East of Barstow all the way to the Arizona border, old Route 66 survives in a series of different stretches alongside the I-40 freeway. The first place of interest, Daggett, is a rusty old mining and railroad town six miles east of Barstow along the north side of the freeway. Old Route 66 runs due east from here, past the region’s unique claim to fame: the acres of shiny mirrors at the Solar One and Solar Two power plants, an experimental, 10-megawatt electricity generating station three miles east of Daggett and north of I-40.
Fifteen miles east of Daggett comes the next I-40 junction and the next small town, Newberry Springs, where the popular Percy Adlon movie Bagdad Cafe was shot at the town’s one and only café, the Bagdad Cafe (760/257-3101), open daily for the best food on this stretch of old Route 66. The old road continues along the south side of I-40 for another 25 miles, passing the lava flows of Pisgah Crater before crossing over to the north of the freeway for the final 10 miles into Ludlow, where old Route 66 rejoins the freeway.
