Day 1: Chicago to Bloomington

After I posted my entry for yesterday I ventured down to the hotel's bar for a drink and bite to eat, after all I had been given a voucher for a free beer, so it would have been rude not to. It seems slightly ironic that having travelled this far I end up in the Elephant & Castle English pub, but there you go. Sat at the bar, I got chatting to a couple of other people who were also there on their own, Ian and Susan, each on business. It turned out that Ian lives in San Francisco so we agreed to hook up when I get there.

This morning I woke up early, and peeked out of the window to be greeted with the sight of leaden skies and persistent rain :-( Not quite what I'd hoped for, but what can you do? I had a few hours before I was being picked up, so I went out for a walk, only to discover that it was bloody cold to boot! However I did manage to find the start of the route on Adams Street:

Joe, from EagleRider picked me up later and took me to their office to finally get my bike, and what a beauty! A brand spanking new, black, Harley Davidson ElectraGlide, with just 1 (yes, one!) mile on the clock!

After about half an hour of filling in paperwork, and signing countless clauses (essentially saying that if anything whatsoever happened, it isn't their fault, I won't be able to sue them, and I will have to pay for it), the keys were handed over, and she was all mine for 18 days. Up until this point the trip has all been to a timetable: Get to the airport for this time; Go to that hotel; Get the next flight then; Get picked up to collect the bike at 10. Now timing of the trip is in my own hands, and the only deadlne I have to meet is to be in San Francisco on 8th May. Freedom!

So here she is outside the Launching Pad diner in Wilmington, where I had lunch, although how I managed to cut of the 'L' of Launching I'll never know.

The weather didn't improve as I headed south, and was actually miserable all the way, with a hail storm or two thrown in for good measure. I had decided to keep the riding fairly short today, to give me a chance to get used to the bike, riding on the wrong side of the road, and get over any jet lag that I might still have, so my destination for the night was the twin towns of Bloomington-Normal. I had numerouse stops on the way as I saw things of interest, including the old, restored gas stations in Dwight and Odell, which are now gift shops. Bloomington greeted me with fog, and a thunderstorm - how nice!

The route ridden today (once I remembered to switch on the GPS tracker), and the rest of the photos can be found here:


So, in summary very good day, which could have been improved had the weather been better, but overall, enjoyable.
A slightly longer day tomorrow, so why not "Meet me in St. Louis"?

Today's mileage ridden: 134

Total mileage covered: 134

Day 0: The Windy City

The day got off too a good start this morning when I found that some kind sole had left a breakfast voucher in my room! So having made use of that, I set off for the airport to find out if there would be a seat for me on the flight to Chicago.

I was in luck, and got a good seat towards the front of the plane. Result!

The young lady sitting across the aisle from me had obviously taken part in Sunday's London marathon, and on talking to her I discovered that she was not just any athlete, she was none other than Amanda McGrory, who had won the lady's wheelchair event. Twenty six and a bit miles in 1:48 - that's quick. She seemed very nice and it was interesting talking to her; hopefully the first of many interesting people I'll meet over the next few weeks.

Other than that it was a quiet and uneventful flight, exactly how you want it. I managed to watch a couple of movies that I hadn't seen (The King's Speech and Social Network both good in their own different ways), and managed to fit in a snooze in between.

On arriving in O'Hare airport I had to wonder if the US Authorities would rather that foreigners didn't visit at all. Immigration was so slow and painful. Nearly 2 hours after landing however, I was pleased to see my bag on the carousel, and treated myself to a taxi ride to the hotel, rather than take my chances on public transport.

I've had a few hours looking around the vicinity of my hotel, which is on Michigan Av - the Magnificent Mile, full of high end shops and restaurants. Gillian would love it! From what little I've seen, it seems like a nice city, and one that warrants a further visit some time in the future. It is very cold though, with snow and sleet showers forecast for tomorrow. Less than ideal; I hope it warms up quickly as I head south!

So tomorrow EagleRiders will pick me up from the hotel and take me to their office, where I pick up the bike, and the journey begins in earnest. It's 8pm here, but for me that really means 2am! Time for a quick bite to eat, and then off for an early night. Until tomorrow then, but in the meantime here are a few pictures to prove that I really am here.....

 Old (for the US) buildings seem to mix easily with the newer skyscrapers.

 Yes, it's me, and it really is as cold as I look!

More tall buildings make for an impressive skyline. Chicago boasts 3 of the 5 tallest building in the US, including the Wallis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower), which is the tallest of them all.

Day -1 : And so it begins....

It was with a mixture of nervousness and sadness, but mostly excitement, that I said my fairwells to the family at Newcastle airport this afternoon, and started what is for me, an adventure of a lifetime.

This week has been very busy making my last minute preparations and packing for the trip. My birthday was on Thursday and I was very touched by the reaction of everyone at work. My desk had been decorated with banners and balloons, and I was greeted by a chorus of "Happy Birthday" on my arrival. Very nice and unexpected.
The evening was spent with my family at Fratelli's, a nice Italian restaurant not far from where we live, and it was great to see everyone before I left. It was nice that Lynsey, Matt and Seth travelled up from Leeds to help me celebrate.

Saturday was our wedding anniversary, which Gillian I spent at the Mal Maison hotel in Newcastle, and we had a lovely dinner at "Six", the restaurant on the top of the Baltic art gallery in Gateshead, with outstanding views over the river and across Newcastle.

And so to today. We had a family Sunday dinner at The Badger, a pub/restaurant next to the airport, and then I was dropped off to catch the first leg of my journey to Heathrow, along with a few emotional goodbyes.

I don't think that it's sunk in yet that I really am doing this. I travel to London fairly regularly on business, probably about 2 or 3 times a month, so this part didn't really seem out of the ordinary. Tomorrow, when I head off to the USA will really be the start of the trip, and I expect then it'll dawn on me that the trip, years in the planning, has started.

On the flight down to London though, I began to realise that in 18 years of marriage, this will be the longest time I've been away on my own and the longest journey that I'll have taken on my own. I'd like to thank my family, and especially Gillian, for letting me take the time out to do this trip, and although it will be exciting and great fun (I'm sure), I will be thinking of them, and wishing I could share my experieneces with them. Unfortunately, getting them all on a motorbike would prove to be challenging!

Well it's late, and it's been a long day, I'm tired and getting emotional, so I'll sign off for now, and retire to my bed in the luxurious T5 Travelodge!

Today; London, Tomorrow; Chicago!

Weekly Countdown: 1 week to go!

With just 7 days till I leave for Chicago, the excitement is mounting. It's going to be a busy week this week with some 'domestic' things to do before I go, and of course, celebrating my birthday on Thurday. Then it's our wedding anniversary on Saturday - 18 years, which is porcelain I'm informed. SWMBO want's the bathroom refitted this year, so that seems appropriate.

Dave B came through with the goods this week, and has loaned me a set of H-D bags specifically designed to fit in the Harley's fitted panniers and top-box, so I know how much space I have to play with. Not much is the answer, so I am cutting down on what I will take with me. Still, it's better to know now rather than having to ditch stuff when I pick up the bike.

I ordered a small amount of US dollars - ironically the best exchange rate was from SAGA, with free next day delivery. I dare say the first of a number of transactions with them over the years to come!

I've also booked some internal flights to help me get home at the end of the trip, as the availability on the flights back from San Francisco has not improved any - these give me the option of flying back from LA, Seattle or even New York. I must remember to collect the tickets on Wednesday. It's not nice to think that a month from today I'll be back at work though.

Preparations are so well advanced in fact that last night I was even able to go through my music collection to decide what I should load up onto my iPod and take with me. How organised is that? I also realised that I'll be away on St George's day, so have got a St George's flag to fix to the bike. That should provide a talking point when I stop for gas.

Looking at my route again for the upteenth time I noticed something that I hadn't thought about before. I will be travelling through 4 time zones over the course of the trip (Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific). As I'm travelling east to west that means that I will get an extra 3 hours! What a bonus. So bike hire is actually 18 days and 3 hours. I hope they don't try to hit me with a surcharge!

Now it's just a case of waiting for Sunday. This trip has been so long in gestation, that it's hard to believe that it's now just a week away. It's also slightly scary.

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: 3 weeks to go

SWMBO said to me the other day that I've spent more time planning this trip than I will spend actually doing it! Well, she could be right. But I find the planning and research almost as much fun as the trip itself - I think it all adds to the anticipation.

However, there's a balance to be struck here: I don't want to plan it down to a level of detail such that I know when each mile will be riden, and each rest stop taken. Equally, I don't want to turn up in Chicago, pick up the bike, and then have no idea what's out there, and ride past everything. By not booking any en-route hotels, my itinerary is still flexible, allowing some spontaneity. For example, my planning suggests that my first night stop will be after a fairly short ride to Bloomington, IL. This is so that I can get used to the bike, and over any jet lag I might suffer. However, when I eventually do roll into Bloomington I might decide that I feel OK to carry on a bit further - I have that choice. So I think my plans, although comprehensive, will strike a happy medium, but only time will tell.

Something else that a number of other people have mentioned is their surprise that I'm going on a 3 week/3000 mile journey on my own. Now, I'm a pretty sociable fellow I think, but I'm also quite happy in my own company. Other people, especially non-biking other people, don't seem to realise how many people you do meet up with and speak to when you roll up on a bike some place. And, being on your own it is even more likely that you'll strike up a conversation. No, I don't think I'll be going for 3 weeks without talking to anyone! The other advantage of being on your own is that you can do what you want, when you want, without having to consider anyone else. I guess the only slight worry is if something goes wrong, but if you let that stop you doing things, then you'll never do anything.

Now down to the practicalities. I've been wondering how much luggage space I'm going to have on the ElectraGlide, and also how I'm going to mount and wire up the Zumo GPS, so I though I'd reacquaint myself with a real live ElectraGlide in the flesh. So I trundled down to Newcastle Harley-Davidson last Friday with just that intention, and when I got there, guess what? They had no ElectraGlides! How can that be - an HD dealer that doesn't have the flagship of their range in the showroom? Also the atmosphere in the place was terrible. In the old days of Just Harleys the place was buzzing, and there was always a few gnarly old bikers there to chat to. The new dealership seemed very sterile - more like the Audi dealership over the road. What a shame. Anyhow, I think a call to my mate David is in order - I hope he's still got his ElectraGlide!

Days to departure: 21

Paydays to departure: 1

Weekly Countdown: 4 weeks to go

I'm in a good frame of mind today, for a number of reasons:

• My bike was MoT'd last week and is now back on the road. The weather's been very nice the last few days, so I've managed to go out for a couple of rides.
• Last night I fought off a late challenge in my local Poker league and won the league by 15 points.
• But, most of all, it's now less than 1 month until my Road trip! Unfortunately that means it's even less time to my 50th birthday, but let's skip over that bit.

In terms of the trip, I think I'm fairly well advanced with the planning. The reason I think this is that I'm now starting to worry about the smaller details, and nice-to-haves. For example, I've started to look at how best to use my phone when I'm away. As data roaming chatges in the US are astronomical, I've started searching for an American PrePaid (or as we call them, Pay as You Go) SIM card with data, that I can buy when I arrive and use my HTC smart phone whilst I'm there. The best deal I've found so far is from AT&T, where you get unlimited calls and texts for $2 per day, and 100Mb (not much) of data for $19.99. Still expensive though compaired with what we're used to in the UK.

I've also been thinking about getting a bluetooth headset for my crash helmet, like this one, so the SatNav (which doubles as an MP3 player) and phone (which also doubles as an MP3 player) can be connected without wires. Do you think I'll also need my iPod? Just in case I run out of music?

One slight fly in the ointment though: I've been checking the status of my flights back from San Francisco, and they are full on the day I want to come home. So, contingency planning has kicked in, and it looks like flights from Seatle are a good option. I'll monitor the situation, but it's looking like I might need to make 3 flights in order to get home on time: SFO-SEA-LHR-NCL.

Days to departure: 28
Paydays to departure: 1.


Funding: Given up worrying about it!

Billy Connolly to follow in my footsteps!

I have just found out that Billy will be making a new TV travel series for ITV about travelling Route 66 on his Harley Davidson trike.
He's due to start filming in May - just as I get to the end of my journey, so unlikely that our paths will cross. I'm sure that he got the idea from reading this blog though!
Amazingly his book of the series is already available to pre order at Amazon. It'll be on my Christmas list!

Here's a link to the announcement

Weekly Countdown: 5 weeks to go

Where I live there are lots of roundabouts. These roundabouts are mostly big grassy islands, and during spring-time they are resplendent with hosts of golden daffodils. Well, this week I am really excited because said daffs have started to grow. Their green shoots are poking out of the soil of the roundabouts and other grassy banks around town: a sure sign that, after a quite harsh winter, Spring is just around the corner. The thought of this has made me get my arse in gear and get the bike out of the garage again. Unfortunately, that's as far as I've been able to take it because the MOT's run out, but it's booked in for the test on Thursday, so something to look forward to this week if it passes!!

As for my US adventure (or holiday, as SWMBO calls it), planning is well advanced. Bike rental: sorted. Flights to the US: sorted. Route: sorted. Even a few hotels are now sorted

So I am now getting down to planning at a more detailed level. For example, the route, in terms of which town I'll be stopping at each night, is pretty much decided. With a GPS I can input these towns, and it'll come up with a route that connects them all up. However, this is very "destination-centric": the route it chooses will be the "best" route to get you to you chosen destinations, which which is exactly what you want most of the time. For example, if I wanted to go to an exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham, the GPS will direct me there by the quickest, or shortest (I can decide) route, I'm not really very interested in the actual roads I use, as long as I get to where I want to be.

But for this trip the individual destinations are not the important part. It's not about riding from town to town in the most efficient manner possible, because I'll spend all my time on Interstates, which is plain dull. No, this trip is about the journey and seeing things on the way. So what I'm doing now is using the Garmin Map Source software (and this is where Garmin beats TomTom hands down, IMHO) to modify the routes between night stops, by adding in points of interest that I've gleaned from many months of research, roads that follow the old Route 66, and generally massaging the route to make it the most interesting possible. Having done this, I can upload these routes to the Zumo, and it'll guide me by my chosen route.

All of this is, of course, quite time consuming. It was also quite enjoyable, until I lost an entire day's work when I hit the wrong key and deleted the route I'd been working on. At that point my laptop nearly went through the window, and the trip cancelled! However I eventually calmed down, and re did it all again.

I'm finding this process very useful for collating and bringing together into one place all the research and information that I've found from many sources. The number of post-its that are scattered around the place has reduced significantly! However, my recent "finger trouble" has reminded me how easy it would be to lose it all, so I will still need to bring with me good old paper maps, in case the technology lets me down.

Days to departure: 35
Paydays to departure: 1.


Funding: $$$OK, with help from my Flexible Friend$$$

Weekly Countdown: 6 to 66

This week I got the flights sorted. For most people that's simply a case of finding a flight to where you want to go, on the day that you want to go, for a price that you're prepared to pay. However, as an airline employee, things are complicated by the additional choices offered by staff travel options.

With staff travel, employees can get highly discounted fares, and the opportunity of upgrades. The down side is that to get these discounts one has to travel on standby - in other words, you get a seat only if there's one left after all the fare paying passengers, and any other staff travellers with higher priority than you, have been allocated theirs. So if the flight's full, you don't get on.

This means, of course, that you are not guaranteed to get a seat on any particular flight. Great if you can be flexible, but given that I'll have a Harley waiting for me to pick up in Chicago on the 19th April, this is not ideal.

So what to do? Well my route out has to be Newcastle to Heathrow to Chicago, so the first part is to get to London. There are even more options for this, including train, coach and driving, however as I have no hope of getting a flight to the US if I don't get to London in time, so I've opted for a to pay full fare for a flight on the Sunday night, and to spend the night in the T5 Travelodge. Hardly salubrious, but OK for the few hours I'll be spending there, and a lot cheaper than getting the first flight down on Monday morning, the price of which is pushed up weekly commuters making their way down south.

So I know I'll be in Heathrow in time for a flight to the US on Monday. BA has two flights daily to Chicago, so the ideal would be to get one of those. Having been lured by the low prices and the chance of getting into Club (Business) class, I've decided to get a Premium Standby ticket on the first flight, which if I don't get on I can change to the second. As of today, there's plenty of seats unsold, but anything could happen in the next 6 weeks.
I've also bought a backup ticket to New York, as there's loads of flights there so a good chance of getting on one of them if I'm unlucky with Chicago. To bridge the gap I've also got an internal flight ticket between JFK and Chicago. Any tickets I don't use will be refunded.

I've booked the flight back from San Francisco, but to be frank, I'm less worried about getting back on time - there's worse places to be stuck!

Days to departure: 42
Paydays to departure: Just 1.
Funding: $$$No lottery win, so covered by my credit limit$$$