What My Heart Beats For: Day 8, RTE 66, AZ to Santa Monica, CA

This is it!! The last leg of the Route 66 part of our trip. It took us 7 days to get to Santa Monica. There are parts of Route 66 that were not possible to drive on with our vehicle, with kids, or both. If we ever decided to do the trip again, we would go without the kids (they are not really interested in the history), with a jeep type vehicle that could off road, and make no reservations so that we could go as the road takes us. I will have a trip recommendations list at the end (still compiling) of things/items/ideas to help. We have enjoyed every part of the trip so far, but we have not ever been on a trip this long or far away from home, so it has definitely been a learning experience!

We left Kingman, AZ and drove most of the rest of the way to Santa Monica Pier on Route 66. Sometimes there are areas that are just no longer there, so you have to get on the freeway. Once we crossed over into California, we stopped just west of Helendale at the forest of bottle trees. Then we stopped at the McDonald's museum in San Bernadino. Dan and I met while working at McDonald's together...23 years ago, so we of course had to stop and reminisce over where it all began. We drove through Barstow and made a beeline for the Santa Monica Pier.