We have landed safe and sound in the big Town of Mojave, Ca. We left Desert Hot Springs at 8:30 this morning, great weather for driving!
Our Best Western… great Wi-Fi… great pool and hot tub… life is good!
We took the 247 up north out of Yucca Valley towards the City of Barstow, Ca. Once we hit Barstow, we headed east as Judy wanted to check out the Ghost at the Calico Ghost Town.
The Mining Town of Calico was born in 1881, and had a population of 1,200 people. Silver was the king here, producing an amazing $86 million. Borax was second at $45 million. 500 men worked the mines! All this wealth was created between 1881 and 1907… silver was at $1.31 an ounce and when it quickly dropped to $.63 Calico became a Ghost Town!
Mr. Knott bought the whole Town a number of years ago, as he wanted to preserve it. He rebuilt the whole town, for the tourist, and has now donated the Town to San Bernardino County.
There is a neat little train that runs around the Town…
This is the Town’s original fire truck!
If you pay this guy .50 cents, he will tell your fortune!
This was a real mining Town… you can see where they used to live and everything…
I think I will stay with Dr. Robinson in Gravenhurst…
It is a $6.00 charge to get into the Town… lots to see!
These guys stared each other to death!
Hey Rick, you better not tell Paulette about this shop… shhhhhhh……….
Your typical miner’s house…
Easy there Judy, it’s a long way down to the mine…
You can see all the mines dotting the hills around the Town…
Yes, that is a dry lake bed in the upper left of the picture…
Sorry Bob, Judy could not find any gold!
The Mojave Desert is called the “High Desert” and is completely different than where we are staying down in the low desert at DHS.
The lost miner!
We had a great time at the Ghost Town, and after we headed up the road a bit to enjoy some off road trails with our Jeep! Imagine that! This is the Mule Canyon which was a great Jeep ride… never hung the Jeep up even once! Not going to bore you with pictures of the ride, it was great!
This blog has gone on long enough tonight the way it is, and you thought I was not even going to be able to post! Ha!
Tomorrow is Edwards Air Force Base! Can’t wait!
Till tomorrow…
what a great day you had in the 'ghost town'..too bad there was no 'gold in them thar hills'!!..thanks for the fabulous tour..looks like it was well worth the minimal charge of $6
ReplyDeleteNever boring! Thanks for the tour of Calico Ghost Town. Enjoyed the photos and commentary. Looking forward to your report on Edwards AFB.
ReplyDeleteIf you are anywhere near Boron, go into town to the MExican restaurant there. It is absolutely wonderful and has the history of being the astronaut's favorite eating place in years past. Also, a visit to the Boron mine is really interesting. They have a great visitor's center.
ReplyDeleteEmjay
Thanks for the great tour of Calico Ghost Town - another place we've missed during our travels. I think I'll keep the quilt shop a secret though or we could be going for another long drive!!
ReplyDeleteHave a great time at Edwards AFB!
I miss those mountains. The ghost town reminds me of Bodie, a worthwhile stop if you pass by on 395.
ReplyDeleteThanks for giving us a tour on your nickel.
ReplyDeleteYou could never bore me with adventures or anything else... Loved your pictures and how you told the story of your day in Calico...
ReplyDeleteHave fun & Travel Safe
Donna
Great tour, J&J....
ReplyDelete