Route 66, the Bagdad Cafe, and Tourists – Thoughts from September 21, 2024 – Last Day Part 1

Patti and I woke up for the last time in our hotel room in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. Tonight, we would be home and sleep in our own bed. The end of our vacation was hours and not days away. We drive back today but we still have a few more places to visit. The first is the Bagdad Café in Newberry Springs, California. Many years ago, I saw the movie Bagdad Café and remember being obsessed with the song Calling You by Jevetta Steele. We figured we could eat there if it was open and actually serving food. Finding it proved to be difficult, but it led to an awesome Route 66 picture. As we drove, I played Calling You because Patti never saw the movie or heard the song.

In finding most of the places in our Route 66 journey, maps got us right where we needed to go. We found that this worked if we could access the internet. The Bagdad Café wasn’t on our mapped places we would be going. We just wanted to see it because it was a Route 66 historical destination. By the time I got a signal, we had passed where we were supposed to get off the highway. In the desert, off-ramps are miles apart. We got off and started our way back, but we did it on Route 66 itself. As we drove, there was no one in front or behind us. Suddenly, we saw it. There was a large Route 66 shield painted on the road. I pulled off the side of the road and we got out of our car. We both posed in the middle of the road behind the Route 66 shield. It was the one shot we missed in our travels. Without that shot, you didn’t actually get our kicks on Route 66.

We finally found our way to the Bagdad Café. Our first thought was, “Is it open?” No other vehicles were there. Patti walked to the door, and I took pictures of the outside. To our surprise, the door opened, and we walked inside. I noticed right away that a video of the movie was playing on a small screen. There was an older man and woman inside. I don’t know how old they were, but slow was the speed they did everything. They welcomed us and asked if we wanted to take a picture with the Historic Bagdad Café sign in the shape of the Route 66 shield. They gave us little US flags to hold with the sign. Patti asked about the café, and they said they were planning on opening with food service in the fall. Hopefully, they meant their kids or other family members would open it.

The couple said that many Japanese and French tourists come to visit. I asked to use the restroom and found it down a small hallway. Inside, there was writing all over the walls. Sure enough, there were several languages represented, including Japanese and French. I took several pictures of the restroom walls. When I came out, a large group of people walked through the door. They just kept coming in and soon the building was swarming with people. We gave up on looking at the gift shop area, which had T-shirts and other things. When we got outside, they had parked two large buses with people still coming out. They were taking pictures and reading signs. As Patti and I always say, we visit places and bring crowds with us. We had enough of them and continued down the road.