Route 66 Blog. Day19.

Last day of the trip today....

The temperature topped 100 degrees as we paid a visit to Joshua Tree National Park this morning. So being greeted at the park entrance, by the obove warning notice, we topped up on our water rations.

Our last little jaunt before heading off towards

the end of the Route 66 trail marker on Santa Monica Pier.

Joshua Tree U2 album cover

We only spent a couple of hours here, as we had about a four hour drive to Santa Monica Pier ahead of us. In the main it was a drive through visit, but we did a couple of circular, one mile hikes. As it was a Saturday, it was pretty crowded, but enjoyable nontheless. A very unique landscape.

We headed off towards the Interstate 10, taking the quicker route to L.A to ensure we arrived at the end of line before dusk.

We arrived in Santa Monica late afternoon to the very crowded pier. Having parked up and handed over the advertised $10 fee, we were then told that $10 was for the first hour, but for $25 we could park for 3 hours.

Thus, we shimmied through the crowds to find the famous "End Of The Line Sign", took our obligatory photographs, gave our toes a quick dip in the chilly Pacific Ocean , and made it back to the car park with a minute to spare.

But not before we signed the log of those that have completed the trail and received our certificate from Route 66 afficionado Ian Bowen to prove it!

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So there we have it. After 2,852 miles on the road, mission accomplished. The end of the line. We have had an absolute blast.

Thanks for following.

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