First day on the bikes and we had a day to make up due to the delay with customs so we decided to do two days riding in one epic day. Route 66 full on. A day of amazing scenery and contrasts.

Made our way to Santa Monica to start, beaches, palm trees, traffic luxury housing. Headed out to West Hollywood and sunset boulevard through modern city scape to run down buildings with glimpses of route 66 retro charm and yet more traffic. Navigating more traffic we made it to Pasadena, beautiful parks, large houses landscaped gardens, elegant architecture, green, more traffic. Onto outer suburb style scenes with new housing estates and shopping centres, business parks and grouped takeaway 'restaurants', pieces of retro scattered throughout. More traffic. Then Devore.

A couple of turns and the road opened out, traffic gone, desert plains with sparse brush, distant desolate hills and mountains, in parts waves of black rock looking  like remnants of volcanic flows, abandoned houses and service stations, old retro signs, cobbled together housing in the middle of nowhere with signs of life, sudden refurbished landmarks with an air of pride. Patches of road newly sealed intermittent with crumbling potholed stretches of challenging riding. Nothing in front but the road. Wow.

Raced the sun at the end of the day with the sunset throwing my shadow, ever longer, onto the side of the road surrounded by changing colours of rock and sand. True joy.

But the sun won as it always does and we finally made it to Kingsman, dark, late, tired and awed.

Tomorrow will be leisurely and with luck there will be photos loaded rather then tired ramblings. Joy to all.