Barstow is more than a highway and railway hub, if transportation is a big part of the city's culture. The lyrics of the famous song "Route 66" gave Barstow a mention. The Skyline Drive-In is one of the few drive-in theatres left in the county and there is, of course, the Route 66 Museum and the Western American Railroad Museum. Railway and Amtrak stations double as mini-malls and museums as if for the convenience for the 60 million people that pass through here a year. Barstow has a different kind of importance as well - home to the U.S. Army National Training Center at Ft. Irwin, Marine Corps Logistics Base and NASA's Goldstone Deep Space Network.

However, for the average tourist, what elevates Barstow beyond a historical pit stop is its surroundings. The Mojave Desert spreads out in every direction and it's no flat, dull stretch of sand. You can practically spelunk lava tubes within view of the city. The beautiful and colorful rock formations and ancient fossils of Rainbow Basin are a brief drive away, as is the playa Coyote Dry Lake. The old Calico mining town is preserved as California's official Silver Rush Ghost Town and the Calico Early Man Archaeological Site, as important a site of early human history as you'll find in the United States, is also nearby.

Travel a little further out to Mojave National Preserve for more desert-style history and recreation, or to Stoddard Valley Off-Highway Vehicle Area if you're an off-roader.

Located 115 miles east of Los Angeles and 150 miles southwest of Las Vegas, Barstow should be hard to miss: Interstates 15 and 40, and Highways 58 and 247 all converge in town.