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DAY 11
After breakfast it was off to look at the sun rise over the
canyon. Breathtaking views. There were lots of trucks on the
road today. They are there every day but this day it seemed
there were more. It was non stop trucks. We were constantly
having to pass them or be passed as they often drove well over
the speed limit. At one stage we hit 95mph. It seems normal that
everyone speeds.
On we went through Williams, the last town bypassed by the
freeway, on to Seligman. This is a town that is being brought
back to life by the local barber. Angel Delgato has worked very
hard to make the town a highlight. Lots of the old stores have
been done up in the old style and are thriving businesses. Lunch
was at the Road Runner Café.
This is where we headed into the Mojave Desert. It was getting
warmer. As we drove into Kingman, the traffic was getting a bit
heavier and we saw another accident on the freeway. We stopped
for fuel here and we all collapsed in the shade of a tree at the
servo. Anything to get cool. It was another “free” ride to
Oatman. This is an old gold mining town that has been restored
to its former glory. You really do feel like you have stepped
back in time. Mules strolled the main street hoping for a treat
from the tourists. The babies had masking tape on their
foreheads with a message telling us that their mammas didn’t
want us to feed them.
We stopped to check out one of the diners. The walls and parts
of the ceiling were covered with one dollar bills. There were
thousands of them everywhere you looked. It is at this diner we
got our first feed of fudge. We know why they like it. But it is
oh so sweet and not very good for the diet. We bought a
selection and fed the whole crew for the next few days.
Laughlin was our stop for the day. We stayed at the Aquarius
Casino. They are not like the casinos at home where the
accommodation is separate from the gambling area. As soon as you
walk in the gambling is in your face. No way to avoid it.
Chester gave Trudy permission to have a go at the pokies. Not
that he really had any say in the matter. Trudy is useless and
never has any luck at the machines. They gobble up the money
faster than you can blink. We dined at the Italian Restaurant at
the back of the casino. While looking out the window, we saw
skunks running about the gardens. They are quite tame and come
onto the grassed areas to scavenge food from the outside diners.
The temperature reached 97 today. It’s getting warmer.
DAY 12
The morning started with a champagne breakfast at the casino.
What a spread. You could eat breakfast or dinner. We are sure
some people were just heading off to bed after their night in
the gambling rooms.
This morning we got to see the Hoover Dam. It is huge and
amazing to see. We saw the documentary about the making of this
dam not long before we left home. What a huge task to build it.
There is a lot of security here and we had to leave the support
vehicle in the top car park. We rode down through the valleys
until we reached the checkpoint. You can understand their fear
of sabotage of this dam. It supplies a large percentage of the
power to the States. It was ice creams under shade at the
lookout. It was still getting hotter.
This day’s riding was a detour from Route 66. This was so we
could visit Las Vegas. What a place. We rode in to town with all
the traffic. The amazing buildings were everywhere. Our casino
was the first on the strip, The Tropicana. The day was our own
so we decided to take in a show. We booked tickets through the
reception and then headed off for a walk along the main drag.
The extravagance of all the casinos is mind blowing. It was easy
getting lost in the casinos.
They love to let you in, but there are no signs to show you the
way out. We only visited a couple of places as we didn’t want to
overdo the walking with Chester’s knee. It was going to be a bit
of a walk to see the show. The New York, New York spectacular
was unreal, with full on streetscapes inside the building. MGM
had movie theatres everywhere. You could spend all day and more
checking out all the sights. When we finally made it back to the
Tropicana, it was time to get ready for the show.
Check in was an hour before the start. They told us the theatre
was only two blocks away. They did not mention how big the
blocks were. So off we headed at a moderate pace. 30 minutes
later we reached the end of the first block. Time was running
out. So we stepped up the pace and finally made it to the
entrance of the mall. Trudy checked her wallet for the tickets
only to realise she had left it in the room. Too late to go
back, so we decided to find the theatre and see what could be
done. Well the next question was “Where was the theatre?” Just
in the door, around the corner, along a bit and to the left. It
took another 15 minutes to find it.
Well we were in luck. By doing the booking at the reception,
all our details were on file and all we had to do was show our
ID. Whew. We made it. We dined in a small café and got talking
to a young girl at the next table. Eventually her parents joined
in. They were both in the army and had come to Vegas for a
break.
Show Time. We saw The Vegas Show. It was a musical telling the
story of the old casinos and stars who had performed in them.
The Rat Pack, Elvis, Tina Turner, Lionel Ritchie and so many
more. The show was very slick with amazing costume changes and
great singing. When it was over we headed back to bed, calling
in at the Hard Rock Café. It had a giant motorbike sticking out
the front of the building. The rest of the crew was supposed to
be having tea there. They were all gone so we carried on. The
street was crowded with all sorts of people. Tourists and stall
holders, buskers and heaps of people in costumes. We never saw
so many super heroes before. There were several Michael
Jacksons, Autobots from Transformers movie, Elvis, Marilyn
Monroe to name a few. Just one big playground. We are glad to
have experienced it, but not that keen to go back.
DAY 13
Heading out from Vegas, we rode through more desert. Huge solar
power stations appeared like mirages. It took us a while to work
out what they were. As we rode on we noticed lots of small camps
in the deserted plains.
Everywhere you looked there were humpies and lots of nothing.
Every now and then there was a bit of a town and then more
humpies. They were not side by side. Each camp had several acres
to it. Apparently there is assistance to help people live here.
It is cheap living. We wondered what there was to do and how
desperate people were to live here. This went on for miles.
The shrubs were disappearing now and it was looking more like
the deserts in the movies. We stopped to see the Bottle Tree.
This is a weird collection of bottles from all over world. The
old guy that has set it up was a bit crazy. He knew where every
bottle came from. We asked him if he had a Darwin Stubby- and he
did.
The roads to Los Angeles were long and straight. We noticed
that many roads had dedications. This strip out of Vegas was
dedicated to war veterans from the various campaigns that the US
soldiers had fought in.
Amboy is the sight of a huge crater. You could see lots of lava
flows along the way. The blackened outbreaks covered a really
big area.
The afternoon stop was at Roy’s Motel and Café. It reminded us
of the motels on the Nullarbor. The hotel is not used any
more, but it has all been painted up and looks like a real oasis
when you ride up to it in the heat.
It was our last night on the road and we stayed at Victorville.
A real industrial place with mining and slag heaps. Not a pretty
spot at all. We all got together in the dining room for a
celebration. It was a really good night and there was a feeling
of excitement as we all realised we were almost there. The end
of Route 66.
DAY 14
The last day of tiding our final leg of Route 66. The old road
is very winding and would have taken too long to get us into
town, so we rode over the mountains and into Los Angeles. As we
climbed the mountains it got colder and colder. We got as high
as 10,000 feet. Half way up we stopped to check out the view and
get into some warm clothes.
This was the first time Chester had got out his cold weather
jacket. We put all the liners in and pulled on the long johns.
Trudy’s fingers were so cold she could hardly do the buttons up
on her jeans. It was freezing and we still had a way to go. We
were riding in the clouds and there were rock falls along the
way.
Half way down the other side we stopped at Newman’s ski chalet.
We were all keen to get a hot drink to warm us from the inside
out.
We all stuck to LaLa’s tail as we headed for the freeway and
the last few miles of Route 66. There were so many vehicles on
five or six lanes of highway. The cement walls on either side
made you feel like you were in a tunnel with no way out. You
sure needed to know where you were going ‘cause if you didn’t
you would never get off. LaLa didn’t slow down for us and we
reckon it was the tightest pack we had made on the whole trip.
We went through so many traffic lights and turned heaps of
corners before we saw the ferriswheel at Santa Monica Pier.
There was the arch right in front and on we rode our bikes onto
the pier. People were staring at us and the Japs especially had
their cameras out. We must have looked a sight. We turned off
into a parking lot on the pier.
We made it. Everyone was so emotional and excited to have
reached the end of the road with no major mishaps. With hugs and
tears and slaps on the back we headed back to the main
thoroughfare for the final group photo under the official end
sign of Route 66. We were so surprised by our reactions to this.
There had been stresses on the way that had built up but there
was also the satisfaction at having completed this very special
journey.
To celebrate we went to lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.
Just like from the movie, ”Forest Gump”. After lunch we wandered
down the board walk to the water and dipped our toes in the
Pacific Ocean.
We had one last ride ahead of us. We had to get to Eagle Rider
Headquarters. That meant going back into the crazy traffic. We
rode alongside LaLa and slightly behind. There was no way we
were gonna get lost at this late stage. Well we nearly stuffed
it when we thought LaLa was riding through the intersection. She
stopped short and we had a screaming skid to stop the bike
locking up the brakes. We were only a 100 yards from our
destination and Chester nearly upended the bike.
We pulled into Eagle Rider HQ and all the technicians came out
to sign off on each bike, making sure there was no damage. Then
they bussed us all to the Marriott hotel near the airport. Eagle
Rider had organised a big party for all the riders for the
evening and it was an early departure the next day, so we
decided we had better try packing our bags.
There was no way the stuff we had collected was going to fit
into our cases. We now had two bike jackets each with all the
other bike gear and our ever-growing collection of T-shirts. So
it was a mad rush to get down town to buy a case. We found a bus
and got help from the driver to get us to the right stop.
Nothing was easy, but we eventually made it to Kohl’s- sort of
like a giant Myers but cheaper.
The queue at the checkout was small, but the people in front
had exchanges and did not seem to be in any hurry. Then it was
our turn and we organised them to get us a taxi and before we
knew it we were back at the hotel loading the new case and then
getting ready to party.
The main shop area of ER HQ was turned into a dining area. The
stairwell was the stage for the live music. There was heaps of
food and grog. Party hats and treats were everywhere. All the
staff thought they were singers and took turns at the mike.
LaLa was amazing. We suspected her of having a good voice on
the tour. She was always singing songs in the morning to get us
fired up. Well she had us all cheering with her rendition of
“Get your kicks on Route 66” and several other numbers. Chester
got an award for being the best patient. All in all a great
night.
DAY 15
After breakfast, we did our final packing. We locked the new
case and decided we needed to take some stuff out. Well we
couldn’t undo the combination lock and had to organise hotel
maintenance to send someone out with some pliers to cut it off.
We sorted the packing and were so glad that we had emptied some
things out as we were right on the weight limit.
We had filled the case with anything that would not be needed
for the rest of our trip. We still carried a jacket and the
helmets, but at least we didn’t have to worry about all the
other gear.
So here ended our big trip across the US of A. We were so glad
that we did it. So many good memories and great friends. There
is a great tour of Canada that looks very tempting for 2014.
We’ll see...