California’s Route 66

Today is day #4 of driving and only now can I see Arizona on the horizon… actually 60 miles up the road. I have not moved too far on any given day these past few days; only about 120-140 miles per day. This relaxed pace has allowed me the luxury of finishing my new Reacher novel, watching a few movies that I downloaded, and even getting a few workouts in while traveling. Needless to say, this pace suits me but I seriously look forward to getting out of this state.

Once in Barstow, I had realized that I was right on top of old Route 66. So I plotted it out in the GPS and planned to take it the rest of the way into Arizona. This wasn’t much of a gain in mileage as Route 66 runs parallel to Interstate 40 here… so much so that there are many miles of them both running door-to-door only a few hundreds yards away. Well. I did give it a go. 20 miles of shaking and rattling before I gave up. Route 66 does not agree with my van, with it’s over-inflated tires and such. The road conditions were so poor I was seriously concerned about damaging the van. And honestly, I wasn’t missing out on anything. I could see the route from the Interstate still. So I gave up on Route 66… for now.

Arizona is only an hour away. Once there I can refuel and find a place to boondock-camp near Havasu City for a few days (I already have three locations marked on the map). I will hang out here for a few days before moving the rest of the way into Phoenix, only 1 -days drive away.

Update… woohoo!