Sunday 13.10.13 peterbrownroute66, Route 66 blog, Get Your Kicks On Route 66
Bertha has got a very firm rear end this morning so the squirty foam must have done the trick. Our original plan was to go onto the Grand Canyon today, and even though it has just been re-opened I am still sticking to Plan E which is to visit the skywalk on the west side prior to going to Las Vegas. Today we have rode back to Flagstaff to pick up Route 66 where we left off, we've had quite a long de-tour as the road from Page has had a massive land slide and will be shut for a couple of years. Anyway it was good to be back on the old Route 66 there was a couple of long of original gravel road from Bellemont to Williams which slowed us down to about 15mph. We are now at our overnight stop in Williams which is a very nice two horse town with loads of character and plenty of steak houses ( so Pauline it steak for us tonight ).
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The de-tour was a very good road |
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Didn't see a thing on the road |
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It was worth doing this for the experience |
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Williams was the very last Town to be bypassed on October 1984 |
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Check out the luggage ( who needs to go to the gym ) |
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He's got a good hand, I'm out on this one |
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Pam's 1st in the que as she's starving |
Monday 14.10.13 peterbrownroute66, Route 66 blog, Get Your Kicks On Route 66
Phew! it seems to have been a hard day today yet we have only done 100 miles. It was dark when we checked into our hotel this evening and it's all Bertha's fault. We woke nice and early to discover she had a nice coat of frost and a very flat rear end, as we were only in a two horse town there was no chance of getting it fixed so we limped round to the petrol station for another tin of foam and 50psi in the tyre for good measure. Then it was off to keep to our planned route and worry about it at the other end. The quality of Route 66 has been very good but signage is getting very rare as most of them seem to be have been stolen by tourists. We traveled through Ash fork which has very little to offer. Then onto Seligman which is the complete opposite. Loads of nick knack tack and 4 coach loads of tourists. It was very nice but glad that the whole route is not like this. We then went onto visit the Grand Canyon Caverns, it is the countries largest dry cavern and you can even stop down their for the night at a cost of $700, as there was no wifi we gave it a miss. Then we headed to hackberry trading post. It has changed very little since the last time we visited approximately 7yrs ago on a trip to Las Vegas. Before heading to our overnight stop at Kingman I thought it might be a good idea to get Bertha checked out at the Harley Dealer in the town who gave me some more bad news and hefty bill at the end. Pops I think we will need another whip round as that £5.00 you sent didn't go very far.
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Route 66 heading to Kingman |
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We love these 1 mile trains and they always give us a honk |
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Seligman |
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Pam's bought more goodies |
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Hotel room in. Grand Canyon Cavern |
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It wasn't a patch on antelope canyon |
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Hackberry store |
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New front and rear tyre and 3 sets of brake pads and $724 bill. |
We Forgot to mention how quick the Harley dealer dealt with us as we just turned up un announced and the whole job was done in 2 hours which I think is excellent.
Tuesday 15.10.13 peterbrownroute66, Route 66 blog, Side trip
We've had a 140 mile side trip off Route 66 to visit the west side of the Grand Canyon. A lady at Seligman warned me the road was rough and shouldn't take my bike and boy was she right. We've had to do 18 mile of pure off road dirt track and I'm amazed I didn't drop Bertha. Also the Indians on Canyon west make Dick Turpin look like a saint, talk about daylight robbery. Anyway that's my whinge for today done with. Other that that we have had a fantastic time. We started off with a helicopter ride, then onto the sky walk, but unfortunately you are not allowed cameras. It was then off to Guano Point for a 360 degree panoramic view. It wouldn't surprise me if they lost at least a couple of tourists a week over the edge as there are no barriers and it is a little frightening in places.
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This was the easy bit |
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Pam panning for gold |
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Does my belly look big in the sweat shirt? (Glad it's not a side on shot ) |
Wednesday 16.10.13 peterbrownroute66, Route 66 blog, Side trip
We have left Arizona and are now at Las Vegas which is in the state of Nevada. The ride up has been lovely and was especially nice to see tarmac all the way. Just prior to leaving Kingman we called at the Route 66 museum which was very good. It was then onto the Hoover Dam, which is a marvellous piece of civil engineering. It took 5yrs to build and was completed in 1936 and created the 122 mile long lake called Lake Mead. We are now checked in to the Luxor hotel and have a monster suite, which is the biggest we have ever stopped in and makes our apartment on Anglesey look tiny. O'h forgot to say I got pulled by the police in Las Vegas.
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Bertha is running like a new bike so thought she deserved a photo |
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Hoover Dam |
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This is just the dining room |
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View of the strip |
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Bellagio fountain |
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Venetian |
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I got a right sorting out off these two |
Thursday 17.10.13 peterbrownroute66, Route 66 blog, Side trip
As it's final count down to the end of our holiday we decided to make most of the day, so we did a 310 mile round trip to Death Valley which is surrounded by mountains, and has a valley in the centre which in places is 100ft below sea level. The scenery is spectacular and on the way back we called at the Stratosphere hotel as we both wanted to do the scream ride which sends you over the edge of the building ( What an adrenalin rush ). Pauline it's no steak here, It's all you can eat buffet which is ginormous, well my portion is anyway.
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We did a 100 miles before seeing a gas station |
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Stratosphere |
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Over the edge "scary" |
Friday 18.10.13 peterbrownroute66, Route 66 blog, get your kicks on Route 66
We headed back to Kingman to pick up Route 66 again. On-route we spotted helicopter rides over the Hoover Dam, so it was a quick U turn and flight was booked, which was far better than the one we did at Grand Canyon West. We then rode through golden valley and onto our dinner stop at Oatman, which was a old gold mining town where two prospectors found $10 million dollars worth of gold in 1915. The towns population expanded to 3,500 people in one year. This little town looked so authentic and even had wild donkeys roaming the streets, as our daughter Joanne informed us it has a bar full of dollar bills stuck to all the walls. We arrived at our over night stop at Needles early enough to enjoy the outside swimming pool and jacuzzi.
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Aerial shot of Hoover dam |
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Lake Mead |
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On- route to Oatman |
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Oatman Main Street |
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They call these donkey's Burros here. |
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Dollar bill bar at Oatman |
Saturday 19.10.13 peterbrownroute66, Route 66 blog, get your kicks on Route 66
We've had a nice ride along Route 66 up to our 2 night stop at Barstow, however some of the road was in that bad a condition it was smoother to ride on the gravel hard shoulder. We had planned to visit the Pisgah Crater, but the road was that rough we gave it a miss. Next stop was to visit Angela's son Ben who's on a training exercise with the US marines for a few months. Unfortunately we went to the wrong base so I texted Angela who replied back with a garbled message saying she had been on the sherry and will come back to us when she's compesmentous.
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In the mornings you see the odd tarantula crossing the rd |
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I've got a new hobby which is train spotting |
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Wow look at this one |
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We have only seen about 6 cars and a few bikes all day on 66 |
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We did see plenty of abandoned buildings today |
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I've left my mark on this stretch of Route 66 |
That completes our week 6. Click on newer post on the bottom left to get to week 7.
Don't forget to comment 1st please
Get your kicks on peterbrownroute66
35 comments:
Glad to hear you will get the Grand Canyon experience. We arrived home today still amazed at all we did. Hope you like Vegas - lots to see don't miss the fountain and conservatory at Bellagio. At the Venetian the indoor canal was drained to clean and may not be filled but the shopping area is quite nice. Good show tickets at the discount tix booths up and down the Strip we have seen million dollar quartet. Human Nature. Jersey Boys. Le Reve is a Cirque show that is unbelievable. Good luck in Vegas. Jane
i must have forgotten to click publish on my comment yesterday.i wanted to know what the smoke signals read on the horizon?
glad to see you are still managing to travel light
i had a good day yesterday. jack and jenny came with their dog zack
, and we had a good game of catch me if you can [no contest]
love your photos and stories
take care
Hi Jane glad your still following us. it's been good that you have been two steps in front of us and will miss your bulletin's,
Hi Peter,
Glad to hear you are getting some steak now. It is truely amazing seeing your adventure each day, I really look forward to catching up with you both. Modern technology is brilliant.
Love Pauline & Duncan
Hi there Ferrari Sam. The smoke signals were from our guides Mum to say tea will be ready at 6 and can he call at the trading post on the way home for some milk.
I don't think we would have been able to do this without all our gadgets especially the Tom Tom and the internet
like your halo[in the card game]
Oh Peter such bad news about your bike. Guess there is a reason why there are Harley dealers along 66. My friends have been asking me two question to ask you. 1- why is traveling 66 such a big thing for English people on their Harley's? 2- how can you take off work for all the weeks unless you are a teacher here and have your summers off like my daughter does no one gets that kind of vacation time.
Hi Jane these are hard questions
1. We went to Las Vegas about 7 years ago and hired a Harley and did a little bit of Route 66 and have always fancied doing. The whole stretch to get get a feel of America.
2. As they say in the Uk I'm loaded and we are both spending our children's inheritance ( sorry Steven and Joanne there will be nothing left )
Jane have you had a look at my other blogs on the right hand side ?
Don't worry dad, it's not gone unnoticed that your spending my inheritance like it's going out of fashion, which is why I have organised a hitman so it puts a stop to it (ps, can u pay him first, his bill is almost as much as Berthas) xx
hi jane, did you not realise that peter is old and retired!
from his [ even older ] dad
Hi. Very funny. We can take early retirement here at age 62. Which I did because Tom, my husband, retired at 65 so we began our retirement at the same time. Most people have to wait til at least 66 who are babyboomer generation. Things are changing so people coming after us will have to work longer. We were lucky that we could do it now. - Jane
By the looks of with the rate my mum & dad are spending I'll be working till I'm 80.
Guess my two kids feel the same!!!
did pam find any gold?
my friend zack is coming again today but it is bucketing it down
Hi Peter,
Perhaps you have been eating too many burgers and pizzas? I hope you have booked for extra weight on your way back ha ha
Love
Pauline
How did two hobos manage to book a suite like that?
Did they think you were in fancy dress? I bet it would be cheaper to have a weeks holiday in Luxor Egypt!
Hi Peter and Pam
How did you manage to get to Venice and back so quickly? I can not believe that you have just over one week left. Photos are brilliant and the Hoover Dam looks very interesting. Enjoy your day.
Love Pauline
I worked some of my charm and gave them the sob story. That didn't work so I had to give them the credit card.
She was there hours and didn't find a thing
Oh oh I know it's hard to watch the news when in Vega but there is a big Harley recall and do not drive notice. Hope it's not yours'
Hi jane it doesn't effect our bike as it's a 2006 model. Also to finish answering question I am a semi retired builder, when the recession hit the uk a few yews ago, I decided instead of laying anyone off in the office it would be me that goes.
I'm not worried about the inheritance, I'm more worried about what your going to do when u get back, you can sod off if you think your mithering me everyday in work, using all my paper, Internet, phone to call America to plan your next trip, and over feeding my dog! Ps bet you was reet upset about getting pulled!!!
All I want when I get back is a pay rise so I can pay off my Barclay card bill
I don't actually believe u went on the X-Scream ride, I have been on it & I think u dad may have done it but I think mum would have backed out. If u did go on it, well done! X
Yes we did but we nearly went on the sky jump by mistake now that is frightening even just to watch someone jumping off the building
Did u put $1 on the wall? You could have wrote your blog address on it x
No we didn't as money is getting tight. We just grabbed a handful and run out of town being chaised by a load of donkeys.
fantastic shot of the hoover dam , are you on schedule now?
there is another fiver in the post ,you had better make it last this time.there is no more
take care
Hi Peter & Pam,
Pretty sharp on the blog I see, we only met you yesterday outside Oatman and already the Burros are famous!
BTW: Which road near Page is the one washed out? We're going that direction early next year, towing a 32ft 5th wheel.
Nice to have met you guys and enjoy your last few days of sunshine!
Jim Joan Brian & Bill (the truck)
P.S. if you want to save money, ditch the Harley and get a Jap bike & a tent (that's how I did it till I got married :-))
We have one floating day but decided to tag it onto Los Angeles as we have a bit to sort out, get suite cases, sort out engine repair under warrantee, sort out shipping, etc etc
Hi. Thanks for the comments. It was the us 89 from page to Flagstaff which was affected by the landslide and the detour was well sign posted which took you via 89T.
so its every morning, coffee and your blog, route 66 the alphabet tour, just brilliant.
mags tony
Hi glad your enjoying it. We have seen plenty of camper vans or as they say here RVs so you will have to give it a go, but I think you will struggle getting yours on a plane.
I do not like the photo of the tarantula one bit! I can't believe your trip is nearly over, I can't wait to see you both, iv really missed u & it's been so strange knowing u are so far away.
If u have enough space feel free to bring me some menthol lights cigarettes, preferably the slim ones but if u can bring any ill e great flu for whichever u get xxx
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