San Bernardino
After a great parking lot breakfast of steel cut oats, danish, and coffee, we rolled out of the hotel and headed 2.5 miles to the Santa Monica pier for the official start of the ride.
The sign says the End of the Trail, but for us it’s the beginning of the ride.
We rolled out onto the pier to check out the beach and the attractions. Not much open at 6:30 in the morning!
This was a common site for the day, lots and lots of traffic lights. The cue sheet said there were 250 stop lights, and I think we stopped at most of them!
We rolled through Beverly Hills and downtown LA mostly along Sunset and Santa Monica boulevards.
Our first Muffler Man sighting was after we rolled through Hollywood. He’s empty handed, but it might be tough to put a windshield up there from the Auto Glass Shop.
Rolling though Hollywood we passed the Crossroads of the World. In 1936 it opened as an open air shopping mall. The main structure was designed to resemble an ocean liner. Various shops and businesses surrounded the ‘ship.’ It originally had 57 shops and cafes that were themed from places around the world. Initially it was successful and became a model for other outdoor malls. In the 1950’s the land became more valuable for offices and businesses supporting the entertainment industry.
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| Steve, Kathy, and David |
Next stop was Monrovia. Debby’s sister Kathy lives there, only a mile or so off our route. Based on the mileage and expected pace, I figured I would arrive between 10 and 11 am. After a couple of hours of riding, we narrowed it down to a 10:30 meet at the Starbucks on Route 66 and we all arrived right on time. We enjoyed some coffee and a nice visit while most of the group rolled by! After a 45 minute stop it was time to get moving and catch the group!
Lots of Route 66 shields on the road and on many different businesses.
I caught the group at Brandons Diner and was able to order a grilled ham and cheese with fries and a tall sweet tea and get it finished before the first riders started to head out.
Most of the towns along the way are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Route 66. Here in Upland there are banners sponsored by various local businesses. Little Miss Sunshine’s VW bus also made an appearance!
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| Bike wash |
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| Kit wash |
The end of the trail today is the Wigwam Motel. 20 spacious teepees are arranged in a semi-circle on well kept grounds. This is the first of our Historic Motel stays. I must say the rooms are much more spacious than they appear from the outside.
The original alignment of Route 66 is underneath the current I-15 highway. So tomorrow’s route has three options to climb Cajon pass; ride the I-15 shoulder, ride in the van to the top of the pass, or ride/hike an old dirt/sand wagon route that predates Route 66. You can decide tomorrow when we reach the 21 mile mark on the route.
Another PacTour oatmeal breakfast at 0600, we load and roll out at 0630.
Steve
1 comment:
Congrats on a successful first day!! The first of many I'm sure! Keep up the strong legs and excellent posts.
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