2019 WB Day 19 - California Dreaming

Nearly three weeks ago, we were sitting in Illinois contemplating the road ahead. All too soon we're into our final state, California... the promised land for many, the place dreams were to be made and without doubt where the grass would be greener. Many decades later, it probably isn't too bad a part of the world to discover.

Our first stop out of Las Vegas was the Pioneer Bar at Goodsprings.

Brad and the crew cooked up a great breakfast and we reviewed the private whiskey barrels, along with the detail of the period Clark Gable stayed waiting to hear the sad news of his bride Carol Lombard's death in a plane crash in the surrounding hills.

Chevron boasts their biggest gas station in the world is at Jean, with 96 pumps it's probably on the cards. Whatever the case, we know we're back into California with America's most expensive gas!... still half the price of New Zealand.

The i15 shot past in a flash, the solar panels in the distance one of the few interruptions to an otherwise never ending desert landscape.

At Peggy Sue's we dropped back into the old days, period servers, decor and food - can't beat those curly fries....

... some song and dance, an ice cream and then back to the task at hand.

Through Barstow plenty of signs of the road as it once was and more new landmarks to celebrate the westernmost state's contribution to the old road.

There's a final chance to snap a witness shot of our presence before we get too close to LA where Route 66 seems to be swallowed up in the hectic pace of modern life.

Bottle Tree Ranch is one of our final reminders of just how quirky things are out here... nuff said?

As we've done for the last month we deviated off Route 66 to share a special bit of paradise, very close to Los Angeles, Big Bear Lake.

This picturesque piece of California is both a winter playground of snow covered mountains and associated ski fields with summer providing a lake for boating, and trails to ride or walk.

Dropping back down the mountain to San Bernadino we rest at the Mission Inn, that magnificent hotel developed over four decades from the 1890's by Frank Millar. You have to be here to really appreciate the magnitude.

Our last supper is inside the walls of the hotel, but outside in the perfect mild temperature of the court yard, so different to the heat of the day.

That day was capped off with a stroll around the many nooks and crannies afforded these walls that span an entire city block in Riverside. Tomorrow is our last full day on the road.... to the official end of Route 66 at Mels Diner and the Santa Monica Pier.