After returning from dinner, I took a few photos outside our motel. Great mural on the retaining wall at the motel.
After taking these photos, we struck up a conversation with some of our neighbors. Kevin, Glen and Dell were all on motorcycles doing a nice road trip. All from southern California. And we visited with Tina, Johannes and Corinna from Germany and John from Kansas. This iconic road brings together so many strangers who part ways as friends. Great meeting you all!
After getting away this morning, just west of Helendale, CA, we stopped at Elmer Long's bottle tree ranch. Elmer and his father used to collect things in the desert. They scoured old mining camps and amassed a rather large collection of bottles. After his father passed, Elmer decided to display his inherited bottles in a rather unique way. And now, people come from all over the world to see this artistic display. Very unique. I wish we could have met Elmer. I cannot comprehend the amount of work, not only in collecting these bottles but in creating the metal trees to mount the bottles. Thank you Elmer!
A nice Route 66 sign in Victorville, CA.
And while in San Berdardino, CA, we decided to divert a few blocks and see the site of the first McDonald's. Dick and Mac McDonald opened their first McDonald's self-service drive in restaurant. It's not that we are huge McDonald's fans, but we recently saw the movie, The Founder, starring Michael Keaton on how the McDonald brothers were running a very successful restaurant and Ray Kroc wanted to turn it into a franchise business. Ray Kroc eventually bought out the McDonald brothers and cheated them out of millions of dollars. This site is now a museum.
We are appreciative of all of the States that have embraced the historic Route 66 highway.
And alas, we are at our final motel on Route 66. We are at the historic Palm Tropics Motel in Glendora, CA, where, go figure, they actually have palm trees.
Today concludes our fourth week on Route 66. Tomorrow, we will arise early so as to avoid as much traffic as possible and get through Los Angeles. We have about 40 more miles of this fabulous road to go. We knew enough not to rush this trip. We have traversed this wonderful nation of ours along this road that begs travelers from across the globe to get their kicks on Route 66. We have traveled about 3800 miles thus far. We have much more ahead of us than what we have already traveled. Though we don't know all that lies ahead, we shall forever cherish the memories created by the sights, locations and most importantly the people along this road. The road is indeed historic, but it is still very much alive today. This is not just a trip down memory lane; this is a trip into the heart of the Country and the heart of her people. It is hard to imagine what the trip would have looked like 50 years ago when the road was bumper to bumper traffic (although California helps us understand that a bit), and life lined the roadway much more so than now. But there are still so many areas that have retained the look, the feel and the atmosphere from the past. Yes, Route 66 is very much alive and current today. It did not disappoint. Thank you for following along.
Till Tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment