Location 08: Novac

Contemporary with humans

Novac is fictitious: the town's name comes from a crumbling NO VACANCY sign, one of those pieces of Americana everyone's familiar with. But there's still a real-world equivalent to the motel's dinosaur exhibit: the concrete T-Rex at Cabazon in California.

Yes, you can get up inside the dino's mouth - but I didn't. (The exhibit was closed, but I wouldn't have paid to get in anyway - it's one of those creationist museums where religionistas try to convince themselves that humans and dinosaurs shared territory.)

While the town isn't there IRL, its map location is fairly defined (just off the junction of Interstate 95 with Highway 165 on the way south towards Searchlight.) I did take a look.

And they liked thermometers

While there are several buildings there, none resembles the Dino-D-Lite Motel; Novac's another pastiche, a place that inspires the spirit of the Mojave Wasteland rather than being based on anything real. In the same vein, the gadget Dinky's holding is probably based on the giant thermometer in Baker, CA.)

Dinky was a bonus. Heading towards Perris Valley in CA (which takes in a tiny stretch of the old Route 66) I literally saw the sculpture from the freeway, and spent the next half hour trying to get to it. Follow that dinosaur!

Next up: Jean Sky Diving.