A steady Gallup to Williams.

An early start today as we had lots to see and we were aiming to get to the Grand Canyon. We were on the road by 8.15 it was looking a little cloudy and was cooler than the rest of our trip, our first stop was the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. The landscape and views were amazing but there were no trees! It was a natural beauty caused by the forest being preserved by falling into streams and flowing into the flood plains where they were preserved and created many patterned fossils etc.

We then went on with our trust steed, heading for the Wigwam motel in Holbrook which was a really nice photo opportunity, as they have classic cars parked out side like the Delorian and a classic Hudson to name a couple. It looked like they were painting and prepping it to be run as a motel again, but no worries we will be staying in one of the Wigwam motels later in our trip.

Next was onto the Jackrabbit trading post, as stop which had been recommended by our guide book. It wasn't much and not really what we expected so we pushed on to the next thing.

We now came to the Meteor Crater, in Arizona. Here we took a guided tour which was a 1/4 mile walk around the rim of the crater with an excellent guide (Edwardo) who was both informative and funny. Edwardo was fortunate enough to have the crater and all of the Bar T Bar ranch as his back yard as he lived in an apartment on site. The crater measures nearly a mile across and more than 550 ft deep, if you put a 60 storey building on the craters floor it would not reach the rim! And at the museum they still have one of the largest pieces of surviving meteor, which was 90% iron and so dense it weighed in excess of 1000lb. We could have happily stayed here much longer but had to press on (or so we thought).

We arrived in Flagstaff, AZ near to Grand Canyon where we hoped to find info on helicopter tours. Unfortunately we missed the visitors centre 1st time and after a detour came back and got some leaflets and advice. At this time we left the flights for morning thinking it was gone 4 o'clock, later though we realised that once again we had changed time zones and our clocks were an hour ahead, doh!

We got to our hotel and after checking in phoned and booked flights for early next morning to fit in with our continued adventure. This is when we realised our second thing, that our itinerary had another 2 night stop here in William, doh again!

Although frustrating, not the end of the world as the visitor centre told us of a rt66 festival in Flagstaff on Saturday we could now go to.

Early night for an early start this night, and yes Craig is managing the early starts!
(sorry this blog comes late due to failing WiFi at the hotel)

Day of rest and a day of frustration...

Yesterday we had an extra day in Santa Fe, NM which was meant to be a day of rest! We had a lie in then went into Old Town, Santa Fe for a walk around on a city tour. We went to the Hotel Eldorado to meet our guide (Phill). We were the only ones on the tour, so it was very nice and our guide had a mountain of knowledge about the history of the place and its origins through the centuries. He told us about the place where the scientists met before they were taken in blacked out buses to what is now known as Los Alamos. Where the first atomic bomb was created. We waked around Santa Fe for 2 1/2 hours but time just flew by. The last stop on the tour was at the Loretto Chapel, which was originally a girls school run by nuns. They had a choir balcony but when the church was built a staircase was not put in. The story goes that they prayed for a solution and on the 6th day of praying a gentlemen carpenter came and built them a spiral staircase. He made the staircase with no nails, no screws or supports, only pegs. As mysteriously as when he arrived, he disappeared without a trace when the work was done. The nuns took it from this that it was St Joseph (patron Saint of carpenters) himself who did the carpentry on their staircase and that it was a miracle from God. It was a lovely piece of work, which in its original form without a handrail looked a very scary staircase to go up and down!

On Thursday (today) we set out to go from Santa Fe, NM to Gallup, NM which wasn't meant to be that hard. However, right from the beginning even trying to get onto the old rt66 at Albuquerque was a very difficult thing. The signs for route 66 we nearly none existent and when they were there, they were not very helpful as the was no indication as to which way was which or there'd be a sign then no more signs at the next fork in the road! We ended up going the wrong way quite a few times today which was very frustrating and more than a little annoying. Craig realised we had at one stage got onto the old road but the wrong way, the shame was that he realised because his left arm burnt badly in the sun rather than his left (we were traveling east not west), though on this 40 mile detour we saw (and waved at/chased/were awestruck by the size of) some very long freight trains travelling across America.

Once on the route there were some fantastic views of the landscape including hills with very red cliff faces, one sight which is very famous called owls rock (we saw a red cliff looking like an owl so had to guess it was that one)! A slow day to start with but ended well at the El Rancho hotel, which is a classic styled New Mexican ranch/hotel. Here we met Gaz (Gareth) and Alisa, and ended up having tea with them and enjoying reminiscing over all the things we had seen so far, and talking about some which we missed along the way, and what was ahead of us still! (And Clare tried Alisa's Triumph for size whilst Gareth experienced the bone shaking ability of the Harley).

All in all today has turned out pretty well, we have an early morning so better go.
x

"When your here you're only half way there"

We started early today to try and avoid some of the heat for our first touristy stop! I (Clare) was very excited about this as it was possible that I was going spray paint a Cadillac!!! The morning did not disappoint as when we got there were some clouds so it wasn't too hot. The Cadillac Ranch, Amarillo, didn't look much from the interstate but it was great fun, plus we got talking to some ladies who lent us some spray paint! A very good way to start the day. Craig though realised that he had forgotten to have tea the night before at 'The Big Texan' a famous rt66 steakhouse! doh.

We can't believe how fast time is going, and that was highlighted by our next stop which was the mid-point cafe in Adrian, Texas! Apparently this is the cafe 'Flos v8 cafe' from cars was based on and 'Fran' the gift shop owner next door is who 'Flo' was based on! We stopped and had Route 66 branded root beer and black cherry drink to quench our thirst, it would have been rude not to as the gentleman in the cafe was very friendly. There is an age old dispute going on and has been since the road was made about where the actual middle is. Some towns add a few miles, others may round off some curves, shortening the overall length of the road. However Adrian seems to market it's mid point status a lot more than Vega which is the other place claiming to be the half way point. Whether it was the middle or not it means we have now been travelling for 7 days, and are now past half way through.

We are now in New Mexico, the radio stations had all changed to Spanish and the landscapes just look like something out  of a cowboy movie! But we have come through all the ranches and arid landscapes, and are now in a cooler and greener Santa Fe, New Mexico.

We now have some time to rest, so instead of setting off in the morning and riding through to evening we have same hotel for two nights! Yay. We've already dipped in the pool, and are now looking forward to a good nights sleep with a lie in.
x

The way to Amarillo

Well, been a shorter day today, Texas hasn't got much rt66 left so we had to do a lot of time on the Interstate.

From the Best Western this morning we were already on rt66, but after about half an hour were met with a dead end sign and signs directing us onto the I-40, though at that time we did see a classic car at the mouth to a ranch (with a rt66 sign so we almost turned down the driveway!)

Our first stop of the day was at a rt66 and old town outdoor museum. We went to this but we had only been traveling for about an hour, the sun was very hot and we welcomed just having a break. It took us over an hour to get round it, it was informative on how things used to be in the hey day of rt66 and in the area, lots of old clothes, toys and cowboy/rodeo pictures.

When we set off again we thought we were a lot further on, then found where we actually were, which was very disappointing due to the extreme heat. We continued on driving through Shamrock and McLean which were two very sleepy/ghost town places. In McLean there was the Barbed wire Museum as featured on Billy Connolly, which was actually very good and is also the home of the rt66 association so had some general rt66 displays, we also bought a couple of Route 66 sodas!!!

By now it was lunchtime but the place we planned to eat was a steakhouse in McLean but it was closed mon and tue! We carried on and ended up just having a muffin (taken from breakfast at hotel) and a packet of crisps plus lots of water!

We arrived in Amarillo about 430pm and were feeling the need for food, and needed to look at a map to work out where our hotel was so turned up at Baums ice-cream parlour and had a V nice 'nana split. We then were at our hotel nice and early. We're now settled and are going to have an early night so we can get off early to see the Cadillac ranch tomorrow.

Greetings from the 'mother road'

C & C x

Day 5! A scorcher

Started out at about 1000 from Tulsa this morning, we weren't as rushed, as we knew the mileage would be a bit lower today. It started out hot, about 100 degrees f' and in no time the Harley's temp gauge maxed out at 120 were it stayed til we arrived at our motel about 7.45pm. The weather is amazing now the hurricane's wake has cleared us, to the extend that we are now grateful of the occasional cloud for a break in the heat.

At one stage we took refuge in a deserted (not just temporary, but ghostly abandoned like) car wash for shelter and ate banana and peanut butter for energy (pilfered at breakfast time). This sort of abandonment has been getting to me (Craig) quite a bit, in particular the frequency with which classic American trucks/pickups and cars are seen in peoples yards just rusting and perishing away like the many businesses on rt66.

We've also seen along the way many small towns which (if the business signs and ads were removed) would look just like classic cowboy towns, and ranches and praries which look like they are from a freaky little time warp!

We didn't have too much touristy stuff today but all 190(ish) miles were old rt66 road rather than interstate after tracing back from our motel. Our route took us through and passed Oklahoma city. On the outskirts of which was a store called 'Pops' where we had lunch. It was quite modern looking, and very popular, it was a fuel station, a diner and a speciality soda store with soooo many flavours including ones as random as bacon, or buffalo wings, or lemon meringue pie. Shame we don't have much room for souvenirs.

We managed to find a place in our route book called Lucilles for tea, but it was like many other places derelict (a nice photo op) oh poo ... then just down the road found Lucilles roadhouse (apparently relocated) so had tea after all and got another photo.

We're at a Best Western tonight, and decided to have a dip in the pool at 9pm as it  was still really warm even though the sun had gone down. A very nice way to relax and unwind after a very hot day. How good is that!!!

Night night all. C n C

So many things to tell you all!!!

We have seen so many really beautiful things, and many derelict places plus so many different types of weather already and it's only day 4!

Where to start.....In a place called Pontiac we saw lots of murals which had been painted to help keep the town alive and on the map, we also met some really nice people. The sun was out and we were more than a bit warm with our bike gear on, but we're not complaining!

In Springfield Illinois we passed the original red brick road of route 66, not the best surface for riding a motorbike on. In St Louis we passed the Gateway arch which is HUGE, a little pointless but can be seen from miles around. The weather was now changing to a bit cloudy which quickly turned to rain.

We visited Some fascinating Meramec Caverns, with some massive stalactites and stalagmites, which Craig got some very good pictures of. Apparently Jesse James the famous cowboy, outlaw and bank robber and his posse used the caves as a hideout after his heist. After having lunch at Cracker Barrel we overheard people talking about a tornado siren going off!! Don't worry we didn't actually meet Isaac the lovely tornado but he did provide us with enough rain to soak through our waterproofs!

In Fanning (yes that is the name i'm not making it up) we almost missed the largest Rocking chair! Amusing and a good picture opportunity, plus a very good gift shop.

On one day we did over 300miles, which sounds a lot but it went very quickly, even though there was more than a little bit of rain. The American diet has been interesting, we have sampled a rather sickly but nice PB and Nana milkshake which was peanut butter and banana (worth a try at home), doughnuts, chips, burgers oh and salad!!! and we have seen some HUGE Americans, but we didn't take pictures. Some many more things we could bore you with but I'll do that another day, take care everyone, God bless x