Route 66 Review - Driving

Whilst I have written about the car, a few more notes on driving.

The roads along the trip have varied immensely, from standard roads to great 12 lane highways, from empty roads through the desert to great traffic jams in cities. Often the roads were not of a great quality (and not just the old Route 66) with some quite big potholes to try and avoid along the way.

Lorries in the US appear to be well powered, and tend to travel at the speed limit (if not above). I have therefore had several circumstances whereby I have even been overtaken by huge lorries which can be a little scary!

The other interesting thing is the amount of discarded parts of tyres that have been seen on the roads all along the journey. Often they can be quite large and need to be avoided. It is all very reminiscent of the tyre situation in Formula One and the amount of rubber left at the end of a race!

Los Angeles - LA Extra

For the final day of my trip I packed up and then went to the Getty Museum. This is a large art museum built through the funding of J Paul Getty. The collection in it is quite good (mainly European art pre 20th century) but the real star is the building. It is set above the city (you park near the freeway and approach it by a little tram) and has views out over the city as well (although they were very hazy views on the day I was there).

After a cultural morning I then took myself off on my final short drive to the LAX airport. Once through to departures I found a Route 66 themed restaurant, which seemed the perfect place to get some refreshment. I even got a table with a Kansas pattern on it to make up for missing it a few weeks back!

All that was left was to catch my plane, and get home safely. Now, for the first time in 6 years I have no future flights in the diary... Time for a new beginning.

Route 66 Review - Weather

It's been hot.

It's been very hot.

Arriving in Chicago three weeks ago, it was unseasonably hot. The night before I left it broke with thunderstorms and as I left it was significantly cooler. However, as I drove towards Springfield, Il it started to warm up again and basically stayed like that for the three weeks. Generally temperatures were above 90F, and fairly regularly got into triple digits. Hottest was the Hoover Dam and Las Vegas, at around 110F. On the coast here in Santa Monica is perhaps the most pleasant it has been (however, go a few miles inland and it will soon heat up).

The other regular aspect has been wind, particularly crossing Texas and New Mexico. Whilst sometimes it has given relief, sometimes it has just added to the heat.

However, better than being wet and miserable (and quite lucky given there have been floods, wild fires, tornadoes etc elsewhere in the USA), and I think I have picked up a little bit of a tan!

Santa Monica - By the sea

For my final full day of my trip I stuck in the Santa Monica area. My first plan for the day was to visit the Santa Monica Museum of Art (of course) which is a couple of miles north of the centre at an old station. However, it was closed for stock taking, so I had to head back.

Instead, I headed out to sea. I went first to the Santa Monica Pier. Technically there are two piers - a long pier and a "pleasure pier" next to it. Apparently they got into a state of disrepair 30 years back and were almost demolished, but the locals threw out the local government who were proposing it and saved it.

I then walked along the coast to Venice. Venice is more of a counter-culture resort compared to the "glamour" of Santa Monica, with small stalls selling ethnic crafts and people trying to legalise drugs! It also has the famous "Muscle Beach" (which apparently was originally by the pier in Santa Monica) and a big skate part in the middle of the beach. Here there were a variety of men having a go (and they were all male) from small boys (who were quite impressive) to middle aged men (who were the only people wearing safety gear).

Walking back, I tried to remember when I had last been in the sea. Apart from putting my feet in when in Cape Cod last year, I can't remember when it could be. Therefore, later in the afternoon I went out into the Pacific Ocean. With the waves coming in it wasn't really swimming conditions, but it was a lot of fun.

With a wonder round town to close out the day, and the weather being a little cooler than previous days (but still a pleasant shade of warm) it was a lovely day.

Route 66 Review - Food & Drink

Generally, the choice of places to eat on this trip has been driven by proximity to the place that I was staying, rather than any particular desire to eat something! Many of the hotels I stayed in were on the outskirts of town, so in these cases it was either eating at the hotel or strolling along the main road to a nearby stop. It is also worth noting that three weeks of eating in (American) restaurants means that I haven't had the healthiest of diets for the past few weeks!

Having said that, there has been quite a bit of variety, from American to Thai to Mexican to Italian to buffets with a little of everything. In the New Mexico area Mexican food is (naturally) quite popular; this includes more spicy breakfast items as well as main meals.

On the drink front there have been some good ales to accompany my dinner along the way; during the day I have drunk a lot of Iced Tea given the heat. What appears to me to be a new trend is unsweetened iced tea, which (along with sweet tea) appears at fast food places like McDonald's and Subway. This is essentially just cold tea - no sugar or lemon added - and as such is quite refreshing (and not too unhealthy!)

I haven't eaten either of these; I just felt that pictures of objects made from sweets (as seen in Las Vegas) were the most appropriate I could find for this article!

Route 66 Review - Hotels

Along the way I have stayed in 13 different hotels. To some extent I have been man in a suitcase - this final stop is the first time I have stayed for more than 2 nights (3!) and 6 of them were just for a night.

Overall, the standard has been fairly good. However, the hotels have been variable. In some ways, this is more noticeable as I purchased the trip as a package. If you had arranged the trip yourself, you would expect something different from a $50 hotel than a $200 hotel. However, as it was just one payment, a lower quality hotel can sometimes come as a little bit of a surprise!

Across the hotels, all except one had free wi-fi (the first hotel) and all except two coffee making facilities (the first hotel again, plus Vegas). I have only had to pay for parking at three hotels (St Louis, Oklahoma City & Santa Monica - I didn't have the car in Chicago) - charges were reasonable apart from here in Santa Monica!

Stars in terms of the hotels are Drury Plaza Hotel at the Arch in St Louis (lots of "free" things - breakfast, happy hour drinks, popcorn etc and a good location, large room and, although it did not have an outside window, it at least positioned the "window" where no-one would walk by), Colcord Hotel in Oklahoma City (very nice room, good location but bizarre parking in a half-deserted building across the road) and the Inn of the Governors in Santa Fe (free breakfast, great location, free parking). The Holiday Inn I am in now in Santa Monica is also a very nice room (possibly the best) but the parking is extortionate! [UPDATE: The Holiday Inn very kindly waived the parking fees for me which has certainly moved them up in my estimation!]

I should also make a mention of the Holiday Inn Express at the Grand Canyon who, despite having a full hotel and my booking having been put in for July not June, managed to sort it out easily. This also had an unexpected included breakfast which was a bonus!

Two of the hotels were in Casinos (Monte Carlo in Las Vegas and Route 66 Casino Hotel "in" Albuquerque) which was slightly odd to have a huge casino floor downstairs. I played a dollar on the slot machines at each, and managed to win back my dollar in each case which meant I broke even (no 2p machines to play unfortunately). (For the rate the Route 66 hotel was quite nice, but it was 15 miles from Albuquerque and therefore not the most convenient to use).

A few were traditional Route 66 hotels, including the Hotel Safari in Tucumcari which had tried well to update the rooms to modern standards whilst keeping the historic perspectives.

What is possibly the most remarkable is that 12 changes of hotel so far and I have not forgotten anything in my packing and unpacking (yet!)

Route 66 Review - The Car

As I am now at my final destination, and near the end of my trip, over the next few days I will be looking back with a few posts of review. The best place to start is my travelling companion for the past 2800 miles or so, my car.

The Chrysler 200 has been a good companion. Whilst I may occasionally disagree with its choice of gear (it is an automatic), and it did once slightly panic me by claiming it had a puncture for 30 seconds (fortunately it did not, it was just an issue with the sensor) it has given me a good and comfortable ride. This is just as well, as I think I have been driving it for around 64 hours (according to the stats in the car). Whilst it did not have a sat nav, it is surprising how useful a built-in compass can be!

However, whilst the idea of having a convertible was a good one, the reality was otherwise. As I mentioned when I got it, the roof takes up mot of the boot, so if you want to use the convertible when you have your luggage with you it has to sit on the back seat - fortunately the back seat is big enough to take it easily (one of the benefits of this car). However, the main issue has been the weather. Average temperatures on the journey have probably been 90F - and it has been windy too - which is really too hot to have an open top, even with a hat! Also, some interstates are not really the place to have an open-top car. This is not to say that I haven't been able to have the roof down - I have for several parts of the journey. It is just that maybe it wasn't worth the additional money.

(When I selected the car there were other options available rather than just a standard car - I wasn't keen on a SUV given the experience I had had with a Land Rover hire car at the time - however, maybe it would have been a better idea...)

What has been great about the car though is the satellite radio. This has really come into its own on the second half of the journey going through the great plains where there are little or no radio stations available traditionally. More importantly, I have been able to listen to NPR throughout the journey. NPR is the National Public Radio in the US and is the main speech-based network that isn't all phone-ins or rants from a certain perspective. From a UK perspective, think Radio 5 live style, but pitched at a Radio 4 audience. It exists on local stations, but the satellite coverage means you always have it (on 2 stations which helps as you move across time zones). I have listened to some really interesting discussions along the way, which has helped the journey fly by. Also useful on the satellite ratio were the political stations (particularly at the time of the candidates debate for the Republican Presidential nomination) and the Sports stations (for the Formula One as mentioned, but also the US Open golf, unfortunately not Wimbledon though!)

Overall, whilst something else may have been a little more practical, it has been a great travelling companion for the journey.

Los Angeles - Wrong turnings but a good destination!

Given the traffic, I thought that Sunday would be the best day to drive around LA. I first set out to drive up Sunset Boulevard to Hollywood. This I did, but I didn't find much at the end (although I passed some big houses along the way) - possibly there wasn't much to look at there, possibly (or probably) I took some wrong turnings and missed the good stuff!

I therefore headed downtown. I parked at the Walt Disney Concert Hall (above) which is a Frank Gerry designed fascinating building. I then had a wonder around the downtown area (which was fairly deserted as it was a Sunday) before going to the first site of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in LA. Here there was a great permanent collection, plus an interesting additional display of a LA artist.

To get to the second site of the MOCA I had a stroll across town. It was by the Japanese area of town, where there were several restaurants, shops and a Japanese garden. The second MOCA location was in a big warehouse type building, which had a display of graffiti art and artists in it. This was quite popular, with many people visiting, and also included British artists such as Bristol's Banksey. Whilst it didn't quite have the shock display of either the RWA or Banksey exhibitions in Bristol a few years back (as perhaps the location was more "suited" to it) there were some interesting and witty pieces there.

This steam roller looks a little shocked that it is about to run over a small girl!

The final leg (Las Vegas, NV - Santa Monica, CA)

The final leg of my journey took me through the mountains and the desert from Las Vegas to Santa Monica, just outside Los Angeles in California.

On the way I met Route 66 at Barstow in California. Here there was both a Railroad museum and a Route 66 museum, both of interest but not fully telling a story! I also passed a turning for Zzyzx road, which looked intriguing!

As the road neared Los Angeles (which has huge outskirts) roads became those wide American roads - 6 lanes either way - and still some of the heaviest traffic I have been in on the journey (and on a Saturday too!)

Las Vegas, NV - What happens...

Having arrived in Las Vegas, I didn't go the most direct route to my hotel (didn't quite understand the signs quickly enough). This meant I ended up driving down a long length of Las Vegas Boulevard on Thursday evening, and saw many sights such as the collection of wedding chapels at the north end of the road and a large Bass pint glass!

Friday I took a walk up the Boulevard to look at the different hotels and resorts that line it. Along the way there were many different (and bizarre) sites such as Paris (including an Eiffel Tower and an Arc de Triomphe) and Venice (with canals and a St Marks Square - inside!).

Later up the road I made it (through the heat) to the Stratosphere hotel, which included a large viewing tower. Going to the top gave some very clear views of Las Vegas, and showed how it is ringed by mountains out here in the desert. It also showed how the tourist area is just a small corner of the town! The tower itself also had a number of rides at the top, which dangled you over the edge - not something that I fancied doing!

As the tower had a little look of Seattle's space needle from it, it was only right that I should take a monorail from it back to the other end of the Strip. Here, I later looked round some more resorts, including the MGM which had live lions inside (in an enclosure!) and the Luxor which was a giant glass pyramid.

Overall, some interesting things to see, in some ways almost as alien as the Grand Canyon!

Cleaning up with some more sights (Grand Canyon, AZ - Las Vegas, NV)

There were two major highlights on the route from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas. The first was possibly the last bit of classic Route 66 that I will see on this trip (the fact of going to Vegas means I deviate off the route - again - as Route 66 didn't go to Vegas). Here there were some classic signs in the town of Seligman and a trip through the countryside where I came across a cloud of dust moving across the road which on reflection may have been a very small tornado.

The second (and a benefit of detouring to Vegas) was getting to see the Hoover Dam. This is reputed to be one of the 10 best feats of engineering in the world and you can see why. It solves problems of water, generates electricity and was completed ahead of schedule over 75 years ago. (you think I learnt something from the visitor's centre?) It was also incredibly hot - probably 112F or more - so time outside was limited!

Grand Canyon - Out of this world

The Grand Canyon is something that has to be really seen to be believed. It is unlike anything that you have seen before, even the Canyon de Chelly from the day before. The landscape has an almost alien quality about it, the outcome of millions of years of erosion. The scale of it is vast. To give an example, a new attraction for the Grand Canyon is a glass viewing platform where you walk over the canyon. It is 250 miles away from where I am today!

Visiting the desert view point on my way into the park from Chinle was with hindsight a very good thing, as it is over 25 miles from the main visitors centre. Here there was a lookout tower (see below) which looks old but was only built within the past 100 years (and is currently undergoing repairs).

Today I didn't drive for once and took the bus into the park. Within the park there is a good network of free buses to take you around this part of the south rim. Having watched a movie on the canyon I went to take my first look of the day out at it. From there I took a succession of buses further up the side which gave some different views, including clearer views of the Colorado river which is the key driver of the erosion that has caused this. I also, despite the heat, did some walking along the rim (not too close!) between different viewpoints.

Having gone back to the hotel for a cool down I went back in the evening to watch the sun set. This nearly caught me out as Arizona (alone in all the states) has no summer time and therefore the sun set a little earlier than I was expecting! However, I was there in plenty of time to see not only the sun go down, but the impact on the rocks of the different light as it was doing so. A real privilege to see it.

Primary Colours - (Chinle, AZ - Grand Canyon, AZ)

The drive from Chinle to the Grand Canyon took me through all sorts of stunning scenery. From forests, to mountains, to plains, to canyons it went through a wide variety. Early in the journey it was very yellow, almost Cotswold stone, but later it turned red like driving through Mars! Unfortunately I was too busy driving to grab many photos but here are a couple.

Along the way there was a set of roadworks (the road was down to one lane for more than a mile). Rather than having a stop/go board controlling this, they had a stop/slow board to tell you how you should be driving through it!

Arriving in the Grand Canyon, I had to drive through the park to get to my hotel. I had a look at one stop (very impressive) but missed the rest so as not to spoil myself! Usually there is a charge to drive through, but as it was midsummer's day it was free!

Canyon de Chelly (Chinle, AZ) - Lucky 7

There is only one attraction at Chinle, but it is a very attractive one. The Canyon de Chelly is a national monument, part of the National Parks service, and 131 square miles of canyon. The main route to see it are drives along the north and south sides of the canyon. There is only one walking trail that can be taken - as it is the land of the Navajo people.

I took the south trail, which gave 7 different viewpoints over a 15 mile or so journey. As hopefully you can see from the photos, there were some spectacular views to be had...

On to the green - (Albuquerque, NM - Chinle, AZ)

Leaving Albuquerque this morning the weather was a little cooler and a little less windy than it has been of recent days - still very warm though! The route through New Mexico took me past the continental divide (as you can see below) - the point at which the ultimate destination of draining rainwater changes. Some of the views along the way were also quite stunning as the interstate passed through the mountains.

The last stop in New Mexico was the town of Gallup. Outside town I visited the Red Rock State Park, which enabled a closer look at some of the dramatic rocks I had seen from the car earlier. However, the complex there was almost deserted - I think possibly some work was being done on it, but there was not a lot going on at all.

I then drove into the town itself. This had a number of good examples of neon signs (and even a large model cowboy) as you can see below. I also (naturally) visited the art gallery at the town's cultural centre which was located at the train station. This was all very practical as there was only one train in each direction each day (although a lot of goods trains also passed through).

Crossing over into Arizona, again the scenery changed almost at the state line. This time it become much more green, with a forest the first thing you passed through. Later on it really opened up, with great wide stepped plains that were quite breathtaking. Unfortunately there was nowhere to stop to get a photo - will try again tomorrow!

Albuquerque, NM - Through the ages

Albuquerque is a sprawling city, now the capital of New Mexico, but it has an old town at its centre from the 1700's. Actually it is not quite at the centre - when the real development started for the city around the coming of the railway it was a couple of miles from the old town. It was only in 1949 that the two Albuquerques were combined, with the old two reluctantly being brought into the new.

I found this out at the Albuquerque museum of art and history which, following the usual luck of my tour, had free entry on Sunday morning! This was bigger than I expected and, as well as histories of the area (including a film which brought us up to the "modern day" - 1980!) had some good art displays and an interesting exhibition on Tiffany glassware and the women behind it.

I then had a walk around the old town which had some very old buildings (including this church), lots of small art galleries and people dancing in the bandstand!

For a contrast I drove down the other end of town to the University of New Mexico. Here the architecture was much more modern, but still in the local style. There was also another art museum there which had an architecture exhibition amongst other displays.

My journey back was along the central avenue in Albuquerque which is the old route for Route 66 through the city. This led to some traffic congestion in times past! There are still signs, including the reproduction signs you can see below and another which said there are 790 miles to go to LA! I'd better get moving...

Back at the hotel I saw the end of the remarkable US Open (I had also been listening to it on my travels over the past few days) and the stunning victory by Rory McIlroy - definitely head and shoulders above the rest and a star for the future.