Day 14 - Victorviille, California - Los Angeles, California - 85 miles

Group photo at the finish

Well, the final day has come, our last drivers meeting and last load up. It's later this morning to try and beat the Los Angeles traffic. There is some debate between Tim and Gary as to whether we travel in part the way on the old Route 66 as opposed to I15. However the decision is made to travel on I15. From Victorville we travel down the pass into Los Angeles. The scenery is once again amazing, with snow on the mountain tops, blazing sun and those long trains.

Snow on the mountains

 As soon as we reach the pass into Los Angeles it turns into concrete 7 lanes of traffic, both ways and absolute bedlam. Gary calls this the final exam as the drivers negotiate the hectic traffic and constant flitting of lanes. Two hours after we started we finally arrive at our destination of Santa Monica pier with a few scary bits along the way. Ivan the Terrible gains an A+++ after being side swiped by a pick up.

Starting to hit the traffic

Ivan the Terrible's dash away from the pick up

 What can we say, its very emotional, most people are in tears. There is something about having followed the footsteps of those before to reach the promised land. We feel honoured that we have been part of it, honoured that we too have each faced our own challenges in our own way. Each of us has grown and the atmosphere is electric. After parking up on the beach we walk back up to the actual finishing point of the route for group pictures and a sense of letting loose.

Santa Monica Pier

John's St George's/Newcastle United Flag

An emotional Andy with Meercat who did the route

Ocean Road which leads down to the finish point

Bear at the finish point

 Lunch is at Bubba Gumps on Santa Monica pier - NOT to be recommended and after a bit of hassle we finally emerge two and half hours later for a brief walk along the pier and the very final journey across town to Glendale to return the bikes. By now we are in afternoon rush hour traffic and are told that there is a Dodgers game which adds to the problems. The pace gets more frantic as we approach the 16.30 deadline to return the bikes. But we achieve it and all the bikes are handed back. Once again there is an electric atmosphere. Each one of us has created some sort off alliance with our bikes, whether it be of dislike for the bulk and weight, the vibration or the sheer free wheeling skill. There is a Harley Museum at the dealership and all the blokes disappear off to look at the bikes. The ladies sit and drink tea and cool.

With Tim, who supported us so well and gave us the confidence to continue

17.00 comes and we are told that there is a limousine for us.... have you seen 17 adults bend their way into a stretched limo? It's very amusing. After an uncomfortable 40 minute journey we reach the hotel where are farewell dinner is to be held. Dinner over, certificates awarded - time to wind down and discuss what we feel, what was the good, the bad and the ugly. What we can say. Route 66 makes an impression on you. You are aware of the glitz and gaudy colours from a previous time, you are also aware of the loss and the tragedy that continues to affect the Mother Road. It makes you as an individual look at yourself, as a couple you develop trust and confidence in each other that I don't think any other experience could achieve. More than that it leaves you with a sense of achievement and an involvement in a little part off history.

Final mileage

 Tomorrow we are off to Newport Beach for a relaxing two days before flying home. A beautiful part of California where it is very much a chill experience. I think we shall need it before returning home..

Newport beach relaxing

Going over to Balbao Island on the ferry for a mooch

Day 13 - Needles, Callfornia - Victorville, Calfornia, 230 miles

We are now in the Mohave Desert and the heat yesterday was slightly extreme. We checked out the weather online last night and hopefully it will be cooler today, only 35+. Ironically we can only check our destination as all the other towns we travel through are too small to have weather stations. We loose another hour and find ourselves 8 hours behind the UK now. Wendy rides pillion today as there are no more mountain climbs. We have to fuel up first thing as the last thing you want to do is run out of fuel in the desert. Somehow John manages to lose the keys, unlike him he's been very organised this morning and we were first at load up, however at the filling station we realise that we have no keys. Fortunately any Harley key will open up the fuel tank, and after half an hour of searching we fill up and are on the road. Gary advises us that it will be $500 for replacement keys. The rest of the group are rather grumpy at the delay. The first stop at a Dairy Queen for coffee and ice cream and Wendy starts a more logical search of the side panniers, day sacks and jackets. The keys are found in Wendy's daysack. John had obviously subconcsiously realised he may have put them there as the contents are strewn throughout the pannier. Phew....

We continue through spectacular desert landscape, interspersed with volcanic lava rock, brilliant blue skylines and clear roads. We are travelling on the old route (1930 - 1956) through Amboy, Ludlow and Newberry Springs. Our only challenge to ride alongside the great trains with hundreds and hundreds of carriages. Check out Calfornia Sunriders and our train race: http://community.motozania.com/_Running-with-the-trains-around-Deadman39s-CurveJPG/photo/16719009/29029.html?b

The road through the desert to the East

The brow of the hill where Tim stands watch for oncoming traffic overlooking the California flats!

We travel onto Newberry Springs and after some light lunch climb the mountain for the classic route 66 sign on the road. Tim acts as watch out over the brow of the hill as the group ride into the road and have their picture taken. Gary tells us he has another surprise for us, and we continue on the old road till we get to Hellendale and Elmer Long's Bottle Tree Ranch. An artist, who we can't decide whether he's eccentric or mad. Elmer is not around whilst we are there and we meander through his creations.  Wendy finds an old Underwood Typewriter similar to that which she learned to touch type. A live snake coming through causes some consternation, but we've disturbed his peace and he's off into the long grass for some cool and quiet.

We continue down the route past the Oro Grande Cement factory. Quite how a cement factory can smell so bad we don't know, but it does. We continue on and get into Victorville at 16.30 - a decent hour, although we have lost that hour again. The hotel was having an all you can eat Taco night. What they hadn't expected was 17 Route 66 Tour group people arriving and eating them out of house and home. Tomorrow is the end of the trip with our arrival in Los Angeles. We decide that in light of the traffic almost immediately, Wendy will travel in the support vehicle.

Day 12 - Williams, Arizona - Needles, California, 210 miles

Another morning where we were advised to miss breakfast as we would be having very good cinnamon rolls later with excellent coffee at West side Lilo's cafe in Seligman.

Breakfast was as promised and the poor soul who ordered the cinnamon roll were gobsmacked when it arrived on a dinner plate.  Luckily they had been advised only to get one between two.  It did however make the rounds of all 17 of us.  John settled for easy over eggs with sausage patty and hash browns. Wendy had french toast which arrived smothered in icing sugar with maple syrup.... yuck!  Wendy carefully shook all the icing sugar off and left the maple syrup.

We then continued on to Snow Cap to meet Angel Delgadillo who is the guy instrumental in getting Route 66 Associations to work together and to lobby government to keep this historic route open.  84 years old now, and previously a barber, his town died in a matter of days when I40 went through - 9000 vehicles every 24 hours to maybe 90 every 24 hours.  The town is now mainly tourist type shops set up for Route 66, and it is to be hoped that their efforts of maintaining the Mother Road continue.  The road continues to carry its passengers hopes and dreams in so many different ways.

We tried hard to get Andy to get his long overdue haircut at Snow Cap, however Angel wasn't cutting that day!

Next stop was Hackberry, now just a shell of a garage converted to a gift shop.  However the stop gave us a welcome break to the 40+ temperatures in some shade and provided a smile at the museum part of the stop.  The restrooms are very interesting and reminiscent of the historical heritage of the stop from time gone by when male visitors were directed to the rear of the building for "additional services".  Wendy has been riding pillion now for a couple of days, but is advised not to travel as the road condition deteriorates and later in the day we are heading for Sitgreaves Pass (also known as Dead Man's Pass)

Dee enjoying the pleasures at Hackberry

The ladies restroom, we gather the gents was equally tastefully decorated.

We were meant to head off to another Harley Davidson dealer, however most of the group were Harley'd out so instead we went to a local Museum in Kingman.  Much to Wendy's delight John was classified as a "Senior" and charged reduced rates. Hehehe. Another example of the Santa Fe steam railway was there too, which created much interest.

Dead Man's pass - this was a sharp curve on the old Route 66 - as you can see it claimed many lives

The road down.... gulp!

After lunch Wendy went back into the support vehicle as we started the climb to Sitgreaves Pass. Haripin curves, sheer drops and no rails, mining traffic coming the other way.  Even in the support vehicle Wendy's heart was in her mouth most of the time.  However John tootled along at his own speed at the back of the pack with no problem.

Welsh Ronnie standing on suicide rock

 There were many little tarns in memory of those who lost their lives at this point, and it seemed appropriate to remember Young John's desire to place the nipple on the tarn at Carmichael by doing the same here.

The continued climb of hairpin bends and we reached Oatman, an old gold mining town which is virtually a ghost town overrun with burro's (donkeys).  We paid a visit to the million dollar bar... another eccentricity of Route 66 and were bought well deserved lemonades, although Wendy could quite easily have had a gin in hers as her heart was still in her mouth.  Gary decides as he is loading everyone back up to spray them with water to cool them down.  It quickly almost became a wet t-shirt contest!

 From Oatman we make our descent down the opposite side - equally as scary and finish off after a long hot day with all sorts of challenges in Needles for the night.