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All photographs on this page appear as thumbnails, I appreciate your
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(CONTINUED FROM OATMAN PAGE)
As we crossed the Arizona/California border, I was a bit sad. While we would not be leaving California until Saturday morning, our journey on Route 66 would end Wednesday.
We
entered Needles, and drove around a bit, following 66 through town, where it is known as
Broadway. We decided to stay at the Motel 6. It was as hot in Needles as I had
always heard. When I was in our room, with the air conditioning on, and I opened the
door to go to the car, the heat hit me the same as when opening an oven. It was early,
about 6:30 by the time we settled in to the room, but didn't do anything special.
After a long, hot day, I wanted to just rest and get some sleep.
We had breakfast at Denny's next to our motel, and left just before 10:00 A.M. I made sure I filled the car with gas, and we had our cooler packed with ice and plenty of drinks, since we would be crossing the Mojave Desert today.
Past Needles is the Mojave Desert, often described as "dreaded." We went
north on 95 (where comedian Sam Kinison was 
killed in an auto accident by a drunk driver, left),
through Goffs, Essex, Amboy, Newberry Springs and
"towns" like Siberia and Klondike. Bob Moore's book explained that
these weren't actually towns. They were names for equipment locations given by the
railroad workers. The Mojave is another section which made me think back to the Dust Bowl
days. As depicted in The Grapes of Wrath, the Joads, with little money, had to
travel at night (to avoid the heat) in their overpacked jalopy, practically falling apart.
Ma Joad kept repeating how the family just had to "git across."
I would guess that for the most part, the desert itself hasn't changed too much. But
today, with a new car and modern
conveniences such as air conditioning, a cooler
packed with cold drinks, a cell phone and a AAA membership, it's not as
"dreaded" to cross as it must have been for the migrant workers of those days.
From that perspective, it didn't seem too bad. Regardless, I still would have been nervous
if anything happened out there! While my cell phone works across the USA, it still might
not have worked out there! I noticed that the car's engine was acting strangely, really
sluggish in the desert. Though it was not my own car, I had gotten a bit used to it over
the past 10 days, and I definitely noticed a difference. I wanted to get through the
desert and to civilization fast, but I didn't want to push
the engine too hard. But we managed fine, though we had a slight problem near
Amboy Crater when the car got stuck in the sand at a turnaround near the marker sign.
ACCCK! HELP!! OK, OK, I'm exaggerating for (hopefully) comedic effect...it wasn't that
bad, it didn't even take a minute to get out.
We got across! It really was green on the other side...too bad the sky wasn't blue though, with all that infamous southern California smog!
In Barstow, and I decided to check on that other
tire when I saw a Goodyear, but it was not actually a Goodyear store. It was an auto shop
that happened to sell Goodyear tires. The man said there was a Firestone dealer in
Victorville, but he wouldn't change a tire on a rental car because they are so slow to
reimburse their dealers. He checked out the tire though, and removed a big staple from the
tire. He said it should be fine.
We drove through Barstow, and on
through Victorville, following Bob Moore's book. I was disappointed to find the California
Route 66 Museum (left), closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays! Unfortunately, that was
just how our schedule was planned, so there was nothing I could do.
We continued on 215, exiting at Cajon Summit to take 66 down Cajon Pass and into San Bernardino. We followed our directions fine through San Bernardino, and
into Rialto, and I knew the Wigwam Motel would be coming up. The exterior didn't look bad. The teepees were nicely painted white, and trimmed with bright colors, different from what I had seen in pictures and video, so it must have been fairly recent. However, the "DO IT IN A TEE PEE" sign was still there, so I assumed this location still had a less than wholesome reputation in spite of its neat appearance! |
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It was around 4:30 or so by now. While that was still early, I didn't want to
continue any further. We had dinner at Del Taco in Fontana, which was very good,
better than Taco Bell! We stayed in San Bernardino and would continue from there for final
part of our trip the next day, approximately 80 miles through the congested city streets
of L.A. and its suburbs. I watched a little TV, and got some good rest for tomorrow.
We left San Bernardino, and rather than follow the part of Route 66 we
already took yesterday, we took I-215 south to I-10 and headed west a few exits, then cut
across, north, back to 66. We only slightly overlapped our route from yesterday, as
we passed the Wigwam Motel again, where I took the above pictures (and video). We
continued through Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga, Claremont, Upland, Laverne, San Dimas, Azusa,
Duarte, Arcadia and Pasadena. Since it is obviously so massively developed and populated,
it was alot to see and absorb, while still driving and concentrating on following it
properly, watching for traffic, etc.
After Pasadena, we crossed the Los Angeles River and into Los Angeles.
We did fine up to this point, but then Bob Moore's book indicates to turn onto Sunset
Boulevard in Chinatown at the 2.2 mile marker (I did zero the odometer as I
turned onto San Fernando!). I was in Chinatown, but I went absolutely insane trying
to find Sunset. I doubled back to the point where I crossed the canal, and went back
and forth. I then headed south toward downtown and figured on trying cut west to
find Sunset at a different point. Finally, I noticed on a city map in my AAA book,
that at the point where we were, Sunset was actually E Cesar Chavez Boulevard.
Further up, it then becomes Sunset, and then you turn onto Santa Monica Boulevard.
That typo, or mistake in the Bob Moore book was very frustrating!
I believe my mood was also affected by the fact that the entire section of Route 66 from
San Bernardino was disappointing, from a "Route 66" perspective. It was a
combination of knowing the end of the trip was approaching, or just a general feeling I
wouldn't like L.A., plus the traffic and so on...but definitely at this point, I didn't
feel the Route 66 spirit. There are a few Route 66 businesses and supporters here,
and I appreciate the efforts of the California Route 66 Association with the historic
signs. But Route 66 is simply not the same as in so many other areas. I am sure that
for the general population, it is just another street in the metropolitan L.A. area, with
all its modern development. But it was still a part of Route 66, and of course, we
continued on to the end. I tried to be in a better mood as best I could.
We continued on Santa Monica Boulevard through Hollywood (and major construction!),
catching a quick glimpse of the Hollywood sign (cool!). Santa Monica Boulevard then runs
through Beverly Hills, back through L.A., and finally into Santa Monica and to the Pacific
Ocean.
Finally, at 3:27 PM, we arrived at the end of the road...where Santa Monica Boulevard
intersects with Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica. We made a right at the intersection,
turned around and parked just before Palisades Park. At this point, we had driven
2,888 miles!! Depending upon alignments, Route 66 runs between 2,278 and 2,448 miles - my
total mileage includes all side trips, as well as all local driving in towns and cities.
We walked over to the park and found the plaque dedicating Route 66 to Will Rogers, as the
Will Rogers Highway. I was definitely sad it was over, but I was happy I had made
this trip. Michael Wallis was right when he said in Journey Down Route 66:
"It's not bad to have a little sadness on your journey. It makes you stop and
think."
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WILL ROGERS HIGHWAY |
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The end of Route 66 |
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That ended the Route 66 portion of our trip (obviously the main trip). We had the
remainder of this day, plus Thursday and Friday to spend in L.A.
From here, we went to our hotel, the Wyndham at LAX. Being at the airport, it was a
little out of the way (by L.A. standards), but not bad - we didn't run into any traffic
problems getting around. Besides, it was a gorgeous hotel with many amenities, and I
only paid $40 per night through Priceline!
We hadn't made specific plans for our time in L.A., but we knew many things we wanted to
do. Since we just finished our long day of city driving from San Bernardino, we relaxed
for a while after checking into the hotel...we were just not up to doing anything right
away. Later in the evening, when our energy returned, we ventured out for some
sightseeing. I thought that it would be a good time to go to some of the attractions
in Hollywood, which were open late. We went to Ripley's Believe It Or Not!, Guinness
World Records and the Hollywood Wax Museum. (Click on
the link at left for pictures from the wax museum). We also had wanted to see the
footprints at Mann's Chinese Theatre (Graumann's), but we were unable to at this time,
since there was a premiere of The Art of War, with Wesley Snipes. We
walked along the Hollywood Walk of Fame and went into some of the souvenir shops.
It's funny in L.A., how the absolute main focus is the movie stars. I don't know how
many businesses we passed which claimed to serve the stars (a bakery to the stars, an
electronics shop of the stars, and so on...). I think it was about 11:00 or so by
the time we finally got back to the hotel.
We were too tired to get up early, so I thought it was best not to go to Universal
Studios. Instead, we decided to finish our sightseeing. I also has made
reservations for TV show tapings. I reserved Wheel of Fortune for both
Thursday and Friday afternoon, and a Nickelodeon kids' show called The Amanda Show
for Friday as well. We only planned on seeing one taping, but I wanted to have a
little flexibility so I booked three. So I called to try to confirm one of the
reservations for today's taping of Wheel of Fortune, but it was cancelled for
today. So we started by going back to Hollywood to see the footprints at
Mann's Chinese Theatre. We took pictures, but again (unbeknownst to me at the time),
my camera was acting up, and the shadows caused by the lens not opening all the way sort
of ruined the pictures. I may amend this page at a later time if I am able to scan
and correct the photos. Anyway, it was fun seeing the footprints. I was surprised at
how small the forecourt seemed, though it was pretty crowded (no chance of stealing John
Wayne's footprints, I guess!).
We then left for the LaBrea Tar Pits and the George C. Page Museum. Amber had only
wanted to see the tar pits, but I 
planned on the museum as well. Since I paid
for over and hour and a half of parking, I insisted! It was interesting seeing all
the fossils they have removed from the tar pits, she was glad we went. Before the
museum, we went to the tar pits, and it was interesting as well, but the asphalt smell was
disgusting, and way too strong for me. I didn't actually get sick, but I became very
nauseated and I got a bad headache after that!
After the tar pits, we went up to Griffith Park. We hoped to be able to get to the
zoo, but we just missed the last entrance by
five minutes. We headed over to
the observatory (where scenes from Rebel Without A Cause were filmed), but we
didn't go in. We ate at the snack bar (which was OK, but we should have waited for
something better). There is a good view of the Hollywood sign from here.
We then went back briefly to Palisades Park in Santa Monica for a last look at the end of
Route 66, since we knew we would not have a chance again this trip.
On Friday we went to Universal Studios. I was
planning to go to Universal for part of the day, then leave and go to a taping in the
afternoon. I tried to confirm today's Wheel of Fortune taping, but it was
cancelled again. That left only The Amanda Show. When I was at
Universal, I tried to call into the automated system to confirm, but I could barely hear
and their automated system was a nightmare. It kept repeating the choices over and
over, and I wasn't sure if my confirmation was entered. I didn't want to leave
Universal and risk showing up at the taping, only to be turned away. So we decided
to spend the whole day at Universal and never ended up at a taping after all! For
more on our day at Universal Studios, click on the link above.
We got back to the hotel, watched some television and packed up. I didn't end up
getting to sleep early, but it didn't matter. we were right next to the airport, so
we didn't have to rush.
Sadly, our last day arrived. We checked out of our lovely hotel, and made sure we
didn't leave anything there or in the car. National's return lot was just a short
distance from the hotel and return process was easy, and they credited me right off the
bill for the replacement tire. We took the shuttle over to the airport, and poked around
in some of the shops. I finally got a chance to get some See's Candy I had recently
heard about. We had passed a store in L.A., but I hadn't stopped. I bought
some (soft centers) at this kiosk, they were very good! Our flight was only slightly
delayed, just a few minutes. We had an uneventful flight back, though Amber enjoyed
seeing NYC at night from the plane. We arrived in CT at 9:50, and home by 11:00.
It was nice, for 15 days, to be able to escape on Route 66. Everything about the
trip was fun and exciting, the feeling of the freedom of the open road and the west, so
unlike my only experience of living in the very different northeast! I took nothing for
granted - it was such a great time, an amazing trip I won't forget - and I very much look
forward to next time!!
I hope you enjoyed my site, and my story and photos. Thanks for visiting!! :)
~Jennifer
This page was last updated on Wednesday, April 13, 2005
