Journey's End

Thursday September 9, 2010. Start kilometers 28469. Finish kilometers 29302. Total today 933.
Friday September 10, 2010. Start kilometers 29301. Finish kilometers 30048. Total today 746.
Sunday September 12, 2010. Start kilometers 30048. Finish kilometers 30536. Total today 488.

TOTAL JOURNEY KILOMETERS 9970km.

The GS didn't quite get 10,000 total kilometers on this trip and I was tempted to drive around the block until I racked up another 30 kilometers on the odemeter but the rain was a deterent and it did feel good to be home.
Thursday saw us up and on the road by 9am to miss the tail end of the LA rush hour and we drove steady most of the day stopping for fuel, coffee and food only. Friday did not differ much from Thursday and we arrived at Johns' house in Beaverton Oregon at 5:30 pm. Unfortunately we did not get a chance to ride up the coastal highway due to time constraints as we wanted to be with our wives and to celebrate my 34th wedding aniversary on Saturday September 11.
 Saturday afforded us the first day in weeks where we did not put on a helmit and ride and the day was spent exploring Portland with the girls and of course visiting my favorite bookstore.
Sunday morning I departed Beaverton and John rode with me up to the Oregon/Washington State line before breaking off with a wave and a thumbs up. A better travelling companion I could never find. We are fortunate to have created many good memories, met a cast of wonderful and interesting people, travelled wonderful places and had more laughs than one could imagine. I felt somewhat melancholy as I waved good bye and my trip north to Vancouver was uneventfull other than encountering rain from Mt Vernon until home. And so in closing I will leave you with this tune whose lyrics were written by Bobby Troupe in 1941 and presented to Nat King Cole who recorded the hit in 1946.

"If you ever plan to motor west

Travel my way, take the Highway that's best

Get your Kicks on Route 66.

It winds from Chicago to LA

More han 2000 miles all the way

Get your kicks on Route 66.

You go through St. Louie, Jopllin, Missouri

And Oklahoma City looks mighty pretty

You'll see Amarillo, Gallop, New Mexico

Flagstaff, Arizona, don't forget Winona

Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino

Won't you get hip to this timely tip

When you make that California trip

Get your kicks on Route 66."

Until next time, so long for now.
Jim Laurence, aka John Dillinger, aka Biker Bandit.
September 12, 2010.

PS; For those of you interested I will have my images on my flickr site by the end of the month. You can view these by going to http://www.flickr.com/photos/big_easy/
Also my riding partner John has created his own Blog of this journey and it is well worth reading by going to http://john'smotorcycleadventuresandmore.blogspot.com/

Glor takes a final picture of us in front of John and Renee's house in Beaverton Oregon.

"Bad Boys Bad Boys, what ya gonna do...................."

Biker Bandit

Biker Bandit  - "Breaker breaker good buddy this is the Biker Bandit does anyone have their ears on?"

Smokey the Bear  - "Breakity break break Biker Bandit this is Smokey the Bear in a plain brown wrapper and we hear you wall to wall. Are you the dude that calls himself John Dillinger and has been robbing banks between Chicago and LA.? What's your twenty Biker Bandit?"

Biker Bandit  -  "Negatory Smokey the Bear. All of your banks are broke due to your sub prime fiasco and as such they have been impossible to rob. As for my twenty, we're 10-8, 10-10 on 66. Over and Out Bear. Maybe I'll see you on the flip flop".

Smokey the Bear -  10-4 Biker Bandit. We'll be waiting for you on the flip flop. Keep the rubber side down. Over and out."

Thursday Sept 9, 2010. Start kilometers 28469. Finish kilometers 29302. Total today 933.

OK so I fibbed a little just to fool you. You thought I was only going to do one more blog post didn't you? Well since my last posting on Tuesday we did not manage to leave LA the next day as planned. John developed a wobble on the front wheel of his Harley and it took most of the day at Bartles Harley Davidson to determine through trial and error that it was his front tire causing his shake, rattle and roll. He hit a large pothole coming into LA on Tuesday and this likely caused the tire damage. California is broke and their road system shows it. So we ended up leaving Santa Monica at 9am this morning with his Harley running smooth and my Beemer running smoother as usual and have settled in for the night in beautiful downtown Corning California. Unfortunately we didn't make it up the coastal roads due to time constraints and ended up riding the Interstate 5 route. Tomorrow we continue on to Portland to meet up with the girls and hang for a day before I depart early Sunday for home. Stay tuned.

End of the Road Beginning of the Dream.

Tuesday September 7, 2010. Start kilometers 28223. Finish kilometers 28469. Total today 246.

After traversing the Illinois prairie, the Missouri Ozark country, the tiny corner of Kansas, the Indian Territory of Oklahoma, the Panhandle of Texas, the old Spanish colony of New Mexico, and then the harsh landscape of Arizona, Route 66 finally arrives beyond the doorstep of California. California, the land of milk and honey; the land where dreams live, where fortunes are built and where the soul longs to be. Today I reach my goal and arrive in Santa Monica with cool  temperatures and under cloud covered sky. Our trip from Barstow took us just past Helendale where we visited the forest of "bottled trees" and met its owner Elmer Long another character who seemed bent on polishing weathered glass. We continued on to Pasadena and followed surface streets through Hollywood, Beverly Hills and then the Santa Monica pier at Pacific Palisades Park.
Route 66 journeys end. Tomorrow we begin our trek north to Portland where I'll spend a day visiting before continuing home riding solo for the last leg of the journey. To date I have clocked just short of 8000 kilometers since departing on August 22. I will post one more blog when I arrive home on Sunday. Stay tuned.

Elmer Long owner of the Bottle Ranch

End of the Trail

The Mother Road

John and I on the Santa Monica Pier

The Bottle Ranch

The Burrow and the Roadrunner.

Monday September 6, 2010. Start kilometers 27863. Finish kilometers 28223. Total today 360 kilometers.

Today we departed Kingman Arizona and took the Oatman Hwy up over Sitgreaves Pass. This road was very steep and very crooked with hairpin curves and sheer drops coming hot and heavy. I did notice the interesting variety of stone or cable guardrails ( or the lack thereof ) that offered me faint comfort for the scary drops. Nearing the top of the Pass we stopped at Cool Springs which has a recently reconstructed 1926 store which was rebuilt the first time for the movie "Universal Soldier". This store is now run by some very interesting characters one of them being Pam who had a pet Roadrunner. She gave us a demonstration of feeding him while entertaining us with her significant cleavage. After descending back down we entered the town of Oatman which was once mined for gold and now mined for tourist dollars with shops, cafes, staged gunfights and wild burros wandering the streets. The burros are the towns most celebrated inhabitants and are descendants of forebears that were brought here in gold mining days as beasts of burden. We parked and wandered around and eventually met an old timer sitting on the front porch of the historical post office. "Walking Bill" as he is known by the locals lives two miles out in the desert. With no car or transportation this 78 year old man walks into town once a week. We spent a half hour sitting with him as he explained the history of the area. The old Oatman Hotel is where Clark Gable and Carol Lombart came for their honeymoon in 1939.
The winding highway finally straightened and took us onward into the state of California. through Needles, Essex, Cadiz Summit, Bagdad and Ludlow. The road through Bagdad and Ludlow was extremely bad and bone jarring. I was beginning to worry that Johns Harley would start loosing bolts however we did give it frequent inspections and it managed to stay in one piece. We stopped at the Bagdad Cafe for some much needed water in this over 100 degree heat and met some more interesting characters before continuing on to Barstow to settle in for the night. Tomorrow Santa Monica. Stay tuned.

"Walking Bill"

John and I pose in the doorways of this three unit abandoned Motel beside the Bagdad Cafe. This motel and three acres of desert can be bought for $125,000 or less. This could be the start of my motel chain.

Pam feeding her pet Roadrunner

Pam's Pickup

Burrow and the Bike in Oatman

Tweezers and Hammers

Sunday September 5, 2010. Start kilometers 27658. Finish kilometer 27863. Total today 205.

Our pace slows to a crawl as we spend the morning exploring Williams Arizona named after Bill Williams, a well known fur trapper who was thought to be the first white man in this area. Williams has the distinction of being the very last US 66 town bypassed, on October 13th, 1984. Williams also has a very nice stretch of vintage 66 running through town, lined with small motels, and other tourist-related businesses. Williams though small, was very well developed for the motoring public due in large part to its proximity to the Grand Canyon and last night was an example of the long weekend shortage of accommodations.
Our journey took us further west and I managed to get stung be a bee on my right arm during the first few miles. After a quick stop to remove the stinger with tweezers borrowed from John, we continued through Seligman, Peach Springs, Truxton and Valentine where a scene from the movie Easy Rider was filmed. Peter Fonda fixes a flat while a cowboy shoes a horse in a scene in the movie.
Not to be outdone by Peter Fonda,  it is not far from here when John's Harley breaks down. On the side of the road we temporarily repair his foot shifter mechanism which had worked its way loose using the assistance of another biker who loaned us a hammer and directed traffic and a state trooper who was anxious to see us doing repairs elsewhere. We managed to ride into Seligman where we effected permanent repair in a gas station parking lot, receiving lots of offers of help from other bikers. Continuing on this afternoon took us into Hackberry where we stopped at the General store for some tremendous photos of history recreated. With days end nearing and not wanting to be caught without accommodation again we decided to stop in Kingman for the night. We clocked a whopping 205 kilometres today but John's breakdown was part of the adventure and caused us to meet some very nice folks who stopped to offer assistance. Another great day. Tomorrow California. Stay tuned.

Williams Arizona and a 57 Buick

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I finally find the red corvette with two very old guys.

Hackberry General Store

Hackberry General Store

"It's a girl my lord, in a flatbed ford slowin down to take a look at me."

Saturday September 4, 2010. Start kilometers 27225. Finish kilometers 27658. Total today 433.

After departing Holbrook this morning our journey west took us into Geronimo, Joseph City and then into the famous Winslow just so we could "Take It Easy" and drive by the "Standing on the Corner" statue dedicated to the classic Eagles song "Take It Easy". A mural painted on a fire gutted building behind the statue depicts a "girl in a flatbed ford," as if reflected in a shop window. Winslow has two, one way streets for the main drag and to witness the above we had to retrace the east bound portion before stopping to photograph an old motel on the north side of town for posterity reasons.
Further west we stopped at Meteor City to snap a quick image of the "Worlds Longest Map of Route 66" and then headed further west to the actual meteor crater to see the results of the impact, which left a huge hole in the desert. The crater itself is one mile across, 570 feet deep, and three miles in circumference. The crater was created from an object hitting the earth at 45,000 miles an hour at impact.
Our next side trip took us north up to Grand Canyon National Park. Beginning about 70 million years ago give or take a decade or two, heat and pressure generated by two colliding tectonic plates induced mountain building in Western North America. An area known as the Colorado Plateau was raised more than 10,000 feet but was spared most of the deformation and alteration  associated with the uplifting of strata. The high plateau, so critical to Grand Canyon's story, is a geological puzzle that researchers still seek to understand.  The balance of the day found John and I photographing this grand geological showcase with such a dazzling variety of colorful rock layers, impressive buttes and shadowed side canyons.
This evening we departed The Grand Canyon at dusk and enjoyed a nighttime eighty mile an hour trip with John riding on my heel on his Harley to Williams where we eventually found hard to get accommodations. I generally refrain  from nighttime riding as it can be difficult to read the road surface and the danger from wildlife wandering onto the roads is greater too, however tonight was such a thrill with wide open road and no traffic. Our $19.00 per night rooms cost us $89.00 each which we gladly forked over as the balance of the city was booked solid. Our prestigious rooms looked good at night however morning brought a different perspective. Today we travelled 433 kilometers of which 120 kilometers was east to west. Our progress continues steady but slow. Stay tuned.

World`s Longest Map of Route 66

Meteor Crater

Grand Canyon

Abandoned Motel in Winslow Arizona

Scraggly Dogs and Wild Hogs

Friday September 3, 2010. Start kilometers 26813. Finish kilometers 27225. Total today 412.


Del Fuegos be warned. The gang is together. John and I connected in Albuquerque without a hitch. Today's journey took us west along Route 66 through the balance of New Mexico over the Continental Divide and into Arizona. We did not record significant mileage as the photo opportunities were too many and John and I had so much fun catching up. I only took him and his Harley onto gravel four times today and remarkably we are still best friends. He only warned me a dozen times that he would never follow me off road but somehow I prevailed. Today was one of the best days of the journey as we explored off the beaten track a number of times and managed to get lost a few times as well. My navigation skills are deteriorating. A side trip into the Painted Desert in Arizona was a significant highlight and a very fun ride with many photo ops.
The Navajo tribe reservations prevail in most of western New Mexico and Arizona and route 66 took us through this native land on several occasion's. During our travels through their land we respected the unspoken code of not trespassing beyond the roadway and refraining from taking any photos.
For  those of you that don't know the Navajo language proved an important strategic advantage during the second world war. The US Marine Corps employed some 400 Navajo speakers to transmit messages that would be undecipherable to the Japanese. This was possible largely due to the fact that the Navajo language is extremely complex; it has no alphabet and is unwritten.. This language was spoken only in the American southwest and was understood by no more than 30 or so non natives - non of them Japanese. For decades following the second world war, the US military kept this part of history largely under wraps in case the need should arise to use this language again. Finally, in 1992 the information was made public and the hundreds of code talkers so vital to the war effort were recognized and honoured for their unique contributions. In 2002 MGM Studios released a feature film on the subject, Windtalkers.
Tomorrow our journey will entail another side trip north to the Grand Canyon before retracing our route south and continuing on our 66 westward journey. Stay tuned.

Wild Hogs

Painted Desert

Our Wheels

Scraggly Dog just for you Ralf