TODAY IS THE DAY! We make our final push to the finish line of our 2,448-mile trip down Route 66. I suppose that it is only fitting that the two ends of the trip are in crowded mega-city environments, representative of the great migration of our country to the west. The pilgrammages of the thousands who drove Route 66 west for new lives during the Depression and "dust bowl" years of the 1930s were brought to my mind during this last day of westbound driving.
After leaving our luxurious "wigwam," we started the day giving thanks and praise to God at Sunday School and Morning Worship services at the Mountain View Baptist Church in Rancho Cucamonga, about 12 miles west of San Bernardino. It was a blessing finding an independent, fundamental, Bible-believing (you get the idea) church in the land of flakes, fruits and nuts!!!! Mountain View meets in what looks like a store front, but they have quite a nice auditorium which seats about 125 or so. The church was between pastors; their previous pastor went to start another work in the greater LA area, now that this one was established. The interim pastor who preached, Chris Strothers, was candidating for the pastorate. We pray that he is called by the congregation, as he is an excellent preacher and Bible expositor. Bro. Strothers preached on Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, and its prophetic connections with the God's sacrifice of the perfect Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Another interesting fact about Mountain View is that they support one of Dixie's missionaries - Terry Sharp of the Canary Islands. Pastor Strothers knew of Dr. R. B. Ouellette and First Baptist Church of Bridgeport MI, but was unfamiliar with Dixie. We invited him to stop at the Hiway Pulpit on I-75 anytime he is in our area!
After services, we stopped for lunch at Marie Callender's in Claremont CA (this is a great restaurant chain I wish we had in Michigan). Then, after all the dust and dirt accumulated on the car, I just had to pull into a car wash with hand-detail drying and vacuuming to "freshen up" our tired vehicle, and as thanks for her faithful service in conveying us across the country. Having our chariot properly spiffed up, we were now ready to cruise into LA and to the end of the line!
The Los Angeles metro area is so vast that even after passing through the communities of Claremont, La Verne, Glendora, Azusa and Pasadena, we STILL had about 50 miles to go, on boulevards with traffic lights on every block, and nearly none of them timed!!! You'd think with all of Southern California's griping about pollution and destroying our resources, they would figure out how much fuel is wasted idling at lights, and do everything to keep traffic moving.+-+Pasadena+CA.jpg)
Route 66 goes by several names in this area: Foothill Boulevard, Huntington Drive, Colorado Boulevard, Arroyo Boulevard, Pasadena Freeway, Sunset Boulevard, and finally...FINALLY, Santa Monica Boulevard, which makes the final trip straight west to the Pacific Ocean. Most of this stretch could have been substituted with any four-lane or five-lane boulevard in suburbia, but there were some areas, such as this bit of Colorado Boulevard, that were gorgeous with the huge trees lining both
sides of the road. In addition, mixed in with the modern fast food joints and strip malls, there were occasional reminders of what this road used to be: old-style motels with their interesting signs; buildings which you could tell had once been service stations; and tourist stops like the Pottery Ranch in Monrovia CA, which are still operating (based on the "Liquidation" sign, however, perhaps not for long).
After leaving our luxurious "wigwam," we started the day giving thanks and praise to God at Sunday School and Morning Worship services at the Mountain View Baptist Church in Rancho Cucamonga, about 12 miles west of San Bernardino. It was a blessing finding an independent, fundamental, Bible-believing (you get the idea) church in the land of flakes, fruits and nuts!!!! Mountain View meets in what looks like a store front, but they have quite a nice auditorium which seats about 125 or so. The church was between pastors; their previous pastor went to start another work in the greater LA area, now that this one was established. The interim pastor who preached, Chris Strothers, was candidating for the pastorate. We pray that he is called by the congregation, as he is an excellent preacher and Bible expositor. Bro. Strothers preached on Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, and its prophetic connections with the God's sacrifice of the perfect Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Another interesting fact about Mountain View is that they support one of Dixie's missionaries - Terry Sharp of the Canary Islands. Pastor Strothers knew of Dr. R. B. Ouellette and First Baptist Church of Bridgeport MI, but was unfamiliar with Dixie. We invited him to stop at the Hiway Pulpit on I-75 anytime he is in our area!
After services, we stopped for lunch at Marie Callender's in Claremont CA (this is a great restaurant chain I wish we had in Michigan). Then, after all the dust and dirt accumulated on the car, I just had to pull into a car wash with hand-detail drying and vacuuming to "freshen up" our tired vehicle, and as thanks for her faithful service in conveying us across the country. Having our chariot properly spiffed up, we were now ready to cruise into LA and to the end of the line!
The Los Angeles metro area is so vast that even after passing through the communities of Claremont, La Verne, Glendora, Azusa and Pasadena, we STILL had about 50 miles to go, on boulevards with traffic lights on every block, and nearly none of them timed!!! You'd think with all of Southern California's griping about pollution and destroying our resources, they would figure out how much fuel is wasted idling at lights, and do everything to keep traffic moving.
+-+Pasadena+CA.jpg)
Route 66 goes by several names in this area: Foothill Boulevard, Huntington Drive, Colorado Boulevard, Arroyo Boulevard, Pasadena Freeway, Sunset Boulevard, and finally...FINALLY, Santa Monica Boulevard, which makes the final trip straight west to the Pacific Ocean. Most of this stretch could have been substituted with any four-lane or five-lane boulevard in suburbia, but there were some areas, such as this bit of Colorado Boulevard, that were gorgeous with the huge trees lining both
sides of the road. In addition, mixed in with the modern fast food joints and strip malls, there were occasional reminders of what this road used to be: old-style motels with their interesting signs; buildings which you could tell had once been service stations; and tourist stops like the Pottery Ranch in Monrovia CA, which are still operating (based on the "Liquidation" sign, however, perhaps not for long).After passing through Pasadena, we proceeded through some rather seedy-looking sections of Hollywood (ugh), West Hollywood (even ugh-er), and Beverly Hills (very beautiful, but the residents... ugh!). 
With increasingly dense traffic the farther west we drove, there were not too many opportunities to get out of the car to take pictures, but I did snap this shot of the "humble" headquarters of the Beverly Hills Police. Almost makes me want to consider a career change to law enforcement...nahhh!
The community of Santa Monica is the last town on the route, and the final 25 numbered cross streets (26th Street, 25th Street, etc. to Ocean Avenue at the terminus) were pure torture, as the LA traffic moved at a crawl between each block. It gave us plenty of time for people-watching (always entertaining in LA), and we rolled down the windows and opened the sunroof to let in the ever-closer ocean air. Temperatures at the coast were also a very pleasant 87 degrees; over 30 degrees cooler than just the day before!
It was with an incredible sense of accomplishment that we finally reached the end of Route 66. Here is the view (taken through the sunroof just before I had to make my turn) of the intersection where the Mother Road ends. You can see the Pacific Ocean in the distance.
With increasingly dense traffic the farther west we drove, there were not too many opportunities to get out of the car to take pictures, but I did snap this shot of the "humble" headquarters of the Beverly Hills Police. Almost makes me want to consider a career change to law enforcement...nahhh!The community of Santa Monica is the last town on the route, and the final 25 numbered cross streets (26th Street, 25th Street, etc. to Ocean Avenue at the terminus) were pure torture, as the LA traffic moved at a crawl between each block. It gave us plenty of time for people-watching (always entertaining in LA), and we rolled down the windows and opened the sunroof to let in the ever-closer ocean air. Temperatures at the coast were also a very pleasant 87 degrees; over 30 degrees cooler than just the day before!
It was with an incredible sense of accomplishment that we finally reached the end of Route 66. Here is the view (taken through the sunroof just before I had to make my turn) of the intersection where the Mother Road ends. You can see the Pacific Ocean in the distance.
+Marker.jpg)
I have to say that I was a bit disappointed that there was no "END HISTORICAL ROUTE 66" sign at the corner where Santa Monica dead ends at Ocean; however, across the street in the park that parallels Ocean, there is a bronze marker with the following inscription:
WILL ROGERS HIGHWAY
Dedicated 1952
to
WILL ROGERS
Humorist - World Traveler - Good Neighbor
This Main Street of America
HIGHWAY 66
was the first road he traveled in
a career that led him straight to
the hearts of his countrymen
Becky and I parked a couple of blocks down from the end of Route 66 at Santa Monica Pier, took our shoes off, and walked to the Pacific to dip our toes in. (The water was surprisingly cold for the middle of July!). .jpg)
Then we walked up and down the pier, viewing the shops, smelling the churros and funnel cakes, and watching the various street entertainers trying to make a buck. I wish we could have stayed longer, but we had to start right back on our return trip, as we had a reservation at a (3 guesses, and the first two don't count) KOA Sunday night in Victorville CA. If we were going to return on eastbound Route 66, we might not have arrived until midnight, but we decided to utilize the borrrrring Interstate system coming back. Interstates are certainly many times faster than roads like Route 66, but you certainly don't get to experience America that way... you just whiz right by it.
What a wonderful trip down "The Main Street of America" this has been. I hope I've been able to give the tiniest taste of what we experienced. Who knows? Maybe next time we'll make the trip on a Harley! (Not you, Pastor Snode.)
Good night, and God Bless.
John and Becky Critzer
Newly-knighted "roadies" (the name for nuts like us who have gotten our kicks on the entire length of Route 66)
No comments:
Post a Comment