Santa Fe

It's “Dad Blog Writing Time” again.

Yesterday, we diverted from the historic Route 66 in favour for a more scenic road: From Tucumcari we took NM-104 north-west towards Las Vegas, NM which led us through the impressive scenery of the high mesa. We climbed up to about 7000 ft! The plateau had fantastic views to offer, and the road was nice and curvy, a dream for every motorcyclist!

The weather couldn't decide if it wanted to rain or stay dry, so we donned our rain gear several times only to take it off again a few miles later. Fortunately the temperatures remained in the mid-60s and so  we stayed cool even with the rain gear on. A welcome change from the 100+ degree weather from the days before!

We had lunch in Las Vegas and then briefly stopped by the Montezuma Castle which is now used by United World College before riding to Santa Fe. Who would have thought there would be a castle in New Mexico?

The historic Santa Fe Trail which we had followed from Las Vega leads through Santa Fe's town center with its historical Plaza.

It was a great experience to ride through those roads with the beautiful adobe houses before reaching our motel (this time a very mundane Motel 6) just 1 mi from historic Plaza.

A nice evening stroll over the Plaza gave as a first impression of this beautiful town. We spend some time in the New Mexico History Museum where we learned a lot about the Spanish colonization of what was later to become “New Mexico”, the American annexation, the Civil War and modern history.

At dinner Ruth had a special experience: We wanted to order 3 beers and of course Ruth got “carded”. Although she had reached “legal drinking age” earlier this year, they would not sell her beer because she still has the junior-style “vertical” drivers license because New Mexico law stipulates that you can buy and drink alcohol only with an “adult” license. Go figure! If she had brought her passport it wouldn't have been a problem....

We started today with going to a laundry and washing our clothes. While the washing machine did its job we had breakfast.

Then we walked into town again (only 1 mile) and for the rest of the day canvassed uncounted art galleries and traditional jewelery stores. Initially the weather was rainy with some serious downpours. Hence being in the galleries had the advantage of staying dry! Later it cleared up so that we spent more time outside also visiting the local Art Festival which took place this weekend on the Plaza.

At the Basilica of St. Frances we witnessed the end of a wedding, and later in the afternoon we attended mass there.

We returned to our hotel relatively early because tomorrow will be another long day with about 300 mi to ride.

Officially Half-way!

Today we officially crossed the half-way point of Route 66, in Adrian, TX.

There is a little cafe called Midpoint Cafe that we wanted to go to but unfortunately it was closed by the time we got there. Instead we went next door and met the lady who was the inspiration for the character Flo in Cars. We didn't realize this before the trip, but the story of Cars was created from Route 66. All of the characters are real people that the creators met along way, as are trucks and cafes. It seems as if each little town we visit has some connection. Rock Cafe in Stroud, OK was another inspiration for a cafe and the owner for the a character Sally Carrera. The trucks came from Gallena, KS.

But backing up a little. After melting our way to Tulsa, OK, we continued to melt our way to Clinton, OK.  Breakfast was at a cute little mom-and-pop diner, complete with red leather seats. We had oatmeal pie at the Rock Cafe in Stroud.

We chose to circumvent Oklahoma City because it would have involved stop-and-go traffic which is no fun in 100 degree weather wearing motorcycle gear.  That was a good decision because it brought is to Clinton earlier.  We wanted enough time to look at the Rt 66 Museum that they have there.

They have some great exhibitions describing the creation, and then fall of Route 66 as the first continuous paved road from Chicago to Los Angeles.  As cars became more prevalent in the beginning of the 20th century, people could drive farther and faster, increasing the need for continuous roads that were paved, as opposed to dirt roads. Route 66 was created to fulfill this purpose, connecting existing pieces and passing through lots of small towns, giving it the nickname "Main Street of America." With more people traveling farther, more gas stations and motels were needed as well. Many have been kept up over the years and you can stay in the motels even now. We have tried to stay in original ones when we can. However, with the creation of the Interstate system to make everything even faster, a new highway was built pretty much parallel to Rt 66, but bypasses all of the small towns. This hurt the economy of the towns because they did not have nearly as many travelers passing through.  Now many organizations are in place dedicated to restoring the Route to closer to what it was. People still live in these small towns, and they love to share their story with the travelers (like us) coming through. Every single one of them has been so incredibly nice and friendly.


Thursday was a long day of riding (304 miles), from Clinton, OK to Tucumcari, NM, passing straight through Texas. In Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico, Route 66 follows I-40 pretty closely. As we continue west, the landscape gets flatter and the roads get straighter. We were able to go many miles without making any turns.  Some interesting points from today include a Redneck Castle, Bug Ranch, Cadillac Ranch, and the Blue Swallow Motel.

The owner of this Redneck Castle was quite a character. We pulled up to a house with tons of signs outside and this older man wearing overalls comes out and invites us inside. It is filled with signs, guitars, old artifacts, anything. He calls himself a packrat, not a collector. We talked to him for a little bit, and then he sang us his version of "Get Your Kicks on Route 66."

We had lucked out with the weather so far in terms of no rain, but today we got caught in a little shower. It was almost over before we could even get out our rain gear. As we were filling up on gas for the last little part until Tucumcari, it started sprinkling again but we waited that one out for a few minutes. We could see it raining in the direction we were headed but lucky avoided getting wet.  As soon as we checked into the motel and put the motorcycles in the garage, went into the room and closed the door, it started downpouring-the kind you can hear on the roof. We were very lucky not to have been caught out in that. We finished off the evening at the Lizard Lounge, enjoying their signature Blue Swallow Margherita.

The owner of the Blue Swallow Motel took a photo of us and posted it on Facebook!

Melting Down. Almost.

Today neither Ruth nor her dad are in a mood to write a long blog post. That's why this is going to be a photo story.

This morning we had breakfast at the hotel sitting outside between the old gas pumps.

Then we took off and rode many beautiful backroads.

 We saw a lot of old typical Route 66 locations and some more recent artifacts.

We had started out in Missouri, and then we crossed into Kansas where we had lunch at the "Cars on Route" diner in Galena, KS. Those of you who saw the movie "Cars" might recognize that location and the cars for that very diner, the adjacent buildings, and the old cars gave the inspiration to the movie.

After only 13 mi in Kansas we entered Oklahoma. Here a relatively new highway follows the old Route 66 alignement and we made good speed. This was a good thing because by then the temperature was in the high 90s and we were melting as soon as we stopped. We drank a plenty of water but that was still not enough. So we looked for, and found a great diner in Chelsea, OK where we had cold water, icecream and pie (in that order!).

We chatted with the locals and the young waitress was awed when we told her that our high school has about 2000 students (her graduation class was only 50 kids). Another local told us that he had spent some time in Pittsburgh, PA when the Pirates won the World Series in 1960. And the pitcher who made the deciding play came from, YES! Drum Roll!: Chelsea, OK.

Looking at the photo of Downtown Chelsea one would not expect that...

When we left the diner a woman approached us and she turned out to be the local newspaper reporter. Hearing that we are riding the entire Route 66 she quickly got her camera, took a photo and interviewed us. We'll be The Stars in the next  issue of the weekly newspaper!

After that exciting interruption we hit the road again, saw famous Route 66 stuff like the Biggest Totem Pole near Foyil, OK and the Blue Whale in Catoosa, OK.

Look for Ruth and Marianne near the entrance!

Finally we arrived at the Desert Hills Motel in Tulsa, OK (another original Route 66 motel, the movie Christmas Child was shot here), did some motorcycle maintenance (cleaning, oil check, etc) and mounted our new Route 66 license plate frames.

I guess after 219 mi full of beautiful roads, interesting people, and famous Route 66 locations we deserve a good nights sleep.

1000 miles down, 2000 miles to go...

We have made it about one third of the way, putting most of the highway mileage behind us.  Sunday we continued driving west to St. Louis, Missouri.  After checking into our motel, we went into the city. The Gateway Arch is the iconic monument of the city so of course we had to see that.

  You can go up to the top as well so we did that and had a fantastic view of the city from the top. Because it's 630 feet high, there's quite a bit of wind, enough for the arch to have an amplitude of 9 inches in either direction. You can feel it from the top too! The video in the Visitor Center center is fantastic as well, explaining the building process. No one died during the process even though they built the entire thing without being secured to any guard railings. Dinner was at a Peruvian restaurant that I had found on TripAdvisor and was delicious!

Our motel didn't have breakfast so we found a place along the road to eat instead. It was a place called Kolache Factory, which served rolls filled with various things, like bacon, sausage, egg, among other things.  They had a few dessert/sweet ones as well.

St. Louis is where we picked up the actual Route 66 so the rest of the day was spent riding down the road to Springfield, MO.  Route 66 actually goes parallel to I44, crossing it a few times and taking a few more curves through the woods.

Thankfully it had rained the night before so it cooled down quite a bit, making it a very pleasant ride. The Route passes many small towns as well, giving it the nickname “Main Street of America.” In the morning, we stopped at Meramec Caverns (Jesse James' hideout) which had been recommended to us.

We took a tour of the caverns, seeing stalactites and stalagmites in various formations.

Along the way were all sorts of weird things, like the World's Largest Rocking Chair, old bridges (some of which were closed), and old motels.

Lunch saw us at Missouri Hicks Bar-B-Q, a little restaurant with delicious food and cool decorations.


We eventually finished our 249 miles of the day, finally arriving at about 8 pm in Springfield, MO, the birthplace of Route 66.

Life lesson from the road: Don't unzip the first few inches of the sleeves and drive down the interstate without wearing a long-sleeve underneath. You'll end up with weird tan/near sunburn between where the gloves stop and before the jacket starts for real.

Louisville, KY

Today it's my (Ruth dad's) turn. While Ruth couchsurfed last night in Huntington, WV, Marianne and I spent the night with my sister & brother-in-law in Pittsburgh, PA. We always appreciate their hospitality!

Ruth, Marianne and I have happily reunited in Louisville, KY. By now we have ridden some 700 miles and our derrieres are getting used to it. A good rhythm is to ride about 90 mins and then take a break. At highway speeds that translates into 90-110 miles (depending on the speed limit plus "margin") and by then Marianne's Softail and Ruth's Shadow need to be fueled up anyway because their range is about 160 and 130 mi, respectively. Keeping the legs to 90mins really helps avoiding getting sore!

Also, at gas stations one always meets interesting people, and when they hear that we are on a cross-country trip inevitably their eyebrows go up. We ran into a woman originally from Utrecht/The Netherlands, a lady in a Mercedes convertible who remarked on our “nice bikes”, and a Harley-couple from Louisville, KY who is dreaming of doing this tour, too.

In Louisville we had planned to tour the Evan Williams Distillery, but unfortunately the last tour was already sold out. So we did the second best: We bought a bottle of bourbon (“Larceny”) which we opened later that evening when we were back at the hotel. But before returning to the Days Inn, we walked along the Ohio River, saw the Clark statue (yes, the Lewis & Clark guy – going cross-country I feel a little bit like him...) and had dinner in hip bar/restaurant called “Garage” which described exactly what it was before it was turned into a bar...

Before returning to the hotel, we briefly ride across the Ohio River so that Marianne and I can claim that we rode through 5 states in one day: PA, WV, OH, KY and IN. Ruth can claim 3 states today: WV, KY, IN.

Yesterday we had to put out raingear on - it kept us dry :-)

And so the journey begins...

If you have been around any member of my family in the past few months, you'll know that your family vacation (sans Lioba*) is a little different this year. We are taking a road trip across the US on historic Route 66......on motorcycles. The condition of letting me come on the trip was that I write a blog with pictures on the tour for people to keep up with. I'm only half-joking on that. So this is it! We leave on Friday, June 5 from our respective locations (me from Harrisonburg, VA, and my parents from Exton, PA) and meet up in Louisville, KT on Saturday afternoon.  From there it's to St. Louis, MO, where we'll pick up the Route.  It actually starts in Chicago but that would add another few hundred empty highway miles which is no fun. We'll have to take care of that bit another time.  From there we'll follow the historic route, stopping at weird monuments, eating at kitchy dinners, and staying in an assortment of sleeping establishments, from motels and hotels, to a wigwam (!) and a haunted hotel.  After taking a look at the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica, CA, we'll fly back to PA. The motorcycles will be shipped back to PA and VA and arrive a week later.

It's going to be unlike any vacation that we've taken, especially being on the motorcycles so much, but it's going to be a lot of fun! I've already taken the first step and drove mine 4 hours to Harrisonburg after being home last weekend. This is our current status.  As we go along, we'll update the map with different colors so you'll know exactly where we are.

I currently don't have a good picture of all three bikes but there will be plenty of pictures taken in the next two weeks so you'll have to wait on that. This is what we'll be riding though:

Dad: Harley Davidson Electra Glide 103 cu in (1,700 cc)
Mom: Harley Davidson Softtail 103 cu in (1,700 cc)
Ruth: Honda Shadow 74 cu in (1,100 cc)

Leaving PA for the trip down to Hburg on the Honda Shadow

FAQ

Q: Where are you going to put everything?
A: That black bag on the back of the motorcycle. I'd estimate it to be around the size of a medium suitcase. Obviously packing for two weeks on a motorcycle is a little challenging due to that size limitation and the gear that is required. Luckily the bulkier items (i.e. white jacket, pants, helmet, boots) will be worn while riding which diminishes the volume quite a bit. Aside from the essential gear and some tools/hardware, I'm taking an assortment of clothes that will mix and match and pack up tightly. I did practice run last night packing up everything that you see there and it all fit with enough room to buy some things along the way. 

Q: What if it rains?
A: See the bright yellow on the top left of the picture? That's my rain jacket and pants that fit over the white jacket and pants. If it starts to drizzle, I'll put that on and keep going. The bag has a rain cover as well.  I got caught in some rain coming down from PA so I pulled over to the side and put it on. It kept me dry and warm too. Obviously if it starts downpouring, we'll pull over and wait it out for a little bit. At that point, there's no use trying to continue. 

Q: How are the motorcycles getting back if you're flying back?
A: There are various companies that will ship motorcycles so that you don't have to drive it all the way back.  They have different locations across the US so we'll drop them off at the location in Santa Monica and pick them up in Exton and Richmond the first week in July. 

Q: Won't those 3,000 miles be super boring since you can't talk to each other?
A: Actually we can talk to each other. There's these little bluetooth/radio device thingies that attach to the side of the helmet so we can talk to each other! And listen to radio if we care to as well.
That's all the FAQs that I've actually been asked so far but if you think of anything random, just let me know! If you know of any good places to see along our way, let me know that too.

If you're in an especially stalkerish mood right now, it's late at night and you're wasting time on the internet, or are just curious about this blog, you can continue scrolling and read about my travels around Europe last summer and Guatemala the summer before that. 

* Lioba is spending the summer in Skagway, Alaska, as a hiking guide! Here is a link to her blog if you want to catch up with her:
https://liobam.wordpress.com/2015/05/30/on-the-road-to-skagway/