Route 66 - Day 10 (Flagstaff AZ to Santa Monica, CA)

Leaving Flagstaff this morning, I wound my way down the slopes through the ponderosa pine forests and into the plains of western Arizona. When I got to Seligsman, I picked up the old route and drove it all the way through Kingman to Needles, CA. A friend had told me to make sure to drive the road from Kingman AZ to Needles CA but I had no idea. It is a crazy twisty rollercoaster road through an alien landscape, you genuinely can't go more than 15 mph for much of it. Luckily everybody played nice. About halfway through that road on the other size of the peak is an old prospecting town called Oatman which they've set up as a tourist attraction. I just happened to arrive for the High Noon faux shoot-out in the middle of town and there's only one road so I sat and watched the shootout and petted the local, domesticated burros that wander around town. Coming off of the crazy road on the other side, you come into the Willow Valley and Needles CA where I stopped for lunch at the Giggling Cactus, a Route 66 place that's been around for a long time. After lunch I headed westward through the Mojave Desert to Barstow and the San Bernardino Mountain range to come into the Los Angeles basin. I drove straight to Santa Monica which is the historic end of Route 66 and stayed for a day at a guesthouse on the Venice Canals in Venice Beach which I've always wanted to experience. Next I'm heading north up the PCH!

A view of the alien landscape on the road between Kingman AZ and Needles CA

The view from guesthouse on the Venice Canals.