, give us a minute or two and we’ll tell you about the mountain town that refused to live.| The Desert Way with Jaylyn and John
