Getting Their Kicks on Route 66

In a desolate desert ghost town, hundreds of road trippers from around the world have left their hearts and soles dangling from California’s unlikeliest tourist attraction.

Photos by Liana Aghajanian

Kevin Hansel is searching for shoes in the desert. They are scattered everywhere: bowling shoes, Nikes, Converse, flip-flops and hiking boots - some caked with mud, encrusted into the ground like rubbery, plastic pieces of hidden treasure waiting to be discovered, and others still managing to hang on from the dry, lifeless limbs of a tamarix tree. Many are inscribed with messages written by everyone from geology clubs and U.S. army veterans to people traveling from Wisconsin to Japan.

Only the sound of earth crunching beneath Hansel’s feet as he makes his way down the side of the road can be heard. There is nothing else to see, and no one to speak to for miles, but the desert is littered with soles.

Hansel takes photos of the shoes – it’s the first time he’s been down this far and he’s clearly enjoying being a tourist in his own town. In a ghost town with a population of four, including Hansel, it can get pretty lonely in Amboy, California.

“You gotta find ways …