Our Route 66 adventure ended two months ago but the great memories remain.

For those who are visiting for the first time, scroll down to get to the start of the adventure.

We are so happy. The people from Northern Ontario will soon have access to a PET Scan. Congratulations to all who have made this happen.

** More funny pictures have been added to yesterday’s blog 🙂

From Rialto, we drive on Foothill Blvd. So far so good, hardly any traffic, very scenic. We even meet a few ‘compadres’.

Foothill boulevard falls onto Huntington then onto Colorado boulvards. A bit more traffic but we are still o.k. We spot the sign for the Arroys Pkwy at the last minute but once again we all manage to stay together.

Instead of taking Hwy 101 to Santa Monica Blvd like originally planned, we decide to take Sunset Blvd. Sounds like a great idea…after all, it crosses Hollywood.

Turns out we zigged instead of zagged and our problems started…We ended up taking a few wrong turns and having to do a few U-turns. At this point, we do not think we will be arriving at the Santa Monica Pier together. Eventually however, before we get to our destination, we are reunited by chance.

Our rooms at the Seaview Hotel are on Ocean Blvd and a short walk from the official end of Route 66.

We even get a chance to put our toes in the water. The end of a great journey with awesome people!

As mentioned before, Roger and I will be donating up to a dollar a mile to the Sam Bruno PET Scan fund. Thank you for the donations and for all your comments that we truly appreciated.. 

If you enjoyed this blog, consider a donation of $24.48, a penny a mile, to the Northern Cancer Foundation. You can reach the foundation at 705-523-4673.

Or, you can donate to the Sam Bruno PET Scanner by visiting SamBrunoPETScanner4Sudbury.ca.

—–As we also had a Dashcam to record our journey;  you can visit us again around Xmas to have a different account of the trip. Finally, if anyone is interested in obtaining more information as to our itinerary or any other detail about the trip, please feel free to e-mail Roger or I.

Arrived in Santa Monica safe and sound. But what a challenge!

Will be posting the last blog tomorrow. Till then…

MORE FUNNY PICTURES

These girls did not talk to each other before they dressed this morning, honestly!

Only 3 bikes are required for the 9 of us. Three seats? Sounds like fun!

Roly, Linda says : Don’t event think of starting a new business!

Driving from Barstow to San Bernardino through the San Bernardino Mountains was once more a treat.

The super long trains keep following us…

The California Route 66 museum that we planned to visit was closed. Interesting mural however.

We arrived earlier than expected at the very unique Wagon Wheel Motel.

The cars were brought for an oil and filter change and a complete check-up. They passed with flying colors.

Tomorrow we will be driving to our final destination. Following each other will be quite the challenge in heavy traffic so everyone looks at the map carefully, to avoid some being left behind in Hollywood or Beverly Hills…

JUST FOR FUN PICTURES

Lori’s new beau?

The blogger…serious business!

Really Bob?

From Kingman, we cross the Black Mountains, with ‘deliciously scary drops and hair pin curves’.

We stop in Oatman, a sleepy town. The donkeys often shop till they drop…literally.

Jim and Sam cannot resist the ice cream, even at 9:30 a.m.

The Oatman Hotel is where Clark Gable and Carole Lombard came for their honeymoon in 1939. The walls and ceilings downstairs are covered with 1$ bills left through the years by travellers.

From there, we follow Route 66 through the Mojave desert. Where are our water bags? We do find a little oasis along the way with water and fuel (4.49 for a gallon of regular gas).  We cannot imagine riding on the Joad’s wagon (Grapes of Wrath) or any  wagon going west during the depression, ever so slowly through the Black Mountains and the Mojave Desert. A train engineer blows the whistle at us, distracting us from those thoughts.

On our way to our final stop of the day, Barstow, we stop in Ludlow for lunch and meet…Adrian and Gwen from Guelf ON. Cool!

How sad we are to see Dan drive South to Phoenix to catch a plane back to Ottawa.

How happy we are that by driving part of Route 66 with him, we have all those memories to cherish.

We drive off as well, but direction west to Seligman. Vestiges of the old town are plentiful.

In Seligman :

1. We find Angel Delgadillo’s gift shop, once his barber shop. Angel is referred to as <the angel> of Arizona’s cherished Route 66 for more reasons than one. In the 1980’s he helped found the Arizona Route 66 Association, responsible for the revival of this part of the Mother Road.

2. We also find a replica of the actual battered tow truck that served as an inspiration to ‘Tow Mater’ in the animated film Cars. The original is in Galena, Kansas.

3. We count three tour buses with tourists from all over the world including France and Germany.

4. We catch up  with our friend from Ontario driving the red mustang.

We drove by the Route 66 Caverns but did not stop. We know we can get a room in the carverns for 300$ a night to experience complete silence and even complete darkness but no one volunteered.

Next stop was Hackberry.

After having lunch at Mr D’s Route 66 diner in Kingman, we visit the exceptional Arizona Route 66 Museum. It tells the story of the Mother Road through brilliant murals, photos and life-size dioramas.

A day on the road has yet flew by!

Yesterday, the guys did a few repairs on the cars. They took apart the window. The power window (yes…even in 1956) functioned when it wanted to.

People from all over the world, Sweden, London, England etc. and people from good old Ontario Canada stopped in to chat about the cars and our journey.

Today, we took the Grand Canyon Railway (bonus, no driving today), to visit one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the world. Can you spot the # 7?

We are very lucky because none of us realized that potentially, the canyon could be invisible because of fog. We have a beautiful sunny, warm day! Next visit however, we will plan to sleep at  Grand Canyon Village, just in case.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words…

1. How many birthdays did we celebrate on Route 66?  2, Roger’s and Linda’s. Happy Birthday Linda. Yahoo Mountain Dew! Makes your hair stand up.

2. Who were Roger and Dan ‘Standing at the corner’ with last night in downtown Winslow?’- Jackson Brown co-author of the song by the Eagles.

3. How many years did the petrified wood take to form and where does it originate from? It originates from just north of the equator and took over 200 million years to form.

4. What oil do the guys put in the engine of their babies periodically? 10 W 30

5. How many miles can the cars cover on a tank of gas? 200 but why take a chance…We fill up every 150.

6. How many times did people honk their horn or give a thumbs up at our caravan? We lost count…

7. What is the elevation of Flagstaff? From Winslow to Williams, we go through Flagstaff, in the midst of the world’s largest ponderosa pine forest. In the winter, 3 ft of snow can fall in one snow storm. The elevation is 7 000 ft.

8. From Route 66, how can you access the South Ridge of the Grand Canyon? By car, by rail or by helicopter. We chose to ride the Grand Canyon Railroad from Williams to the South Rim.

The town of Williams Arizona is a destination known for one-of-a-kind- attractions: the scenic railway tour, Route 66 attractions, local art galleries, a clock at the centre of town that sings a t 12 noon, a brewery and first class restaurants.

 9. How much did Jim, at 15, get paid to pump gas in Blind River with the identical pump?

1 dollar an hour. As the pump says, gas was 26.9 cents a gallon.

10. How many miles are we from destination? 461 mi. Santa Monica, here we come!

El Rancho Hotel has character no doubt. However, only a few of us actually slept last night. The trains whistling on the north side we expected. But who would have thought there would be lots of traffic on Route 66 in Gallup? All part of the adventure.

Although we did not drive north of Gallup to the Valley of Monuments, we definitely stopped at the Petrified Forest National Park and The Painted Desert.  When stopped for fuel at the entrance to the park, many  take pictures of the  cars and ask questions. To one of them: does your car (56 ford) have air conditioning, Roger always replies: Yes, it’s called 4 windows down at 60 miles per hour…

As we drive and hike through The Petrified Forest and Painted Desert, we are rewarded by awe-inspiring landscapes. Unless you are a professional photographer, hard to capture such natural beauty. However, we just could not resist trying.

Jim loses his favorite Route 66 hat when winds pick up…we all see it tumble away but no one captures the moment!

Where this picture is taken, Route 66 used to cross the National Park.

Then, off to Holbrook and Winslow where we will spend the night. After 15 000 steps (Bob’s fit bit attests to that) we will undoubtedly sleep well tonight.

But we are in Winslow and so before retiring, Roger and Dan proceed to ‘‘Standin’ on the Corner’’ made famous in the Eagles song, Take it Easy. Obviously, we were not the only classics on the corner…