They ruined the travel center a few years ago. It used to be a nostalgic 50’s diner and gift shop. They basically tore it down and made a big convenience store out of it. The only thing good about it now are the date shakes.
I almost cried when they did that. The Dateland diner used to be a really cool place. 20 years ago when my kids were little we would take trips to Phoenix and get a big homestyle breakfast on the way. So many fond memories. Now it's just a lousy commercial truck stop like anywhere else, no character at all.
Money! We have the same in England, When to Scotland for the day 10 year's ago and most service stations looked like they from America huge glass and concrete structures and ridiculously high price's to match, We have a American style ice cream parlour in the neighbouring Village and £4 for one choc ice 2 year's ago, You can buy 8 in a supermarket for that, And 16 year's old girl serving me probably on £2.50 a hour
yeah.. i remember that old place... the greyhound bus stopped there... the chevron gas station there...the old school... all the desert rats hiding from who knows who... there was even a family that had a couple of tigers out there .... on old hwy 80, there was the old truck stop there at kofa/mohawk pass... then all the citrus groves along the highway into tacna... me and my 870 pump that i hid in the tire rack sold overpriced gas, hot sodas and frozen tom's sandwiches while fixing flat tires, overheated cars, and desperate people with broken dreams...
Camp Hyder was north of the railroad tracks. The settlement you showed was called Carpenters cabins. There were hot springs that bubbled up there as there was in front of the old Agua Caliente hotel. The cabins were rented out to tourists' similar. to an early motel. Thank you though. I enjoy anything on this part of Arizona !
Stopped at the travel center a few years ago when I was traveling with my 2 dogs.I couldn't leave my dogs in the car (the heat would kill them!) So I usually only had the option of stopping at rest areas. However, the Dateland travel center had very large fenced-in runs with water and misters to keep the dogs cool. It was amazing! Probably the best dog friendly stop I found across the county (we traveled across the country 4 times). I was SO happy to see this! 🐕
Thank you Steve for Honoring those who would have been Forgotten. I live in Arizona & I've Traveled by this I don't know how many times & Never Stopped. Bless your Heart ❤️ Thank you for Sharing this.
We used to live near Tacna off of Ave 38E. Dateland, and the surrounding desert, was one of the place we used to cruise. There used to be a small diner at the exit, but was closed in the 1970s? As a child, we used to stop and get the date shakes in the early 1960s. I am impressed with the history your present on all of your spots covered in AZ.
I've lived in Arizona for 29-years now and though I knew about Dateland, I never knew of Camp Horn nor Camp Hyder. The only Hyder I know of is the location where Amtrak's Sunset Limited was purposely derailed in 1996. I've never been to the derailment site, but I imagine it's not very far from this location. Now I have a couple of new spots in AZ to go explore, thanks!
Cool man. Living in Phx I've been to Dateland and driven past it numerous times. However, I did not know the military history. Interesting info. Damn.... those poor boys in Okinawa. Absolutely brutal! Even worse for the Japanese soldiers. God bless their souls!
I just wanted to say thankyou for taking the time to look up all the history and pictures, my family is 5 generations out here, Long History and ties to this place! My Aunt worked at the cafe back in the day, and my uncle's worked the fields when there was still cotton gins out here! I came out here every weekend when I was growing up to visit my Grandma, she worked at the school, so did my Aunt, our Family is the closest to having celebrities out here! HAHA very Kool and exciting too see someone who took an interest, and time to show the history and educate. Thankyou. Ive always wanted to see what it was like in it's hayday, can you share with us how you got all these photos?
This is a great video which I very much enjoyed. During the 1960s & 1970s , when as a Phoenix based Chevron product delivery driver, I regularly made some of the fuel deliveries to the service station as it appeared your introductory photo. Your history of this location is very informative. My wife and stop there whenever we travel to San Diego. The date shakes are still great. Thank you.
Dateland is between Yuma and Gila Bend, travel center seems to be newer than the building I stopped and ate at in 1998. They had a cafe where you could get a burger or sandwich with your date shake. The airfield on the North side of the highway was built in 1943 to provide gunnery training for single and multi engine aircraft, the base closed in 1957 and went to private owners.
Wow that old military camps are neat. I never knew about datelabd and the 2 military camps down there. I lived in Phoenix AZ back in the mod 2000’s. From Like 2005-2009ish. I had never heard of ‘dateland’ and I had gone a lot of places and done a lot of desert Roaming when I was down the deserts. I was a desert rat. Had a very capable 4x4 desert exploring off-road truck. Now they call them ‘overlanders’ heh. We spent a lot of time up northern AZ in the old mining town of Crown King, home of the big Gladiator mine and several others. You should do an episode on crown king! It’s a really neat little town! Stop at the creator yacht club on the way up the crown king road! Haha. I love watching your episodes. Even some of these older ones that are 3-4 yrs, they never get old, the towns and the places get older but the journey never does!
I was born and raised in Yuma and I never knew any of that was out there. My grandmother worked in Dateland back in the day too. How on earth did you ever find yourself in Dateland?
Wow I'm 61 AZ native and been to Date Land several times driving the back way from the Painted Rock Lake Dam close to our old cotton ranch called Poco Dinero, I never heard of camp Horn and the other military camp, very interesting now I'm going to have to go back out there the back way from Tonopah via old U.S. 80. I can't believe I never heard of those places, I've been to Hyder drove through Gila bend all the time to get to our ranch, how did this video show up on my recommendations? I'm being spied upon.
Great video, but unfortunately, that isn't Camp Hyder. Not sure what it is. Could've been related to the camp (officer's club, wive's housing, etc.) or the buildings may have been bought and moved there when the camps closed or even built pre-war. Camp Hyder was a large, divisional camp. It was about a mile long and a half mile wide. The entrance to the camp is on Ave 76E, just north of the RR tracks and through the stone gate posts (about 1.15mi N of the buildings). 90% of the camp is now covered by solar panels and farming. About 2.5mi W of the stone posts you can see some remains of the camp. Rock lined streets, walkways and tent outlines (Lat 33.020245° Long -113.385284°).
The 104th was commanded by General Terry Allen, who previously commanded the 1st division until Bradley wanted him out. He got the job done with both commands.
We came across Dateland a few years ago and looked up it's history. From than on, every time we travel that way, I get out and walk along the old foundations and wonder who was here and where they were from. Great piece of history.
Was much better before it was sold and they tore down the old building with handmade Mexico tile and you could get a hamburger and fries off the grill.
I’ve had a deep shake there before it’s been years though I used to drive between Phoenix and San Diego on that route now. I usually go on the northern route on the I 10.
When I went thru Camp Hyder, by research said General George Patton train his tank command here. That was significant to me for my own reasons. Did you find the fush farm near Aqua Caliente??
Are used to see patients who lived in a retirement community in Dateland. They’re usually arrived with the gentleman wearing powder blue jackets and I wonder if it’s still there? They were extremely nice retirees but I haven’t seen them for at least 20 years call.
Dateland specializes in Medjool dates, and those are date palms in back of the store. However, Arizona is also known for black sphinx dates, which grow only in a few places in the Phoenix area.
I'm disappointed that there was nothing about Datelan Army Air Field, or the attempts since then to resurrect the airfield for civilian use. BTW, that's the correct spelling for the AAF, with no "d" on the end of "Datelan." Datelan was one of a series of AAF bomber-training fields along Dixie Overland Highway (US Hwy 80) between Yuma and Tucson.
I trained to fight in snow against Russians. I went from Hokkaido Japan ski training to Vietnam. We were worthless for two weeks, suffering from heat exhaustion.
Hey You completely missed Children of Light at the intersection of Ave 76E at Old Caliente Road. [32.969947362486565, -113.34183156777948] That would be an adventure of its own. A Christian commune that completely lives off the land. They built their own swimming pool, and bungalows for the public usage. They accept donations. That is the earliest memory I have as a child. Great G* loving people. My Great Grandmother was one of the earlier members. They originally lived at the hotel at the stage coach stop. [not there any longer] She and her sister lived over 100 years of age while they were there. G* bless these folks.
I have been there a few times, I have found everything is more expensive at Dateland so I rarely stop there anymore. I'll either wait and hit Gila bend or Yuma. I didn't know about the camps, I'll have to check it out sometime.
Can you metal detect there? My daughter and I are looking for places to go. We live in the East Valley, so we do a lot of areas over there... thank you.. Mike!
If you get a chance to, please DON'T! Then there will be no trace of the historic buildings in the place they were built. As it is now in so many places all that are left are foundations and almost nothing else. Foundations don't tell a story like the actual standing structures do. Believe me, I've come across many a foundation that didn't tell me squat, even though I wanted them so badly to speak to me and tell me something.
@@espeescotty yes, I actually agree with you regarding historic sites. Actually, there’s plenty of old falling down barns that yield better materials. It’s a shame to let them rot when it can be beautifully repurposed. But, I agree, historical sites should be left alone.
They ruined the travel center a few years ago. It used to be a nostalgic 50’s diner and gift shop. They basically tore it down and made a big convenience store out of it. The only thing good about it now are the date shakes.
I almost cried when they did that. The Dateland diner used to be a really cool place. 20 years ago when my kids were little we would take trips to Phoenix and get a big homestyle breakfast on the way. So many fond memories. Now it's just a lousy commercial truck stop like anywhere else, no character at all.
Money! We have the same in England, When to Scotland for the day 10 year's ago and most service stations looked like they from America huge glass and concrete structures and ridiculously high price's to match, We have a American style ice cream parlour in the neighbouring Village and £4 for one choc ice 2 year's ago, You can buy 8 in a supermarket for that, And 16 year's old girl serving me probably on £2.50 a hour
I remember hearing something about having to take down the old building because of damage from carpenter ants.
yeah.. i remember that old place... the greyhound bus stopped there... the chevron gas station there...the old school... all the desert rats hiding from who knows who... there was even a family that had a couple of tigers out there .... on old hwy 80, there was the old truck stop there at kofa/mohawk pass... then all the citrus groves along the highway into tacna... me and my 870 pump that i hid in the tire rack sold overpriced gas, hot sodas and frozen tom's sandwiches while fixing flat tires, overheated cars, and desperate people with broken dreams...
Camp Hyder was north of the railroad tracks. The settlement you showed was called Carpenters cabins. There were hot springs that bubbled up there as there was in front of the old Agua Caliente hotel. The cabins were rented out to tourists' similar. to an early motel. Thank you though. I enjoy anything on this part of Arizona !
Stopped at the travel center a few years ago when I was traveling with my 2 dogs.I couldn't leave my dogs in the car (the heat would kill them!) So I usually only had the option of stopping at rest areas. However, the Dateland travel center had very large fenced-in runs with water and misters to keep the dogs cool. It was amazing! Probably the best dog friendly stop I found across the county (we traveled across the country 4 times). I was SO happy to see this! 🐕
My dad trained in Arizona the army rangers wildcat division during world war two
Thank you Steve for Honoring those who would have been Forgotten. I live in Arizona & I've Traveled by this I don't know how many times & Never Stopped. Bless your Heart ❤️ Thank you for Sharing this.
We used to live near Tacna off of Ave 38E. Dateland, and the surrounding desert, was one of the place we used to cruise. There used to be a small diner at the exit, but was closed in the 1970s? As a child, we used to stop and get the date shakes in the early 1960s. I am impressed with the history your present on all of your spots covered in AZ.
I've lived in Arizona for 29-years now and though I knew about Dateland, I never knew of Camp Horn nor Camp Hyder. The only Hyder I know of is the location where Amtrak's Sunset Limited was purposely derailed in 1996. I've never been to the derailment site, but I imagine it's not very far from this location. Now I have a couple of new spots in AZ to go explore, thanks!
There's a lot of exploring to do. A lot of history. Multiple German pow camps, multiple air training bases, gunnery ranges, 1800s. 1700s churches etc
@@impossibledrms Cool. I'd like to get out there more and explore.
Cool man. Living in Phx I've been to Dateland and driven past it numerous times. However, I did not know the military history. Interesting info. Damn.... those poor boys in Okinawa. Absolutely brutal! Even worse for the Japanese soldiers. God bless their souls!
I just wanted to say thankyou for taking the time to look up all the history and pictures, my family is 5 generations out here, Long History and ties to this place! My Aunt worked at the cafe back in the day, and my uncle's worked the fields when there was still cotton gins out here! I came out here every weekend when I was growing up to visit my Grandma, she worked at the school, so did my Aunt, our Family is the closest to having celebrities out here! HAHA very Kool and exciting too see someone who took an interest, and time to show the history and educate. Thankyou. Ive always wanted to see what it was like in it's hayday, can you share with us how you got all these photos?
The old Dateland photos are postcards actually.
@@SidetrackAdventures well they are accurate to photos I've seen. Thanks again.
This is a great video which I very much enjoyed. During the 1960s & 1970s , when as a Phoenix based Chevron product delivery driver, I regularly made some of the fuel deliveries to the service station as it appeared your introductory photo. Your history of this location is very informative.
My wife and stop there whenever we travel to San Diego. The date shakes are still great. Thank you.
Its crazy the best stuff on youtube has the least subscribers
Dateland is between Yuma and Gila Bend, travel center seems to be newer than the building I stopped and ate at in 1998. They had a cafe where you could get a burger or sandwich with your date shake. The airfield on the North side of the highway was built in 1943 to provide gunnery training for single and multi engine aircraft, the base closed in 1957 and went to private owners.
I enjoyed the video. I like the way you set it up in your intro with some period photos. I rang the bell so I stay in the loop.
Awesome thank you! Just checked out and sub'd to your channel as well. Lots of great Arizona gems on there.
Wow that old military camps are neat. I never knew about datelabd and the 2 military camps down there. I lived in Phoenix AZ back in the mod 2000’s. From
Like 2005-2009ish.
I had never heard of ‘dateland’ and I had gone a lot of places and done a lot of desert
Roaming when I was down the deserts. I was a desert rat. Had a very capable 4x4 desert exploring off-road truck. Now they call them ‘overlanders’ heh.
We spent a lot of time up northern AZ in the old mining town of Crown King, home of the big Gladiator mine and several others. You should do an episode on crown king! It’s a really neat little town! Stop at the creator yacht club on the way up the crown king road! Haha.
I love watching your episodes. Even some of these older ones that are 3-4 yrs, they never get old, the towns and the places get older but the journey never does!
I was born and raised in Yuma and I never knew any of that was out there. My grandmother worked in Dateland back in the day too. How on earth did you ever find yourself in Dateland?
Lots of date palms 🌴. Nice video.
Camp Hyper is privately owned. Kudos to the owners on preserving the site!
Wow I'm 61 AZ native and been to Date Land several times driving the back way from the Painted Rock Lake Dam close to our old cotton ranch called Poco Dinero, I never heard of camp Horn and the other military camp, very interesting now I'm going to have to go back out there the back way from Tonopah via old U.S. 80. I can't believe I never heard of those places, I've been to Hyder drove through Gila bend all the time to get to our ranch, how did this video show up on my recommendations? I'm being spied upon.
Google is always watching!
I should try some sidetrack adventures of my own. I find these the most relaxing content on UA-cam, in these troubled times.
Great video, but unfortunately, that isn't Camp Hyder. Not sure what it is. Could've been related to the camp (officer's club, wive's housing, etc.) or the buildings may have been bought and moved there when the camps closed or even built pre-war. Camp Hyder was a large, divisional camp. It was about a mile long and a half mile wide. The entrance to the camp is on Ave 76E, just north of the RR tracks and through the stone gate posts (about 1.15mi N of the buildings). 90% of the camp is now covered by solar panels and farming. About 2.5mi W of the stone posts you can see some remains of the camp. Rock lined streets, walkways and tent outlines (Lat 33.020245° Long -113.385284°).
I believe your right about this being the officers club as to what my grandpa would say as we drove by when I was young.
Date shakes are really good I was there a couple months ago and the people who work there are nice
Surprised to see the toilets were flush and not an outhouse.
Unlike the first two divisions, the 104th (Timberwolf) Infantry Division fought in Europe... and with great distinction.
The 104th was commanded by General Terry Allen, who previously commanded the 1st division until Bradley wanted him out. He got the job done with both commands.
I started following your travels around Arizona and my kids are loving the history lessons from forgotten history of Arizona thank you for helping me
Been there a couple times and stopped to get something to eat. Interesting place and love the dates.
Camp Hyder is very close to the old Butterfield trail which ran east to west.
I live in Arizona. The palm trees are date palms and are the date farm.
Thanks for sharing such a great video never new this place was there really enjoy all your videos
Glad you like them!
I was stationed at what was then known as Gila Bend air force auxiliary field. And never heard a word about this
thank you
Gotta luv them dates. Date shakes are awesome, and, unfortunately, eastern riverside county is one of the few places where you can get them.
The cactus shakes are better, IMHO.
Will have to check them out.
We came across Dateland a few years ago and looked up it's history. From than on, every time we travel that way, I get out and walk along the old foundations and wonder who was here and where they were from. Great piece of history.
Was much better before it was sold and they tore down the old building with handmade Mexico tile and you could get a hamburger and fries off the grill.
NM has some old military bases too, I love to see them and the cemeteries.😎
I’ve had a deep shake there before it’s been years though I used to drive between Phoenix and San Diego on that route now. I usually go on the northern route on the I 10.
What happens in Gila Bend, stays in Gila Bend.
When I went thru Camp Hyder, by research said General George Patton train his tank command here. That was significant to me for my own reasons. Did you find the fush farm near Aqua Caliente??
Are used to see patients who lived in a retirement community in Dateland. They’re usually arrived with the gentleman wearing powder blue jackets and I wonder if it’s still there? They were extremely nice retirees but I haven’t seen them for at least 20 years call.
Dude, the “palm trees” ARE the date trees!!!🤣🤣🤣
Lol, when I read the title of the video I naturally thought it was some place you might take a date!!! But I suppose it still could be.
No coverage of the Army Air Force airfield. Runways, hangar sites, gun sighting structure, and base facilities.
Unfortunately I had to skip it. Hoping to check it out next time I go through.
Dateland specializes in Medjool dates, and those are date palms in back of the store. However, Arizona is also known for black sphinx dates, which grow only in a few places in the Phoenix area.
Those cisterns are way modern, We didn't get those until the 70s
Dateland travel center is extremely overpriced. Gas is the highest of 100 mile radius and dates are over double what you pay at a Yuma farm store.
Eat & Drink your dates daily, I do! My uncle during basic training near 29 Palms, CA. wrote home in SW Indiana about dates in 1943!
I'm disappointed that there was nothing about Datelan Army Air Field, or the attempts since then to resurrect the airfield for civilian use. BTW, that's the correct spelling for the AAF, with no "d" on the end of "Datelan."
Datelan was one of a series of AAF bomber-training fields along Dixie Overland Highway (US Hwy 80) between Yuma and Tucson.
,,,,, Very Cool , Thanx! ....
Date shakes 😋🤗you can also get the date shakes in cabazin calif at Hadley,s next to morongo indian reservation there great
Interesting. Thank you. Would like to know more about the area.
I trained to fight in snow against Russians. I went from Hokkaido Japan ski training to Vietnam. We were worthless for two weeks, suffering from heat exhaustion.
First time hearing about this.
Hey You completely missed Children of Light at the intersection of Ave 76E at Old Caliente Road. [32.969947362486565, -113.34183156777948] That would be an adventure of its own. A Christian commune that completely lives off the land. They built their own swimming pool, and bungalows for the public usage. They accept donations. That is the earliest memory I have as a child. Great G* loving people. My Great Grandmother was one of the earlier members. They originally lived at the hotel at the stage coach stop. [not there any longer] She and her sister lived over 100 years of age while they were there. G* bless these folks.
Thanks
Thank you. I really appreciate it.
You should visit all 21 California Missions church
Hope to do something on El Camino Real sometime this year when more things are open.
I have been there a few times, I have found everything is more expensive at Dateland so I rarely stop there anymore. I'll either wait and hit Gila bend or Yuma. I didn't know about the camps, I'll have to check it out sometime.
Did you mention those palm trees 🌴 were Date Palms?
I stop at date land whenever I am close.
Can you metal detect there? My daughter and I are looking for places to go. We live in the East Valley, so we do a lot of areas over there... thank you.. Mike!
I’m wondering who was buried in unmarked graves out their?
unmarked bodies.....LOL
Where's all the graffiti?
I’d like to salvage the wood and metal at Camp Hyder.
If you get a chance to, please DON'T! Then there will be no trace of the historic buildings in the place they were built. As it is now in so many places all that are left are foundations and almost nothing else. Foundations don't tell a story like the actual standing structures do. Believe me, I've come across many a foundation that didn't tell me squat, even though I wanted them so badly to speak to me and tell me something.
You mean loot them.
@@espeescotty yes, I actually agree with you regarding historic sites. Actually, there’s plenty of old falling down barns that yield better materials. It’s a shame to let them rot when it can be beautifully repurposed. But, I agree, historical sites should be left alone.