Day 10: Gallup to Flagstaff

"... Life's a journey, not a destination, And I just can't tell what tomorrow brings ..."

I had my MP3 player on random during part of the ride today, and this song (Amazing by Aerosmith) came on. For some reason, this line jumped out at me, as it epitomises this trip, and the reasons for doing it. Anyway, enough of that.....

The Aussies were leaving early this morning for their long trip to the Grand Canyon. I went down to wave them off, and got myself ready and packed up the bike.

So, ten days into the rip I am now past the halfway mark, and I've got packing down to a fine art, and (touch wood) know where everything is. My clothes go in the left pannier. The hardware; camera bag, chargers and leads, reference books and maps, all go in the right. The stuff that I'm likely to need for the day ahead, plus my laptop is in the tourpack on the back. Even my jacket pockets are worked out: lower right - wallet, safely zipped in.; lower left - bike keys, also zipped up; top right - the iGotU GPS tracker; and upper left, any other small items that I might need (ear plugs, pen, etc). This might sound like I've got a touch of OCD (maybe I have), but it means that everything is to hand, and there's no panics because I can't find my wallet, or whatever.

My first port of call today was to Wal-Mart - I desperately needed some new socks! These procured I set off, heading out of New Mexico, and into Arizona; state number 7 of my trip.

A last view of New Mexico as I left

I didn't know at the time, but I had gained another hour. Arizona's in the Moutain Time Zone, but they don't use daylight saving, so in winter they are the same time as the other states in that time zone, but in summer they are at the same time as California.

My plan today was to visit the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. The desert is very spectacular, and once again I was faced with numerous photo opportunities, most of which I took! It's very difficult to capture something of this scale in a photo, though. Here's a few that I took today:

In these parts, much of old Route 66 has been replaced by the Interstate, and so no longer exists. In this picture you can see trucks on the new Interstate in the background, but the line of telegraph poles marks the path of the original Route 66 roadway:

The petrified forest left me a bit cold, I've got to admit. I kind of imagined a forest of trees that had been turned to stone. What it is though is a load of logs strewn about that have been transformed into rock over many millions of years:

OK maybe I was expecting too much!

A wrong turn out of the Petrified Forest State park cost me about 40 miles of riding until I got back to where I should have been, but the roads were good and the scenery breathtaking, so it was no big deal.

Next stop on the journey today was the Jack Rabbit Trading Company. This has been a major stopping point on the Route for many years. Plenty have wondered how, when the Interstate was built, this little shop got its own entry/exit ramps: there really is nothing else around. It turns out that at that time it had just been bought by a retiring Senator - maybe he pulled a few strings?

Signs all along the way had been advertising the Jack Rabbit store, and now I had reached it!

A little detour took me through Winslow Arizona, as made famous by a lyric in an Eagles song (Take it Easy?) - "... standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona ....". There is a sign on that supposed corner, and many people have had their photo taken there. I'm not one of them though, not being a big Eagles fan.

Finally, before reaching Flagstaff I took a little detour through Winona (Don't forget Winona!), and then into Flagstaff from the north.

Wow, three song references in one blog post!
Tonight I shall check out Historic Downtown Flagstaff, as theres a brewery that's been recommended to me.
Tomorrow I'm going to look at a rather large hole in the ground.

Here's today's route and all of the photos from the day:



Today's Mileage: 260
Total Trip Mileage:2094

Day 8: Las vegas, NM to Albuquerque

First of all, a picture or two from last night. This is Nancy trying out my bike for size. She is desperately seeking a mid-life crisis of her own - we suggested a tattoo. Thanks for these Kevin.

Today has been a great motorcycling day, and I have experience all four seasons over the course of it! The wind had abated a little since yesterday, and I left Las Vegas bound for Santa Fe. The riding was great as I travelled along the Santa Fe  trail, through the Pecos national park. The roads had a mixture of long sweeping fast bends, and more technical twisty sections. The bike, despite its size, was up to the job, and once moving is well balanced, most of the weight being low down. Manoeuvring at low speed can be hard work though.

 The old Route 66 running parallel to the interstate in the distance

A gate to nowhere!

The road undulated, but overall climbed to Santa Fe, which is over 7000ft above sea level, making it the highest state capitol in the US. This would explain why it was getting colder, and by the time I got there it was snowing.

When Route 66 was first built in the late 1920s this was the route that it took - through Santa Fe. In the 30s, the Governor of New Mexico fell out with the Mayor of Santa Fe, and ordered that the route be realigned to run directly from Santa Rosa to Albuquerque, thus cutting out the Santa Fe loop, and denying the town of its passing trade. Many people travelling the route today take this more direct later alignment, but I wanted to do this loop as I'd heard (rightly, as it turns out) that the roads and scenery were very good.

Snow in Santa Fe in April.

The architecture in the town is Adobe style, and very attractive. The centre is full of art galleries and little expensive looking boutiques. I reckon that it must have the most Art Galleries per capita than any other town I've been to. There were also more homeless people begging in the street than I'd seen since Chicago - obviously there are extremes of wealth here.

I decided to wait and see if the snow would stop so had a cup of coffee and slice of the most delicious chocolate cream pie! It did stop after a while, and I was assured that Albuquerque would be a good deal warmer as it wasn't so high, so I continued my journey along the Santa Fe trail, to Madrid.

I wanted to go to Madrid as it had been featured in a number of movies, most recently Paul, but probably the biggest selling was Wild Hogs. The film takes place during the Madrid chilli festival. Up until then Madrid didn't have a chilli festival. It does now!

Talking to a few people around town there are obviously mixed feelings about this film. Some people did very well out of it - Disney built a diner movie set for the film, pictured above, and the current owner makes plenty selling Wild Hogs memorabilia and t-shirts. Others went out of business because Disney shut the town down for 3 months over the tourist season whilst making the film.
I think my favourite film that was made here though is The Man Who Fell to Earth, staring David Bowie. I must re-watch that when I get home.

Now it was more fantastic riding to Albuquerque, where I am staying tonight. I pulled over at one point to take some photos, and who should come past in the other direction - yes, the Aussies. I'm at the same hotel as them again, so I expect some more revelry in the bar tonight. In the mean time, I can't resist one more shot of the New Mexico landscape:

Today's route and more photos are here:


Today's Mileage: 149
Total Trip Mileage:1663

Day 7: Amarillo - Las Vegas, NM

After a good drink and chin-wag with Croc and the Aussies last night, I had to set my alarm nice and early in order to make sure I was up in time for the 8 o'clock start - yes, I'm back on a timetable! It was chilly when we left, but I knew that as soon as the sun rose higher it would get soon heat up, so decided to go with the warm weather gear from the outset this morning. Most of the Aussies were travelling in cars, but there were 8 bikes, and I was going with them.

Our first stop was after a short ride to the Cadillac Ranch. Here, there are about 8 or ten half buried Cadillacs, nose down, and aerosol spray cans are left lying around so that visitors can decorate them. So the display is constantly changing:

A little further on and another photo op at Magnolia Filling Station. This place actually pre-dates Route 66 by a couple of years, and once again has been restored to how it used to be.

It was nice to be riding with a group for a change, and I appreciated being invited to tag along. I was great to have some company at the various stops along the way, and to have someone else take my picture for a change! It also reminded me of the downside of being in a group - the extra time it takes to do anything, for example at fuel stops you can't fill up and leave - you have to wait for all 8 bikes to refuel. Same with photo stops or when stopping for lunch - you can't continue your journey until everyone is ready to go.

Spot the English bike!

Moving along we came to Adrian Texas. This is officially the mid-point of the route - it's the same distance to Chicago as it is to Los Angeles. Time for a photo at the sign marking this point, and coffee and pie at Fran's MidPoint Cafe. Fran was the inspiration behind the Flo character in Disney's movie Cars. She's a sweetheart!
Here I am at the middle of the Route - but not yet the middle of my trip. Not sure why I'm standing like that?

And the obligatory group shot with all the Aussies, one American, one Zimbabwean and one Brit. I'm  front right.

Just before we left Texas we visited Glenco, a ghost town, and just one of many examples of how the new Interstates affected towns along the old Route 66.

And then we were entering New Mexico, and suddenly gained an extra hour as we moved to Mountain Time. This is the sixth state of the nine I'll be visiting this trip.

Yes that really is me behind the mask!

Lunch was in Tucumcari (Two-come-care-ee). A first for me - I had salad! I really could not face any more fried food, and getting my five a day has been proving challenging. There are some nice murals on the walls of the buildings around town, and also a Route 66 sculpture:

And so it was that we eventually arrived at Santa Rosa, the Ausies' stop for the night. Having said my goodbyes and thanking them for allowing a pom to join them, I set off, once again on my own. A brief visit to Bozo's Auto Museum, and then to drive the 60 or so miles to Las Vegas, New Mexico (the little town with a big name!).

All the time we'd been driving west into a head wind, and this combined with the long, long climb out of Santa Rosa meant the bike wasn't able to maintain 70mph in top (6th) gear. I started to worry that there might be something wrong, but when I turned off north for Las Vegas the head wind became a side wind, and only then did I realise just how strong it was. I drove the remaining 40 miles canted over 45 degrees to the left, just to go straight!. No wonder the bike was struggling riding into it!

Las Vegas NM is the complete opposite of its namesake further west. It is a quiet, old fashioned little western town. The hotel I am staying at tonight is the Plaza, built in 1882,and has a very Victorian feel to it. I rather like it after some of the impersonal hotel rooms I've slept in recently. Also, it was used in the Coen Brothers movie No Country for Old Men (what am I doing here then?) for the hotel scenes (even though the film was set in Texas).

Having unpacked I made my way to the hotel bar, as you do, and was chatting to a couple (Joseph and Chtistine) who had a nice little Harley Sportster parked outside. As we chatted a guy walked in and ordered a beer, and then announced that he would buy everyone in the bar a round. We happily accepted, upon which he paid, finished his drink and left. I don't think he'd said a word to anyone other than the barman, who later said he'd never seen him before! How peculiar. Anyway thank you, who every you are!

After that I got talking to a group of business colleagues (Amy, Leah, Lisa, Kevin and Nancy - Hi y'all). They are museum specialists, and were in town looking at how a local state park could improve its displays and exhibits at their visitor centre. After a couple of drinks with them they invited me to join them for dinner which was very kind, and very entertaining, especially when we found all the local restaurants seem to be closed on a Monday. Needless to say, we ended up back in the bar, but my pizza was very good. As well as everything else, I also learned something about American history today!

And now it's time for bed, and tomorrow I head for Albuquerque, where I may run into the Aussies once more.

Today's route and more pictures can be found here:

Today's Mileage: 251
Total Trip Mileage:1514

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?