We left Lake Havasu City, Arizona, bright and early and made a beeline for Interstate 40 and the California state line. Through this part of the country, Route 66 is combined with I-40 until arriving at the city of Needles, California. Fun fact: Needles is the home ofPeanutscharacter Snoopy's brother Spike. Feel free to impress your friends with that nugget. Needles is also where you'll find one of the grandest of the Harvey House hotels, restaurants, and Santa Fe train stations. The hotel and restaurant closed in 1949, but the train station soldiered on until 1988.

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Leaving Needles, Route 66 continues on I-40 for a short distance before heading north to the town of Goffs. During WWII, Goffs was home to Camp Goffs, a U.S. Army training center and depot. Today, the Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association have worked to renovate the historic schoolhouse in Goffs, along with preserving the rich history of both the Mojave Desert and mining in the town. From Goffs, Route 66 crosses back south of I-40. However, much of the Mother Road between Goffs and Amboy has been destroyed by flash floods. The state of California has since refused to repair the roads, and although locals have created bypasses serviceable to high-clearance four-wheel drives, the road is essentially impassible.

Because of the road conditions (let's face it, our Grand Wagoneer could have made it—it was the Corvette and Challenger that held us back) we were forced onto I-40 until we exited at the town of Newberry Springs. Newberry Springs is home to the famous Bagdad Café, which has unfortunately fallen on hard times. Opened in 1975 as the Sidewinder Café, this small outpost was used in the filming of a German film about two women living in the town of Bagdad along Route 66. The restaurant's current owners renamed it the Bagdad Café in 1995. If you're passing through, be sure to stop in, say hi, and buy a t-shirt.

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From Newberry Springs, Route 66 travels north to the city of Barstow, California, which is located where I-40 terminates at I-15. As any local would, we made sure to stop at the oldest Del Taco for lunch, which is located on Main Street in Barstow. The original Del Taco was located down the highway in Yermo but has long since been closed. However, the Main Street Barstow location was the second, and is still in operation and owned by the founding family today. Route 66 departs Barstow on the north side of I-15 and passes fun relics such as the Bottle Tree Forest before connecting back to the freeway in Victorville.

Needing to make tracks, but still wishing to stay true to Route 66, we powered on to the Wigwam Motel in Rialto, California. This was our last stop for sightseeing before reentering society by driving Foothill Boulevard, which is Route 66 from the 215 freeway all the way to the 605. For those not from Southern California, that is truly heroic. Because of Los Angeles' historically terrible traffic, we were forced onto the freeway at this point to make our meeting time at the terminus of Route 66, the Santa Monica Pier.

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While Route 66 is accepted to be about 2,278 miles in length, our side trips during the eight days of exploration brought the total on our Grand Wagoneer to an impressive 3,150. The greatest takeaway from our adventure along Route 66 with the 2022 Nitto American Road Tour is this: If nothing else, everyone should make it a point to visit a part of Route 66 at some point. It's an important piece of American and automotive history that needs to be seen to be appreciated, and it's not going to be around forever. So, get out and explore our great nation!

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