ROUTE 66, STAGE 11: KINGMAN - SANTA MÓNICA

With a silly face. We had this expression most of the day. Day that corresponds to our last stage of Route 66. And I could not have finished higher!

We do not speak only of the reproduction of what the Route was in its good years in exhibitions or museums, nor of the vintage collections in gas stations or trade postings. What has amazed us today has been the own nature, the places we have been through, the eternal straight between the desert, the viewpoints on the Black Mountains ... in short one of the most spectacular panoramic routes we have never been through (if not the most).

And he didn't wait too long, in Kingman there are some interesting places to see if you have time like the Trovatore Motel, the water tower, the Kingman Powerhouse & Visitor Center ($ 4, which closes at 4pm) or the restaurant Mr. D'z Route 66 Diner (that we want to try). Leaving the town, the old Route 66 is taken and what comes next is ... directly unpayable.

The road, through which we circulate practically alone, crosses an extensive plain (probably full of snakes) from where you begin to glimpse the passage through the Black mountains in the distance. It is a not too long stretch that is enjoyed with the tranquility of having started the day close to here (it would be necessary to see if you already have 300 miles on your back how you take it), we make some stop to contemplate the landscape before reaching this pass between mountains.

You will know that you are arriving when you find the Cool springs station, an old gas station where travelers stopped to rest for a little while and regain strength to prepare to cross the passage through the Black Mountains. Something like road sales before Despeñaperros ...

Formerly this section was quite dangerous, the narrow and winding road on the side of the mountain made it a favorable place for accidents. Take it easy and enjoy the scenery, upstairs awaits you one of the best views of all Route 66.

Once we have raffled this high, we reach a small town of these "ghost", which keeps many of the original wooden houses, but where now pins, shirts and magnets are sold. Oatman It was a mining town, remember that one of the reasons why people traveled Route 66 to the west coast was because of the golden dream, to find a big gold pipón in the mine and to get rich. So Oatman was one of those popular destinations back in 1900 where luck was tried. One of the traditions of these miners was to nail a dollar with their signature and date in the salon, you can imitate it at the Oatman Hotel Restaurant & Saloon.

It is very worth spending a good time traveling the main street of the town, from the White Bird Trading Post at the beginning to the Mine Museum almost at the end.

But if he is famous for something right now, it is for his most handsome inhabitants: wild donkeys! We do not know well if they live around the town in full freedom or if someone takes care of them ... The fact is that when we arrived the only trace of them were the boñigas that, as a tourist attraction (here they will promote NO street cleaning, right? ), they force you to believe that there really are loose donkeys ... But nothing about donkeys!

So we got on the big one and, without hope, we begin to see a small marabunta a or far away ... where the town is no longer even called a town. And there they were, first a group of 4, then another of 3, and thus until about 20 or 25, all together as the owners of the territory, asking for a little food. Was it time to release? Or do they really live wildly and was it the time they wanted to go through the town? If anyone knows to say so, we are a bit lazy to search on Google.

From Oatman you have the option to reach Topock, but we take the detour to the right to save some miles. Actually both roads come together in Needles, a medium-sized city where you can take a dip with the car and throw some photos at Route 66 Motel or at Railroad Borax Wagon, an old wooden car quite cool, really.

We have not told you but ... we have already entered the last state we will visit on Route 66: California! When crossing the bridge that separated it from Arizona in Needles the asphalt changed, the houses looked newer and everything a little more careful ... will it be the tonic of what awaits us?

From here to Ludlow It is another of the wildest sections of the entire Route. You will go through the Mojave Desert! Remember to have the tank well loaded, in addition to that you will not find gas stations in the next 70 or 80 miles, prices in this area soar!

The part of Route 66 that passes through the Mojave Desert begins at the turnoff in Fenner, that we found in works ... then we saw how they are resurfacing the entire road and the closed section was by Cadiz. Do not expect a desert of dunes and oases ... in fact it is an area with plains and small mountains, dotted with bushes but super inhospitable, where you will feel abandoned to your fate (for God's sake do not click!). Well, actually you do see cars passing by, but don't click equally!

Throughout this tour you will see straight, straight and more straight. But also lots of Route 66 signs painted on the asphalt, a pair of Chinese dragon statues (WTF), the Roy's Motel and Café, one of those iconic places (imagine 50 years ago in a Cádillac crossing the desert at 2 in the morning, praying not to burst the engine and find a place to rest ... and suddenly in the distance you see a blinking light, a signal and a ROY'S written large ... Who doesn't want to live that experience !?)

The bushes below give way to black rocks, the color of the earth has changed and you are exploring an area of ​​volcanoes! On your left, without much effort you will see the Amboy Crater, with its perfect conical shape. But he is not the only one, you will see that he is plagued.

The majority of the route through the Mojave Desert is done in parallel on one side to Interstate 40 and on the other on the train track, it is not uncommon to see a few of these very long iron horses gallop down the rails. Near a crossroads on these rails there is a ghost town, and this one really without quotes, of those who give merit.

Another of the mythical stops is the Baghdad Coffee, in the middle of nowhere and where today Buffalo meat burgers are still served. If you are hungry you can give it a chance or wait until the Peggy Sue's 50's Diner, a few miles later in Wilderness. We stopped in this second and, although the place is nice, the food let us down a bit. Before arriving, you will have left the desert and will have to join I40 again.

This road continues until BarstowThere is a museum there, Route 66 Mother Road Museum Barstow, which apparently only opens on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. We don't visit it, in fact we don't even stop in town. We take southbound on 66 and head to the Bottle Tree Ranch, a forest made of bottles by Elmer, one of those mythical characters on Route 66. We were lucky to find him there and he seemed like a super endearing guy (and nothing crazy compared to Harley!).

It was the last of the stops that we will remember on the road really ... from here you enter the huge territory of The Angels, with its annexed cities and 6-lane roads. You can go through the California Route 66 Museum in Victorville (free), by the Wigwam Motel de Rialto, where we saw again the typical tipis, for Beverly hills until you reach the official sign of the End of Route 66, in Santa Monica.

We, as we had to return the motorhome in an office quite far from there, decided to stay in the city of Corona, and the next morning, after returning it, go through the point where we will sign the end of our Route 66, something particular, but that we enjoyed like two imps J