We're Not In Kansas Anymore!

The view from our hotel room in Barstow this morning - bet you wish you were here!

Today is our last day. We have around 100 miles to go. My husband is going to meet us in Santa Monica where the Route ends at Ocean. He is worried he doesn't have time to clean the house and go to church. I laugh. It is a two hour drive from Barstow to Los Angeles. But you know how this goes by now, right? It will take us about 7 hours I figure. We are driving on all side streets. To Santa Monica. From Barstow. It can take an hour or more just to get across town in Los Angeles. We get up early to get on the road by 8.

When we were in Chicago we stopped by a Trader Joe's and picked up snacks for the road. We are down to about a fourth of a package of Wasabi flavored almonds (I will never eat one of these again), a few dried green beans, some of Griffin's cinnamon kitten cookies, and some cashews. None of which sounds good in any way. And there is a small amount of kettle corn left from Oatman. That is what we eat.

It is really discouraging to see the Route here in California. It is dirty and the road sprinkled with litter. It disgusts me. We are driving through some of the roughest areas in Southern California. San Bernardino is the largest county in the nation and I watch enough news to know that it is not Kansas.

We drive through cities I have never been to but have heard of. Devore. Rialto. Fontana. I know there are some things to see here (or that is what the book says) but we are focused on getting home. We keep driving.

Once we get to Rancho Cucamonga it starts to clean up a bit. Here you can see the cities have tried to keep the spirit of Route 66 alive but there is little evidence of yesteryear here. The road is wide and there are a lot of cars. Traffic. We are back. It does not feel good.

We stop in Claremont, an idyllic college town, for lunch. We walk through a lovely farmers market and then settle in at a sandwich and juice shop. We are in heaven. We order veggie sandwiches and chips. This is the best lunch we have had in two weeks we declare! We pass through Monrovia and Pasadena - amazingly we have come all this way from Rialto on one road. We arrive in Los Angeles around 2:45 and my sister texts me, "Welcome back!" We still have to get all the way across town to the ocean. This is going to be a while I let her know. I predict it will take us until 4:00 PM. 

We need a restroom. The only place I can find is a Fat Burger. We go inside and the sign says, Restrooms For Patrons Only. Geez. We do what we have to do. We order a root beer float and fries. The cashier asks me if I want skinny fries or fat fries. I tell her fat fries. Really?

We arrive at the ocean at 4:00 sharp. It has taken us 7 hours and 45 minutes. Plus nine days. We have driven over 3,400 miles. Which amazes me considering the Route is only 2,278 miles long.

We did it. It was more fun then I could have ever imagined! A trip of a lifetime.

Now back to work!!!

P.S. The rest of the trip is published now if you missed it ... I wasn't able to post them on the road for some reason - check out "older posts" or click on the label: Route 66 ... and thanks for following along on our fun adventure :D