7-12-17

Luke and I got up at 6:30 so that he could keep up with his running for cross country after a few days off. Summer vacations are getting tougher because the kids have commitments all summer for school. Luckily we were at the beach and there was a running path right along the shore. I walked while he ran and it was a nice trip out to the point past feral cats hidden in the rocks. 

After running we woke Scott and Lorelei and everyone went down to breakfast. We then drove north to the Channel Islands visitor center near In Ventura. We decided not to go out to the actual islands but after watching the park film I want to come back and island hop because it is such a remote place. This was the last most western spot of the trip and we headed east to Barstow, CA. 

We jumped on Route 66 in Victorville and took it all the way to our hotel. They don't have signs along the road (I'm guessing because people steal them) but it was newly paved, thanks Lightning McQueen, and the actual Route 66 symbol is painted on the road. We stopped to take a picture and I actually stood in the middle of the road which should tell you about the traffic. Honestly it wasn't much different than a lot of the roads Lorelei and I took to get to Washington. 

We arrived at the hotel around 3:00. Too late to head on to Mojave and too early to eat dinner. So we played in the pool, did a load of laundry and Luke did his homework for the online French class he has been taking this summer. Around 6:30, we went to the Black Bear Diner.  It's a chain that Lorelei and I found in Oregon. Scott likened it to the Cracker Barrel of the west and that is pretty accurate. After dinner we went back to the hotel and watched a movie before going to bed.