Day 7 - California

We awoke in much better spirits today at the Shady Oasis and took our time having pancakes and taking showers in the California sun. We are headed toward some rough roads today – Los Angeles County freeways. We planned our route last night and are hoping for the best! The mild and sunny weather in California this morning helped quite a bit.

Our first stop was the California Route 66 Museum where we met the exceptionally friendly staff for a trip down Route 66 memory lane and some group pics. Check out Facebook for the shots they took of us!

Our next stop was the first McDonald's which contained a museum and TONS of McDonald's memorabilia, which we of course loved for the memories it brought back and the history we learned.

From here, we headed out of Victorville and found some great signage on our way out of town:

Along our drive through San Bernardino County, we first encountered the crazy mountains that met us after such a long trip in the desert yesterday. Cajon Pass was our first glimpse at these mountains and how the roads and railroad tracks have been carved through them:

We also saw a ton of signage along the old route through the county:

After a while, we moved from the old route to the freeway in Los Angeles County to move to our RV Park quicker - which we soon found out was NOT the quickest way. We encountered LA traffic very soon and sat in it on our way to the Malibu Beach RV Park for the night. Soon enough, we hit the Santa Monica beach and got our first views of the Pacific Ocean!

Once we checked in and registered, we nestled in and started the charcoal grill for a dinner of steaks and potatoes. Just what we had planned for the last night in the RV! After dinner, Chris, Shawn, Amy, Kathy, and I walked down to the beach for a closer look at the ocean and a couple of photo ops. We got VERY friendly with the Pacific on the rocks on the beach (and our clothes are now drying), but got some great shots!

Chris and I escaped a bit too late and got a bit wet from the spray - but we walked away without too much problem:

Our delicious dinner was finished off with some popcorn and s'mores outside on the grill. A wonderful last night in the RV and almost end to our trip - it's been a great journey!!