The last day on the road. It all comes to an end today, the last day of riding on old route 66. Today we take our time in the morning, to avoid the morning rush hour in the worst traffic nightmare in the United States, Los Angeles. This means we can sleep in, and have a leisurely breakfast before we pack up and hit the road. As soon as we load up the van and get ready around 10 am we head out to our final stop for the tour, the Santa Monica pier and literally the end of the road!
Driving through Los Angeles can be a complete nightmare. All it takes is for one really bad accident somewhere in the city and the highways become parking lots. Plus the majority of the people in L.A. really don’t know how to drive, and are almost blind when it comes to motorcycles. This has got to be the most stressful day of riding for everyone. Just keeping everyone together and making all of the exits can be challenging for any experienced rider. But with Stuart in the front and Gary in the van at the back we stick together and make sure everyone makes it to the end safely.
As we drive through town we get a good look at this sprawling metropolis. The greater Los Angeles area is massive. Just finding your way around is difficult for even those who live there, and a nightmare for those just visiting. Due to L.A.’s size and complexity of highways we make every effort not to stop until we reach the pier at Santa Monica.
After a couple hours of riding through town we make it to the end. At the pier we park our bikes and go to the plaque at the end of the road. Here we all take time to take a few pictures at the end of Route 66 with the Pacific ocean and palm trees in the background.
After the pictures we go to a resturaunt on the pier for our final luncheon together, and then have a couple of hours to explore the pier. Before we leave the pier we all get together on the beach, take off our shoes and step into the Pacific ocean. After we dry off and put our shoes back on, we retrieve our motorcycles and head off to the Eaglerider office. Here we turn our “iron horses” which have faithfully taken us across the country on the “Mother Road”.
Before we turn our bikes we make one last stop to fill up the bikes with fuel before returning them. A short 30 minute ride after leaving the pier we’re at Eaglerider. Here we turn in our bikes, and say good our (sometimes teary-eyed) goodbyes. It’s a bittersweet parting, the elation of finishing such a long trip and the sadness of having to say goodbye to our new friends we made amongst ourselves over the last 2 weeks and 3000+ miles. With a great adventure behind us it’s time to go our separate ways, with some great memories (and hopefully pictures too) of our great adventure across the heart of the United States.
