DESERT VIEW RV RESORT was different than any other RV resort we’ve stayed at in all 9 weeks on the road. If we get to a campground late, we usually fill out “night registration” and pay in the morning at the office, which is located near the entrance. In this case, we didn’t see the office, so we just drove around until we found an empty space and parked. This morning a guy on a golf cart drove up to us and asked us when we arrived last night (8:30pm). Eric told him I was going to go to the office on our way out, and he told Eric there was no office and they come to your site to get your information and payment. Such service!
When he came back, he had a woman in the golf cart with him. She had a clipboard. She got out, approached the RV and I got out to greet her. I tried to hand her my charge card, but she told me that they only take cash or personal checks. That seemed very strange to me, but I paid her and filled out the form she had. She gave me my copy and they left. It struck us both as so strange that they don’t have an office and they don’t take credit cards. Doesn’t seem very business-like, does it? Anyway, the accommodations were very nice!
We had breakfast at a place called WAGON WHEEL RESTAURANT in Needles, on Historic Route 66. Needles is called “The Gateway to California,” because you have to pass through it to enter California on I-40 or Historic Route 66.
After a hearty breakfast, we headed out of town to BARSTOW, which was just over an hour away. It was a cute, little town. We gassed up ($3.49 a gallon – by far, the most we’ve paid this entire trip), got Starbucks (yeah!) and then drove around a little.
I noticed that there were lots of beautiful murals on the walls of the businesses in town. This one in particular attracted my eye. It depicted the military in the 1850s using camels, because they could cross the desert with only a drink every couple of days. When the Civil War started, they gave up on the camels. Interesting, eh?
Here are some other interesting facts about BARSTOW:
Route 66 ran through Barstow and the town's name is mentioned in the lyrics to the song, "Route 66" and in the Black Eyed Peas song "Like That" as Will.I.Am. raps that he "(has) a style that's way out like Barstow" commenting on Barstow's distance from the BEP's home city of Los Angeles. Barstow is also mentioned in Hunter S. Thompson's novel "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," in Quentin Tarantino's film "Kill Bill Vol. II," and in numerous other films and television shows.
I saw an Antique Mall, so Eric read his book while I shopped for about a half hour. I saw lots of cute stuff, but nothing that I had to have.
We drove on to SAN BERNARDINO. There were several exits off I-40 for the city, and we didn’t know which one was best, so we just got off one exit and started driving around. First we drove through a really nice business district, where we saw courthouses, a beautiful library, etc. Then, we hit a not-so-nice neighborhood, so we kept driving. We entered a nicer neighborhood, with lots of stores on a major thoroughfare. Nothing special.
Here’s SAN BERNARDINO’S biggest claim to fame -- did you know the entire McDonald’s empire started in good old San Bernardino?
1948 - On December 12, siblings Richard and Maurice McDonald convert their "barbecue" restaurant on "E" Street into a fast food restaurant, McDonald's, by introducing their Speedee Service System. Glen Bell, inspired by their success opens Bell's Hamburgers on the corner of Oak and Mount Vernon Avenues. Bell would later open Taco Tia at Base Line and Acacia in 1954, El Taco, and in 1962, Taco Bell in Downey, California.
1952 - Neal Baker, a friend of Glen Bell's and an admirer of the McDonalds', opens the first Bakers' Drive Thru. This local chain now has 35 stores in the Inland Empire.
1961 - Dick and Mac McDonald sell Ray Kroc business rights to their restaurants for $2.7 million dollars; they retain the original McDonald’s as "The Big M." Kroc opens a McDonalds across the street. Today, the Kroc restaurant remains boarded up, the original McDonalds was demolished, though a McDonalds museum exists at the original site (with a building built in the 1970s), which is run by Albert Okura, founder of the local chicken chain, Juan Pollo.”
I’m sure there are wonderful places to visit in San Bernardino, but we weren’t able to find them tonight and it was getting late, so we headed south about 8 miles to GRAND TERRACE to the TERRACE VILLAGE RV PARK.
We’ll ask the people at the office tomorrow morning where we should go to enjoy the best of San Bernardino.