#ZZYZX Road

[acetraveler]

Utah, Part Two

This is part of a multi-part blog series for a documentary currently in creation. The purpose is to document the cool things and places visited, as well as discuss being disabled while staying at a hotel. You can find other parts to this particular series HERE.

Peggy Sue's 50's Diner is located outside of Yermo, CA. If you aren't familiar with Yermo, then look up Barstow and go east. This is one of many attractions you can find on Route 66. If you're from Memphis, the Elvis memorabilia may seem a bit familiar.

A cowboy hat was an item on my checklist. Unfortunately, none of the ones offered here fit my large noggin. But it was fun to try them out.

There's a Lipton Iced Tea pitcher that was awesome, but there wasn't any room in my car for such a large item. Maybe I'll make my way back here one day to buy one!

But wait, there's more...

At the back of Peggy Sue's Diner is a Diner-Saur Park. Being a Middle Child Millennial born in 1989, my mind kept singing the Jurassic Park theme song alongside the Mr. DNA monologue.

In Baker, CA there is a franchise unlike any other I've yet to see. An Alien Jerky pit stop.

There's nothing more to it than the theme. But that's precisely why you would stop here; for the snacks and the logo. Also, near the jerky stand is the world's largest thermometer. There's even a YouTube video about this!

I realized there's this road just outside of Baker called Xxzyx Road. This is claimed to be one of California's biggest open secret. The short of it is that a fella opened up a bath house on the edge of an empty lake bed. Something something mineral properties that are supposed to heal you. It has a strange history that several people have created videos over and written about.

Not much is being written here because this road isn't a primary focus of this blog. If you want to know more, check out the linked video and article and expand your search from there.

I didn't go the whole three miles to the bath house. Instead, I took this opportunity to film parts of this landscape. It just feels like an alien landscape, and I was far enough away from I-15 that it was completely silent.

While I doubt the existence of extraterrestrials out here, it's different enough from the Bay Area that the imagination goes wild.

A decent hour or so was spent out here. Followed by a backup of I-15. Which was very strange to me. I think there was an accident or something? Or maybe that's just a daily occurrence.

Apparently you can only upload 30 pictures per post, so that's going to be it for this part of my road trip. Please enjoy this and the first part while I do my best to remember what happened next.

[rodspurethoughts]

The Mystery of Zzyzx Road?

Okay, if you have ever travel Interstate 15 between LA and Vegas, you have probably noticed an exit sign with an odd name. Is it a road to nowhere? Thanks to the folks at Oddity Odysseys, we find out what’s at the end of the road and the history behind this mystery. https://www.youtube.com/@OddityOdysseys

[mangor]

Klown motel, near Zzyzx Ca ... Not to be confused with Clown Motel, Tonopah, NV, keep driving off road off Zzyzx road and you possibly might not find what is left of the abandoned Klown Town if you are lucky.

[mercutiotakethewheel]

Chapter 14: Zzyzx Road, or whatever that Stone Sour song is called.

T | Fablehaven | Navarog & Mirav | Navarog & Seth | Ch 14/15 | Character Death

Fic Summary: I give you Fablehaven: Book Five (and the end of Book Four), in which most everything's the same except that Navarog lives to be annoying in the background and make a whole lot of trouble.

Chapter Summary: Navarog gets a taste of sowing what he's been reaping. Other people continue to suffer the consequences of his actions.

[book--club]

58. 4/5/24- The Roller Blade Seven(1991); Return Of The Roller Blade Seven(1993); Zzyzx(2006); Zyzzyx Road(2006)

[ansdjqkf]

The Truth behind Zzyzx Road California. Finally Checked it off my bucket list Bucket list: Zzyzx Road in California Step into a world of curiosity and unravel the untold stories this road holds. Don't miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

[scarlett-quinn]

The Truth behind Zzyzx Road California. Finally Checked it off my bucket list Bucket list: Zzyzx Road in California Step into a world of curiosity and unravel the untold stories this road holds. Don't miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

[everythingcasablancas]

The Truth behind Zzyzx Road California. Finally Checked it off my bucket list

California's best-kept secret unveiled. Brace yourself to embark on a journey of discovery as we dive into the fascinating history and legends of Zzyzx Road. Join me as we tick off an adventure of a lifetime.

[whitepolaris]

A Utopia Spelled Z, Z, Y, Z, X

The enduring legacy of Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Resort is a testimony to the strange vision of a self-proclaimed evangelist and health guru who moved out to the end of nowhere in the Mojave Desert and proceeded to make a utopia in his image-part high-minded and religion and part hucksterism. Ingenuity and a lot of fast talk burnished up this spot on the shore of a dry salt flat, and for a while made the post office in nearby Baker one of the busiest in southern California. 

Millions of travelers on Interstate 15 have passed the exit for Zzyzx a few miles west of the Death Valley highway, possibly noting the unusual name, but most were too busy getting to one Sin City or another to bother with it. Four and a half miles south over a gravel road lie the ruins of the dream of one of the desert’s most legendary characters. 

Curtis Howe Springer had made a name for himself as a radio evangelist in the 1930s, beginning at radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh. Like many of his ilk, he eventually pointed his crusade toward the West Coast, where spiritual fads and miracle cures were starting to find a willing and gullible audience. Like his predecessor, Sister Aimee Semple McPherson, Springer down new roots in fertile soil and set about expending his vision. 

Springer was no amateur when it came to managing vacations retreats. He had founded and/or managed six resorts in other states before he and his fiancée, Helen, with their (gasp) daughter in tow arrived in what he called “a mosquito swamp” in the eastern Mojave Desert in 1944. He filed a mining claim on twelve thousand acres and began building his base suite in Los Angeles, where he made tapes for his national broadcasts and conducted other business. He would then board his crusading bus and round up derelicts on skid row, offering them meals and shelter in exchange for construction work, with his new desert outfit. Some of them left immediately when the no-alcohol policy was revealed, but many stayed, some for years and a few for the rest of their lives. 

When Springer was done, the new town at the foot of Soda Mountain boasted a chapel, a cross-shaped pool with soaking tubs, an artificial lake, a two-story sixty-room hotel, and even an airstrip, which he named Zyport. With some assuredly highfalutin wrangling, Springer managed to buy an old seagoing freighter and dismantled it for parts to add to his growing compound. A launch or lifeboat from the project still sits at the site, high and dry and rusting, but so far preserved in the desiccating desert sun. The main drag was dubbed the Boulevard of Dreams. 

Springer then went into high gear, promoting his new retreat on his international radio sermons. People calling his Los Angeles heard a recorded voice beckoning them with, “Hello, this is your old friend Curtis Springer coming to you from Zzyzx Mineral Springs out in the heart of the great Mojave Desert.” He touted the place as the last word in health and vitality. Free bus rides left every Wednesday from the Olympic Hotel on Figueroa Street in L.A., ferrying the hopeful out in droves. 

A day at Zzyzx included a hearty breakfast of goat milk and Springer’s popular Antedeluvian Tea, said to prolong life. Though he tried to be relatively self-sufficient, the only livestock that could be sustained on the alkali flats except for goats were rabbits, which formed the bulk of the meat served. All of the veggies were trucked in a couple of times each week. Guests stayed for a reasonable sum, but were heavily encouraged to make fee-will “donations” to the Springer Foundation. They were subjected to rousing sermons delivered twice daily by Springer over a booming PA system. 

The evangelist’s miraculous cures were big items at the retreat, including the aforementioned tea and a $25 do-it-yourself hemorrhoid cure kit. One of the most successful remedies was Mo-Hair-a baldness cure. The folksy Springer instructed the soon-to-be-hairy to rub the concoction vigorously into the scalp, then to double over and hold their breath for as long as possible. The resulting flush to the cheeks and scalp was proof, he said, of the virtues of his discovery. One man who took Springer to court over his continued baldness after extensive use of Mo-Hair watched in astonishment as the preacher reached into his pocket and peeled off the $2,500 fine “as casually as if he was taking care of a $2 traffic ticket.”

Well after Zzyzx was established, Springer began to offer lots for sale on the adjacent property-which he had neglected to buy-so that the well-to-do faithful might take twenty-four-hour advantage of his healing waters and lifestyle. This act, along with occasional complaints to the authorities about this “cures,” eventually focused government attention on his operation. In 1974, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) informed Springer that he could not sell land that he didn’t own, and he was evicted from the property, along with a few hundred followers. Curtis Howe Springer died in Las Vegas in 1986 at the age of ninety, after he had served several jail terms for sundry felonies. 

Today California State University’s Desert Studies Center occupies the site. Zzyzx was finally entered as an official geographic name in 1984, proving that Curtis Springer did indeed have the last word. To get to the place he dreamed up, take the Zzyzx Road exit-eight miles west of Baker on Interstate 15, then south on a paved road, which soon ends at a graded gravel road. 

[minxtwist]

Where am I supposed to hide now?

What am I supposed to do?

Did you really think I wouldn't see this through?

Tell me I should stick around for you

Tell me I could have it all

I'm still too tired to care and I gotta go

[infrakrasnyy]

Zzyzx Rd

[zachbradleyphotography]

It’s time to try once more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSeGm2y0ZkE

Zzyzx, California

[thebluemoontradingco]

Jeepers, If you would’ve told me that the ZZYZX t shirt existed, and was the last name in T shirts, I wouldn’t believe you...but, they do. And the best part is, you don’t have to drive there to get��‘em!

[mostly-mojave]

soda lake baths. zzyzx, ca. 2016. by eyetwist on Flickr.

abandoned mineral spring baths overlooking soda dry lake in california's mojave desert. originally founded in the 1930s as the "soda springs health resort" by quack doctor and radio evangelist curtis springer. he named the settlement "zzyzx" claiming it was the last word in the dictionary, and thus, the last word in good health. zzyzx now serves as a desert research station for the cal state university system.

[backroads66]

A #sign only a true #roadwarrior would love....the #iconic #zzyzx #road ...not far from Baker, #california #mojave #desert #southwest #SeeTheUSA #DoAmerica #roadtrip #roadtripper #heresyoursign #desertroad #socal #travelmyway #takethehighway #travel #deserted #lostinamerica #ridewithme #getlost https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw_HWROljN_/?igshid=1usfn340tjepk