US66 Tour - Day 5 - Tulsa to Weatherford

Have the opportunity to do some early blogging due to the inclement weather. It's pissing down. 94 yesterday, 68 today. We have delayed our departure to give the storms time to pass. We are on the edge of tornado alley, so storms in these parts are taken a lot more seriously than one back home would be. Gives me time to write my postcards though. What with all the riding, blogging, etc, take a back seat, hence why most of my blog writing has been done around midnight.

We are starting to bond really well as a group. Nicknames are being given, all in good fun and I'm sure we will all have one by the end of the tour.

Our guide Gary came with his own. The Bear, however, he has acquired several more due his penchant for doubling up on everything (usually food). He currently lists, 2 bellies, 2 scoops & 2 steaks amongst those we have given him.

The first of our group to acquire one was Pat. He's our only non UK member, coming from Eire. We have dubbed him, though I'm not sure he's that keen on it, the Vulture, due to his uncanny resemblance to the very common Turkey Vulture, which sports a bald red head. I think we may find something a bit kinder for him as we go on.

I'll list more as we progress. 

We set off at about 9:15. It was raining and boy did it rain. We only had about 180 miles to cover today and with one planned stop, yet we only got in about 20:00. We were all soaked through. The link will show why.

http://www.newsok.com/oklahoma-lt.-gov.-jari-askins-declares-state-of-emergency-for-59-counties/article/3468508

We did manage the stop at another museum of sorts. Gary knows the people there and they opened it especially for us on what is normally their closed day. It was reasonably interesting, with old car seats and motel beds positioned by touch screens. Selecting an option projected onto a white screen hanging from the ceiling, so quite neat. Lots of pictures and various other memorabilia too.

We then had a tour, unintentional, of the Oklahoma countryside. This entirely due to flooding and roads being closed. I can honestly say I have never seen flooding on such a scale. At one point we passed a field with cows up top their armpits in red muddy water. The soil here is almost terracotta colour.

We did manage or rather Gary did, with his weather tracking on his laptop, to find a break between storms and at this point we stopped at the Cherokee Trading Post. A genuine Indian shop and service station/restaurant mainly but tucked away out back, they have a pen with 3 American Buffalo, one a baby. Aaaah!

Having fuelled up and photographed the animals, we set off for our last few miles to the hotel in Weatherford, crossing the mile long bridge on the way, another famous R66 landmark. This town is famous for the fact that Thomas Stafford comes from here. He was an Apollo astronaut.

Tomorow we are off to Amarillo in Texas, so will be entering our 5th State. There we are staying at The Big Texan, famous or infamous maybe for the 72oz steak eating challenge. No, I shall not be attempting it. Gary has tried it 4 times and failed on each occasion. Failure costs $72!!

Neill

US66 Tour - Day 4 - Rolla to Tulsa

Yes, as the song says, 24 hours later we were in Tulsa.

A fairly uneventful day. Not a lot of stops en route, just mile after mile of pounding the Mother Road, about 320 in all.

Set off and headed through the Ozark Mountains (hillbilly country). As the miles were munched on what has to be said was a fantastic stretch of road, you really got a sense, not previously experienced, of what this road is about, what makes it so great and why people want to keep it as a historic route. Fantastic. I almost had to pinch myself to believe I was riding Route 66, in the US, on a Harley. The temperature has beeen in the 90s all day but the sheer pleasure we have got has been the overiding factor.

We stopped off for a late lunch at a place which is quite famous on the route. Not only for its home cooking but also for the fact that the building in which it is housed was once a bank and was once robbed by Jesse James.

Our next stop was at a sixties attraction, the Blue Whale. Yes, it is a blue whale, light blue that sticks out into a lake (see pic). When opened as an attraction, it was a swimming 'pool' and kids could slide down into the water from the beast. Now health and safety has all but shut it down, so now it is not much more than a folly, with the 'pool' now a lake for fishing. Bear knows the owner, so we were introduced to the man before we had a look round. His father actually built the place. From there it was a short drive to Tulsa and our next stopover but en route we did a slight detour to cross a bridge over a creek which was built when the road opened in 1926.

During the day we passed from Missouri, through Kansas and are now in Oklahoma, the fourth of our eight states on the trip. Tomorrow we will again we pounding the miles, Oklahoma has more of R66 than any other state, and head for our next stop at Weatherford.

Watch this space.

Neill

US66 Tour - Day 3 - Springfield to Rolla

Day started promisingly. Light breakfast and the weather forecast showing HOT for the region we were due to be travelling. As seems to be the way in these here parts, when it’s hot there is also the chance of thunderstorms. The forecast wasn’t wrong.

We headed off about 8am along some really lovely open country roads and through some really quaint towns. One of those being Chatham, just south of Springfield. As a UK Chatham resident, I know which one I’d rather be in. Our first stop was in the county town of Carlinville. Basically a central square with the town radiating from it. We had about 40 minutes here to wander round and take a few snaps. The local bank LED display showed a temperature of 86 deg F at 10:00. Forecast was for it to get hotter and it did. Another town later on showing 97! Things of note in Carlinville for me were the old county jail, circa 1869 and a much more modern structure, the drive in bank. Fascinating.

From Carlinville we headed south west towards St Louis. As we crossed the Mississippi, we said farewell to Illinois and hello to Missouri. Immediately after the river crossing we turned off to the Chain of Rocks Bridge. This bridge is famous for having a 22 degree bend in the middle. The story goes that they built half out into the river and then discovered the bed rock had run out. They therefore had to make a kink in the bridge to relocate the bedrock and continue building to the other side. It has to be seen to be believed. The river is a mile wide at this point. You can walk out on the bridge, which I duly did but time constraints, the intense heat and sore feet meant I only got ¾ of the way across.

Next stop was for lunch, a small salad being the order of the day, washed down with free refills of ice cold raspberry lemonade. As we left the restaurant, the sky looked a little threatening. Gary our guide has a laptop hooked up to the weather centre in his van. He was a little worried that we were going to run into one of the thunderstorms they were forecasting or even worse, a twister. As it turned out we had a few spots and that was it. Before reaching our next stop our unfortunate chappie had his 4th drop of the tour. He’s fairly short and struggling when it comes to junctions. No harm done though.

Our next stopping place was a Route 66 museum. A small place of various memorabilia and selling pretty much anything you could want with the US66 logo on it. Postcards and a few other bits were purchased, so watch out for one of those….maybe.

As we exited the museum it started to rain. In a matter of minutes it had turned from a few spots to a full on downpour. Waterproofs were donned and we headed off again. Almost immediately the sun came out and we then all baking! We duly stopped and removed them all again and continued on to the very famous, around these parts Meramec Caverns, caves where Jessie James hid after being chased by a possie. Here we had an ice cream and had a brief chat with a very excited, young and overweight woman, who practically wet herself when she knew where we came from and what we were doing.

From there things went downhill. Sure the weather was now looking fine, however, a bizarre incident meant one of our party got lost and we spent 20 minutes waiting at the side of the road while Gary went  tearing back to try and find them. What happened was..... Vivien on bike 3, dropped her (rather Gary’s ) neck scarf. As the party was quite stretched out, 3 of us. made a left turn. Bike 4 saw we had and waited for bike 5. In the meantime bike 6 (David & Francoise) had seen the scarf in the road and turned round to get it, by which time bike 5 had made the left turn. Not realising, bike 6 went sailing by the turning. Eventually we carried on and after David having rung Gary, we met up again at a petrol station down the road, for the final stint to our hotel in Rolla. Plus the scarf was saved!

This place is more like a motel, albeit a Best Western. Bikes are all parked in front of our ground floor rooms. Currently, the group is sitting in chairs in the car park, drinking beer from Gary’s cold store and listening to his music on the truck's CD player. Bizarre. This shortly after we have eaten at the steak house at the bottom of the car park. This is unbelievable. We have just paid $10 for an eat as much as you like buffet. There’s steaks, chicken, fish, sausage, ribs, etc. a huge long salad bar with umpteen different salady options (though heavens knows why) and another bar serving puddings. All washed down once again with the free refill soft drinks. The salad bar alone makes those in pizza hut look like the crisper in your fridge! Looking around it’s not hard to see a number of very obese people and easy to see just how they get that way given the amount of food on offer. Never the less, we did it justice. Maybe that’ll be 2 stone by the end of the tour!! Gary, we have quickly discovered, likes his food. He is somewhat rotund as proof of that.

Tomorrow we have a long day ahead. We have to cover about 320 miles. Cue for a song, we’re headed for Tulsa. (only 24 hours….). Weather is currently looking to be HOT once again. Dare say there will be the smattering of thunder storms too.

So far it’s been fantastic. Wouldn’t have changed a thing.

Come back tomorrow to see how we managed the long ride to Tulsa.

Neill

US66 Tour - Day 2 - Chicago to Springfield - the tour begins.

What is it about me, Harleys and rain?  Woke up to the sound of thunder and rain beating against the window. Stopped by the time I dragged my sorry ass (learning yank already) out of bed. Had brekkie and met my fellow travellers. Had only met two the night before (Simon and Vivien). Had pep talk from The Bear, riding techniques, etc, and then headed off in a limo to pick up the bikes.

We had a short 40 minute ride from picking the bikes up to our first stop, the rocket man at the Lauchpad Diner, by which time one of the party (Bill) had dropped  his Road King twice. Bit different from the Matchless he’s used to riding. There is another tour going on at the same time as ours, through Eaglerider. Loads of Aussies and South Africans. A huge party of them. Luckily for us we are only six bikes. Nice and compact.

Taking it nice and steady. It’s hot though, freakin' hot. People are shedding clothes at every stop. The support vehicle is loaded with two ice coolers, with water in. Whenever we stop we can fill our bottles. Gary shows those of us with screens fitted to the bike a neat place to tuck the water bottle, especially useful when you have cruise control so can use either hand. A left turn and a bump and my bottle decides to eject out the side door, causing a mass pile up at the intersection. Only joking. I did lose the water though.

We stop for lunch at a welcomingly cool greekish establishment. I spot gyros platter on the menu and plump for that. Not realising it also comes with salad and a pud for $10. I’m stuffed by the time I’ve finished. Mind you, those that ordered the salad could hardly talk. Over in UK, what it was served in would be the serving dish for everyone, not just one person!!

People we have met so far have been very friendly. Lots of people just wave as you go by and they even stop to chat at the gas station.

Had a few spots of rain on a couple of occasions but nothing more than that. Otherwise sunny and temp in the 80s. Stopped off at a couple of old ‘attractions’, a restored garage and another tall man, this time holding a hotdog. Also passed through a town, which only last week, was hit by a tornado. Lots of firewood lying about! Apparently nobody was injured though. By the time we hit Springfield and our hotel, we were all ready for a beer or two, not all of us food! Walked down to some BBQ grill type place recommended by Gary and had a red Irish beer and a wheat beer, plus some mini chicken burger things in a spicy sauce. Not bad. Am convinced I shall be at least a stone heavier if this continues!

Tomorrow we’re off to Rolla, Missouri  via St Louis and the Mississippi river. It’s an early start though so this is all for now.

Apologies for pic upload malfunction last night, Day 1 & 2 pics have now been put on flickr.

For those with restrictive company networks, there’s one below.

Neill

US66 Tour - Day 1 - London to Chicago

It’s 8pm as I sit and write this, my first blog from the land of the free. 2am UK time, so I have been up 20 hours. I don’t feel particularly tired but my shoulders are killing me, on account of carrying two heavy bags about all day.

Flight was delayed by about 25 mins (what BA had a delayed flight?) finally getting off the ground about 12:10. Stand to stand was about 7h 45m. Fairly quiet flight, especially as the people next to me were elderly Germans, so not exactly wanting to pass the time. Mind you, Hermina seemed the tactile type, that’s to say she spent most of the flight monopolising the armrest, nudging me and generally making a nuisance of herself. She managed to switch my reading light on/off with her elbow on more than one occasion!!

For those that have never been to the US before, you’ll know this is my first time, I can honestly say it is the most difficult place to get in to.   1 hour from landing to clearing passport control. I’ve had my fingerprints taken and my photo, however, mercifully I was spared any body search or having to empty the entire contents of my cases.

With a little help from friendly natives I made my way to the CTA station,. the train to the city. Me get a cab, you must be joking. $40 as opposed to $3. Mind you, by the time I had taken the wrong train and had to lug the cases up several flights of steps, I was half thinking I should have spent the money. Journey time by train to hotel about 75 mins, unless you go wrong, so about 90, by which time I was sweating buckets. Did the formalities, made myself known to our tour guide, Gary ‘the bear’ Fleshman and also met Simon & Vivien, a seemingly nice couple a little older than myself I would say.

I then got changed and went out to visit the Willis (Sears) Tower skydeck. That is one tall mofo building I can tell you. The lift takes you to the 103^rd floor in 60 seconds!!!  As the feet increment the audio tells you the structures around the world at that height. This is the tallest building in the western hemisphere. The views from 103 are spectacular to say the least. It wasn’t too clear but they say you can see for 50 miles when it is. Then there’s the ledge, or ledges to be exact. 4 glass boxes that hang out over the side of the building. An experience.

After leaving the tower I took a walk round the block to locate the start and end signs for R66.

And that my friends is my first day.

Tomorrow we have a welcome brekkie at 7am, then head off to pick up the Harleys. Forecast isn’t looking too promising, i.e. rain/thunder but it will be warm.

One thing I noticed on my trip around the block. These yanks sure like their Dunkin Donuts……..every other bleedin’ shop almost.

Check out some of my first day pics by clicking the shield. For those without blog access, here’s one for you.

Cheers

Neill

Ready for the off

This will be my last entry this side of the Atlantic. I’m just about ready for the off now, with all but a few things to throw (rather cram) into my case. I’m mindful of not getting too close to the weight limit, as I have an internal US flight in 2 weeks and they use pounds rather than kilos. They also charge $50 if you go over!! Course, if I weighed 20st like the average American, that’d be OK!!

 

I’ll be staying with my good lady tomorrow evening and then it’s just a short walk (10 mins) down to the station to catch the 7.01 high speeder into St Pancras. I should be checking in at Heathrow around 9.00. Scheduled take off is 11.45.

 

Watch out for my first US blog entry on Thursday evening (Friday morning for you) when I’ll hopefully have some tales to tell of the flight and trip up the Sears Tower. I know, I know, it’s not called that anymore (Willis Tower).

 

Cheerio

Dry(ish) Run

Took the advice of my good lady and had a bit of a dry run on the packing front. Most of what I intend to take, minus a weeks’ worth of pants and socks was fitted, fairly easily, into the big case I have. I’m also taking a smallish holdall for in the cabin. That will carry my helmet, my laptop, camera, etc. Although I’m taking my mesh jacket and the weather forecast is indicating temperatures no lower than about 75F, I’m still undecided about taking my leather jacket as well. It’s a bit bulky, so I’d have to wear that on the journey rather than try and cram it into the case. Decisions, decisions.

 

Despite the BAstewards best efforts, it looks like there will be no affects of the action on my scheduled flight. It has been running each day during the first strike, so I’m confident it’ll be OK. In any case, I fly the day after the strike finishes.

 

11 days to go and counting!

 

Neill