Tales From American Bars: Barstow CA
We could have guessed that Barstow was going to be an experience. Just approaching the town down the wide, sloping highway gives a sense of being somewhere different, as the sun baked town creeps outwards to fill the shallow basin in the otherwise barren desert.
From Barstow it’s many miles to anywhere, its nearest neighbours being a long drive away across the unforgiving desert which stretches to the horizon in every direction. Heat hazes shimmer above the asphalt and the early evening sun, still blistering and intense, creates dazzling reflections in windows and windshields.
The broad main highway sprouts giant signs – McDonalds, Starbucks, Home Depot, Chevrolet and no win no fee personal injury lawyers – whilst slow moving mile long trains rumble in and out of the colossal rail freight terminal which provides wealth and employment for the town. Route 66 signs and memorabilia punctuate the highway where a disproportionate number of motels sit waiting to welcome the one night standers who, like us, are passing through on this famous route.
Barstow is a large, archetypal American sprawl, except for its isolation out here in the desert. Its population is detached, remote, islanded from the rest of California, the USA, the world. Busy life goes on: the rest of the World is another place, yet the population of the town is swelled daily by curious road trip visitors seeking just bed and breakfast before their journey continues.
By the time we reach Barstow, we’ve already learned not to judge a bar by its cover: just because it’s a concrete cube in a shopping precinct by the highway doesn’t mean there isn’t an atmospheric classic boozer lurking within. Barstow doesn’t even deliver one of those, instead it seems that the best bar in town is inside one of those numerous hotels about a mile away.
He speaks to me before my backside has even made contact with the bar stool.
“You better be a Dodgers fan”, he exclaims, glancing up at the TV screen where the match is about to begin.
“Well, we’re from England”.
“Only Dodgers fans can sit at the bar when a game is on”, he says, and seems to mean it.
“Oh”, I say, smiling my most friendly smile and stretching out my hand, “I’m Phil. Always been a Dodgers fan”.
Him and his buddy both relax and smile and the introductions are completed. We chat a while, and I ask how often these guys get to the Dodgers stadium to watch games in the flesh.
“Hey listen”, he says, “we Barstow folk don’t go to LA. Barstow is our home, we ain’t big city folk”.
I do a double take.
“You’ve never been to LA? But it’s less than two hours away”.
He gave a sigh and a satisfied smile.
“I ain’t been nowhere, fella. I got all I need here in Barstow”.
Wow.
The pretty girl behind the bar has been smiling throughout this exchange. Now Michaela brings her into the conversation, at the same time steering me away from perhaps saying the wrong thing to the Dodgers guys.
“One thing’s been troubling us”, she says to all, “what exactly is Mountain Time?”
Blank looks. Michaela explains that our next destination in Arizona keeps expressing arrangements such as check-in time and access to the national park in “mountain time” and, whilst we think we know the answer, we still haven’t fully established whether passing from Pacific Time to Mountain Time involves adjusting our clocks. She asks that question.
“Ain’t got a clue”, says the bar girl, and glances across to the Dodgers boys. By their nonplussed and disinterested reaction, they have no clue, nor any inclination to ever find out.
She looks back at Michaela.
“I don’t know nothin’ ‘bout Arizona”, she says, “ain’t never been that far”.
Rarely, even on islands, have we encountered such a sense of isolated, self-contained community, let alone one which also, incongruously, welcomes travelling visitors so regularly.
As we drive away from Barstow, we are so aware of the unusual community we’ve just just peeped into. Now, two months on, we look back on that night as a true – proper, even – road trip experience.
26 Comments
Steven M Berger
Not so unusual. Most foreigners visiting the US never experience what you did in Barstow. America is a difficult country to understand – so diverse in every way imaginable. I’m glad you got a very brief (and safe) glimpse of a real representation of our population. On a different note, the Dodgers in LA came from Brooklyn and were “The Boys of Summer”.
Be safe,
Steve
Phil & Michaela
Thank you Steven, this was just one of a number of experiences. Sometimes I think that it’s in the bars of a country that you get a real feel. But it was great, you know? Like we said at the end, it was a “proper” road trip experience. And like so many of our experiences on this, our first ever US road trip, we look back on it with real affection. These little glimpses on different cultures is the very essence of why we travel.
Latitude Adjustment: A Tale of Two Wanderers
Oh, Barstow sure is an experience of Americana. You were way off the foreign tourist trail Good for you! Great photos.
Phil & Michaela
Hi guys. It felt like a true road trip experience… and actually we loved it!
Lookoom
Great stories!
mochatruffalo
Oh, you’ll get a lot of these types of responses in small town America. Explains the unfortunate predicament this country is in.
Phil & Michaela
That’s exactly what my daughter, who lives in LA, said when we told her this story.
Suzanne@PictureRetirement
Hi Guys, I grew up in small town America and can relate to your experience on a very personal level. Not everyone has the vision or desire to live beyond their current status or to interact outside their perceived boundaries. I don’t see that as bad or good, it’s just a choice they make. Most work hard, pay taxes, and are kind to strangers, but ultimately they want to be left alone to enjoy life on their terms. (you can’t sit here unless you are a Dodgers fan) I am personally more concerned about ‘collective think’ in urban areas and among the highly educated ignorant when it comes to the fate of our country. I loved this encounter and admire you guys for valuing it ‘properly.’
Phil & Michaela
Hi Suzanne, that’s a very interesting and thoughtful response. We love these windows on other lives that the privilege of travel can provide and we so enjoy these encounters. For us it’s a big part of what travelling is all about. It’s certainly why we travel independently, that’s for sure.
Toonsarah
Great story and a very recognisable snapshot of some (not all!) Americans we’ve met, like the girl in a small CA town cafe who served us cold drinks and was so awed by our accent and nationality that you’d think we’d landed from Mars! As you say, these small encounters can be among the most memorable happenings on a trip, as much as any grand sight.
Phil & Michaela
Absolutely, Sarah, they are the memories which you end up talking about as much as any other.
grandmisadventures
I always loved driving through Barstow from Utah to California. It has the feel of old world grit and a more down to earth feel than other parts of the state. 🙂
Phil & Michaela
We chose Barstow as our overnight stay on a 2-day drive entirely to try and get a feel of a real, authentic American town. Well, California town. It definitely delivered, and was an experience we are still talking about weeks later.
Mike and Kellye Hefner
You had me laughing! (Phil, so glad you’re a Dodgers fan.) We just finished parts of eastern Route 66, and can’t wait to do the rest. Barstow sounds interesting to say the least! We will have to spend a night there when we head that way.
Phil & Michaela
You could do worse. It was an interesting experience.
Monkey's Tale
Haha, I’ve been to several Barstows in the US. But I bet she said ‘ain’t got NO clue’! 😊 Did you figure out the time zones eventually?
Phil & Michaela
You’re right, I bet she did! Yes, we were fairly convinced there was no change, and there wasn’t. Same time zone but maybe not the same planet…!
Gilda Baxter
It is always fascinating to chat to the locals and learn about their way of life. Route 66 is on our travel wish list.
wetanddustyroads
“I got all I need here in Barstow” … that’s a good line, I like that! Definitely a road trip memory that won’t be forgotten 😄.
Phil & Michaela
Definitely not!
leightontravels
Ah, this is proper Americana. A window into a whole other world, Phil. One day I have got to get out to this region and find a few of these places. Did you have anything to eat there? I am trying to picture the scenario where you had made an impassioned cry for the other team.
Phil & Michaela
Yes we ate there but in the adjoining restaurant (Mexican, uncharacteristically poor quality) and I definitely didn’t wander into the territory of supporting the opposition!
Dave Ply
And folks wonder why there’s such a disconnect between the urban and the rural. Are there Barstow’s in England?
Phil & Michaela
Well there’s rural communities with a bit of a sense of isolation, but of course the distances are nowhere near as great so there isn’t anything approaching the same detachment. There’s definitely evidence of parochial attitudes though!
Paul
Good story. When I’m on a road trip I make a point to stop at bars now and then. It has to be a dive bar. In my opinion it’s the best place to get some local flavor and I usually find the bar mates and the bar keep to be more friendly. If there are two Cosmos on the bar at any given time it’s probably not my type.
BTW, Dodger fans are annoying.
Paul
Phil & Michaela
Absolutely. We always seek out good bars wherever we travel, it is, as you say, a barometer of local culture. California was a rich hunting ground for good bars.