We accepted an offer on the house in December so we put the RV in storage and headed cross country from LA to Atlanta in mid-December to move our household belongings into storage.  Since we had emptied the house, we decided to head to Chicago to spend Christmas with Lisa’s family.   Following a great time there, we needed to make the long trek back to our RV in Acton, California, northeast of LA near Palmdale, CA.  Hmmm…. Chicago to LA in a car …well, being the “Wandering Adams” and with no deadline to get to LA, we decided to make our way to LA taking some side trips along the famed Mother Road.

Our family all enjoys the movie “Cars” so what better way to explore Route 66 than to stop at some of the areas that inspired the movie.   Our first stop was in Galena, KS to see Tow Tater which was the vehicle that inspired Tow Mater.  At the 4 Women on the Route shop we met the original.   In the nearby photo, the truck on the right is the original and they now have a Tow Mater also.

The next stop was the Rock Cafe where the owner, Dawn Welch, inspired the writers for the character Sally.   Inside, she has some great original memorabilia on the wall with personal notes from Pixar employees.

And what Route 66 trip would be complete without a visit to the Cozy Cone Motel.  The real motel, called the Wigwam Motel, has been a Holbrook, AZ landmark since 1950.  

After side trips to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas we made it back to LA and returned to the RV to prepare for our next adventure to Death Valley.