Big Bear Lake to base of Tejon Pass

Leaving Big Bear Lake for the wedding in Lake Arrowhead we stopped to look at this great cabin sign. It was nicely animated with smoke coming from the chimney.


Frank & Lisa's wedding in Lake Arrowhead - congratulations Frank & Lisa! It was a lovely wedding along the shore of Lake Arrowhead.

Lake Arrowhead was home to the much-loved Santa's Village. Looking at vintage photos and postcards you can see this was quite the attraction. A majority of the signs and smaller items have found their way into the local community. What remains are the buildings and the Bumble Bee monorail slowly sinking back into the forest. The grounds appear to be currently used as a storage area for logging equipment.


I-15 north to Hwy 138 - didn't see much as we were passing through late at night.

Palmdale to Gorman via Hwy 138 - A lonely, straight shot at 1:00 am.

North to northern end of Tejon Pass via I-5 - Yeeeeeehawwww! Down the grapevine at 2:00 am. If you're blowing by every other car on the road you're going really, really fast. Luckily there are convenient runaway truck ramps off to the side. We hit the bottom of the grapevine at around 2:30 am and lucked out by getting the last motel room.

Red Bluff to Big Bear Lake

Red Bluff to Bakersfield via Hwy 99 - Leaving Red Bluff after our night of big game spider hunting we spotted this fantastic looking theater up the road. Not sure if it's still being used but it has a fantastic profile.


The drive down Hwy 99 was much busier than we thought it would be. Hwy 99 is still fairly sleepy through most of Oregon. There were still remnants of the glory days of Hwy 99, but it would appear development is rapidly removing many of the places from the past decades. It's too bad we hadn't made it in time for an "Alaska-sized" burger at the Mammoth Orange in Chowchilla before road construction closed it down. Just one more reason to support your local mom and pop establishments.


Bakersfield to Barstow via Hwy 58 - Hello emptiness! An interesting change of scenery out this direction. I believe the temperature was about 183 degrees as we passed through. The drive over the hill at Tehachapi provided great scenery, and besides, it's just a fun name to say. Passing through Borax we were disappointed to see a faded out sign that at one time advertised the Borax museum. We would have loved to have stopped there and saw just what it takes to make a cleanser "20 mule team strong". I can still picture the can sitting on the edge of the sink. The joshua trees were also nice to look at through this area.


Barstow to Lucerne Valley via Hwy 247 - If you thought you had the road to yourself along Hwy 58 here's a stretch that makes you wonder if the rest of the world has been abducted by aliens. There was one straight stretch of the road that was probably 10 miles long. It seems as if this stretch of lonely highway was the inspiration for every David Lynch movie.


Lucerne Valley to Big Bear Lake via Hwy 18 - Remember that straight stretch along Hwy 247? Well, the longest straight stretch on this road over the mountains is about 8.4 inches. The rest is a 4 foot wide, winding goat path up and over the mountain! We agreed it worked out well that we went over it in the dark and couldn't really see down over the side. It was very pretty out that way and it was great to feel the temperature drop as we climbed the mountain.

Portland to Red Bluff

Portland to Albany via I-5 - Not much to report along this stretch as we've driven it so many times over the years. We do always wonder if all the neon is still on the T & R sign in Albany.

Albany to Eugene via Hwy 99 E - A nice break from the long, straight stretch to Eugene.

Eugene to Gold Hill via I-5 - Our first "Stop!" was a result of spotting this great sign in Sutherlin. The restaurant is still there (under a different name). This arrow must have been something when all of the bulbs were animated. Our lunch stop also took place at the Dairy Queen here. Although a new building, it's worth a stop to see the historic photos they have displayed throughout the dining area.



The next "must see" was The Oregon Vortex. Unfortunately we arrived after closing but as luck would have it we're making another trip through the area in a couple of weeks. We'll be back for sure. The place looked fantastic from outside the gates.



Gold Hill to Ashland via Hwy 99 - This was another great section of the trip. We spotted a couple of wonderful buildings in downtown Medford. First was this Woolworth building that looks to be recently renovated. The signage was in great shape.



Across the street from the Woolworth building was a fantastic Streamline Moderne building. From the photos in the window it appears this was at one time an auto showroom that received an art deco update.


Just before Ashland on Hwy 99 was this fantastic sign for the Jackson Wellsprings. The sign has a great shape and looks to be well maintained. Too bad they don't offer cottages anymore.



Ashland to Red Bluff via I-5 - A pretty drive as far as scenery goes but not a whole lot along I-5 to see. Driving through the Shasta area is always nice however.

Our lodging for the night was at an independent motel in Red Bluff. Great rates, friendly staff. As we drug everything into the room ready to collapse I noticed something quite large stationed in the "knee" area of the desk. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a spider roughly the size of a 50 cent piece. It was all black and looked like the plastic spider rings we used to wear around Halloween. He had apparently homesteaded there, as when we attempted to "relocate" him, he moved at the speed of light behind the desk where we could no longer see him. At this point the idea of sleeping with a spider the size of a puppy and the speed of a racehorse running freely about the room was not an option. Our first attempt was to blow dry him out from behind the desk. This was a resounding failure. The next step was to remove the microwave and mini-fridge from the top of the desk. At this point we proceeded to tip the desk over slowly which in turn exposed his compound which had probably been there for generations. Needless to say this story ends with a small, memorial plaque placed next to the door of this particular room honoring the long life of this particular inhabitant. Happy trails big fella.