Kelso and Zzyzx

We have been on many adventures in the past I will post them from time to time.
This one for instance. I think it was back in early February we had a few days off together so we went to Stateline, on the I-15 before Las Vegas, so we could have an adventure. We went to one of the casino/hotels there so my fiancee could have a bath. The short story to this is that we only have a shower here at the cabin and my cute fiancee is a bath person, so we need to get her in a tub often or I'm in trouble. Our intention was to go on an adventure on the way back home. So after several good soaks in the tub and putting some money in the slot machines, we made a hasty retreat back to California after cute fiancee won several hundred on some slots. Run fast if you have won kinda big at slots is our motto. Crossing back into California was the start of the adventure. the intention was to make our way to the old railroad town of Kelso. The route had to be altered when some road work on the I-15 cause a detour, and boy was the route we took much better that the one I had mapped out. It is at this time that I must tell you that any time I set out on an adventure I have looked over the area's on a map, preferably google maps or google earth using the satellite options. I can see land marks on the satellite view and find alternate routes if needed.
The I-15 detour made it so we had to go to another off ramp, my alternate route, and we are happy we did. We ended up on Cima Road, which as you head south takes you through one of the few Joshua Tree forests in the world, and the weather was such that it was starting to snow. It was beautiful




We pressed on down the road and came to the intersection at the old railroad town of Cima.
This town is almost deserted, miles from nowhere, now mostly ranch land in the middle of the Mojave desert. The day was cloudy so it made for a different kind of California desert experience.
Turning west from Cima we headed to Kelso. I have been wanting to go to Kelso for some time and with the pictures on the internet I talked my fiancee into it. The real draw to Kelso is the Mission style railway station. Ok so I'm an architecture geek...grin, you can see by the pics.
If you like Mission style and Craftsman style architecture then this place is for you.


The interior decor is wonderful.

Inside the station is basically a museum, with exhibits for the local area and the use of the station up to the present. We spent over an hour there and I took tons of pics. The history was great, if you like those kind of things. It was interesting how much steel came out of the hills to the south that went on to make the Liberty ships of WWII. It also had a display for our next stop in the adventure.

more in the next post.