HOME!
Well after 21 days, 6574 miles, 17 states (5 of which I visited twice) and a whole lot of fun, I am back home.

Today started out in Indiana as a cold morning that never got much warmer and when I got to the New York State line, it started to pour! I had decided at some point today that no matter what, I was going to sleep in my own bed tonight and so I rode the last 200 miles or so in tropical rain-and it was fun! (630 miles total today)

Japanese Riders

Lionel From France

Friends

When I began this adventure, I had no idea what to expect. It was something that I had wanted to do for a long time but I didn't really know why or if I would even like traveling like this. As I think about it now, I would do this trip or one like it again in a second. As much as I experienced, there is still so much that did not get done or that I didn't see simply because there is so much to see and do. There are so many side trips that could be taken from The Mother Road, trips to so many of the places that helped to shape our country much as Route 66 did. After that there is the Pacific coast, all the way up to Washington State and Oregon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Bryce, Mt Rushmore, Glacier, and the list can go on and on. So maybe I'll be planning a new adventure to one or more of those places. Along the way on this trip I met some really nice people both  from America and around  the world. That is as much a part of the fun as the travel and the history. I also got to see the absolute majesty of a good part of this great country. I am truly blessed to have been able to do this.

Friends

Mediocre Musicians

So, I'm glad that you came along for the ride, you cannot imagine, even with this blog, just how much I enjoyed myself.




So, take note-dream a lot but every chance you get, live out a dream, it can be magical!

All my best,

Miles

Big Circles
Today's ride was long and hard in a effort to get close enough  to home to avoid most of the bad weather tomorrow. Did 664 miles and it was a beautiful day to ride.
Just past Davenport Iowa, we crossed the Mississippi, this time from west to east. The river at this point was much wider than at St Louis a couple of weeks ago and so the bridge was higher and longer. Hate those bridges. Then we passed Rte 66 just south of Chicago, completing another circle on this journey. as I rode today I was thinking about this trip. One of the things that was really neat is that for a good deal of the Mother Road, there are railroad lines in close proximity and a lot of  Long cargo trains with multiple engines to help get them up the mountains. As we passed the trains, we got in the habit of giving them the "blow the whistle" signal and the usually would. It reminds me of why we like to do those things as kids, gives you a great feeling!
So the ride today was uneventful , mostly on 4 lane interstate with more corn than I could have ever imagine. One thing that happens on the motorcycle is that you smell everything. So when there is an orchard you smell apples, an vineyard, grapes and when there is a cattle ranch or the farmer is spreading manure....................
Tonight we are in LaPorte Indiana, just west of the line for the eastern time zone. I'm going to try and get an early start tomorrow as the weather looks as if it won't settle into western NY until later in the day. I'm at the point of wanting to sleep in my own bed, you know what I mean?
So, help me hope for a mostly dry trip home tomorrow, OK?

BRRRRRRRRRRR!

This morning we awoke to a very cold morning in Colorado. When we left the hotel at 7 it was 41 degrees so we put on a lot of warm clothes. We got about 30 miles down the road, stopped and put on more warm clothes! Despite the cold though, it was another breathtaking ride for the first 135 miles as the road climbed peak after peak and then descended into the canyons and gorges on the other side. Vail peak is the highest at 10,630 feet of elevation. We passed all of the well known resorts including vail and Breckenridge. Very very beautiful country and now with the aspens turning golden it is even more so with the morning sun. It took the better part of the morning to get to Denver and we stopped for lunch just northeast of there.

Now I am not complaining but once you get east of Denver and at least as far as we got today (Grand Island Nebraska) there is a lot of open land and not a lot of note to report on. It is beautiful country and you see a lot of ranches with cattle and horses but there is not a lot other than that and because we are somewhat anxious to get home, we are not doing a lot of exploring off the interstate. We did see an original Pony Express office but the museum was closed. Late today we passed under the Great Platte River Road Archway. Apparently this archway, which is massive and spans the interstate, was designed by Walt Disney studios for a private investor and it is quite a museum to the history of Nebraska. Only problem is that while it spans the interstate, there is no exit for it and it is only accessible via a service road off the exit before it.
 look it up with this link: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/9790
We also noticed that there are a number of wind socks along the road. According to the lady at the gas station, the winds here get so severe that they are to warn motorists. Luckily they were hanging pretty limp today. She told us if we had been here yesterday, we would have experienced quite severe winds.
When we stopped at one gas station in Western Nebraska, there was a group of kids in a car with NY plates. Ever the inquisitor, I asked them where they were from. "Oh a little town about 40 miles north of Syracuse" was the reply. Turns out they were from Mexico and Pulaski and I know one of their Dads. Small world HUH?
So we are hunkered down tonight in Nebraska and after tomorrow, I'll be riding alone. Looks like it will be another great day weather wise tomorrow and we'll see how far we get.

Mountains!
We didn't make Denver but we had a fantastic day. We stopped in Glenwood Springs Colorado.

When I decided to do this trip, I had no idea what I might see. After all, aside from a few trips west for business, I had never been west of the Mississippi. As I have described in earlier posts, I have been amazed at the beauty of this country and today was no exception. In fact, today was exceptional!
We left Vegas and the desert and soon found ourselves in some pretty high mountains in Utah. I lost count of how many times we climbed to 7 or 8 thousand feet peaks only to encounter a 6 or 7 percent drop on the other side and not straight down either. It was usually pretty tight corners. Keep in mind that this is an interstate-75 mph limit with LOTS of trucks. Makes life on a motorcycle pretty interesting. The payoff though is that these mountains are spectacular. You really have to see them to appreciate the beauty.

We did see a forest fire and rode through the smoke too. The locals told us that the fire has been burning since July and just keeps shifting in the mountains. No one seemed to know why it was not extinguished.

I'm just going to upload a bunch of the pictures for you, hope you enjoy.

As we arrived in Colorado, it started to change from the dry desert scrub to a more lush and full foliage that you expect to find in the mountain country. The interstate started to follow the path of the Colorado River, first through a magnificent canyon and later through a valley between some great peaks. We are still following it as we stopped tonight.   So there is about 1800 miles left to get back home. Tomorrow I hope to make it to Lincoln Nebraska.

Las Vegas Baby!
First stop on the trip home is Vegas. We stopped here because it's Vegas and because we all wanted an easy day to start out and it is still very hot so we only rode part of the day. Tomorrow we will get serious about putting in some mileage as we head for the rockies. The trip up here was more desert, and as before more surprises. I know that I have said it before, but the desert always seems to amaze me and today was no different. One minute we were in the low desert with yellow sand as far as you could see and then you climb to 5000 feet and are in the high desert with the craggy rock and scrubby growth. At one point we dropped over 2500 feet in just 6 miles. A real fun trip.

Harley at McDonalds

Inside the Venetian

I had forgotten about Las Vegas. IT IS SO BUSY!!! Interesting though the first place we stopped was at a McDonalds to get our bearings and it had a Harley theme. Pretty cool. I am staying at Caesars Palace (thanks Marty) and it is great. We decided to see a show and the best tickets we could get on short notice was for Legends In Concert at Harrahs. It is almost across the street so I can walk We did a little walking tour earlier and I am reminded that they didn't build all of this opulence on winners so, I won't be spending much time at the tables or slot machines.

Early start tomorrow with hopes of getting near Denver.

Santa Monica and the Pacific
This morning after 16 days on the road and 3732 miles, I reached the end of Route 66.
We left the hotel in Ontario at 6:30 in an effort to avoid the LA traffic. The 64 miles of 66 took us 2 hours and 45 minutes! The route winds through suburban LA as well as the city itself. We passed through Rancho Cucamonga, Claremont, Glendora, Arcadia, Pasadena, Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and finally Santa Monica. We saw the Hollywood sign on the hills above the city and stopped at Sunset and Vine. We saw a group starting to work on a Rose Bowl parade float and a lot of the oddities that you hear about in this part of the country. There is a great felling of satisfaction today. I am so glad that I did this trip.
Tonight is the "Survivor's Dinner" at our hotel and I plan on hitting the road for home tomorrow morning. First stop is Las Vegas tomorrow night!

Oh sorry but for some reason I cannot get the pictures from today off the camera.

CALIFORNIA!!!!
Well we are at our first stop in California! What a day to get here.

Oatman Main St.

General Store

We left Kingman at 3300 feet and went down to McConnico that is I think at about 2000 feet. Then 66 follows the Oatman Highway to an elevation of 3550 along a very windy, drop off the side narrow road. It peaks at Sitgreaves Pass and boy does it go down from there! It ends at Golden shores which is at 900 feet! I am sure that I left my fingerprints in the handle grips. At about the halfway point is the town of Oatman. It has an old west motif to it and ahs a bunch of shops and stores. The biggest attraction though are the burros. It is said that he burros are decendants of the ones that the miners used and then abandoned when the mininng went dry. They are mostly white and apparently have the run of the town. While I did see some of them, I did not get a picture as one ran in front of me on the way into town.

Camper

Soda Fountain Booth

Outhouse (note the phone book)

Other than Oatman, there were not a lot of stops today until the Rte 66 Museum in Victorville. This is another private museum that collects memorabilia from the Mother Road and has a really nice display.

A good deal of the ride today ended up being on the old road and through the desert. It was difficult to say the least. There are not a lot of places to stop and the temperature was about 105 add to that the fact that I somehow caught a cold and I'll tell you  that I am beat tonight. Even so, I feel a real sense of accomplishment and satisfaction for having set out on this adventure, and really, it is only part way done.
Tomorrow we go to the pier at Santa Monica and to the end of The Mother Road. I will turn around and head back either Sunday or Monday, depending on other peoples schedules as I don't really want to go back solo.

More tomorrow!

Standin' on the corner..........
Believe it or not there is actually a statue at the corner in Winslow Arizona that is from The Eagles Song.

Cold Morning

After our off day for rain yesterday, today dawned bright and sunny but as you would expect in the desert, chilly. It was 57 when we left the hotel in Gallup and the roads were still wet from the rain last night but it wasn't long until the sun came up and with it the temperature. It wasn't long before we were back on rte 66 and winding through the desert and we encountered a pack of wild horses. What was really neat was that a couple of them ran along the field with us for a while. We crossed into Arizona and gained another hour so now I am on Pacific time and 3 hours behind you. that's neat for now but will work against me on the trip home.

Wigwam Motel

Wigwam

Our first stop of the day was in Holbrook Arizona and the Wigwam Motel. Built in the 30's the motel actually consists of several cement wigwams that you can stay the night in. Some of them were open and we got to look inside. They actually looked kind of cozy. Along with the wigwams, the owner has scattered several old cars and truck around the property to give it a period look. While we were there, we met a couple from Alexandria Bay who were travelling 66 by motor home. It was also the inspiration for the "Cozy Cone Hotel In Cars

Winslow

Not far down the road was Winslow, where they do indeed have a monument to the song. every town along the route has it's hook to entice tourism, this one is Winslow's.

Galaxy Diner

Next, we began the climb up to Flagstaff. Winslow is at 4800 feet and Flagstaff at about 7300 so you go from a desert climate to more of a mountain. It is an absolutely beautiful climb, mostly on the old road. It reminded me very much of the Adirondacks. In Flagstaff, we ate at The Galaxy Diner, a 50's style restaurant with killer chocolate malts. The trip down from Flagstaff is even better than the trip up. The vista is spectacular BUT at one point, there is a 6% grade for 6 mile dropping oyu over 1500 feet. For someone with height issues.......well you get it.

ust before Siegelman to Kingman is the sweetest run on the old road that we have had yet. The changes to the desert are almost as if God doesn't want you to get bored. It goes from vast open scapes to the craggy rock canyons that we so often see in movies and pictures and each change will take your breath away. Almost everything now has something of a western theme and we have started to see cactus.

Snow Cap

At Siegelman we stopped at Angelo Deladillo's Barber Shop and Visitor Center where you can get a haircut and buy anything from a coon skin cap to a Route 66 license plate or wander next door to get a creamy root beer or ice cream cone at the Snow Cap.

'57 Corvette

In Hackberry we stopped at the General Store. The property here is littered with weathered old vehicles and a variety of parts for them. The crown Jewel though is a  really sweet red 1957 Corvette convertible. I was drooling!




The run from Hackberry to Kingman was entirely on the old road and was really spectacular. I know I use that word a lot to describe what I am seeing but it truly is. Take any picture or film that you have seen of this country and it pales in comparison to seeing it for real. In Kingman we arrived just in time for the dealer party where they served southwestern barbque. Great food.
Tomorrow, on to California, a 240 mile run to Ontario.
Since I left 14 days ago, I've put 3320 miles on the Harley!

Rain on the Plains

We woke this morning to cloudy skies and a chance that we might be able to run to Flagstaff between two storms. That theory worked for about 70 miles and then the rain started. We made it another 75 miles in the rain to Gallup,  NM before we decided to stop and see what the weather was going to do. One of the problems we found with riding 66 is that they just paved over all of the contours of the land so, the water collects in the low spots and we were going through puddles up to the bottom of the bikes. We didn't want to run the interstate and miss 66 so after checking the radar and the hourly forecast for between here and Flagstaff (100% chance of rain for the next 8 hours). We decided to hunker down here for the night.

Pawn Shop

Rte 66 soda counter

We went into Gallup and checked out the local shopping center-a pawn shop that had thousands of pieces of indian art, jewelry and rugs and also an old fashioned soda counter that unfortunately was not serving.

The weatherman tells us that it will clear overnight and so we will get up early and make a mile. Since we missed Flagstaff tonight, we have a 315 mile ride to Kingman, Az tomorrow.

Sure is beautiful country to get stranded in!

views from  the hotel

Quiet day in Duke City

Breakfast today was our last presentation from Michael and Suzanne Wallis on the rest of our trip. Good information but it looks like a lot of the ride tomorrow is on the interstate with less opportunities to ride the original road. We are watching the weather too as there are some pretty severe storms predicted for the area tomorrow. Worse come to worse, we will spend another day here, skip the stop in Flagstaff and ride the 450 miles between here and Kingman, Az the day after tomorrow. Hope it is not that bad.

After breakfast, I cleaned up my bike, it had been a few days and it was pretty bad. I did a workout at the gym (badly needed with all of the food I have been consuming) then I went to "Old Town" to browse. Old Town is a section of the old city that they have turned into something of an arts and crafts venue. It is nice with many streets lined with old adobe buildings and a really pleasant square with a park. I recommend a trip to this part of the country. Between Albuquerque and Santa FE, it is some of the most beautiful country that I have seen.
Dinner tonight was a t the local dealer, really good mexican. Then the dealer took us on this incredible ride that took us around the city but out in the desert. Really nice and quite breathtaking. Our last stop on the ride was to see the 2010 Cannonball Run come into the city. The Cannonball run is a cross country race for pre 1916 motorcycles that started in Kitty Hawk, NC and will end up in Santa Monica, California the same day that we are there. It was really neat to see the motorcycles and talk to the competitors.
Early to bed tonight, 350 mies to Flagstaff tomorrow.

Oh, no pictures, my mother's fool left the camera in the hotel today!

On the way to Santa Fe...

Tall guy on buried Cadillac

Ok so that's not the title of the song but today was the BEST ride yet!
Our day started at the world  famous Cadillac Ranch just outside of Amarillo just off of Rte 66. This is a place where somebody  has planted 12 old Cadillacs nose down in the middle of a field. Don't really know the story behind it, but it sure is interesting to see. It is tradition to bring a can of spray paint and leave grafitti on the cars. One of our group was there just a few weeks ago and he could not find his grafitti from then as it had been covered with new graffiti.

Inside the Mid Point Diner

Then it was on Adrian texas and the Midpoint Diner where you can order your food in New Mexico and have it delivered to Texas. It is on the mid point of the trek between Chicago and Los Angeles. Amy made 100 pies in anticipation of our visit. I did my part with a piece of Chocloate peanut butter. I need to work out-a lot!!!!



We headed west from Adrian on a VERY rough stretch of the mother road. that and the wind from the south presented a real challeng for the morning. We rode through a lot of old towns, most all but abandoned because of the interstate and in most we were the only traffic. The wind has been remarkable and we notice today that all of the trees and brush have a slant to the north due to the constant wind out of the south.

'54 Chevy

Just east of Santa Rosa NM we found the best automobile museum. It is in Russell's Truck stop on Rte 40. This guy has the most pristine collection that I have ever seen. My favorite was a '54 Chevy (I was born in '54) but he had a '57 Chevy a 49 Ford. 58 T-Bird, 40 Chevy and about a dozen others. Very nice.


After we left the Auto Museum we stopped in the town of santa Rosa for a little Mexican at Joseph's bar and Grill really good burrito.

The Highlight of the day was when we decided to take a little side trip. Most of the time when people take this trip, the head west out of Santa Rosa on the Rte 40 interstate to Albuquerque. However the old 66 ran nort to Las Vegas, NM and then on to Sante Fe. We decided to stay true to Rte 66 and go to Santa Fe even though it would add 6 or so miles to an already long day. Well was it worth it and then some. The old route heads north then skirts the southern end of the Santa Fe National Forest as it goes west out of Las Vegas. The ride takes you up to about 7200 feet and the Vista is SPECTACULAR! We stopped for an afternoon lemonade in Santa Fe and did a little exploring in the City Square where there were several street vendors. The trip back down from Sante Fe was no less spectacular than the trip up and we finally arrived in Albuquerque 13 hours and 380 miles after we started the day in Amarillo.

Tomorrow is an off day in Albuquerque. We have a presentation at breakfast and then I think I might stay off the bike and maybe go the the old city and explore a bit.

Here is a short chance for you to take a ride with me:

TEXAS!
We left this morning with the sun rising in the mirror ready for a long day on the road. Our first stop was to be at Ft. Reno, an historic fort where there are a couple of cemeteries, one has POW's from WWII. Unfortunately, it doesn't open until later in the day on Sunday. Add to the list for the next trip.

Pony Bridge

Pony Bridge was next. This is an old Rte 66 Bridge in Oklahoma that crosses the Canadian River. it is unique in that it has 38 trusses. Pretty neat.

Soda Fountain

Then it was on to the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum. There are several Museums along the route but the 2 we saw today have been the best so far. The Oklahoma Museum has a lot of period memorabilia going back to the early part of the century and continuing to the present. Most of it is related to Oklahoma. They have a real soda fountain, old vehicles and a display on the original construction of the road including a horse drawn grader and a lot of the tools that were used. They are celebrating an anniversary so we got cake too.

The next Museum, The National Route 66 Museum was in Elk City Oklahoma this museum had some really nice vehicles from each period of the routes existence. It is set up to represent each of the 8 states that Route 66 travels through.

Mediocre Musicians

Our last stop in Oklahoma Was in Eric. This was an unbelievably surreal experience. Harley and Annabelle are the proprietors of the Sand Hills Curiosity shop. They greeted us in the street in their "Redneck tuxedoes",  red and white striped overalls and declared that we had arrived at the redneck capital of the world.  They bill themselves as the Mediocre Musicians and treated us to a concert after giving anyone who wanted one a beer. It was a hoot!

Then it was on to the Texas Border. One of the best parts of the trip today is that it was almost totally on the old road. There was only one stretch where we had to get onto the super slab. It was neat to travel through all of the towns along the way, most of which look as if they came straight out of the movie "The Last Picture Story". A lot of them have a one light main street and were left behind when the interstate was built. We even saw a couple of more buildings that were inspiration for the movie "Cars".
It was a tough day though because it was nearly 100 degrees and there was a really strong south wind. Since we were headed west, it was a lot of work to ride with the wind and everyone was really tired tonight.
Tomorrow we have another 300 mile day but we gain an hour as we head west and into Mountain time. Tomorrow's stop is in Albuquerque NM for a 2 day stop.

Quiet Saturday
Today was a no travel day in Oklahoma City. The day started with a breakfast and a presentation on the next couple of days travel by Michael Wallis and his wife, the Route 66 historians.

Memorial Chairs

Gate

Since I was already downtown, I went to the Oklahoma City  National Memorial & Museum. The memorial is on the footprint of the former  Murrah Federal Building. It is a grass area with 168 chairs that represent the victims. It hits you when you see the row of chairs that

mementos left on fence since the bombing 15 years ago

represent those that were on the second floor and realize that many of them are children's chairs, representing the children killed in the day care. There is a reflecting pool in front of the monument and large fixed walls that frame each end of what used to be the block that the building was on. The museum is housed in one of the adjacent buildings that was damaged byt not destroyed by the blast. It is impressive to see the wall that faced the Murrah building and the damage to the bricks and the twisted fire escapes.  I mentioned last night how moving it was after dark. In the daylight and after touring the adjoining museum, I don't have words to describe the impact of this site. So I won't try.

After a visit to the harley dealer to ship some stuff home (I brought too much and have bought some) a couple of us went to the State Fair. That was fun. We looked at all of the displays of old farm equipment. watched a number of the youth animal competitions and just generally walked along. It was really hot (93+) though so we did not stay as long as we otherwise might have. We also decided not to to go to the Marshall Tucker concert tonight because of the heat and that we have a long 300 mile ride tomorrow, so I did my laundry, exciting, HUH?
See you tomorrow night in Amarillo Texas!