The End of the Road!

We are now back in the UK after an uneventful journey home. Our last evening and morning were spent packing, repacking, weighing, repacking, re weighing and repacking! We arrived home yesterday afternoon, tired but happy to be home.  We have had an amazing time and have some wonderful memories.  Now it's back to reality and moving house!

We have been amazed at the number of people who have been following our adventure, reading our blog and commenting on the updates and photos over the last couple of months! Thank you so much for taking the time to read and comment and for taking an interest. Our prime reason for the Facebook updates and particularly the blog were to keep a sort of diary/journal of our trip for us to look back and remember - it's amazing how quickly everything becomes a blur and one day blends in to another and we wanted to make sure we don't forget anything! It's a bonus that other people have enjoyed keeping up with our adventures - so thank you once again.

You will probably find this hard to believe after following our updates, but today is my last official day in the Royal Air Force! Tomorrow I turn 55 and become Ex-RAF!

 

Wenatchee and Back to Seattle

The Last Bit Day 3: We left Coeur D'Alene after breakfast and headed back west to Wenatchee. We drove along Highway 2, which was a lovely journey along an almost deserted road. The weather was lovely until near Wenatchee, when it clouded over and became a bit drizzly. The scenery was very different, much of it through huge agricultural areas. For long periods we drove through rolling plains, barely a tree or a bush and fields the size of Wiltshire!! Then suddenly we were in mountain country, driving through big canyons! Wenatchee would appear to be fruit growing country, acres and acres of fruit trees, mainly apples, growing on any spare, flat piece of land! We arrived quite early and checked in, to find we'd been upgraded to a King Suite with Jacuzzi! What a great way to spend our penultimate night on this journey through the USA! Tomorrow we head back to Seattle and prepare for our flight home on Wednesday.

The Last Bit Day 4: We woke up to a lovely sunny day. I eventually managed to drag Jilly away from the Jacuzzi and in to the car for the drive back to Seattle! We had a quick drive around the town of Wenatchee but it didn't look like there was much to see, apart from a bustling little town full of shopping malls nestled alongside the river in a lovely mountain valley. The drive back through the mountains was spectacular, the fall (autumn in English!) colours were gorgeous although probably not quite at their best yet. Unfortunately it started to rain as we passed through the highest passes and then drizzled all the way back to Seattle! Sadly, we are getting the impression that Seattle is rather a soggy, grey City, which I'm sure it's not, but of the 3 days or so that we have been in and around Seattle, we have only seen the sun on one afternoon. Great shame, but still. After more shopping, we got to the hotel in time to check in for our flight tomorrow. Sadly there are no bulkhead seats available, so we're not looking forward to trying to sleep with the seat in front in our laps and my knees squashed against the seat. Oh how I miss the company paying for premium economy!! We have spent most of the evening attempting to get a quart in to a pint pot! It looks like we have failed dismally and excess baggage is on the cards! Ho hum. It's still worked out cheaper than buying it all in the UK despite this.

 

 

I-Diddley-Idaho!

The Last Bit Day 1: The next few days are neither Route 66 nor PCH so very originally I am calling this phase The Last Bit! During the original planning stage of our trip way back in 2013, we were intending to do the round trip back to Chicago. We decided that this might be too much to fit in, so we planned to finish at Seattle. However, one of the original night stops was going to be just over the border in Idaho at what looked like a lovely spot in the mountains called Coeur D'Alene, and we decided that it would be nice to take a trip up there anyway. So that is what we have done. It was a bit of a slog to get here (300-odd miles up the I90) and the traffic getting out of Seattle was heavy, plus it was horrible weather again. However, the drive was quite pretty, especially going through the Cascade mountains just to the east of Seattle. The weather improved dramatically and we arrived without incident. We even took advantage of the sunshine to put the roof down. We have a day off here tomorrow, before returning to Seattle via a little town in the backwoods called Wenatchee. I thought I might mention that today we filled up on gas (petrol in English!) for the equivalent of 46 of our English pence per litre!!!

The Last Bit Day 2: We had a lovely day relaxing and enjoying the fabulous scenery around Lake Coeur D'Alene in I-diddly-Idaho. We were very lucky with the weather, it was lovely and sunny and warm today, perfect for wandering around the lake shores. I love the fact that it is possible to do so much here in the US of A. There are boat launches and parking areas all around the lake, all free, there is sailing, jet skiing, walking trails, cycle paths, running paths - all just minutes from the town. This place has everything going for it - mountains, lakes, winter sports, the lot. It's just a shame it's hundreds of miles from anywhere! Tomorrow we head back towards Seattle, but this time we are travelling the scenic route along Highway 2 via Wenatchee. 

It seems hard to believe (to us at least) that there are only 2 more days before we start the journey home :( - the time seems to have flown by.

 

 

 

Seattle

PCH Day 16: Sadly, a damp and drizzly day in which to explore the delights of Seattle. We spent a lot of time at the Pike's Place Market area, a very vibrant and bustling part of town, even on a wet day like today. We were going to do a tour of Underground Seattle, the old city now buried under the new city, but there were large numbers of people queuing to do the same thing (probably because of the weather) and the tours we saw leaving had, in my opinion, too many people, so we decided to give it a miss. We did spend some time in the gift shop finding out a bit about the history of the underground city, so it wasn't completely wasted. After returning to Pike Place for a bite to eat, we headed off for the Seattle Center (Centre in English!) and had a bit of a look around there. We didn't go up the Space Needle; we decided that $50 bucks was a bit steep to ride an elevator and look at thick cloud! Again, the drizzly conditions put a bit of a damper on what I'm sure is a great place to wander around on a nice day.  Despite the weather we have enjoyed our day and our visit to "The Emerald City".

 

 

Washington

PCH Day 14: We made an early (ish) start as we had a few miles to cover today. It was pouring with rain and stayed that way for most of the day. Our first visit location was Lake Quinault, part of the Olympic National Park. Most of the forest surrounding the lake and in the National Park is temperate rain forest (one of only 3 in the Western Hemisphere, I believe). Unfortunately we did not have the rain gear necessary to allow us to walk any of the trails, so we had to satisfy ourselves with the 30-mile drive around the lake. The forest measures its annual rainfall in feet, not inches, and gets between 12 & 15 FEET of rain per year!!! Almost everything is covered in moss and lichen and the trees are amongst the biggest of their kind in the world (not quite up to Giant Redwood size but not far off). In many ways the pouring rain added to the atmosphere of the place. Well worth a visit. Moving on, we stopped next at one of the beaches along the coast, called Ruby Beach. It is very picturesque and again, worth a visit. We continued our journey on to today's destination - Port Townsend - driving through the little town of Forks and the slightly larger town of Port Angeles on the way. We were going to take a detour up to Hurricane Ridge, up in the National Park on the way up to Mount Olympus (Washington, not Greece!) but with the weather being so poor we decided to give it a miss as we wouldn't have been able to see anything. After checking in, we had a wander round the "historic downtown" of Port Townsend, once a booming port during the age of sail but now a bit of an upmarket holiday/arty type town. Very pleasant place to visit though. Tomorrow: Seattle! 

We have now completed our journey along the West Coast of the USA along the Pacific Coast Highway! We have travelled from the Mexican border, South of San Diego, all the way along the coast line and along the top of the Washington coast to Seattle. It's not the end of the trip, I hasten to add. We have a couple of nights in Seattle and then we are taking a short trip up in to the mountains, popping in to I-didley-Idaho (to quote Harry Enfield!) and returning to Seattle in a few days' time to return back to the good old UK. So, keep reading for a few more days yet!

PCH Day 15: There was a slight change of plan and pace today. We agreed to travel to Seattle across the sound by taking a ferry to Whidbey Island and then motor across the island and catch another ferry to the mainland and in to Seattle from the north. Jilly did all the planning and arranging and it all went like a dream! She even managed to arrange some glorious sunny weather for our journey. We had time before our ferry left Port Townsend to wander around downtown in the daylight and capture some memories on "film". A delightful town and well worth a visit if you are in this part of the world. It was flat calm on the water, not that either of the ferry journeys were long. We checked in to the hotel relatively early for us and made use of the gym, pool and spa! Tomorrow we explore the sights and sounds of Seattle. Sadly the forecast is not looking as great as today, so we may not see much if we go up the Space Needle. We'll have to see.

 

Astoria and On To Washington

PCH Day 12: We spent a nice relaxed day doing some admin (laundry!) and such like and then had a little look round Astoria, which is the oldest city this side of the Rockies, so I'm told. We went up to the Astoria Column, which provides fantastic views of the surrounding area, particularly from the top. We made it just in time to see those views before the rain came sweeping up the river and obliterated them completely! Then we took a trip to visit Fort Clatsop, which is where the Lewis and Clarke Expedition ended up before returning back East in 18-something or other. Because it was chucking it down we didn't spend long there, hence the vagueness of the date! The plan is to return tomorrow morning before continuing North as it looked very interesting. We found an outlet mall and I got dragged in to do some shopping - I'm hoping we'll have room in our bags to bring at all home! Tomorrow we cross the mighty Columbia River and head in to Washington state.

PCH Day 13: The weather was much improved today. After breakfast we ventured back to Fort Clatsop to have a proper look around the site and the Visitor Centre. It was very interesting and we could have stayed there for hours but sadly time was against us. A little more shopping at the Outlet Centre (goodness knows how we're going to get this home!) and then we started off for today's destination, Ocean Shores, Washington. Amazing scenery again, but different again - vast rivers, bays and evergreen forests. Tomorrow we have a long journey to Port Townsend, with quite a lot to see on the way as we go around the Olympic National Park and the Olympic Peninsular.
For those of you who have never heard of Lewis & Clarke (as I hadn't) you can find out more at: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_Expedition

 

Oregon

PCH Day 10: We had a fairly leisurely day today as we didn't have too far to go. The weather was much better, although there was still a lot of patchy fog along parts of the coast. The landscape is changing now - the coastline seems to be more sandy beaches, although still quite rocky in areas. Also, the redwoods have given way to spruce, hemlock and Douglas fir trees and it is quite heavily forested. We passed through Coos Bay, which used to be the largest lumber port in the world and you can see the remnants of that industry, although on a much smaller scale now. The scenery is very reminiscent of Northern Ontario, with the large rivers and lakes, all surrounded or edged by pine trees. Nearer to Florence the coast becomes much more sand dunes rather than rocks. Huge sand dunes, many covered in pine trees. It looks like a fun place to get the dune buggy or quad bike out (if we had one!). We had originally planned to take a Jet Boat trip up the Rogue River, but sadly they close from the end of September (which we knew) but having seen the river, that would have been great fun. We arrived in Florence at a reasonably early hour and found our hotel straight away. Later on we shall take a drive up the Siuslaw River, which is a pretty huge river that Florence is at the mouth of.

PCH Day 11: We spent the morning in and around Florence, Oregon. The town has a lovely old downtown on the River Suislaw. We then took a drive up river for a few miles in to the wilderness and then went down to the beach at the mouth of the river. Back on Hwy 101 we headed north to our next destination, Astoria, Oregon. The surf was up again today, with some big waves. We stopped off at a number of places along the coast to admire the views and the waves. We managed to find the actual Twin Rocks this time, at exactly the right time, so we went on to the beach "and watched the sun, disappear in to the Ocean"! We took loads of photos and video. We eventually got to our hotel at about 8pm. We have a rest day tomorrow and some time to look around Astoria and the magnificent Columbia River. Tomorrow will be our final day in Oregon.

Giant Redwoods

PCH Day 8: We woke up to a foggy and overcast day. After breakfast we backtracked slightly to have a second look at Mendocino and the Russian Gulch National Park, just south of Fort Bragg. Mendocino is very quaint and "New Englandy" but a lovely setting, and somehow the mist added to the coastal atmosphere of the place. We found a shop selling hippy stuff - Jilly is now reliving her youth and becoming a hippy! Great clothes, but a shame they didn't have any men's stuff! We eventually started North again and on to the main event of the day: the giant redwood forests. We did the touristy bit and found a "drive-thru tree" then ventured on to the Avenue of the Giants, which is 30 miles of spectacularly huge redwood trees - amazing. We finally made it to Eureka, Ca, after stopping for a pizza in a small town that really was straight out of the movies - full of rednecks and what seemed like in-breds! A bit cruel I suppose but it certainly seemed that way. Everyone was very pleasant though and the pizza was good! Tomorrow - Oregon!

PCH Day 9: This morning was another grey and foggy start. We spent a pleasant  hour or so wandering around old town Eureka, another quaint and "New England" style town. There are some fantasticly ornate houses and old buildings - it must have been a very wealthy town in its heyday. Afterwards we headed north to today's destination, Brookings, Oregon. En route we passed through Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. We thought it was more impressive than the Avenue of the Giants, although not covering such a vast area. Some of the trees were humongous! Photos just cannot convey the enormity of these trees, they are simply awesome! It is only when you see one of us next to the tree do you get some sense of the scale, and even then you still can't really see it. In John Steinbeck's words:

"The redwoods once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always...from them comes silence and awe. The most irreverent of men, in the presence of redwoods, goes under a spell of wonder and respect."

We had hoped to finish the day watching the sunset at Twin Rocks, Oregon, where in the words of Shawn Mullins, we wanted "to sit right here and watch the sun, disappear in to the Ocean" but sadly the fog came in so we just stared at a bank of fog for 10 mins while we imagined the sunset over Twin Rocks! To make up for that, we had a delicious meal in an excellent restaurant just next to the hotel. When we got back to the hotel, I discovered that we are actually nowhere near Twin Rocks, Oregon (Google maps misled me!) - it is actually 200 miles further north, so we might yet get to see the sunset there, weather permitting!

 

San Francisco and Beyond!

PCH Day 6: A busy day, as we had a lot to fit in to our 1 day in San Francisco. The hotel manager/owner was extremely helpful and knowledgeable and gave us a lot of useful information about what to see, where to go and how to get there. We set off for Alamo Square first up to see the "Painted Ladies" (a group of picturesque Victorian style houses, many of which are all over the city). Then we headed for the Bay and took in the Nautical Museum, Fishermans Wharf and Ghiradelli Square, amongst other things. After that we headed to Chinatown and then the Ferry Building to watch the lights on Oakland Bay bridge. That box ticked, we went back to Chinatown, had a meal and returned, weary, to the hotel. I reckon we must have walked over 10 miles today! Oh, I forgot to mention our ride on the Cable Car, and watching the Vice-President's cavalcade on the way back to the hotel! The police still use Harleys here, and I asked one if I could take a photo. He said if we wanted to see Police Harleys, that we should hang around for 20 minutes and we would see loads, because of the Vice-President. Sure enough, at least 50, plus cars, ambulances and Secret Service vehicles came thundering through - very exciting and very OTT, but fun to see!

PCH Day 7: An early start, as there were a few more parts of San Francisco that we wanted to see. After coffee and donuts for brekkie, we then took a drive over to Haight/Ashbury, the 60s/70s hippie hang out. Then we headed for the Golden Gate Bridge but, disaster! - it was completely covered in thick fog!  So, our only sight of it was yesterday from a distance. We crossed the bridge and took a few fogbound photos from the north Vista Point, before detouring through Sausalito and then picking up Highway 1 North to make our way to Fort Bragg. It was extremely disappointing about the bridge, but we loved San Francisco. It is very quaint/pretty and an unusual City, with so many different parts and cultures - and loads of (steep) hills! The coastline North of SF was equally as stunning as before. As we got further north the coastline became very much like Big Sur, only many more trees and forests. The journey took a long time as the road is very windy and quite narrow for US roads. The fog rolled in as we arrived at Fort Bragg and it is very chilly. A long, tiring day but a good day.

 

Into Northern California

PCH Day 4: Aren't Japanese/Chinese tourists odd? And extremely noisy! We have stayed in a few hotels with fellow guests from the Orient and every time we have known exactly when they have arrived and when they have left by both the noise they make and the fact that the minute they arrive the Internet connection slows to virtually nil and as soon as they leave it speeds up again quite dramatically! They seem to be permanently glued to their iPhones or iPads, talk very loudly, stomp around their hotel rooms like elephants and seem to have to have every photograph taken with one or more of them jumping up in the air! Very odd! Anyway, enough of them - after breakfast we checked out and took a leisurely drive around the Monterey coastline before getting back on to Highway 1 and making our way to Los Gatos, just south of San Francisco. After getting slightly lost in Santa Cruz, we then picked up Highway 17 to Los Gatos, where we spent a great evening/night with friends of friends (and now friends!) Micheal and Jeannette McWilliams, sampling the delights of Los Gatos. Michael and Jeannette have moved from the UK and now live here, lucky things, in an idyllic spot and only an hour from San Francisco. We are very envious! We have seen more wildlife in their back "yard", humming birds, a hawk and cats but sadly didn't get to spot any raccoons or coyotes who are apparantly quite regular visitors. Great company, great pizzas and too much booze!

PCH Day 5: We had a lovely lazy day at the McWilliams'. Jeannette took us on a guided tour up to the Mountain Winery to check out the glorious view over Silicone Valley. We then stopped in at the Testarossa Winery for a wine tasting session, which was very nice. Then followed a swim in the pool and a session in the hot tub before saying our goodbyes and heading for San Francisco. A big thanks to Jeannette and Michael for their very kind and generous hospitality - we shall have to return (if we're invited, of course)! Once again we managed to find our hotel without too much trouble. It is located very close to downtown, very comfortable, free covered parking, and very good value. Splendid! Looking forward to exploring San Francisco tomorrow.

 

Santa Barbara and Big Sur

PCH Day 2: As we arrived quite late in Santa Barbara last night, we decided to spend the morning looking around. After breakfast we took a couple of bikes (the hotel provided them, we didn't steal them!) and spent an hour or so cycling around the city. What a fabulous place! I now know where I would like to retire to if a) I was a U.S. citizen and b) I had loads of money. The beach is great, the city is lovely and very un-American, almost Spanish looking. We could have stayed a few days there easily. We had a bit of a paddle in the Pacific Ocean and a walk along the beach, then we got back on the road at about lunchtime. After a short trip up in to the mountains to see the view over Santa Barbara, we got back on the 101 and made tracks for Morro Bay, where we are now. We spent the evening wandering along the harbour front watching the sunset, then grabbed a superb bite to eat in an eatery called the Brickhouse BBQ. Superb barbecued meat, with the best pulled pork and beef/steak we have had for a long time. Tomorrow we head up the coast to Monterey Bay - we can't wait to see the coastline along Big Sur.

PCH Day 3: To paraphrase the Fast Show, today we were mostly travelling through the most amazing scenery you could ever see! The Big Sur coastline: 80-odd miles of spectacular coastline - I'm sure the photos we took don't do it justice but they will give you an idea, and those who have seen it will know exactly what I'm talking about. We've seen more wildlife today too - elephant seals on Elephant Seal Beach, near San Simeon, and we ended the day watching a few sea otters feeding in Monterey harbour. Fantastic! We popped in to see Cambria and the fairly weird Nitt Witt Ridge, a house that seems to have been built from scrap materials by an artist (can't remember his name); we saw Hearst Castle from a distance but were not able to get on a tour, it being Saturday and very busy; Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park - absolutely stunning; and Carmel-by-the-Sea, where Clint Eastwood lives and used to be Mayor; before finishing up in Monterey, which is a lovely town right next to Carmel, but a bit more down to earth and less "twee". Pebble Beach golf course is just round the corner. It is unseasonably hot weather apparently, it's been in the low 90s for a lot of the day - bummer!

 

 

Harley to Mustang

Transition Day: A major logistical operation was required today to pick up the car and drop off the bike due to the fact that the 2 locations were 20-odd miles apart (either side of downtown Los Angeles). We managed it without too much of a problem, although it took over 2 hours to get the car sorted, which delayed us somewhat. Apparently the UK company who we booked through told us porky pies and although they promised that every effort would be made to ensure we got a Mustang, it turns out a Mustang is not in the category that they booked. However, I played the military card (fortunately the guy dealing with us was ex-Marine Corps) and he did us a good deal. It still cost us a fair bit extra, but we bit the bullet and went for it! After a tearful farewell (not really) to the bike (we did a total of 3665 miles by the end!) we headed for Santa Monica Pier to get the obligatory "end of the road" photos then we headed south, a few hours later than planned, to La Jolla, just north of San Diego. The hotel is great (they upgraded us to a huge suite), and there followed a session in the hot tub and a cold beer! What more could anyone want?!
Tomorrow we start the Pacific Coast Highway - apologies to those followers who thought it was all over, I'm afraid you've got another 3 weeks of this to come!!

PCH Day 1: Quite a long first day of Phase 2. We spent a little while in La Jolla, then made our way down to Coronado Island, across the harbour from downtown San Diego. Whilst in that area, I decided to pop in to San Diego Naval Base Navy Exchange for old time's sake and a little tax free shopping! Then we headed north again using a mixture of the I5 and the PCH. Unfortunately we hit LA at rush hour (again), the sun was setting as we passed through Malibu, so the final stretch in to Santa Barbara was in the dark. However, once we got to Santa Barbara and found the hotel (which took a little while again - our exit ramp off the 101 was closed and there are lots of one way streets in SB!) we had time for a wander around State Street, which seems to be where it is all "happening". The street has loads of bars and restaurants and is very busy and exciting! The hotel is just off State Street and only a couple of blocks from the beach and is a lovely old building. We are looking forward to exploring more in the morning.

 

Route 66 - California

Day 20: I can't believe that tomorrow is our last day on Route 66 - we're almost at the end! We started today by visiting Lake Havasu (back in Arizona) to see London Bridge (the one that was sold in 1971). It is actually quite a good looking bridge! We then got back on the road to continue west to Barstow. Oh, I forgot to mention that yesterday we passed the 3000 Mile mark on our trip! Anyway, today was not the most interesting day from a driving perspective as a long stretch was on the I40. Sadly a big loop of old 66 was closed due to mudslides/flooding, which is a great shame. However, we did travel a few good stretches of the old road. One interesting stop was the Bagdad Cafe, the setting for the film of the same name (haven't seen it, so don't know anything about it). Apparently it is a Mecca for fans of the film, large numbers of whom are French for some reason! Interesting, but very weird. You can imagine it as the setting for a black and white Alfred Hitchcock film! Very "Hicksville", with no other sign of life within miles! It's worth a visit, though. Once again, we found our hotel without any problem (probably because it is on the main route through Barstow!) - we are staying in the Route 66 Motel, which is a marvellous old 1940s restored motel with lots of Route 66 memorabilia and old cars, etc. And round beds!! Fabulous and very quaint. So, tomorrow we head for Santa Monica and the end of Route 66.

Day 21: The end of the Mother Road! A long, very hot and in many ways quite frustrating day - we left Barstow and had a very enjoyable ride, stopping at the weird and wonderful Bottle Tree Ranch near Oro Grande. An amazing place, with a fantastic collection of bottles (obviously) and all sorts of other paraphernalia, including road signs, jeeps, rifles, machine guns and all sorts! The trip through the mountains was interesting. A lot of it was on the Interstate, which, as we were nearing LA was much busier than it has been so far (with the possible exception of Las Vegas). With some windy sections and many trucks speeding by inside and outside it required a great deal of concentration! We took a detour off the Freeway to do an old piece of 66, which was nice, but unfortunately the junction to get back on the I15 was closed so we had to go back the way we had come and get back on the Freeway where we had come off! The journey through San Bernandino, Pasadena, etc, to Santa Monica was very tedious and frustrating. We wanted to stick to Route 66 as much as possible, particularly as it was our last day on the Mother Road, but the last 50 or 60 miles must have taken close to 4 hours. The traffic was horrendous and virtually every traffic light (about every 300 yards or so) seemed to be on red. With temperatures in the mid-80s and the heat coming off the engine it was roasting! However, we got to the end of the road, eventually finding our way to somewhere near the pier at Santa Monica for the photo op, then made our way to the hotel. Tomorrow we pick up the car and say goodbye to our trusty 2-wheeled steed, which we have become quite attached to. In many ways, being on the bike has made it more of an adventure rather than just a journey and we shall be sad to return it. However, on to Road Trip Phase 2 and the Pacific Coast Highway!

Las Vegas and Back to 66

Day 18: The day started off with a huge disappointment - we got to the airport very early to find that the day's flights had been cancelled due to the weather (it was too windy apparently). I thought when I had stopped parachuting for a living that sudden changes of plan due to bad weather were over! So, to make up for that we decided to go and see Rod Stewart at the Colosseum at Caesar's Palace!  We spent the day wandering around Vegas, visiting most of the hotel/casinos and marvelling at the opulence and OTTness of the whole place. This was Jilly's first visit to Vegas and she was fascinated by it. We "did" all the main hotels: Caesar's Palace, Circus Circus, The Wynn, New York, New York, Excalibur and The Venetian to name but a few.  It was a tiring but great day and we're looking forward to the show tonight! 

Day 19: Rod was brilliant! We had a great night at the Colosseum at Caesar's Palace. Afterwards we watched the volcano explode at The Mirage and then finished up at Circus Circus to watch some acrobats! We left Vegas this morning and headed back to Kingman to pick up where we left off on Route 66. We had another scare on the fuel front - we were extremely close to running out this time! When we arrived back in Kingman we had lunch at Mr D'z Diner. Excellent burgers and milkshakes and home made root beer - highly recommended! We had a brilliant ride on Route 66 through the mountains to Oatman, probably the best and most fun bit of the route from a riding perspective. We stopped in Oatman to see the Burros (that's donkey in English) - what a great place! Very old west type town (obviously very touristy now) but you can imagine it as a "Wild West" mining town. We eventually finished up in Needles, California (our 10th State) for the night. There was a bit of an issue with our hotel in the form of a cockroach in the room. The owner denied it and accused us of lying, even though we showed her photos! It also was not particulary clean, so we checked out and checked in at a much nicer place about a mile down the road. If you ever happen to be staying in Needles, Ca, do NOT stay in the Desert Mirage Inn and Suites! Tomorrow we head to Barstow, via Lake Havasu to say hello to London Bridge!

Arizona and Las Vegas

Day 16: A great ride today from Tusayan down to Williams (to rejoin Route 66) and then along a fantastic stretch of old Route 66 from Seligman to Kingman, where we are resting up for the night. It was very hot today, well in to the 90s if not the 100s. We had a bit of a scare on the way to Williams - we were low on fuel and down to about 8 miles left with 30 miles to get to Williams! Fortunately we came to a tiny place called Valle and we were able to fill up, much to our relief. I had visions of having to hitch 30 miles to get fuel! I have to say, people are great here - a few times we have pulled over just to have a break and people have pulled up to check we are OK. One guy even pulled off the Interstate to check we were OK! There happened to be a Flintstones camp site and themed park over the road! (We didn't go in!). There was also a store selling full-sized carved wooden horses and riders - one carved horse had its tail raised up and a pile of horse-poo shaped stones behind it! Seligman was great, very much a Route 66 town but unlike many we've seen, thriving on its connection with the Mother Road. We also stopped by the Hackberry General Store (which we nearly missed as there was no warning it was coming up!). Another great little stop with some fantastic old road souvenirs and relics. Got to our hotel in Kingman (which we found without any problem!) relatively early and were able to chill out before going out to eat in a Chipotle Grill (fast becoming one of our favourite eateries). Tomorrow - Las Vegas!

Day 17: As we didn't have far to go today, we had a leisurely start and popped in to the local Harley dealer to get the tyre pressures checked (I'm not being lazy, it's just that the rear wheel valve is a bugger to get at). Then we headed north to Vegas after a drive through Kingman Old Town along Route 66.  It was a hair raising drive north and on arrival I felt like I'd been riding for about 200 miles without stopping. The wind was horrendous, definitely over limits for parachuting, and mostly crosswind, which meant for long periods I was having to lean at what felt like a 45 degree angle. Then suddenly the wind would drop and we'd be veering across the lane! As we got in to the mountains passing the Hoover Dam it was very hairy and we were being blown all over the place. Then, possibly the worst bit, approaching Vegas on a busy 3-lane highway the wind was absolutely hoofing and I had to fight hard not to be blown in to the side of the thundering "18-wheelers"! Still, we got here in one piece, melting from the heat, and once more found the hotel without any problem (we're getting good at this!). The hotel is cheap and cheerful, but clean spacious and only a couple of hundred yards off The Strip. After cooling off and relaxing in the hotel for a bit we took a ride down the Strip for Jill's first proper look at Vegas and guess what? We got caught in a thunderstorm and got absolutely soaked! It was an impressive storm, though, with huge flashes of lightening! We had a stroll around part of the Strip to get something to eat and had hoped to watch the free show outside Treasure Island but they must have cancelled it because of the storm 😒. We have an early start tomorrow - a 7.30 parade at the airport for our helicopter ride in to the Grand Canyon - very exciting!

Grand Canyon

Day 14: We had a lovely morning exploring some of the sights around Page. First up we visited Horseshoe Bend, which was stunning and a foretaste of what must be to come in the Grand Canyon. We then moved on to have a look at the Glen Canyon Dam, apparently the 2nd biggest dam in the USA (?). This was quite an impressive sight, as is the Glen Canyon gorge. It was hot this morning so we arranged a late check out from the hotel - it would have been unpleasant clambering around in leathers today! After checking out, we took a short drive up to a viewing point called Wahweap to get a glimpse of Lake Powell and the surrounding area - again, stunning views. We're starting to run out of superlatives to describe some of these natural wonders (although strictly speaking Lake Powell and Glen Canyon Dam are not natural wonders!). It's hard to believe that until 1956 there was nothing in the area - Page was only created to house the workers on the Dam. After a bowl of delicious frozen yoghurt we headed off for the Grand Canyon. It was over 100 degrees this afternoon but not too unpleasant riding in Jeans and t-shirts (with plenty of sun cream of course). We caught our first few glimpses of the Grand Canyon as we approached along the South Rim - again, simply awesome! We also (nearly) bumped in to some Elk. We saw 5 of the beasts in total, sadly no males, they are huge!  We have taken loads of photos but the biggest problem is sorting out those worth showing! Also, the internet in Tusayan, where we're staying for the next 2 nights is very slow, so I don't know if I'll be able to put many on to Facebook (sighs of relief all round, I hear!).

Day 15: As we saw some of the Grand Canyon yesterday afternoon, we decided to have a well-earned lazy morning catching up on some admin, laundry, etc. We also treated ourselves to a soak in the hot tub, which was very pleasant! We toddled up to the Canyon at lunchtime and spent the afternoon/evening soaking up the magnificence of the place. We walked quite a bit of the rim, took hundreds of photos and saw a bit of wildlife. We have seen 6 elk so far (big buggers!), 1 mule deer (according to a bus driver: "in Texas we have bigger jackrabbits than these mule deer!"), a number of Californian Condors (I still need to confirm they were Condors but pretty sure they were as I've seen other pictures that look the same), a chipmunk and a Pinyon Jay, along with numerous ravens. We hung around until sunset to see the changing colours, which was amazing, and finally got back to the hotel about 8pm. A spectacular day!

Route 66 - Arizona

Day 12: We started the day off standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona and I have to say it was such a fine sight to see - we took it easy for 30 minutes before running down the road trying to loosen our load (that's enough of misusing the lyrics!) and headed for Flagstaff via Two Guns (a derelict staging post/small town) and Twin Arrows (yet another closed down gas station cum trading post). Had lunch in "Flag", as the locals call it, before taking Highway 89 north to Kayenta and Monument Valley. There was some amazing scenery interspersed with long, long, very straight roads. We had a bit of a scare last night when I checked the itinerary and discovered I'd booked our Monument Valley tour for 9am today! I hurriedly made a phone call and managed to change it to 1pm tomorrow, thank goodness. So we have a bit of a lie-in tomorrow morning but it does mean our journey to Page will be late afternoon/early evening. Oh, we have also discovered that we have changed time zones again! Apparently the Navajo nation use New Mexico time so we are back to 7 hours behind. By the time we get to Page tomorrow we will be back to 8 hours behind again. Very confusing! Our hotel in Kayenta is very expensive, because there are so few and they are so popular, but it is not any better than some of the budget hotels we have stayed in. Disappointing really - you would expect a little more than the basics. However, it is only 1 night!

Day 13: We had a leisurely morning at the hotel (not a lot else to do at Kayenta!) and then headed over to Monument Valley about 11am. What a spectacular ride over there! The views were amazing just on the way. We crossed (ver briefly) in to our 8th state, Utah, before returning back in to Arizona to enter the Navajo park. It is possible to do self-guide tours around some of the valley, but not on a motorcycle, so we had booked a guided tour, which also takes you in to areas out of bounds to sel-guide trips. The 3-hour tour around the valley was amazing, awesome even! The only drawback was no toilet breaks, which with my bladder meant something of an endurance event! We then headed back to the hotel, picked up our kit and drove the 100 miles to Page, Az. We had a bit of a problem finding the hotel (again!) but once we found it we were happy. We have the most fantastic view from the room over towards Lake Powell (we can just about see it!) and Glen Canyon Dam and the hotel is very nice. Slightly annoying, especially when you are hot and tired and have been driving around housing estates fruitlessly trying to find a hotel, to find that the Best Western you've eventually found is the wrong bloody one!  We discovered, eventually, that there are 2 Best Westerns, both owned by the same people, one actually just round the corner from the other, both with very similar names and addresses. "Oh, this happens a lot" was the response!  Hopefully we'll have time tomorrow morning to visit a few places locally before heading over to Grand Canyon Village. 

Route 66 - New Mexico & Arizona

Day 10: We had a lovely ride today from Santa Fe to Gallup via the beautiful Turquoise Trail and Albuquerque. The Turquoise Trail is a fabulous route, passing through a number of old mining towns such as Los Cerrillos, Madrid, Golden, Cedar Crest and Tijeras. Some have been regenerated as sort of arty crafty towns but some are either almost non-existent or fairly run down. We had a short drive through Los Cerrillos, which was apparently used as a film set in the movie Young Guns, and you can see why - dirt roads and very "western". We took a detour to the top of Sandia Crest, which was a 40 mile round trip up to10,700ft. It was a great drive, although the views from the top were disappointing as it was very wooded at the top. I took some video footage of the drive up there on the GoPro which looks good but needs editing as it is about 20 mins long! The journey from Albuquerque to Gallup included some magnificent scenery (in between the inevitable flat bits!). Our hotel in Gallup was America's Best Value Inn & Suites. We had a huge suite that is like a mini apartment! Shame we're only here 1 night! We met up with our friends Scott & Caroline, whom we last saw about 20 years ago. We were due to be staying with them as we passed San Francisco but they had to move back East for family reasons so we thought we we would miss them. However, as luck would have it, their journey coincided with ours, so we spent a great evening with them catching up and meeting their daughter Charlotte for the first time.

Day 11: After a great (late) evening with Scott, Caroline and Charlotte (not forgetting Desoto the dog and Dingo the cockatoo), we started the day off with a hearty breakfast in Earl's Family Restaurant in Gallup with the Pardues. It was great to see them again after 20 years and we were so pleased that we managed to bump in to each other en route. We crossed in to Arizona (our 7th State and third time zone) and put our watches back an hour. We are now 8 hours behind UK. We took a detour off Route 66 to visit the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert - absolutely fantastic and well worth the visit, despite the soaring temperatures (up in to the 90s today). I doubt our photos will do the amazing scenery justice but hopefully they will give a flavour of the area. We then rejoined Route 66 at Holbrook and continued on our way to Winslow. We actually found the hotel without any problems, had a shower and then made our way to the famous "corner" - a must for any Eagles fan! We will have to go back in the morning because it was just getting too dark to get any decent pictures. We also visited La Posada hotel, I think the only remaining of the old Santa Fe railway hotels - what a fantastic place and extremely tastefully restored to its former glory.
Flagstaff, Kayenta and Monument Valley tomorrow!

Route 66 - Texas & New Mexico

Day 7: Elk City, Oklahoma, to Amarillo, Texas. A long but enjoyable day. We started off by visiting the Old Town Museum, in Elk City which was surprisingly good, with exhibits (including houses moved lock, stock and barrel) from the early pioneering days through to the "glory days" of Route 66. We crossed the Texas state line and continued criss-crossing the I40 pretty much all the way to Amarillo. Stopped in at the Devil's Rope museum in McLean, made famous by Billy Connolly's visit in his Route 66 series. This also was surprisingly good - you would never have thought that barbed wire could be so interesting! Also popped past the Bug Ranch, which I presume is a tongue in cheek take off of the Cadillac Ranch (which we shall be visiting tomorrow). Tomorrow we leave Texas and enter New Mexico, headed for Santa Fe and a well earned day off! Oh, and we found our hotel without any problems this evening!

Day 8: Amarillo to Sante Fe. A long day today, we covered over 300 miles. First stop, Walmart, to buy some spray paint. 2nd stop, the Cadillac Ranch to do some graffiti! Very quirky but well worth the visit for a photo op if nothing else. We painted all the family's names on most of the cars! We met a German couple back in Missouri a few days ago and since then we keep bumping in to them (not literally obviously!). We met them again today at the Cadillac Ranch, again at the mid-point cafe in Adrian, Tx, and then overtook them on the way to Tucumcari. We are now in New Mexico, our 6th state. The terrain has changed from flatter than a very flat, flat thing to mountains and valleys and quite a bit cooler. We got a bit bored of criss-crossing the I40 and decided to take Highway 104 from Tucumcari to Las Vegas, NM. What a great ride - fabulous scenery, over 100 miles with barely a sign of human habitation other than the odd ranch and quite a few cattle! Once again we seemed to have avoided getting wet - heavy thunderstorms were forecast for Santa Fe this afternoon and evening but no sign of them (yet!). 
Once again, had a few problems finding the hotel! Not entirely our fault - the junction that we had the directions from was closed so we had to guess a bit - didn't take too long though. Oh, and we're in a new time zone - we're now on Mountain Time, so we're only 7 hours behind UK instead of 6.
We have a rest day tomorrow, time to explore Santa Fe.

Day 9: we had a nice relaxing day chilling out and exploring Santa Fe. It's a lovely place, very touristy but pretty cool. I had to work extremely hard to stop Jilly spending an absolute fortune! Glad to see the Met man in the USA is as useless as the one in the UK - heavy thunderstorms were forecast all day but we have been basking in glorious sunshine, not a cloud in the sky and temperatures of nearly 30 degrees! Bloody marvellous! We're back on the bike tomorrow heading for Gallup, NM, where we shall be meeting up with Scott & Caroline who are heading back East. We were hoping to stay with them in San Francisco but they have had to up sticks and move back for family reasons. Fortunately our routes have coincided so we shall get to see them after all!

Route 66 - Oklahoma

Day 5: We had fairly relaxed day today as we only had 140 miles to cover. After a "fat boy's" breakfast in Tally's Diner (where we discovered we're not that keen on chicken fried steak in "gravy" - for gravy read white sauce!) we left Tulsa and headed for Oklahoma City. We passed through a number of typical Route 66 towns: Sapulpa, Bristow, Depew, Chandler and Warwick to name a few. Depew was very atmospheric but also sad, as it seemed almost like a ghost town. A lot of the towns en route have suffered dreadfully from the bypassing by I40 and the businesses seem to have eventually closed up and just been left to go to rack and ruin. A lovely day weather-wise, sunny and a pleasant temperature. We also managed to follow the route quite successfully without going wrong!  We seem to be having more trouble finding our hotels at the moment!!

Day 6: Oklahoma City to Elk City - after an IHOP breakfast, we took an inordinate amount of time to get out of OC due to stopping to take lots of photos and getting a little confused with the route! The route directions in our guide book are not always terribly clear.  After an hour we'd only covered 25 miles! We crossed a couple of cool old bridges, Lake Overholser in Bethany (just outside Oklahoma City) and the Pony Bridge near Bridgeport which is 3/4 mile long! We Seemed to spend most of the day criss-crossing the I40. According to the guide book, one of the best stretches of Old 66 runs from El Reno to Hydro (about 30-odd miles of original concrete road).  I have to say, we did not agree! The road surface was extremely bumpy, with patches of asphalt that has big holes in it that are quite difficult to see until you get close, it is as straight as a die (I think there were 2 or 3 bends!) and there is not a lot to see.  I suppose from the Route 66 aficionado's perspective it might be the "best" but from a traveller's perspective (on a motorcycle) it was not particularly special.  We have been on more interesting sections already and we are only a third of the way through the trip! It was hot today, which didn't help - 95 degrees by the time we got to Elk City! Couldn't find the hotel again today!

Tomorrow we leave Oklahoma and head in to Texas - is this the way to Amarillo?

Route 66 - Missouri, Kansas & Oklahoma

Day 3: Another long and cold day! Drizzly too, most of the day. We Left the hotel at 9am and took a quick trip to the Gateway Arch. There were a lot of road works and renovations going on and finding our way to and back from the Arch was extremely hard going, not to say frustrating, as we went round in circles a number of times!  We found it quite hard going today because Route 66 is not as well signposted and is not as continuous in Missouri as it is in Illinois. We kept finding ourselves going up dead ends or just running out of paved road. We eventually found our way to the "Largest Rocking Chair in the World" at Fanning, Mo, and found on sale the "EZ 66 Guide for Travellers", which is an excellent guide to the route and saved a lot of time and frustration!  We could have done with having it right from the start - highly recommended!
About an hour out from St Louis we stopped in at Bourbeuse Valley H-D, where we received a very warm welcome and had the tyre pressures checked and the suspension pumped up. I had been worried about the weight on the bike and the fact that we kept bottoming out on bumps. It turned out I was right to do so, because the suspension had been set up for a solo rider, so it was no wonder we were bottoming out!  What a difference that has made to the ride!
We found a great bar at Devils Elbow, very reminiscent of the Desert Bar in Seeley. We took some video of the "loop" along old 66 over the Devils Elbow bridge, but, although you can see it, because of the drizzle on the windshield it doesn't make good viewing.  We had a drink and a bite to eat and pinned a signed dollar bill to the ceiling! No "Bat Out of Hell" impressions, though!
We finally made it to Springfield, Mo, at about 6.45pm. By this time, though, we were very cold and were just looking forward to a hot bath. We stayed in a Candlewood Suites which was excellent - like having a small apartment to ourselves!

Day 4: Excellent day! We managed to stick to Route 66 all day without getting lost! We covered 3 States today - Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma!  After our fat boy's breakfast at Steak and Shake, we stopped at Gary Turner's Service Station and had a chat with the old boy and his wife, then later on stopped for a coke in Shirley's Bar in Carterville (which must be the US equivalent of Carterton!). Met some friendly guys in there including "Indian Mike" who "just loved our accents"! We got to Tulsa about 5.30, checked in and then had a Panda Express for dinner - yum! The weather was much warmer and sunnier today, thank goodness. We saw tons of great places and old 66 "stuff" - much of which consists of closed down and run down motels, bars, gas stations and even towns, which is a great shame. However, there are also plenty of lovely mid-west towns, straight out of the movies! We took lots of great photos today but sadly, when it came to downloading them from the camera they had all disappeared!  Bizarrely, only the photos taken since we arrived in the USA have disappeared - all the photos on the card from earlier on in the year are still there.  Fortunately I only lost today's photos as I have been downloading them each day on to the iPad, but still very disappointing.

Route 66 - Illinois

Day 1: It was chucking it down when we woke up this morning and it continued until about 11am, which, coincidentally was about when we were ready to leave. It took us a while to get the bike all loaded up and just after 11 we were ready to go. After brunch in a huge Macdonalds just down the road, we made our way to the start of Route 66 on Adams and headed off at about 1230. It took ages to get out of Chicago but we finally made it to our first night stop at Bloomington Normal, Il. We found out that the fact that Route 66 is a) a relatively minor road, b) is now made up of a number of different roads and therefore is not easy to follow and c) there are lots of "sights" to stop off at! The journey time is much longer than expected.  What we thought would take between 2 and 3 hours actually took us nearly 8 hours! However, it's great to be on the Mother Road at last, travelling through the mid-west. We haven't seen a hill in about 6 hours and, guess what - we didn't get wet (not even a little bit!). In fact, the temperature today was in the 80s and with all the stop-start in Chicago, the heat off the Harley's engine was like sitting on top of an oven inside a sauna! But once out on the open road it was lovely.

Day 2: A long day and a cold day! After sweltering in 80 degrees yesterday, it seemed like it was freezing today - one roadside temperature gauge read 52 degrees. It was overcast and dull all day and the kind of cold that gets inside you and makes it hard to warm up again. Another Macdonalds breakfast to start the day and then we headed off towards St Louis, Mo. We saw Lots of Route 66 icons today, including stops in Atlanta, Lincoln, Springfield (Illinois) and passing through the 2 "towns" of Shirley & McLean! Called in at Becky's Barn (a follower of ours on FB!), near Auburn, just off some of the old 1920s brick alignment of Route 66. Again, the journey took a lot longer than we expected - 180 miles took us about 9 hours! We finally arrived in St Louis after crossing the Mississippi and entering Missouri. I don't think we saw a hill again today - it is very flat around here!

By the way, for the time being I am loading our photos on to our Facebook page which you can find by clicking on this link.

Chicago

Day 1 - we've arrived! We had an uneventful flight to Chicago and got to the hotel without too much trouble. We are staying in the downtown area in a Howard Johnson - not the plushest hotel we've ever stayed in but the location was superb, everything in the downtown area was within walking distance. After a bite to eat we got an early night.

Day 2 - spent the day exploring Chicago. Breakfast in Theatre Land, visited Millenium Park, Soldier Field (Chicago Bears stadium), Adams Street (recce'd the start of Route 66), Chicago River walk, the Magnificent Mile and the John Hancock Observatory.  Typically the camera battery ran out just after we got to the top but just had enough juice to record a spectacular sunset .  A really good day but knackering - all on foot (about 7 or 8 miles in total!). 

Day 3 - a little more relaxed today. A stroll to Navy Pier to walk off breakfast was followed by a minor panic when we couldn't get hold of anyone at the dealership to confirm delivery arrangements! Eventually we got that sorted so we decided to take a bike trip to Chinatown - well worth it (not!). It is a very run down area with little to see other than streets full of Chinese restaurants - it's a shame as they could make much more of it.  However, the bike ride there was fun and then we spent the rest of the afternoon biking around on Chicago's version of Boris Bikes. These are excellent value - $7 for 24 hours and you can use them as many times as you like.  The only restriction is a 30-minute time limit on each usage. Got some good footage on our new toy (GoPro) but haven't worked out yet how to upload it! 

The Harley was delivered at about 7pm so I had a chance to familiarise myself with it by riding around the block a few times.  Illinois is a "no helmet" state so I have to admit to doing the famil ride helmetless!  There are more cycle riders wearing helmets than bikers! So we're all good to go. 

The Met man is still forecasting thunderstorms tomorrow morning - apparently there has been serious flooding in Arizona. Hopefully that's not going to happen here.