The End of the Trail...

But not the end of the adventure....

Danielle and I have driven the entire length of Route 66 from East to West!!! Celebrate with us! We are so excited to be done but that doesn't mean I will stop blogging or traveling.  The next road we plan to drive is the Pacific Coast Highway up to San Francisco and we leave TOMORROW!! Can you believe it?  

  

We were worried last night when we got here that we would end up paying $300 for a hotel room.  Fortunately we remembered our very nice stay at the hostel in Chicago and found one 2 blocks from the beach right here in Santa Monica!  We are in an awesome location for an awesome price! The weather is perfect today.  We plan to take full advantage of it.

Yesterday was an interesting day being that it was our final push to the end of our 3 week long adventure.  We left Barstow, CA in the morning and drove most of the way without stopping.  We did make one unplanned stop somewhere in the desert at a place called Bottle Tree Ranch.  We met this eccentric old man who had a long white beard and lived by himself but had been working on this artistic creation for over 15 years! It was amazing to walk around his yard and see all the sculptures and art he had made.

From there, we pretty much just made a straight shot to the end.  We enjoyed the palm trees and the warm weather but not the traffic in Santa Monica.  Nor did we enjoy trying to find parking at the pier!! When we did, it was worth it because we made it to the end just in time to see the sun set over the Pacific Ocean.  It was the best sunset I've seen in a while! We called our Dad to sing Happy Birthday to him afterward and then we wandered back down the pier to find some souvenirs.

We were about to give up when this random guy (later he introduced himself as Ian) in a tiny booth asked if we had any questions or if he could help us.  We ended up talking to him for a long time and he took pictures for us in front of his shop.  Turns out he's a 66 enthusiast who has driven the route many times.  It was fascinating to talk to him and it was validating to us to be congratulated on finishing the route by someone who actually knows what it means and how significant the accomplishment is! 

We had a celebratory dinner on the pier and then went to our hostel room, totally and completely worn out in a good way.  Since we finished I've been enjoying the constant stream of memories from our trip.  Things I hadn't thought about in a long while but made me smile when I re-remembered them.  Maybe when things settle down I'll write a post with some reflections and things I learned while on the trip.  Thanks for reading and journeying with me!  Keep checking back in the future. You never know where I'll be going next. (Especially in the next couple weeks)