Re: NNG - Amboy, West of Essex ... (Beep, Beep)

rehunn Wrote:
========================================
> It just never stops, does it?
> But Russ, very few trout in
> Amboy.   (ATSF local joke).


Hi, Rich -

Thank You - I have been trying to remember the name of the next major city west
of Essex all day, but was too lazy to dig out my Charles Atlas maps of the area.

Actually, trout used to be quite plentiful in Amboy.  Well, in East Amboy, anyway ...   IIRC, the world-famous RoadRunner's Retreat gas station & café used to serve grilled High Sierra trout from (relatively) near-by Independence - but that was many, many years ago, when I was regularly commuting three or four times a year between SoCal and Colo. Spgs. via the then two-lane highway.  Driving east from Amboy - where the highway zig-zags across the railroad - one (or more) could see The Roadrunner's legs running through their one - two - three - four cycle for miles and miles and miles before the metropolis of East Amboy flashed by outside in the darkness.  You really would miss it if you blinked.

The following photo of the lee side of the famous sign was taken shortly after sunrise in June, 2012; the windward side has long since been sandblasted to illegibility, and The Roadrunner has lost his head in a Duel with the Wind (and local sharpshooters).  As We Who Remember have dwindled in numbers, traffic on this section of Old U.S. 66 has likewise dwindled to just a few dozen cars each day ...


- Rüsso

p.s. I honestly don't remember ever stopping at the Roadrunner's Retreat, so I cannot attest to the truth or falsehood of the rumor that the fountain advertised on the sign above was larger than the one near in S.P. depot in Dunsmuir, and customers ordering trout would use a net to retrieve their chosen fish from its swirling pool.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/09/2013 04:50PM by Russo Loco.