It was indeed the last day on Route 66 and we are still not sure whether this is a good or a sad thing. On the one hand we are free to choose our paths now, on the other hand we do not necessarily meet people all over the place with the same interest to share. But today was a great finale, meeting great people, seeing familiar sites and finally getting into lush scenery and at the end the grand Pacific Ocean in beautiful early evening sunlight.

We started the day by visiting the first McDonald’s Restaurant, founded by the McDonald’s Brothers and opened as the McDonald’s Barbeque Restaurant at 14th and E St. in San Bernardino in 1940.

1954 Ray Kroc received the permission to franchise McDonald’s and eventually bought the rights to McDonald’s in 1961. The original place remained in the hands of the McDonald’s brothers up to their retirement in 1968. Today the location houses the unofficial McDonald’s Museum, a section on Route 66 and one of the offices of Juan Pollo owner Albert Okura, who is the owner of the town of Amboy with its Roy’s Motel and Gas Station.

We had a chance to enjoy a great tour of the place with curator and artist Rory Murray and got a lot of inside information from Route 66 CA Board Member, collector, owner of Route 66 museum San Bernardino and star in many movies and documentations on Route 66, Danny Castro.

After so much info it was time for lunch -a big one since we skipped breakfast- and it was only fitting to visit Juan Pollo for the first time, since owner Albert Okura bought the McDonald’s location a couple of years ago to preserve it. Chicken was great and a lot of memorabilia in the restaurant and the connected Museum Route 66.

Off we went to see the California Theater.

Next was the beautifully restored Wigwam Motel, owned by Kumar Patel and his mother. Kumar gave us a tour and next time we definitely will spend a night in one of these Wigwams with its cozy rooms.

Finally we left San Bernardino, saw on our way towards Santa Monica “Bono’s Historic Orange” in Fontana, since we are after all in Citrus and Wine Country. We saw the barrel at Rancho Cucamonga but we didn’t have a chance to stop. Traffic was becoming a bit too busy to make frequent unprepared stops. Therefore, I took the image of the 12th and final Madonna of the Trail (our first though) from the car driving through Upland.

We did make two stops in Monrovia. One was for the famed but not so great gasoline station on Shamrock Ave.

The other for the Aztec Hotel, which seemed closed, but maybe only for the day. The outside is interesting because of its “Mayan Revival” architecture. Inside in the bar the fans in the ceiling are connected via belts.

Unfortunately we only drove through very busy Pasadena, but it is definitely a city we would like to stay in for a couple of days next time! And then, out of nowhere, we were in Los Angeles, Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica.

There was no stop possible and therefore the photographic impressions were made out of the driving or better snailing car. Then we came to the intersection of Lincoln and Olympic and with this to the official end of Route 66.

A couple of minutes later we drove along the beautiful Pacific on Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu, where we were lucky enough to get a spot at their RV Park. Even more lucky, we had a very nice young couple, Samantha and Chad, as neighbours and we spent a great evening with conversation and wine. They own a textile business and we can’t wait to try out their jeans: CRATE of California!