Driving out of Barstow this morning, we saw a car wash with an RV bay so we quickly pulled in and gave the old girl a nice scrub. She had 3500 plus miles of dust, dirt and road grime on her and we couldn’t bring her to LA looking like that!
After Lady T’s tubby, we drove to Oro Grande, CA where Elmer Long’s Forest of Bottle Trees lives. Elmer’s front yard was lacking trees and it’s tough to grow them in the desert so he made his own. There must have been at least 1000 bottles of all different shapes, colors & sizes on metal “trees”. Mr. Long also had some antiques scattered here and there that made for an authentic Route 66 vibe. We left a donation and a sticky note with our blog address inside his mailbox…hope he visits us!
Moving on to the Victorville Route 66 Museum, we were disappointed to find it was closed. We snapped some photos and headed back to Lady T. On our walk back, a group of high school kids saw us taking pictures and yelled out for us to put them on Instagram. We offered to put them on our blog instead and they gladly accepted. Guys, scroll down to see your photo and don’t forget to pass the blog on to all your friends. Stay in school!
Our next stop was Cajon Summit and the Summit Inn. Unfortunately, they were closed as well for renovations so we looked through our reference guide to see what else was in the area. We decided on the McDonalds/Route 66 Museum. The museum is located in the exact spot of the very first McDonalds restaurant, which opened in 1948. It was pretty cool inside…they had tons of McDonald’s kid’s meals toys and other collectibles on display, several of which had been donated by private collectors. We grabbed a postcard and kept moving.
Rancho Cucamonga is home to California’s oldest winery, which also happens to be on Route 66. We were looking for the Visitor’s Center in the same area but somehow missed it, so we parked and walked for a bit in the scorching heat. After trolling a small grocery store to cool off, we spotted a Souplantation restaurant. We were hungry and it looked good so we decided to try it. We weren’t disappointed! They had a full all you can eat buffet with everything under the sun, including at least 8 different soups to choose from. They also had pizza, a bakery and a make your own sundae station. The food was tasty and cheap…just what we like! Souplantation, please come to Massachusetts!!!
In Pasadena, we stopped at a grocery store to give Lady T a break and pick up a few essentials. After that, we searched for the better part of an hour to find a place to park for the night. We called several places but everyone said no. Apparently, there are very strict parking ordinances in California that prohibit overnight parking. We even stopped at the local police station but the traffic division was closed. After another hour of pulling our hair out, we reluctantly backtracked about 40 miles to a Travel America truck that we thought we would be able to crash at. No dice :o( The security person informed us we would have to leave but recommended the Petro station just across the block. With fingers crossed, we checked with the attendant and she gave us an overnight parking pass. Thank You, Petro, in Ontario, CA for letting us stay!
Tomorrow we will head directly to LA. We already have a place to stay in mind…the very popular Dockweiler RV Park in Playa Del Rey. After LA, we will be one day away from Santa Monica and the end of our Route 66 adventure. Stay tuned and don’t forget to check back for updates!
