All good things must come to an end and so it was with our journey along Route 66. A road warrior purist might argue that we spent more time off of the legendary route than on it and don't qualify for the T-Shirt, but we did use it as beacon as we worked our way across America.

Our last stretch along the Mother Road in California allowed us to spend a night in one of the iconic Wigwam Motels. We had seen one of these earlier in Arizona but it was closed for the season. I’m not sure they pass the definition of Politically Correct anymore but how often do you get to stay in a motel that was built in the 1930s/1940s which mistakenly refers to the rooms as wigwams- they are actually in the shape of teepee (concrete not animal skins). This used to be a chain of 7 locations but apparently people don’t want to sleep in a concrete teepee along the roadside anymore, and there’s only three left. The site we were staying in had become very run down and rooms were being rented by the hour, aggravated by a sign advertising "Do it in a tipi". Renovations now have the motel listed on the National Register of Historic Places (but the "do it’ sign is still in the back just in case).

California hasn’t done as much with Route 66 as many of the other states have but it does host the very end of the road which, for some reason, officially ends on the Santa Monica Pier (where cars can’t go, so we had to take the photo without trusty Billy Thunder beside us).

Outside of Route 66 we weren't planning on visiting any of California's big cities (we'd seem them before and can you really call it a road trip if you're stuck in 24 hours of rush hour traffic) but we had time to kill so we found ourselves wandering the streets of Hollywood. True story- they offer tours to homes that Hollywood 'stars' used to live in- yikes!

I have little to no interest in the celebrity culture that seems to be a societal scourge these days, and DH is still trying to recover from the excitement of the Banana Museum, so we both drifted pretty quickly (not sure why I get jazzed about the hometown of Popeye but can’t get remotely excited about a smoothie shop where 'stars’ create drinks they name after themselves).

It was sad to see the end of our Route 66 adventure but we are heading for another of the big-hitter U.S. highways- The Ocean Road or Highway 1.