5. Iron Hog Restaurant & Saloon, Mohawk Mini-Mart, Oro Grande, California

After exploring The Bottle Tree Ranch, my husband and I continued toward Victorville, briefly pausing to photograph the Iron Hog Restaurant and Saloon before entering the historic business district of Oro Grande:

We passed the cement plant on our left on the other side of the railroad tracks. (The image below is looking back from where we had just come.):

Just past the plant and on our right stood the boarded-up Mohawk Mini Mart. I was impressed by an enormous tumbleweed in front of the Mini Mart building. During this trip, I experienced for the first time tumbleweed blowing across the road in front of our car, but nothing this massive!

Farther down, a row of small businesses in a dated brick building lined Route 66. On the side of the building, a large, hand-painted Route 66 shield and map of major towns along Route 66 in California filled the space.

On the side wall on the other side of the building is a hand-painted map of the whole of Route 66 from Illinois to California with major cities marked along the way:

After photographing Oro Grande, we continued westward on Old Route 66/I-15. However, we turned around at Victorville without stopping, deciding instead to take a side trip to Calico Ghost Town.

(to be continued….) SUBSCRIBE to my Blog at the very bottom of the page!