Route66 in 2009
Monday, 15 June 2009 11:10
April 30th - We flew to Chicago (via Atlanta) but since we had a stop-over in Atlanta such a trip means you have to be patient and happy enough to hang around in the airport
On the flight from Atlanta to Chicago Marion gave a whole new interpretation of 'fear of flying' 
Instead of a hotel we found a wonderful bed&breakfast (named 'Under the ginko tree) which is a beautiful old house, lovingly restored to it's original beauty. We got the masterbedroom. 
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May 1st - Chicago is a typical large american city. Plenty of very tall buildings but also some nice art in the middle of town (Millenium Park). The faces on the 'fountain' are from Chicago citizens.
It is also the start of Route66 which strange enough is signposted as End:
We did not have a room yet for the second night in Chicago so we decided to go to Eaglerider (where we rent the Harley from) to ask them if they knew of a decent hotel in the area so we could get started early. Instead of a hotelroom they offered us the bike so we could get out of town early. We happily took the bike (a brand black new Electra with only 18 miles on the counter) and headed out, me on the bike and Marion in our ZZ-Top car:
Next door to our hotel for the night was a nice small Mexican restaurant where we had a nice meal while being serenaded by a mariachi band! 
May 2nd - In the morning we had to drop of the car first after which we headed out for breakfast with Lulu and 'The Wombat'
. We then proceeded down to Joliet, Wilmington (what a guy) and further south. 
Along the road you can find some surprising old cars, very nice ones indeed!
. We rode all the way to Springfield, Illinois to meet up with Marcia, Dave, Bobby G and Matt for a nice dinner
May 3rd - In Springfield we had to wait for the dentist so we decided to go around town and see the sights with Dave, Matt and Bobby. On Marion's request we went to the Dana-Thomas house, a house which must be nightmare for any sane architect. It is filled with Jugendstil like furniture and trimmings and a maze of little corridors, open rooms and staircases. In itself nice but way over the top!
After that we went to a local bike show. Since we were rather early there was not much going on yet (apart from us being interviewed for local TV) so we decided to go the Cozy Dog for their speciality, a HotDog deepfried in batter. Unfortunately (or lucky as most cardiologists will say!) the place was closed. On the other side of the road a car-show was going on with loads of old cars. I am not much of a car fan but this red pickup is a beauty!
We hung around there for some time before we headed out to Decatur for a BBQ with Charlie and his wife. Some neighbours (also Harley fans) came by and we had a very enjoyable evening!.
May 4th - First to the dentist for Marion's crown. Once that was sorted out we went with Charlie, Matt and Bobby to Becky's Barn. (http://www.beckysbarn.com/Route66Visitors.html) After that we took the red brick road and ended up at de Harley dealer in Alton where we picked up up Jim Dawson, EZLarry and Andy. I bought some highway pegs and stuck them on the bike straight away. After that we went for lunch to Fast Freddie's (a good hamburger for 99 cents) and the on a rideout along the Mississippi.
After the tour we went to EZ Larry's for a nice meal with pulled pork and then frozen concrete at Ted Drewes.
By the time we reached the hotel we were knackered!
May 5th - EZ Larry and Andy came to pick us up in the hotel. When we were almost out of the parking lot we were stopped by a man in a sharp suit whom I at first did not recognize. Matt looks quite different in a suit and tie!
Nothing very special to tell about the ride apart from a nice ride with nice people (and nice food...). We rode through Rolla where there is a replica of StoneHenge. We looked around but failed to find it up until we gave up and decided to go on. On the way out of course we passed, exactly in a spot where you cannot stop nor park so we just waved at it.
We also found the world's largest rocking chair:
at the Fanning outpost. For lunch we went to Diana's in St. James, one of those diners which we would love to have close to our house, good food for nice price. After lunch we rode to Devil's Elbow and after that Larry returned home. After visitting the local HD dealer in Lebanon Andy went north to Kansas. At Ozark Harley Davidson I bought some extra luggage bags which I added to the bike immediately. We rode some extra miles on the old route but the rain was coming so we changed into rain gear, took the interstate and are now in a hotel with a couple of beers we bought at the petrol station next door. Tired and almost ready to get some sleep!
May 6th - When we went to bed yesterday it was raining, this morning started misty but cleared up wonderfuly well. We first went to PFI Western Wear to get us some cowboy boots and then took the old 66 towards Carthage. In Carthage we had lunch in a diner on the wonderful town square where I noticed the bike had become rather dirty. It gave me the chance to write an appropriate message on the topcase.
After towards Kansas and 4 women on the route. Melba greeted us like long lost family and we had a nice chat with her, Abe and Vanessa.
Of course we had to get a picture of us with Tow Mater!
We met Dean Walker, a man who can rotate his legs so that his feet point backwards, on the bridge between Galena and Baxter springs
after which we went on to Oklahoma. Miami seemed nice enough so got a hotel here, cruised along the mainstreet a couple of times and are now enjoying a cold beer!
May 7th - We left the hotel rather early and first went to Afton to meet with Laurel and Ron the Tattooman.
They pointed us to a very old alignment of Route66, the sidewalk highway which is old one-lane street.
All along the route you see empty buildings, often derelict and long since abandoned. Not only buildings though, there are a lot of old cars to be found! 
Near Foyle lived a guy who after his retirement decided to build a totempole. Apparently he had no problem starting but did not know when to finish. In 1948 he has built the largest totempole in the world. Not exactly the nicest but it sure is big!
In Catoosa an equally strange person decided to give his a wife a wedding present: a large blue whale. It is now open to the public: 
We can vouch for the fact that every now and then weird characters can be found stalking the whale! 
We are now in Bristow in our Hummel B&B, a complete house which you can rent as a bed&breakfast (http://www.visitbristowok.com/hummel/), it almost feels like home!
May 8th - In the morning the skies looked very dark so we decided to keep our rainclothes within reach when we left. In Chandler we had a great breakfast in 'The Country kitchen' after which we stored the rainclothes, the weather was getting nice again. We had a long ride through Oklahoma with big longhorn cows, wide views and red burned hands. The normal gloves are way to hot to ride so I have been riding without gloves and now my hands are bright red... In a local hardware store we bought a couple of simple working gloves, cut off the fingers tips so I can use the camera while wearing them and this improves things immensely!
We stopped at the Round Barn, Pops and Lucille's ROadhouse in Hydro.
For the night we planned to stay in Weatherford but did not find any decent hotel so rode on to Clinton where it is WARM!
May 9th - Slept well in the hotel opposite the Route66 museum so before heading out we visitted th museum which is worth the time! Once again threatening skies so once again rainclothes and once we hit the road the skies clear and it becomes warm. Our rainclothes up to now have been wetter on the inside (from sweating in them) than the outside but that suits us just fine! We arrived in Erick where 'The Mediocre Musicians' were not open. On the way to Texola we found Kobel's Place, an old deserted building which was a nice starter for Texola which is a whole deserted town.
We visitted the Devil's Rope museum, a place where people keep themselves busy with the exciting sport of barbed wire collecting. They have hundreds of samples of different sorts of barbed wire and I bet you will never guess what you can buy in the museum giftshop!
In COnway there is supposed to be the bug-ranch (something like the Cadillac Ranch but with Volkswagens) but we could not find it. In Amarillo we got a room at 'The Big Texan' which I would recommend to anybody! Very nice room, decent price and a fun restaurant! They serve a 72Oz steak (2 kilo!) which, if you eat it in one hour, is free. The record now is 8 minutes and 53 seconds!!! We of course did not een try it although we had a good meal. After the meal we got to talk with somebody from Slovakia, an English couple, two american truckers covered in tattoo's and assorted other people. Had great time until the truckers ordered a plate of Prairie Oysters (fried bull balls) which I did not even want to try!
May 10th - After a very good night sleep we went to find Combine City, yet another Cadillac Ranch look-alike but this time with COmbine Harvesters. The things americans come up with when they are bored :-)
After that we went to a Denny's diner for the worst meal we ever had in the US (ok, apart from the prairie oysters that is...) and then onto the Cadillac Ranch. What a weird place, in the middle of a field 10 Cadillacs with their nose in the ground.
In Vega we talked a policeman out of a very nice police badge and then had Ugly Crust Pie in the Midpoint Cafe in Adrian. This is the official middle of ROute66 so we've already done half of it! 
In Tucumcari one should stay at the Blue Swallow motel (or so we had been told) and we found it almost immedately. We stopped there and the owner already knew we were coming and had even reserved a room for us. As it turns out the english couple we met in The Big Texan were there before us and convinced the owner to keep a room for us. The stories are right, if you are in Tucumcari you should stay in the Blue Swallow! A nice place with very authentic but clean rooms, a very nice owner, beautiful neon signs and friendly guests. We spent the whole night outside with the aforementioned english couple, 2 dutch people, 4 american brothers on a roadtrip and a very bad BUddy Holly imitator. A very nice night indeed and a recommendable hotel! 
May 11th - Again a dark morning with threatening skies. It seemed to become a tradition, we dress up in our rainclothes and nothing happens. Well, forget the tradition. This morning we took the route104 since route66 is under heavy construction. The 104 takes you up into the mountains towards Las Vegas (New Mexico) and the clouds were hanging very low. So low that we got wet but worse, the sight was almost nothing so we had to go very very slow and it became freezing cold. When we arrived in Las Vegas we first jumped into the visitor centre to get a bit warm and then in a nice mexican restaurant for some good food. By then the sun did come out and we are now sitting in the sun in a very nice adobe motel.
May 12th - We left Las Vegas early to ride to Santa Fe.
Las Vegas is nice enough but there is not much to be seen. Santa Fe has a nice towncentre and a we found yet another Adobe hotel almost downtown.
May 13th - From Santa Fe we took the old Route14 almost straight south to get to the town of Madrid. In itself a very nice little town which became famous because a large part of the movie Wild Hogs (a very funny movie!) was filmed here. Those who have seen the movie will probably recognize the diner:
Along the road some weird things can be seen: 
We of course buy souvenirs like anybody else, what do you think of this:
A faucet in the shape of an old water well. Of course it remains to be seen if we can use back in Amsterdam because the fittings will most likely be of a different size but we will find out eventualy. From Madrid we crossed Albuquerque and went on to Grants. Not exactly the centre of the world but convenient for tomorrow.
May 14th - We left Grants to also leave Route66 for a moment. This because we wanted to go south a bit to visit the Wolf Sanctuary. This is a place where they save and keep wolves which stupid people took in as a pet, only to find out that a wild wolf is not pet material!
An impressive place with many beautiful wolves:
To get there you need to follow Route 53 which is a very very nice road to follow with some very typical New Mexico scenery!
We are now in the EL Morro RV park which has a few cabins. They have a very rustic feel but are very nice and in a beautiful (almost serene) surrounding.
May 15th - We wanted to go and look at the Zuni Pueblo first but since there were religious ceremonies going on everything was closed. Therefor we went on towards the Painted Desert Trading Post. To get thre you have to take the interstate and take exit 320. THis almost imediately changes into a dirt road: 
The dirt road crosses what is left of the old ROute66 road. This is asphalt but in a very very bad state. We were surprised that we had all of our fillings by the time we got there. 
After a mile or two the trading post comes into sight. 
Finaly, I made it to the trading post! 
We had a good look around and then departed to go to Holbrook where we would nmeet some other Harley riders at the WigWam hotel. 
From left to right Dennis, Frank, Eric and Dries.
May 16th - We got woken up at some god-forsaken hour by Frank, trying to break down the door from our tent (get it, a door in a tent?). He then proceeded to warm up his bike so that everybody within a mile radius was awake also.
We headed out for breakfast and then went in the direction of Kingman. We first stopped in Winslow on 'the corner'
After that we stopped in Seligman for icecream.
In large parts of Arizona the old Route66 does not exist anymore. Therefor we had large parts of I-40 to ride and Eric had the chance to get some sleep, thanks to his cruise control.Dennis:
Frank 'I am not a Mexican' Milatzo:
Eric (awake while this picture was taken):
We are now in Kingman enjoying a cold beer and pizza although pizza is very painful to eat when your lips are sunburnt!
May 17th - This morning we were invited for breakfast but first Eric needed to repair his shifter link: 
At about 0800 we went to Cracker Barrel where we met Jim Hinckley (from the Kingman Route66 Association) and his wife and son. As a bonus Johan Burgmeijer turned up, a dutch guy who was doing all of route66 on a bicycle! 
After that we took the scenic route to Oatman. A beautifull road but full of twists, turns and with a lot of mountians so it was a matter of taking it slow. Well, I did at least, Eric had entirely differtent ideas about that so we lost him quite quicky. 
Once in Oatman we quickly got into an argument with some of the free roaming donkeys but Frank chased them away for us! 
After Oatman it was a long but mainly HOT drive to Barstow. We went through the desert which is on the east of California and the west of Arizona. This is about 150 miles of virtually straight road at over 40 degrees Celsius so by the time we arrived in Barstow we were properly cooked! 
May 18th - After having gotten up to say goodbye to Frank and Dennis whe were going home we got ourselves together and left well before 0700. Just outside of Barstow we found the bottleforest which are tree-like structures made of metal and bottles. We spoke to the guy who builds them and he said he had been working on them since 2000. They looked nice but I imagine they really shine when the sun is out!
For the rest not much worth mentioning here. It was quite a nice drive until we reached greater Los Angeles. We wanted to follow the old route66 to the Santa Monica pier but you encounter a traffic light on almost every block and they all seem to be programmed to go red when you get in their vicinity! This is true, I have never seen so many traffic lights and so many red traffic lights. If America wants to do something simple and quick about petrol conservation they should synchronize those lights at something like 30 miles per hour so not every car has to stop at every traffic light.
At one stage I almost got cramp in my left arm from pulling the clutch handle so we got onto the interstate and did the last bit easily. Having arrived at the pier we made some pictures after having found out that there is not sign or somethign saying 'end of route66'. Oh well, we did it anyway! We rode 2284 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles, met a lot of people, made a lot of new friends, got terribly sunburned, had a lot of fun and all in all a very good time!
A big thank you to everybody we met and everybody who gave advise!