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| The motel, cafe, and gas station in Amboy, California. The gas station is still operational |
April 5, 2026. Just to be clear, I didn't actually drive from Needles California to Amboy on Rt 66. That was my plan but it didn't work out. Actually, that wasn't even my plan. My plan was to drive on Interstate 40 to Amboy then take Rt 66 back to Needles. Since I spent the night in Needles I just think of that as the starting point. The most direct way to Amboy is to take Interstate 40 to Kelbaker Road, Go south on Kelbaker to Rt 66 and hang a right. So that's what I did.
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| Route 66 closed east of Kelbaker Rd |
The first thing I noticed was at Kelbaker and Rt-66, the 66 was closed to the left! Fortunately Amboy is on the right and it was open that way. Or, at least, mostly open. There are three bridges that are being constructed on the road and you have to detour around them by driving on a marked gravel road through the wash. They are short detours and are easy to navigate.
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| Bridge detour |
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| Marble Lion |
Also along the road are two marble lions, of the type you might see outside a Chinese restaurant. They look very out of place, but it's worth jumping out of your car and taking a quick look.
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| Roy's and a car |
Amboy is a neat places. It is just a few buildings along the side of the road and is notable because Albert Okura (1951-2023) bought the town and decided to fix it up as a labor of love. There is a working gas station and cafe (I guess, I didn't actually go in). The post office there is in good condition (though closed) and there was a Roy's Motel which had individual cabins. The sign for the hotel and the main building has been fully fixed up and decorated but the cabins are not. It looks like Albert got started on them but never finished. There is also Roy's Airport which I didn't see any planes at, but there was a car parked in front of it so maybe it is still in use? The Amboy School is still there but is fenced off and unrestored. There are a few other buildings and a car or two as well. If you are in the area, or are doing a Route 66 drive, it is a place you shouldn't miss. Here's a few more photos of it, the story continues after them.
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| Amboy Post Office |
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| Roy's Motel office |
 | Inside one of the cabins at Roy's Motel Cafe |
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| Shrine to Albert Okura |
Beyond Amboy is Mojave Trails National Monument and Amboy Crater. I didn't go to either, but they are close by and now I wish I had gone.
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| Don't take this road |
My fun really began when I got back to Kelbaker Road. I really wanted to continue East on 66 towards Needles but the road was closed so I asked Google for help. Google let me know that there is a road that runs parallel to 66 for 7.5 miles and can provide access right around Chambles which is the next place I wanted to go. I got to the road and noted it was dirt but it really didn't seem too bad. There are even speed limit signs on it, so it's a real road. My opinion of the road degraded as the road also degraded. There aren't huge rocks or ruts but there are smaller sharp stones embedded in the dirt. You also have to cross small washes that have short stretches of deep sand that the car would loose traction on. Did I mention that I didn't see anyone else, didn't have cell service, and the only houses I saw were abandoned? About halfway down I realized that this was the dumbest thing I have done in a long while. I made back to 66 and to Chambles with both me and the car in one piece.
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| Bolo Station |
There are only a couple of buildings in and around Chambles. Bolo Station was closed but looks like it was recently remodeled. It is unfortunate for them that the road is closed. There is also an abandoned motel and restaurant. The restaurant is fenced off and I didn't explore the motel. I would have liked to spend a bit more time there but was a bit more concerned about what to do next since the road was closed in both directions and I really didn't want to do the 7+ mile dirt road again.
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| Chambless station |
I was not the only person there. A man named Jeff had come from the same direction I had come from and was mounting a Go Pro on his truck so I went to talk to him. He said that last year when he was through the road going east was mostly passable but all the bridges required driving around them through the wash and the sand was deep and worse than the way we both had come from. I had trouble imagining my car making it on a road worse than the one I had come in from so I reluctantly decided that turning around was my only option.
Jeff was really nice and must have seen how I looked as I considered my options because he offered to follow me back and help if I got stuck. After initially declining his offer, I reconsidered and gratefully accepted. When I got back to the dirt road and turned on to it Jeff honked and drove up next to me. He told me that 66 was fine except for driving around the bridges and there was no need for this detour. So we both continued on the real 66. When I got to the first bridge it looked OK so I drove slowly over it, I'd really hate for the approach to be new but the span be missing and me drive the car off into the wash. It was perfectly fine so I continued to the next one which I also took slow but was fine. We continued this way until we got back to Kelbaker Road. Yup, that was it. The road was fine. Every single bridge had been fully replaced. There was absolutely no reason to detour on the dirt road, you can just drive around the road closed sign and not have any problems.
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| Road Runner's Retreat |
Between Chambless and Kelbaker Road is Road Runner's Retreat, a former restaurant and gas station. The sign was recently refurbished, The restaurant building burned down but you can see a wall or two on the left of the sign, in the foreground is the remains of the old gas station. If you look closely at the sign, you will see it is labeled with a more prestigious "East Amboy" instead of Chambless.
To the west of Chambless many people have used stones to form words on the embankment on the north side of Rt 66.
After that I realized I probably could have continued east from Chambless, I bet most or all of those bridges have already been replaced, but I didn't want to risk it. I thanked Jeff and he turned around while I went back to Needles. If it hadn't been for him I would have retraced my drive down the 7.5 mile dirt road and prayed the car made it. Once on I-40, I stopped at every exit to see if the roads to 66 were closed and they were. The last exit before needles 66 goes under the interstate and it is open in the Needles direction (but not in the Amboy direction) so I took that.
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| Abandoned building |
This is closer to Needles, CA, on Rt 66 between Needles and I-40.
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