I knew it was going to be a good day when…

the white stuff encircled my parking space, but spared my bike. At 8 PM when the ambient temp is still above 100, parking under a tree seems like a good “thinking-ahead” sort of idea. Then at 8 AM, you remember that birds live in trees.

Rolling out of Barstow this morning, I was fairly sure that I could complete the Route by day’s end. Anxious thoughts about the time-consuming LA traffic ran around in my head and I knew that the speedo wasn’t going to be much in the 85 mph neighborhood today. Taking it mile by mile, the slog through the mostly residential and commercial areas ran through Old Town Victorville, Devore, Muscoy and then San Bernardino. Yet another historic alignment presented itself in SanBerdoo, consuming one of my precious hours. The Foothill Blvd. run carried me at a snail’s pace from Rancho Cucamonga to Pasadena. At that point I was faced with 3 more historic alignments, each running from Pasadena to downtown LA as my watch hit half-past 4pm. Today’s flavor of the icing on the cake, was a Dodger home game.

The West LA part of Santa Monica Blvd. sports a great little place called “Cafe 50’s”. It’s the last diner on the Route westbound and I’ve made it a point to eat there on each of my RT66 trips. Great people and great food.

When you’re in striking distance of the Santa Monica Pier, the moist air starts to envelop you and your vehicle. It’s in stark contrast to the desert clime of only a few hours prior. You trade perspiration for humidity, but either will glue you to your seat. Partly to dry out the parts in question, but mostly just yielding to “youthful” exhilaration, I stood up on the pegs and got my first view of the Pacific Ocean. While Route 66 officially ends/begins at the corner of Olympic and Lincoln boulevards, I was very happy to continue on and see the intersection of Ocean and Santa Monica boulevards, too. I followed Horace Greeley’s advice, the best that I could. That was it, no further west could I go.

According to the birthday card that I received from my brother this year, Confucius said, “Wherever you go, go with all your heart”. In doing so, the preparation and the actual travel is made much easier with the support of a loving family, a flock of faithful blog-followers, a traveling companion if-only-in-spirit like Greg, and my loyal mascot Grace. I thank you all for being with me and I look forward to taking you along on the upcoming adventure along the Lincoln Highway. Additional gratitude is due River Pilot (http://www.riverspilot.com/) for his excellent GPS software and pointers throughout the trip. He has distilled 99% of what anyone would want to see of RT66 on to one tiny little SD card. Lastly I’d like to thank James McCool for his historic GPS tracks and interpretation of the “EZ66 Guide For Travelers” by Jerry McClanahan.

Had enough? If not, there are plenty more of my RT66 photos here: http://richpascuzzo.smugmug.com/Travel/Rt66-Chicago-SantaMonica-6-11/17695881_7LsKZW
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