Mojave Desert Ride

The map below shows the route for a group ride on January 29, 2011. The 334 mile loop through the Mojave Desert took us from the Inland Empire (Riverside and San Bernardino) on Route 60, Route 62 through Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree, Twentynine Palms, Amboy Road to Amboy, Route 66 through Bagdad, along I-40 to Barstow, I-15 through Victorville, then down the Cajon Pass to the Inland Valleys. The map below is courtesy of DeLorme. See Delorme. The photos in this post were made on an outdated (11 years old, gasp!) digital camera, the Kodak DC3400. The DC3400 was a 2.0 megapixel camera, which was a big improvement over the 1.0 megapixel cameras of the time (around the year 2000). For more information on the DC3400, see the following post, Slow Photography. As always, click on a map or photo to view the larger version.

Testing out the black and white, I snapped the photo below at a gasoline station in Riverside after setting the camera to –1 stop exposure compensation. It was a very bright day and I didn’t want to wash out the sensor on the Kodak, which tends to happen in very bright conditions.

The photo below was taken at the roadside on Indian Canyon Avenue in North Palm Springs.

The photo below was taken in the pass through the Sheephole Mountains between Twentynine Palms and Amboy. The view beyond Mike Harmon (left) and Dan Underwood (right) looks down toward Bristol Dry Lake and the town of Amboy, many miles in the distance.

Below: There’s no mistaking that you are on the “mother road”, Route 66, which runs through Amboy.

Below: I have too many photos of Roy’s sign, but black and white seemed appropriate.

Below, the tank in this photo sat on display beside the gas station in Barstow when we stopped for the third and last tank of fuel for the ride.

The ATSF caboose shown below also resided beside the gas station in Barstow.