2019 WB Day 20 - The Final Run Home

Orange trees in the middle of down town Riverside might seem weird but this is the place where Californian oranges were first planted and trees remain in the mall symbolising their importance to the state. We had breakfast there, right next to the Mission Inn.

In Rialto, back on 66 there's another historic marker. The only other remaining tee pee motel on the route has been beautifully maintained in period form.

Nearby though is the original site of the McDonald's restaurant that started the whole world wide phenomenon that now sees more than 40,000 stores selling the popular hamburgers.

On this site where two brothers started their business is now a private museum honouring their original business positioned behind the original landmark sign.

We jumped onto the freeways to run the 90 miles into LA... and by midday after a mixture of fast and slow experiences we pulled in to the final destination at Mels Diner in Santa Monica.

Without a real 'finish' Santa Monica Pier has been regarding as the end of the road, however the road actually stops right by Mels and the owners of the franchise are proud to have converted the old dental practice back to the diner it once was, to help travellers celebrate their 2000 + mile odyssey across America.

The intention was of course to drive out on to the pier but authorities decided there were other more important promotional duties for the day and it was a no go zone...

...so we slinked off to the rental car company, handed our Mustangs back in, delivered Barry to his flight to London (in the nick of time) and collected a mini van to shuttle us around for our final two days exploring Balboa Island, San Diego and Tijuana.

We were still meeting new people, this time on Balboa Island where we dined. Richard was fascinated by our interest in Route 66 and reckons he'll be a starter. Why wouldn't you!... and why wouldn't you have a Balboa Bar for desert!

So that ends another successful journey for Down Under On Route 66... and maybe the sign says it all about what we'll be doing tomorrow!

Once again this old road has revealed the wonderful people spread across eight states and more and somehow as always has exposed something new for our guests to experience as well.

Thats one of the special things about travelling the Mother Road, even for those who have done it more than once... it's always different, and always will be.