Week 7 peterbrownroute66

Sunday 20.10.13 peterbrownroute66 Get your kicks on Route 66

We've had a nice easy day, even let Pam have a 10 minute lie in this morning. Then it was off to see Calico ghost town which was an old silver mining town for a short period between 1881 to 1896 and had one of the largest silver strikes in California. After that I did some more train spotting at the railway museum in Barstow before heading back to use some of the hotels facilities. Oh Joanne I've met up with your hit man this morning and you were right I did have to pay his bill first.

 

 

 

 

 

Apparently there is still millions of dollars worth of silver here but it would cost more to extract it

 

I gave him an extra 100 bucks and he let me go unharmed but skint

 

Barstow railway station which still has plenty of the 1 mile trains passing through

 

You don't realise how big these trains are

 

 

I should have done my washing whilst in here

 

Monday 21.10.13 peterbrownroute66 Get your kicks on Route 66

It's been a very sad day today as it's our last leg of Route 66. Last load up of the bike, last fill up at the gas station, last bit of train spotting, o'h we are depressed. We did soon get cheered up when we came across the bottle range at Helendale and met the owner who was a very interesting eccentric old gentleman. We then continued to Victorville via the mother road when Dennis at Victorville HD suggested going over the mountains which would be more interesting and I agreed as we had already noticed that 66 had got swollowed up when you hit the bigger cities. It was a good choice as the scenery was fantastic and even found snow on the mountain tops. The only problem was by the time we got to LA we hit the rush hour traffic, but still got to the end point of Route 66 in one piece. Now checked into our hotel which has mega slow wifi.

 

Passing through Helendale

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suicide Bridge at Pasadena

 

 

Been there and done that

 

Tuesday 22.10.13 peterbrownroute66 Get your kicks on Route 66

Doing yesterday's post took hours as the wifi was that bad the only place I could get a good signal was to stand on a chair and hold the iPad upto the ceiling, so I had a winge this morning and checked out pronto in search of super fast wifi. The cheaper hotels always seem to come up trumps, so it was the super 8 hotel and alot closer to the airport. Today was to sort out a few things in preparation for going home, so Bertha has been booked in at Bartels Harley on Friday for the warrantee repairs to the engine and also replace some broken fearing brackets which were probably caused by the road to Grand Canyon west. Them Indians have got a lot to answer for. It was then onto Schumacher logistics at Gardena to sort out all the paperwork and explain it would be Harley who would actually drop off the bike. On the way back we have found a place to pick up some suite cases which will do in the next couple of days. The biggest part of the afternoon was free so went back to Santa Monica pier and beach for a good look round, and it is just as we expected with lovely white sand and plenty of joggers, skate boarders and people walking the dogs.

 

 

Can't get much closer than that

 

Santa Monica Beach

 

Couldn't resist another photo

 

Even the seagulls are laid back here

 

 

 

 

Wednesday 23.10.13 peterbrownroute66 Get your kicks on Route 66

Up nice and early again so it was off to visit the Nethercutt museum just past Sacramento which exhibits a very wealthy family car collection, and has been left to a trust that includes free admission. All these cars were stripped completely for full restoration and must be in better condition now than when they left the showroom. A trip to LA is not complete without a visit to Hollywood Boulevard, Sunset Strip, Beverly Hills, and the Hollywood sign, so we did the lot and I even had my photo taken with a film star. O'h forgot to mention the drivers in LA are all mad. The freeway is between 5 & 6 lanes wide and even at rush hour they are flying past you from all directions. We've already seen 3 accidents and I nearly got rear ended by a BMW who wasn't paying attention.

 

 

1906 Pope-Toledo original cost $3,500

 

1912 Alco original cost $6,000

 

1915 Model T Ford original cost $750

 

 

 

 

 

 

Millionaires row

 

Sunset Strip

 

Hollywood walk of fame. Ha I know her in front.

 

Marilyn Monroe wannabe

 

Thursday 24.10.13 peterbrownroute66 Get your kicks on Route 66

Had a nice easy day with a ride upto Malibu via the Pacific coast highway which is very picturesque. We prefer the properties here rather than at Beverly Hills or Hollywood. So there's not much to report today other than had a good chill out on the beach. O'h there was something, I had stopped to take a picture on the way back and left pam on the bike and for some reason she decided to dismount the bike from the wrong side when my back was turned and I just heard her scream and the crash of Bertha hitting the ground and braking my foot peg, siren and abit of superficial damage to the body work. I was tempted to give Bertha a kick while she was down due to the heartache she had put us through but didn't have the bottle. We had no chance of getting her upright without the help from a man who watched the whole thing. I can't have ago at Pam as when we had the hire bike I thought I'd put the kick stand down at Dixie truck stop and leant it back and we both ended up on the floor. (Dave if your still following us please don't tell gina)

 

Pacific coast highway

 

Some of the properties are fantastic

 

These must get a battering in winter

 

 

Free parking right at the beach

 

 

 

Nearly had the beach to ourselves

 

Starting to get used to LA traffic and doing a bit of filtering

 

Friday 25.10.13 peterbrownroute66 Get your kicks on Route 66

For those of you following the comments. Pam was discharged from hospital this morning and it looks like we will now get priority treatment at the airport

 

Anything for a bit of sympathy

 

For anyone who is following the blog you will know it's our last day. We have noticed that LA always seems to be in the mist which must be something to do with the landscape, and usually the sun burns through by early afternoon. So this morning we headed for The queen Mary which is docked at Long Beach. The tour ticket also included walking through a Russian submarine which was really interesting to see the inner workings and the cramped conditions they endured whilst at sea. Then it was off for some cloud bathing at long beach. We gave it 30 minutes and then moved onto Manhatten beach for some more cloud bathing before dropping Bertha off at Bartels Harley Davidson.

Total mileage for our holiday including the hire bike is 6,844.

 

 

Torpedo room

 

Land a'hoy

 

Bridge on the Queen Mary

 

 

 

Long Beach

 

 

That's what you get when you drive to fast

 

I wonder when we will next see Bertha

 

Well that's our trip over and we must say we both feel it has been an adventure and have thoughly enjoyed every minute, even when we've had problems we have always looked on the bright side. All the American people we have been fantastic and gone out of there way to help us.

 

That completes our adventure. Click on newer post on the bottom left to get to my comments.

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