Day 4: Springfield to Tulsa

The thunder storms rumbled on for most of the night, but had cleared up by the morning, and it was dry again. The hotel I was at is an original Route 66 style motor court motel, where the rooms open out on to the car park, and you can park right outside your room. As it was so wet when I arrived last night I went straight in to get dry. This morning I had a better chance to look around. The hotel has been refurbished to a good standard and was fine for a nights stay.

 My room is the one on the right hand end

My riding gear had dried out overnight and so I got myself ready and headed out of Springfield. Once out of town the riding was, once again, very good. The landscape is very similar to home, lots of greenery and trees, and quite undulating. I could have been riding through Northumberland, except it was warm!

Along the way I came across another disused gas station, in the middle of nowhere. Someone must maintain these, as this is in good condition, although no longer dispensing gas.

After a while I reached Carthage, and stopped for breakfast at a little roadside cafe. It was now very warm, and I knew I shouldn't have bothered with layers today. I made use of the restroom to remove my base layer. I had a quick walk around town, taking some pictures, and ran across this building in the centre of town. They sure do like their fancy courthouses in Missouri!

I also came across this:

This tow truck is apparently the inspiration behind Mator, the tow trunk in the Cars movie. In fact it was called Mator, until Disney made them change the name once the film was released. What a cheek!
Carthage is clearly past its prime, like many towns along the Route, which were bypassed when the Interstate system was built. But it does still have a nice courthouse!
One thing that has been revived is the Drive-In movie theatre, still showing movies 3 days per week.

A little further on down the road after passing through Joplin I entered Kansas. Route 66 just clips its corner, and there's actually only a dozen or so miles until you leave and enter Oklahoma. However, there is a very active Route 66 Association of Kansas. Here are its headquarters:

 ... complete with pink flamingos out front, also available for sale inside!

The old fella in the shop chatted for a long time about his time in the war, and how he was on Omaha Beach during the Allied invasions. Quite a hero in his time.

By now the temperature had soared, and the gauge on my bike was showing almost 90F. The 'all-season' gloves I was wearing clearly weren't designed for all seasons in this part of the world, and I decided that I would leave them off for a while, as I was starting to overheat.

Pretty soon I crossed the state line into Oklahoma. I had taken a lot of time over the numerous stops I'd made, and so it was looking like I'd be in Tulsa just in time for the rush hour. None the less, I had to stop and take a picture of this, Chelsea, Oklahoma, population 2136. I wonder how often they update those signs?

Very different from West London!

It was now unbearably hot riding in my gore-tex jacket, that had protected me from the cold and wet in Chicago, but was too much for the improving weather, even with all the vents unzipped, and so at my next fuel stop I changed into my Airtex jacket to try too get some ventilation going. It did make a big difference over the next part of the journey.

Heading south-west, my next stop was the Galloway Totem Pole Park - home of the largest totem pole in the world:

It took Ed Galloway 11 tears to construct, is 90feet tall, and 54 inches in diameter at the base. It took over 130 tons of sand, rocks, cement and steel to complete.

Standing in the park I could hear rumbles of thunder in the distance, so after buying some postcards in the gift shop, it was time to move on - I didn't want a repeat of yesterday's experience!

However, about 30 miles from Tulsa the black clouds had moved overhead and it looked very murky in the distance. I knew that if it did start to rain again heavily I would be soaked in minutes, as my Airtex jack is anything but waterproof. I pulled over at a huge RV dealership to prepare for the worst. They had a BBQ going though, and invited me in for a drink and a hotdog - an offer I couldn't refuse. Hardy types, these RVers. I have now met a lot of different people over the past few days, but not one of them has been anything but friendly and helpful. It confirms my belief that, basically, people are good.

Today my luck was in, and the storm decided to inflict itself on someone else. My last stop of the day was at the Blue Whale water park, built by a man for his wife who collected whales. Go figure. Due to health and safety reasons, this no longer operates as a water park. I don't think Wet 'n' Wild would have much to worry about if it did though. It is however a Route 66 icon.

I had already booked a room for the night tonight, but driving into Tulsa I passed a the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, and wished I was staying there. I'm sure Gillian would have been envious if I had.

Dinner tonight will be at the Blue Rose Bar by the riverside. A friendly bikers pub, I've been told. Let's hope it doesn't turn out to be a Wild Hogs type experience.

To see the route taken and more pictures click below:


Today's Mileage: 228
Total Trip Mileage: 794
Funniest place name seen today: Spunky Creek, (snigger, will I ever grow up?). Unfortunately I was unable to stop and photograph the sign.

Day 3: St Louis to Springfield

Well, I was right about the Sports Bar being lively last night - too lively in fact as they were holding a line dance, and the place was packed. Not really my scene. I did manage to fit in a couple of beers whilst watching Real Madrid beat Barcelona, 1-0, after extra time. Then I left, and ate elsewhere.

Another early start today, actually earlier than I had planned, as I didn't realise that the clock in my hotel room was an hour fast! Encouraged by the improving weather yesterday I decided that the fleece under my jacket was not required, so just base layer, t-shirt and jacket. It was the right decision as the day warmed up nicely. Maybe tomorrow I can bring out the sunglasses?

As the wi-fi in the hotel had not been working I had not made a hotel reservation for this evening, figuring that I would find somewhere in or around Springfield when I arrived: to quote Steve Tyler, I'm livin' on the edge! 

Te first visit of the day was to the Missouri Route 66 State Park, south west of St Louis. Having left so early I arrived 45 minutes before the visitors centre opened, but was let in by the staff anyway to have a look around. They certainly liked to chat, and I was there for probably an hour before I actually got to look around the museum. Friendly folks! Having bought a t-shirt from the gift shop and made my farewells I was back on the road to my next stop, Meramec Caverns.

The ride was good and the sun was getting up in the sky. I was living the dream. The roads have become more interesting since Illinois, often departing from the Interstate, and winding through small villages and towns. The road surface, for the most part, was good and there was some great scenery too. It all made for good riding.

All along the route, almost from the start, I had seen billboards for the caverns. As they had gone to so much trouble to make me aware of them, I thought it would be rude not to pay them a visit. These caverns are huge! You can only go a short way in on your own, but there are guided tours that take an hour and twenty minutes for goodness sakes! Now I am impressed by the sheer scale of them, but surely there's only so much one can say about stalactites and stalagmites, and I don't think it takes 100 minutes? As the next tour was not starting for another half an hour, I decided to save myself 20 bucks, and two hours, and passed on that opportunity. There are other things to see there though, and a long scary looking zip wire over the Meramec River, if you're so inclined. Worth a visit I think. 

Whist looking around I overheard some other English voices (Welsh actually, as it later transpired). Tony, Chris and Tyler (aged 10) were 3 generations of the same family, who were also doing the Route 66 trip. They had started on Tuesday, and were also heading for Springfield for the night. What a coincidence, and the way these things work out, I wouldn't be surprised if our paths cross again further down the road. What a great way to do some Grandfather/Father/Son bonding. Either that, or they'll not be on speaking terms at the end of 3 weeks together in a car!

So, here's me at the entrance to the Caverns, with Jesse James behind me. Did I mention that he had used the caverns as a hide out  whist on the run? Apparently so, and you're not allowed to forget it whilst you're there!

 Here's a rare picture of me with bike, at the same place.

Now the sun was getting higher, the temperature had climbed to the low 70s, and the roads were getting slightly twistier. Perfect when on a bike. Cuba, MO (to avoid any confusion)  was my next stop, the site of the Wagon Wheel Motel. This establishment has been providing accommodation on Route 66 since the begining. It is one of the original style motels, where the rooms are actually cabins, detached from each other. Later designs joined them up in a terrace of rooms. I found the owner working in the adjacent shop, and she told me of how the motel had gone to rack and ruin, until she bought it 2 years ago and started a renovation program. Now, two years later it is complete, and she is renting rooms there again. They certainly looked in good condition from the outside, and it I hadn't needed to put some more miles on the clock I would have been tempted to stay there for the night.

She also told me that severe weather was moving in from the west, so I made haste to try to get to Springfield before it did. I nearly made it. The clear blue skies you can see in the picture above became cloudy, and the wind picked up. Those clouds steadily got darkern and the wind stronger. About 10 miles before Springfield the heavens opened, with accompanying thunder and lightning. I was glad that I'd decided not to take that tour of the caverns after all.

I pulled into a Supermarket's parking lot (see, I'm learning the lingo!) to take shelter, and see if it would pass. It didn't. I was faced with having to find somewhere to stay pretty sharpish. As luck would have it, I had picked up a leaflet for the Best Western Route 66 Rail Haven along the way, and it looked OK from the pictures. I gave them a ring, and they had rooms. They weren't even going to fleece me for one of them. I located it on the GPS, and braced myself for a nasty last 10 miles. Half an hour later and I was there, and began the task of getting my gear hung up so there was a chance it would be dry in the morning.

Overall, apart from the last half hour, an excellent days riding, interesting people met along the way, and some fascinating things seen - far too many to mention here. And some caverns.

Tomorrow, I briefly pass through Kansas, then into Oklahoma, and now I really am "Only 24 hours from Tulsa", tomorrow night's potential resting place.

As always, here's today's route, along with some more photos, for those who like that sort of thing:



Today's Mileage: 237
Total Trip Mileage:566

Day 2: Bloomington to St Louis, MI

No working Wi-Fi in the hotel last night so two day's worth of updates today, you lucky people!

I woke early, had a light breakfast in the hotel, and loaded up the bike.Still very cold, but dry at least, and my riding gear had dried out from yesterday.

Setting off the first order of the day was fuel. Petrol (gas) here is about $3.80 per gallon. As there's 3.8 litres in a US gallon, that makes it almost exactly $1 (62p) per litre, and still the Americans complain! I'm told that it's cheaper in Missouri as there's less tax, and most expensive in California.

The first stop of the day was a visit to Funks Grove where they make what is supposedly the best Maple Sirup (that's right, 'i' instead of 'y'). On tasting a sample I tend to agree, and had to buy some to take home. So I now have half a pint of sirup to transport for the rest of the ride and then fly home with. I hope the bottle's strong otherwise it could get messy!

A bit further down the road is the Dixie Truckers' Home, so I decided that brunch was in order. It's been a Route 66 establishment since the 20s, although I suspect it's been rebuilt since then.

Not much further, in Atlanta, I came across another Muffler Man, known as Tall Paul. This time his muffler has been replaced with a giant Hot Dog.

Now I had to get a move on. It was 2 hours since I left the hotel, and I'd only covered about 25 miles. However, I did make one more stop when I spotted this Muffler Man - this time he really was advertising an auto repair shop, but someone seems to have removed his muffler. Strange.

Pushing on then, and I came across this rather imposing courthouse in Carlinville. There was a public outcry when this was built as costs went well over it's budget and it ending up costing around 1 million dollars. That was in 1870, when a million was a lot of money. The Mayor who commissioned it was also having his own house built at the same time, and it looks like it's made from the same type of stone. Maybe the residents had reason to be suspicious?

By now the temperature was beginning to rise a little, and the sun even put in an appearance, pushing it up to over 50F. The riding is good and I have not done many miles on the Interstate yet. The old Route 66 alignments often run parallel to them though, and many stretches are badly worn, meaning a bumpy ride. Often there is the Interstate on one side of you and a railway track on the other.

I was now getting close to the Illinois/Missouri state line, and one thing I really wanted to see was the Chain of Rocks bridge, which spans the Mississippi river. Once part of the old Route 66, it is now closed to traffic, and only pedestrians and cyclist can cross it. The outstanding feature of this bridge is that it's one of the few that has a corner; mid way across the river it changes direction! I'm sure there were sound engineering reasons for this at the time.

I did walk all the way across the bridge, and so entered Missouri on foot. Of course I had to retrace my steps back to the bike, so I also left Missouri on foot.

That was the last of my sight-seeing stops today, and it was time to head for tonight's resting place on the outskirts of St Louis. Unfortunately I'm not going to have time to go into the city, as I need to get an early night and prepair for tomorrow, as I've decided to put in a higher milage day and try to reach Springfield, with plenty more things to see on the way.

I noticed that there's a lively looking Sports Bar and Cafe a short walk from the hotel, so that's where I'll get dinner tonight.

So, in summary, a much better day in the saddle: the weather has improved, temperatures on the increase and no rain at all. I'm also getting used to the size and weight of the bike, had fewer wobbly moments, and feel more confident with it now. It does seem the ideal type of bike for this sort of trip.

I did have two minor scares today though.
The first was bike related: I've mounted the Zumo GPS system on the handlebars, but it obscures the view of the fuel gauge. A bit silly you might think, and with hindsight I'd have to agree. However in my defence, there is a "Range" display on the bike, which tells me how much further I can go with the remaining fuel. Needless to say, this is wildly over optimistic, and was still telling me I was good for another 50 miles when I fortuitously happened to catch sight of the fuel gauge, which was reading empty.  I moved into economic riding mode, and passed through many small gas-station-less towns (population of a few hundred) and was mightily releaved to ride into Edwardville and see a Shell gas station!

The second was when I was walking back over the bendy bridge, having seen no one else around, only to spot a group of "youths" having a fight up ahead. To get back to the bike I needed to walk past them on this quite narrow bridge. As it turned out, they were just larking around, and paid no attention to me at all. I did feel a bit vulnerable for a little while though, and it's reminded me that I do need to take care.

For those interested, here's today's route (yes, I remembered to switch on the GPS tracker), and some more pictures :

Today's Mileage: 195
Total Trip Mileage: 398

Weekly Countdown: 2 weeks to go

Today, Nathan (my youngest) wasn't very well, didn't go to school, and so I stayed at home to look after him. Somehow I have managed to miss seeing Disney's "Cars" film, so this morning we both settled in to watch the DVD. It's primarily about a precocious young racing car called Lightning McQueen. However what it's really about is the effect on a bustling Route 66 town, when it was by-passed by the Interstate system. Quite poignant really, but of course it was a Disney film so there was a happy ending. I dare say that there will be many ghost towns along the route I travel, just like Radiator Springs almost became. The film's worth a watch, and spotting the Route 66 references (like the Cozey Cone Motel - an obvious reference to the Wigam Motel).

I'm told that Pixar are making a sequel at the moment and last weekend were out on the Route in Missouri and Oklahoma doing background research and making a documentary "extra" for the DVD. What with that, Billy Connolly's up coming documentary and, of course, my trip it looks like a high profile year in the offing for Rt66.

So, back to my trip. With just 14 days left top go, the planning is pretty much there, and I'm left with a feeling that I should be doing something, but not sure what! I spoke to my friend Dave only to find that he's traded his ElectraGlide in for a Kawasaki 1400 tourer. However as he often does, he's still managed to come up trumps; He still has a set of luggage designed to fit into the ElactraGlide's tourpac (or topbox as non-Harley people call them) and panniers, and he's letting me borrow them - what a top man! I'll go over and see him tomorrow and pick them up.

Days to departure: 14
Paydays to departure: 0, although there is one while I'm away.

Weekly Countdown: 7 Plotting the route

Another week passes and the excitement is beginning to mount, things are coming together, and it's getting closer now.

The eBay items all sold, and in all I made over £200! Quite a result I think, and so I'll start to have a look for more items to sell. However, unless I get a largish windfall in the next 7 weeks (the lottery tickets have been bought!), I think that I'll have to resign myself to not having quite enough, and letting the plastic take the strain.

As I mentioned in my last post, the new maps for the GPS arrived, and so this week I've spent some time inputting Points of Interest (PoIs), and playing around with routes. At the moment, my itinerary is looking like this:


Week 1:
18April, Monday: Arrive in Chicago
19April, Tuesday: Pick up bike & ride to Bloomington, IL
20April, Wednesday: Ride to St. Louis, MO
21April, Thursday: On to Springfield, MO
22April,  Friday: Overnight in Tulsa, OK
23April, Saturday: Ride to Clinton, OK
24April, Sunday: Ride to Amarillo, TX

Week 2:
25April, Monday: Ride to Santa Fe, NM
26April, Tuesday: Rest day in Santa Fe
27April, Wednesday: Ride to Holbrook, AZ

28April, Thursday: Sidetrip to Grand Canyon, AZ
29April, Friday: Ride to Needles, CA (Happy Birthday Simon, and happy wedding to William and Kate)
30April, Saturday: Laughlin River Run
01May, Sunday: Side trip to Las Vegas, NV

Week 3:
02May, Monday: Rest day in Las Vegas.
03May, Tuesday: Back onto Route 66 and ride to Victorville, CA
04May,  Wednesday: The last stage of my Rt66 adventure to Santa Monica - I've done it! Probably overnight up the coast somewhere (Santa Barbara?).
05May, Thursday: Continue up the PCH to Monterey, CA
06May, Friday: The last full day - make it to San Fransisco
07May, Saturday: Return Bike & Fly Home
08May, Sunday: Arrive back home
I'm sure it'll be fine tuned and tweaked, right up until my departure, and probably during the trip too. For example, my gut feeling is that the second half, from Texas onwards, will be the more interesting part, so I'm looking at whether I should speed up the first part so I can spend more time on the second.

Of course, the trip is not just about riding across America, it's about experiencing the places and meeting the people, so if I find somewhere that's really nice I will spend a bit of time there. Equally if there's not much of interest around I can zip onto the Interstate for a bit.

This week I'm going to continue with the GPS side of things, and, most importantly, decide on my travel arrangements to and from the US.

Days to departure: 49
Paydays to departure: Payday today, so I suppose just 1 left.
Funding: $$$Covered by my credit limit$$$

So, here it is....

..... the route. I've done a bit of research and stuff on t'internet and found a few places that suggest routes. WikiTravel has a good one that takes about 9 days. This is a bit too quick for me, as it averages about 300 miles a day. Eventually I've settled on the route below that is based on an itinerary from a company called Riding Route 66. It takes about 14 days, and includes side trips to The Grand Canyon and Las Vegas, where I might spend a couple of days, meaning this part of the trip could actually take me 16 days. So here it is in more detail:

Day 1: Pick up bike in Chicago, fairly short ride to Springfield IL.
Day 2: Springfield, IL to St Louis, MI
Day 3: St Louis, MI to Springfield, Missouri
Day 4: Then on to Tulsa, Oklahoma (202 miles), cutting the corner of Kansas for about 20 miles
Day 5: Tulsa, OK to Clinton, OK (217miles)
Day 6: Is this the way to Amarillo? I sure hope so, as that's tonight's stop
Day 7: Amarillo TX to Las Vegas New Mexico, passing through the half way point on this route
Day 8: Las Vegas, NM to Grants, NM/AZ, about 239 miles
Day 9: Grants to Holbrook, AZ
Day 10: Then a side trip up to the Grand Canyon
Day 11: Back on track, and stop for the night in Needles
Day 12: A short ride for the 2nd side trip up to Las Vegas, Nevada
Day 13 (& maybe 14): Stay in Vegas and clean up on the poker tables
Day 15: Back onto Route 66 to Bartsow, CA
Day 16: Arrive at the end of Route 66 at Santa Monica Pier
Day 17 - 21: meander up to San Fransisco and give the bike back :-(

 Of course, this is the first cut. I might find something interesting on the way and spend longer in one place, and then make up time elsewhere. I'm not planning to book any accomodation more that a day or 2 in advance, so there will not be a strict schedule that I have to keep to.

Getting exciting now!! Can I go this year instead?