I have no (good) words for LA...

Tuesday, September 14, 2021 THE LAST DAY OF OUR ROUTE 66 DRIVE

We spent the last night of our trip, before ending in Santa Monica, in Hesperia, CA, which is just down the road from Victorville, CA, neither of which you have probably heard of. I only know of Victorville because my next oldest sibling (sister) Valerie lives and works there. I haven't seen her for about three years (Aside: How do I know that? Because I did a search on my phone for where Victorville was, and Google maps, in its infinite wisdom and memory [and you're worried about implanted microchips???] told me I had visited Victorville three years ago.) so I called and asked if we could get together for dinner. Nothing like a last minute request! We had a very nice dinner together. But we didn't take any pictures!

Moving on, literally, we headed for the Santa Monica Pier the next morning. According to Google maps it would normally take a little over two hours for the drive. But we are doing Route 66 so no shortcuts allowed. It took us a bit more than six hours. Randy drove the whole way (normally we switch off every hour or hour and a half) so I could navigate. I have a slightly (!) better grasp of Google maps, Waze, Gas Buddy, and the phone in general so Randy nominated me for full-time navigator. Gee, thanks, Randy.

The first part was largely on I15 from Hesperia until a turnoff to Cleghorn Rd. It was all downhill (in all senses of the word) from there on.

This is the app we used to navigate Route 66.

This is the second Madonna of the Trail that we saw (the other, one of 12, was in Albuquerque), this one  is in Upland, CA.

Words pretty much fail me for describing the experience of driving on "surface" roads in Los Angeles so I'll show you some of the photos I took while this "experience" was happening to us. I'm (Randy says he's glad, too, not sure I believe him about the six hour drive through the greater LA area) glad we did it, but the last day is not one I want to repeat (and I KNOW Randy agrees with me on that statement!).

Note that the speed limit is 50!!!

One of the grittier parts, just after we got off I15 on Cleghorn Rd.

And one of the prettier parts of Route 66 through Los Angeles (the towns all run together so it's impossible for me to know exactly which town this is in).

Old motel...

...with some beautiful art built-in.

The Pasadena Rose Parade goes down this road.

It's not all old stuff!

You may think this is a saguaro garden on Route 66 in LA but there is nary a saguaro there. Can't survive the LA weather!

I will say one positive thing for the LA area: They really love to put up Route 66 signs! These are just a sampling of what we saw on our drive down to the Santa Monica Pier.

And my favorite Route 66 sign of all times:

LA's version of the Wigwam Motel. Not nearly as interesting as the one in Holbrook: No old cars that I could see!

And so it ends.

Santa Monica Pier. We kept making wrong turns but finally got to a place where there was a parking garage.

We wanted to eat here but Randy realized he had forgotten his wallet in the car. Wrong. He had forgotten his wallet ON the car. It was still there when he went back. Phew!

This is Randy trudging back from going back to the garage to get his wallet. That was sitting, in plain sight, ON the car. Did I mention he left his wallet in plain sight ON the car?

Well, yes, this is the sign on the Santa Monica Pier for the End of the Trail but it isn't the REAL, original end of Route 66.

 

 

 

 

This is the original end of Route 66, the intersection of Olympic and Lincoln in Santa Monica.

And so it ends. Until the next time we go on the road! Thanks for "listening" to me these past few weeks.

T’would be more fun/To go by air…

Monday, September 13, 2021 Who knows what day it is, we’ll be home on the 15^th!

Leaving Flag on a beautiful, Chamber-of-Commerce day!

We got to Kingman, AZ, after driving from Flagstaff (aka Flag)  after a wonderful, calorific visit with friends in Flag—he is a Cordon Bleu chef!—there might have been a tiny bit of wine and a—OK, OK, two—martinis involved. From there we will travel over my most anticipated road, the Oatman Highway.

Can't resist a tiki-head.

Stopped at an old-timey store and Randy bought a Route 66 shirt.

One of the displays inside the old-timey store.

Typical scene on Route 66.

One of the dirt roads we took outside of Flag---still on Route 66! Not the one that gave us a worry.

This is the one!

Before we got to the Oatman Highway, we just had to drive a dirt road outside Flag. So far we have not damaged the car with rocks but we were almost stranded when the car, who knows why, got extremely hot. As in many beep-beep-beeps from the car while nagging us that it was hot. Randy found a downhill part of the road, put it in neutral, and turned on the heat. Phew! Disaster averted!

It got worse and this is about when the engine was telling us "I'm too HOT!"

We are in the midst of the longest continuous segment of Route 66 anywhere. About 159 miles of “pristine Route 66.” And it’s beautiful. And there are lots of new old BurmaShave signs (the originals were removed about 1963 for the final time. 

Some of the ones we saw: 

T ’would be more fun/To go by air/If we could put/These signs up there.
He tried to cross/As fast train neared/Death didn’t draft him/He volunteered.
If hugging on highways/Is your sport/Trade in your car/For a davenport.
If daisies are your/Favorite flower/Keep pushing up/Those miles-per-hour.
You can drive/A mile a minute/But there is/No future in it.
Cattle crossing/Means go slow/That old bull/Is some cow’s beau.

Definitely the flagstone capital, there is flagstone EVERYWHERE!

More Ashfork scenes.

We were anxious to see Oatman, but it's still a long drive. Everything is a long drive!

Our first indication that we were getting close to Oatman were these friendly (but we kept our windows closed!) burros, a mom and her baby. Well, baby is almost as big as mom and has learned that he (or she) can get food from automobiles.

They were obviously curious and when we stopped...

...first the baby approached...

...followed very quickly by his (or her) mom. We did not open our windows nor feed them anything.

After our encounter with the adorably cute burros, we drove on and looking back, they were still in the middle of the road, hoping, we presume, for more generous cars to come by.

Sitgreaves Pass on the way to Oatman.

Not everybody makes it over the mountain!

A small way station on the way to Oatman (and more burros!).

Ed's Camp is DEFINITELY private property. There are No Trespassing signs everywhere and several of them had guns drawn on them. This was as close as we desired to get!

15MPH is a necessity in this delightful little town due to the roaming wild burros. Not to mention the roaming wild tourists who also frequent the town. You can buy food to feed the burros but I would not like my hand to be that close to their mouths! They are WILD animals!

The history of Oatman and its burros.

The burros wander pretty much any place they want to!

From Oatman we traveled a bit further, planning on getting to LA the following day.

We had a nice lunch in Needles. About the only nice thing I can say for Needles.

A small town called Bagdad. No idea why it was important for me to take this photo!

"...Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino..."

The author of one of our bibles seems to be fixated on Giant anythings, including Polly.

He is also fixated on bridges, this (last one, I promise) is a Baltimore Truss bridge.

And this is the Bottle Forest.

Tomorrow, Los Angeles, Pasadena and Colorado Blvd or Street or Avenue, who can remember the name of the street the Rose Parade is on?, and, drum roll, please---Santa Monica: End of Route 66 and the Santa Monica Pier (they are not the same!).