Route 66: Day Nine - We Made It!!

We have finally arrived at the end of the road... Santa Monica! But first, let's begin from the start of the day.

We left the Best Western in Needles, CA at 6:35am. After refueling and stopping at the local Wagon Wheel Restaurant for breakfast, we were on our way by 7:30am. It wasn't to difficult to find Rt 66 this morning; our hotel was located right on Rt 66.

One of our stops was in the town of Amboy. Right before you get to the town, you get to see a "shoe tree," which is a tree that several people have thrown shoes into. We also got to see the Amboy Crater. It is a mini-volcano, which last saw volcanic activity 10,000 years ago. We also checked out Roy's Motel & Cafe in Amboy, which was featured in the 1986 film The Hitcher and also the 1993 film Kalifornia with Brad Pitt.

Outside of Daggett, CA is the Calico Ghost Town, which was about 6 or 7 miles out of our way. Thinking it was a real ghost town, we altered course to visit it. Turns out, it was, for lack of a better term, a tourist trap. We went through it to find out what it was about. It was an old silver mining town which eventually went dead when the silver either ran our or the market bottomed.

After we got under way, we stopped briefly to look at the Bottletree Ranch. Constructed by Elmore Long, aka "the Bottletree Man," his front yard contains several posts that holds many bottles. Everyone needs a hobby I guess.

By this time we're beginning to notice that the climate is changing and that we are coming out of the desert. And we are getting closer and closer to civilization (before there were times we were the only souls in the desert for miles). At this time we had a choice and according to the directions, we could go Interstate all the way, but was somewhat dangerous as several lane changes are needed; or we could continue on old Route 66. I decided to take 66 all the way. What a fool I was.

That was around 2pm Pacific time I made that decision. For more than 4 hours and better than 60 miles was stop and go, traffic light to traffic light of shit we had to deal with. Directions for the most part was easy as we only had to stay on one street, until later. Beth thought we needed to finally get onto the San Bernadio Freeway South 110. I exit and for whatever reason, missed the exit we needed to take. Instead, we wound up on part of the LA Freeway during rush hour traffic, stuck in the wrong lane(s). I thought that we were now screwed. I really hate large cities with a firery passion. But we got lucky and I was able to exit off of this mess into downtown LA. Great!!

Beth was able to navigate us back towards Rt 66, but it took a solid hour to do so and get us into Santa Monica, where Rt 66 comes to an end at the corner of Lincoln and Olympic. At that point, there is a pier where you can drive on and park. We stopped and turned off the car at 6:27pm Pacific time. We were here. End Route 66.

After walking and looking around a bit, it was now time to find lodging. Right across the street is a Holiday Inn. Holiday Inn has been good to us this trip thus far and they were this time around. We booked a room for a couple of nights and then returned to the pier for a couple of drinks. Picked up the car, parked it at the hotel, moved our stuff up and we were set.

I talked with Tom Stevens tonight trying to coordinate a time to get together. Turns out Tom and his band have a gig Friday night. Beth and I made an executive decision to stay an extra night so we can see them play. I signed up to be a roady.

Though our travels have ended on Route 66, which in some respects is a bit sad, but our vacation continues and I'll check in as always.

Today's Route 66 Fun Fact: Roy's Motel & Cafe and the entire town of Amboy, CA was purchased by Albert Okura in 2005. Okura is the owner of Juan Pollo Restaurant chain in California. He has plans to restore Roy's and Amboy to its original 1950's luster. However, as we drove through in 2007, not much progress has taken place.

Stats:

Miles travelled, today: 324 miles

Miles travelled, total: 2,563 miles

Today's avg speed: 27 mph

Today's fuel mileage: 26.8 mpg

Encounter with wildlife: 2 (a couple of peacocks at Calico Ghost Town)

Number of stupid decisions: 1 (deciding to drive though various LA cities)