Day 15 June 14 Victorville to Santa Monica (The end of the road)

 
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I'm up early at about 5.45 this morning, in time to see the sunrise over the mountains from our bedroom window. Today is our last day on the road and this afternoon we have to give the bike back :(

We have a very good breakfast at the hotel (complementary), load the truck at 8.30 and get ready to depart at 09.00 - we're leaving a little later today so that  by the time we get into LA, most of the heavy traffic should have subsided.

Gary gives us what will be our final morning rider briefing in the hotel car park.

(( Youtube video to insert ))

The ride into LA today, to the end point of Route 66 at Santa Monica, near Santa Monica pier, is all freeway, no Old route 66 to ride at all - it is still there but there's just so much traffic, and hundreds of stop lights, that we would take all day to go that way.

(4840 ali L) 
First we go fuel up and then hit the interstate, even though it's past rush hour it's still busy but we take are able to maintain a steady 75 MPH, and try to keep a tight formation. There's a lot of lane changes and intersections to negotiate, pot holes, debris in the road (bits of tyre carcasses that have been shed, cardboard boxes), and traffic overtaking on both sides of what is in places 6 lanes in each direction. It takes a fair amount of concentration, but does get the adrenalin going.

It's about a 90 mile ride like this, up through the mountains, quite scenic as the road works it's way up though the mountains. I did set my mini DV helmet cam going before we left the gas station and was looking forward to watching the video later - unfortunately I must have not set it recording because when I checked there was no recording. Oh well, never mind, too late now.

The interstate ends and we take the last mile or so down into to Santa Monica, where we can see the Pacfic Ocean , and park up the bikes in the car park there. We have to fit 4 bikes per space, and contribute $2 per bike to the parking cost.

And so, we've made it!!

Congratulation each other, Gary leads us a short walk to the plaque in Pallisides Park on Ocean Avenue at Santa Monaca Boulevade, that promotes the end of the 'Will Rogers Highway, another name for Route 66'. The actual end of Route 66, I believe was in downtown LA, probably now obliterated by the freeway. So, we take this as the end of trip and Gary borrows each of our cameras to take a series of group photos behind the Will Rogers plaque.

There's a Route 66 kiosk nearby who kindly provide Mrs. K and I with a certificate to say we've completed the journey - and there's another one to come later.

Then it's time for lunch. Gary has booked space for us in the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company Restaurant on Santa Monica Pier, and is a Forest Gump themed restaurant. I had a salad and Mrs. K had apple pie and ice cream.

After lunch we had a bit of spare time, to look around, but really we weren't terribly impressed with Santa Monica pier. I though it was a bit tacky - we have much better piers in England. So really, there wasn't much to do and we couldn't even find anywhere to get a nice espresso. I don't recommend Santa Monica Pier folks.

Eventually we get going, out of the car park, for the final ride of the trip, along the coast road south to Venice Beach (it looks much nicer here, but we don't stop), and then left towards marina Del Ray and Bartell's Harley-Davidson dealership. 

The bike has to be returned with a full tank, so we do a final fuel stop (and for the one and only time an attendant pumps the gas for me which is much quicker as it doesn't involved paying , filling , and then going back for the change), and the back across the road to park up in front of Bartell's. (4916 ali L)

All we have to do now is remove our personal stuff off of the bike and I borrow a pair of circlip plyers from Bartell's service department so I can swop our passenger foot-boards back with the standard ones before handing the bike back. I hand the keys over and that's the last we'll see of 'Demo' who has served us well over the past two weeks, never missing a beat and covering 2787 miles since I picked it up in Chicago. Today we've covered 96.

The spare bike, that has been in the truck for the whole trip since we picked up the bikes in Chicago, has to be unloaded, which means that all the luggage has to unloaded first. They get the bike off, reload the luggage, and await the bus that's been arranged for 4 o'clock, to take us to the hotel, the Radison LAX which is by the airport. 
There's a bit of time before the bus is due so I have a good look at the new, and more particularly the used bike section of Bartell's. Still considering what to get.

While we're at Bartell's, the trike goes back - to another dealer, and then we're all off to the hotel in the bus, which takes about half an hour or so.

(418 ali L)   
The bus to take us to the hotel arrives at Bartell's at about 4.30 amd we make our way through what is becoming heavy traffic the relatively short distance to our final hotel of the trip - the hotel the trucks already there, and we unload, for the final time, our luggage.

We get settled in to our room, we have a view of the airport runway and can see all the planes, er doing what planes do - but we can't hear them.

Tonight there is the farewell dinner, which is included in the cost of the tour, and Gary says that dinner is arranged for 8.00, so meet in the bar before that.   
In the event, for me at least, the evening is rather disappointing - not what I was expecting, and not the party atmosphere that I wanted, I think for a combination of reasons, which is a shame.

 jump to: Day 14