Amboy, California: Guardian Lions of Route 66

There are lots of random rocks with people's names on them. There's a book to sign, plus a pair of boots on the ground.

We discovered on this trip to the lions that someone had taken the log books for travelers' comments from both. We replaced them and hope that the words kindly given in the lost logs will be of some benefit to the takers. Also of note: a "tie tree" has been started across the highway from one of the lions, and there's another down the road just outside of Essex.

We stop monthly on our way to Laughlin, and were sad to see that someone shot up one of the two lions, apparently with a high-powered weapon. A scribbled apology left on a piece of desert driftwood said that the shooter did not realize the lions were precious and thought them to be "targets."

The sign-in book was also missing, perhaps blown off with the impact. Sad, but glad to see that the other statue was mostly intact, and the book there remains with many traveler notes left of appreciation and wonder of what the lions are about. Hopefully there will be no more incidents like this so that visitors on Route 66 from all over the world do not get the wrong impression of us.

We drove past the lions on March 7, 2016, and they are both there. One is a little way down the road from the other.

Regarding the "missing" lion of Route 66... I also thought that it was missing last month when I photographed the other one under a full moon and couldn't find the companion, and took the posting here as confirmation that it was gone. But I just drove by during daylight, and they are both still there. If it was in fact gone and has re-appeared, that is a mystery! But I doubt it.