Leaving CA
Yermo, just outside of Barstow is even more… forgive me…. depressing than Bar(f)stow. Needles, like Barstow, is a “pass thru” town… and Buttonwillow… well, it’s super small… and I always note the signs for it off the I-5… I like the name.
And if you don’t live in California and don’t know these places… there’s not much reason for you to go (to those places)… trust me.
Seen Barstow, Yermo and Needles … so I think I can take your word for Buttonwillow, heh.
Been to all three. (And Barstow, which at least was able to boast the World’s Largest McDonald’s for some years.)
Back in my youth, living in Garden Grove, when my friends and I were all bored out of our minds, we’d always joke we should go bowling in Needles. A few years later, we were coming back from an overnight trip to Vegas when we saw the sign to Needles (south on US-95 from Vegas) and made a side trip down there to – you guessed it – go bowling. We didn’t even know if they had a bowling alley, but they did! We bowled a couple lines and I bought a t-shirt for “River Rat Bowling, Needles, CA.” I still have it around somewhere.
Needles is one of the two places in California that I remember best.
The other is Disneyland.
Hey, I was eight years old at the time…..
The Auld Grump
I cannot believe you didn’t enjoy lovely Barstow as much as I did!! HA HA HA HA All I can say is if not for my favorite cartoonist..Barstow would have truly sucked! :0)
Oooohhhhh yes, I remember Barstow very well. We lived in Tehachapi, up from Barstow. Moving back to Oklahoma, our trailer broke down there and we had to get another one. Spent the night there, moved everything from one trailer to the other and left in a cloud of dust. The hubs and me and four little kids with chickenpox. It was a loooong trip! (Especially with the kid who would escape from his car seat every time we had to stop.) I really don’t remember much about that trip, fortunately. Had to wait in Barstow until a family member could Western Union enough money to get the trailer, too. I was glad to leave.
I’ve only ever been to CA once. I flew in to LAX, met a couple of online friends in the LA area, then a couple days later headed west thru Malibu, Oxnard, Santa Barbara, up to San Simeon. By this time I was having bronchitis pretty bad (from breathing what Los Angelenos are pleased to call “air”), but I soldiered on. Took the Pacific Coast Highway up to almost Monterey, and barked my head on a low doorway at a gas station in Big Sur, aggravating matters. Made my way to the San Jose/Palo Alto area to meet with another online pal. Went to SF the next day but was only there a short time – couldn’t enjoy it cos of my cough and my aching head. Nonetheless crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, then headed inland to I-5 and up to Red Bluff, where I finally went to the emergency room and got some meds prescribed. Next day I went past Mount Shasta and visited Yreka before heading into Oregon.
All in all, a mixed experience.
Needles…that’s where Snoopy’s brother Spike lived, ja?
Buttonwillow…isn’t that about 30 miles north of Grapevine? been past the exit…always equated it to be like Bradley…or santa margarita…
How about “ZZYZIX road”? It’s down in that area too!
Hey, yeah! I remember Zzyzx Rd. It’s still there. It goes to Zzyzx, CA, which was named such in 1944. Since 1976, the Cal State University system has managed the land and has a Desert Studies Center there.
In 1984 the name of Zzyzx was officially approved as a word, making it the last one alphabetically in the English language.
I had always pronounced it “Ziz-icks” with two short “i”s, but according to Wikipedia, the first “i” is long (as in ‘bike’)
As a native Californian, I find this toon hilarious!