My Route 66 Tips. Peterbrownroute66

This is only my opinion which you may find helpful if you are planning a similar trip.

Planning

I have read many blogs from people who have planned there route or just hit the road and picked up Route 66 as they went along. I would defininatley recommend you have some form of plan as it is very easy to miss out many of the sights that Route 66 has to offer.

If anyone would like a copy of my excell spread sheet then email me on 231peterbrown@gmail.com you can then amend it as necessary to adapt to your own time table and tailor it to suite what you want to see

 

How long to allow

People we have spoken to on-route who have allowed two weeks have said some days they have been checking into there rooms when's it's dark and have also skipped some of the old sections to make up time, I would therefore recommend if circumstances permitted give yourself 3 weeks.

 

The road and signs

The quality of Route 66 was far better than we had expected as long as you take it steady and keep an eye out for the odd pothole. With care you could even navigate some of the dirt tracks with ease. The biggest difficulty I found was if you stopped and lean your bike to get the kick stand down your foot was slipping against the weight of the bike, so I didn't stop very often on gravel.

You couldn't navigate with the Route 66 signs but they were always nice to see along the way to assure you that you were on the right road

 

 

 

Packing

We wouldn't take as many clothes next time as it's nice to buy from the local shops to help them survive, and also most hotels have guest laundry facilities.

Packing old undies and socks and T shirts was brill, as you could ditch them after to make way for other items you have bought.

Pam bought some Sure 48 hr deodorant which is brilliant. There have been some sticky moments with the bike with one thing and another but we have never humdinged once.

I use contact lenses when riding and also took some bike glasses with a prescription lense at the back which I did use a lot as some of the roads were dusty and struggled with the contacts a few times

Hi vis waiste coats were very good as you were definitely were seen when on and off the bike which is helpful for the not so careful car and truck drivers.

 

 

 

 

 

Hotels

I'm glad we didn't pre-book our hotels as this would have caused major problems during our trip, however we did start to pre-book a couple of days before especially running up to weekends so you didn't waste any time like we did at Chicago trying to find a hotel when there was some special conference on

 

 

Gadgets

Tom Tom was top of my list with a hard copy of my itinery, I would also look at the Jerry McClanahan EZ66 Guide before setting off each morning.

Phone, camera, and iPad.

I would recommend buying a cheap phone in the USA which we certainly used most days

 

 

 

 

Tools and cleaning gear

I packed a small amount of tools and only used the Cable ties when the kick stand broke and spanner and screw driver for re-connecting the battery, I didn't do any polishing but just did a few quick washes now and then to keep her looking respectable.

 

 

 

Bike clothing

You need to bear in mind that you will be wearing your gear all day

During the riding day and casual use at night I wore karimor trainers which were brill. And for wet weather I brought hunters Roll up Wellingtons which are compact and waterproof not like the so called moterbike boots. Only used them twice but are essential.

I took my touring jacket which kept us cool and a pair of Aldi walking pants, not so good if you fall off but I don't think I could have worn my touring pants for 7 weeks. I also took 3 pairs of gloves but only used my fingerless and leather ones ( didn't need my winter gloves )

 

19.12.13

Bertha has arrived home today and that's what you call great service from James Cargo, to be able to drop off the bike in Los Angeles and then to be delivered to your door. It was a good job as the battery was flat as a pancake so I just free wheeled her down the drive and into the garage. She's now been washed and polished and put to bed for the winter

 

Door to door service

Washed and polished

 

All ready for the next adventure

 

 

 

 

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Week 7 peterbrownroute66

Sunday 20.10.13 peterbrownroute66 Get your kicks on Route 66

We've had a nice easy day, even let Pam have a 10 minute lie in this morning. Then it was off to see Calico ghost town which was an old silver mining town for a short period between 1881 to 1896 and had one of the largest silver strikes in California. After that I did some more train spotting at the railway museum in Barstow before heading back to use some of the hotels facilities. Oh Joanne I've met up with your hit man this morning and you were right I did have to pay his bill first.

 

 

 

 

 

Apparently there is still millions of dollars worth of silver here but it would cost more to extract it

 

I gave him an extra 100 bucks and he let me go unharmed but skint

 

Barstow railway station which still has plenty of the 1 mile trains passing through

 

You don't realise how big these trains are

 

 

I should have done my washing whilst in here

 

Monday 21.10.13 peterbrownroute66 Get your kicks on Route 66

It's been a very sad day today as it's our last leg of Route 66. Last load up of the bike, last fill up at the gas station, last bit of train spotting, o'h we are depressed. We did soon get cheered up when we came across the bottle range at Helendale and met the owner who was a very interesting eccentric old gentleman. We then continued to Victorville via the mother road when Dennis at Victorville HD suggested going over the mountains which would be more interesting and I agreed as we had already noticed that 66 had got swollowed up when you hit the bigger cities. It was a good choice as the scenery was fantastic and even found snow on the mountain tops. The only problem was by the time we got to LA we hit the rush hour traffic, but still got to the end point of Route 66 in one piece. Now checked into our hotel which has mega slow wifi.

 

Passing through Helendale

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suicide Bridge at Pasadena

 

 

Been there and done that

 

Tuesday 22.10.13 peterbrownroute66 Get your kicks on Route 66

Doing yesterday's post took hours as the wifi was that bad the only place I could get a good signal was to stand on a chair and hold the iPad upto the ceiling, so I had a winge this morning and checked out pronto in search of super fast wifi. The cheaper hotels always seem to come up trumps, so it was the super 8 hotel and alot closer to the airport. Today was to sort out a few things in preparation for going home, so Bertha has been booked in at Bartels Harley on Friday for the warrantee repairs to the engine and also replace some broken fearing brackets which were probably caused by the road to Grand Canyon west. Them Indians have got a lot to answer for. It was then onto Schumacher logistics at Gardena to sort out all the paperwork and explain it would be Harley who would actually drop off the bike. On the way back we have found a place to pick up some suite cases which will do in the next couple of days. The biggest part of the afternoon was free so went back to Santa Monica pier and beach for a good look round, and it is just as we expected with lovely white sand and plenty of joggers, skate boarders and people walking the dogs.

 

 

Can't get much closer than that

 

Santa Monica Beach

 

Couldn't resist another photo

 

Even the seagulls are laid back here

 

 

 

 

Wednesday 23.10.13 peterbrownroute66 Get your kicks on Route 66

Up nice and early again so it was off to visit the Nethercutt museum just past Sacramento which exhibits a very wealthy family car collection, and has been left to a trust that includes free admission. All these cars were stripped completely for full restoration and must be in better condition now than when they left the showroom. A trip to LA is not complete without a visit to Hollywood Boulevard, Sunset Strip, Beverly Hills, and the Hollywood sign, so we did the lot and I even had my photo taken with a film star. O'h forgot to mention the drivers in LA are all mad. The freeway is between 5 & 6 lanes wide and even at rush hour they are flying past you from all directions. We've already seen 3 accidents and I nearly got rear ended by a BMW who wasn't paying attention.

 

 

1906 Pope-Toledo original cost $3,500

 

1912 Alco original cost $6,000

 

1915 Model T Ford original cost $750

 

 

 

 

 

 

Millionaires row

 

Sunset Strip

 

Hollywood walk of fame. Ha I know her in front.

 

Marilyn Monroe wannabe

 

Thursday 24.10.13 peterbrownroute66 Get your kicks on Route 66

Had a nice easy day with a ride upto Malibu via the Pacific coast highway which is very picturesque. We prefer the properties here rather than at Beverly Hills or Hollywood. So there's not much to report today other than had a good chill out on the beach. O'h there was something, I had stopped to take a picture on the way back and left pam on the bike and for some reason she decided to dismount the bike from the wrong side when my back was turned and I just heard her scream and the crash of Bertha hitting the ground and braking my foot peg, siren and abit of superficial damage to the body work. I was tempted to give Bertha a kick while she was down due to the heartache she had put us through but didn't have the bottle. We had no chance of getting her upright without the help from a man who watched the whole thing. I can't have ago at Pam as when we had the hire bike I thought I'd put the kick stand down at Dixie truck stop and leant it back and we both ended up on the floor. (Dave if your still following us please don't tell gina)

 

Pacific coast highway

 

Some of the properties are fantastic

 

These must get a battering in winter

 

 

Free parking right at the beach

 

 

 

Nearly had the beach to ourselves

 

Starting to get used to LA traffic and doing a bit of filtering

 

Friday 25.10.13 peterbrownroute66 Get your kicks on Route 66

For those of you following the comments. Pam was discharged from hospital this morning and it looks like we will now get priority treatment at the airport

 

Anything for a bit of sympathy

 

For anyone who is following the blog you will know it's our last day. We have noticed that LA always seems to be in the mist which must be something to do with the landscape, and usually the sun burns through by early afternoon. So this morning we headed for The queen Mary which is docked at Long Beach. The tour ticket also included walking through a Russian submarine which was really interesting to see the inner workings and the cramped conditions they endured whilst at sea. Then it was off for some cloud bathing at long beach. We gave it 30 minutes and then moved onto Manhatten beach for some more cloud bathing before dropping Bertha off at Bartels Harley Davidson.

Total mileage for our holiday including the hire bike is 6,844.

 

 

Torpedo room

 

Land a'hoy

 

Bridge on the Queen Mary

 

 

 

Long Beach

 

 

That's what you get when you drive to fast

 

I wonder when we will next see Bertha

 

Well that's our trip over and we must say we both feel it has been an adventure and have thoughly enjoyed every minute, even when we've had problems we have always looked on the bright side. All the American people we have been fantastic and gone out of there way to help us.

 

That completes our adventure. Click on newer post on the bottom left to get to my comments.

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Get your kicks on peterbrownroute66

 

 

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