After passing through Chambless, Route 66 returned to normal and I would no longer have the entire highway to myself. I continued west wanting to stop in Amboy to photograph the famous Roy’s gas station. Along the way I spotted a bright white object off to the left, or south, of the highway. I pulled over to take a closer look.
I walked a few hundred feet into the desert and found, what I would later learn was, a Chinese Guardian Lion. Doing some research I found they “were believed to have powerful mythic protective benefits” and “are usually depicted in pairs” (source). While I can’t speak to the first point, I can speak to the second in that there was a second statue about a quarter-mile further west. Further research found that reports of these statues started to surface around September of 2013. Since then no one has found out who placed them or what their exact meaning is (map).
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