Last day (of the Route 66 part of the trip) today. Early rise in Barstow, and did my thing. All was smooth sailing this morning, and I set sail around 0700. About 20 miles out of town I stopped at Elmers Bottle Tree Ranch. Elmer (I think) has created trees, made of metal, with bottles as the fruit/leaves. About 200 or more of them. Unfortunately, I still am struggling with pictures, but will upload some when I get that sorted. Words don’t really do justice.
Breakfast was not too far from Elmers. A small diner outside Victorville, archetypical of the average American diner (and I should know, I have visited a few in my time). In fact, so representative is this diner, that it has featured in several films and shows. Kill Bill (Vol 2) is the one I knew best, but you can read more here.
I rode a while, til I got to San Bernardino. There, in a scruffy-ish neighbourhood, is the very first ever McDonalds. It is a now defunct museum, with lots of big cartoon characters outside, and a massive mural covering the whole building. 1948 was when it opened. I blame a lot of the obesity epidemic in the US (and beyond) on fast-food, and McDonalds in particular. But it was fun to visit, even though the place was kind of abandoned.
Next stop was the San Bernardino version of the Wigwam motel that I had visited in Arizona a few days back. Much more neatly kept, it is also still operating as a motel. One day…..
A couple of minor and less noteworthy stops, and I finally found the ocean, and Santa Monica pier. Route 66 ends here, and I was very happy to be able to stroll along the pier, take in the sea air, and doge the myriad tourists (cos I am a TRAVELLER, not a tourist, if you don’t mind).
Having done the obligatory, I chatted with some German and Italian bikers who were also parked on the wooden pier parking, with their shiny rented Harleys. They had just picked up the Harleys, and were visiting the pier before heading north up the coast towards San Francisco. I start that leg of my own journey tomorrow.
Having taken the pictures prescribed by protocol, I then hopped back on the bike, and rode for about 30 minutes to Beverley Hills, where cousin Jonny lives. He is graciously accommodating me tonight, so we are currently each completing our necessary work in order to free up the evening so we can go and do whatever it is that aging South African guys do.
I loved the Route 66 part of my journey. And am really looking forward to the next part, and whatever the road brings next. I did 1,018 miles of Route 66, and have completed a total of 1,363 miles on this trip so far, at an average of 272 miles/day.
I can’t finish this entry without an update on my views about California, as a continuation of yesterdays opinions. I have found 1 or maybe even 2 things that California has to commend it.
Firstly, on dual carriageway, multi-lane motorways, trucks and any towing vehicle have to travel at a maximum of 55mph, while the speed for other vehicles is 70 mph. This means the obstructive trucks, caravans, trailers and other things are out of the way on the fast roads. Or, at least, that is the theory. What I think I have figured out, is that unlike the rest of the USA (or maybe the world), the signs showing numbers for what one might expect as speed limits are indeed limits, but actually they are a lower limit.
The trucks all go at 70, and they do pass each other. The cars go at 90 as a minimum. It was all a bit overwhelming for me. I had been pootling along little country roads, through one-horse towns for a few days, and suddenly everyone was trying to knock me off my bike, and get everywhere at breakneck speed. The highway system here in LA is insane. Literally. There are so many different ones, with some going east-west, some going north-south, and some going round and round. Whoever devised this system (if indeed it was devised – I think they might have grown organically in a lab as a fiendish experiment, and spread to the wild accidentally in a horrible accident). If you ever want to come to LA, I have some advice for you. Don’t!
I do also appreciate the fact that California, uniquely among all of the US States, allows motorcycles to filter between lanes, or (as they say here) ‘lane-splitting’. In the UK it is just a natural thing – as it is, in fact, across much of Europe – but somehow the founding fathers forgot to enshrine this right in the Constitution, and so most states do not allow you to ride between the lanes of cars when the traffic is slower than usual.
All good things, right? Except, that (at least on the LA roads and motorways), they have made the lanes pretty narrow – so you can’t really navigate easily between the lanes of slow traffic on a bike, Or at least, not a larger Harley cruiser with luggage. A small plastic Japanese bike would probably be fine – but that is NOT what I have, so mostly I had to sit in a combination of heavy traffic and sweltering heat for much of today. Tell me why I do this, again, please.
Laters, Crocodiles.