And so we start our last day driving Route 66 with a blue sky and good weather, in Barstow. We take it a little bit more easy as the past few days and drive off shortly before 9am. After getting some gas (usual morning ritual on this trip), we head further West towards Oro Grande. According to the guide there is a “Bottle Tree” ranch there. It was built by a guy who started collecting treasures from thrash heaps with his father in the 1950s. After his father died, he inherited his father’s glass collection, and decided to create trees from the bottles. Sadly, the ranch is closed for renovations but we can take a few pics from the fence.

Next we enter Victorville, where we visit the California Route 66 museum, filled with items related to the Mother Road. We also talk with one of the volunteers there, a 71 year old man who has traveled Route 66 since the 60’s, while it was still officially Route 66.

And then it is time to enter the Interstate once more, because it was built on top of Route 66. But this time it is the I15, which goes South through Cajon Pass, and descends from the mountains to the lowlands in which Los Angeles is located. The end is in sight!

Once you are down from the mountains, it’s just a little bit before you turn West again, onto Foothill Boulevard, which runs for miles and miles through towns and cities, all connected to Los Angeles eventually. Rialto, San Bernadino, Pasadena, to name a few. We drive all of Foothill, and later Huntington Drive.

Eventually, after more than 2 hours of driving on Foothill and Huntington, we decide enough is enough (and we are running out of time too, around 3pm, so we’ve been told and have read in the guide) you need to be where you want to be, before rush hour traffic. So we turn left from Huntington, on our way to the Interstate. Which was recommended in the guide anyway from a point just West of where we are. The final stretch of Route 66 runs over Santa Monica Boulevard, but that is one of the most congested roads in the city and not recommended.

Without issues, we arrive at our hotel in Santa Monica. We’ll take it easy for the remainder of the day, and plan a nice route along some landmarks selected by Jonathan for tomorrow. And of course, tomorrow evening, we’ll visit the pier, and the official end of Route 66!