In 1869, Fort Mojave was built on the Colorado River. To protect the route, the Army built other forts at all the springs along the route. Soldiers patrolled the Mojave Road to protect mail carriers and shippers.
In 1883, a railway was completed across the desert to Los Angeles. A more southern route had been chosen. The Mojave Road was abandoned, the forts were closed, and blowing sands began reclaiming the route.
Many years later, groups with an interest in preserving historic routes took an interest in the Mojave Road and reopened it as the Mojave Recreational Road.
Lone Writer decided to visit the road and sent e-mails to some friends he thought might like to join him. The Mojave Road is not a place for a single vehicle to venture alone. It crosses 130 miles of hostile country. Daytime temperatures exceeded 100 degrees F during this trip in March. Although the road crosses numerous other roads that can be used to reach towns along interstates 15 and 40, the distance might be more than a stranded traveler could accomplish in the searing desert heat.
Lone Writer arrived at the Avi Casino on the Mojave Indian Reservation on a Saturday morning. Snapshot and Toyman were already waiting for him at the buffet. Sundance and Sunshine were the next to arrive, followed shortly by Badhat and Bear. The group would consist of seven people in five vehicles. They are members of a loosely unorganized Internet group called Lone Riders. The names they use are CB handles.
The trip began with filling gas tanks then heading off to Mile Post 00 on the banks of the Colorado River. That mile post is indicated in a very well-written guidebook called Mojave Road Guide by Dennis G. Casebier, which can be ordered online at www.desertusa.com. This guidebook takes the traveler mile by mile along the entire Mojave Road from the Colorado River to Afton. The GPS positions taken by Lone Writer and found in this story can be used to verify your position as described in the book.