California dreamin’ and driving

ROUTE 66 RAMBLE, PART 8
  • E D I T O R I A L |
    E D I T O R I A L |
  • END OF THE TRAIL Though Route 66 originally came to an end in Santa Monica, California, a little ways short of the Pacific oceanfront, today the tourist experience extends to a popular photo op installed on the Santa Monica Pleasure Pier. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 10 | COURTESY PHOTO
    END OF THE TRAIL Though Route 66 originally came to an end in Santa Monica, California, a little ways short of the Pacific oceanfront, today the tourist experience extends to a popular photo op installed on the Santa Monica Pleasure Pier. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 10 | COURTESY PHOTO

    In the American consciousness, California occupies a fabled throne: lodestone of the Golden West, goal of the beleaguered Dust Bowl Okies, fantasy of film and fortune, home of the high life.

    The part of this vast state you’ll experience along the remnants of Route 66 provides fleeting glimpses of all this and more. Yet between the glittering glimpses lie miles of baking desert and miles of multilan…