Route 66 August 2014
 

Hi all, I am off to Texas to coach soccer in May 2014 at the end of my time coaching (mid aug) I have 30 days to travel around. I would love to do route 66 or at least part of it. I will be in Dallas at the start of my travel time and must return there for my flight home to Ireland. I know texas is in the middle of route 66. Money will also be an issue so I am asking for suggestions/advice on best options. Fly to chicago to start it? Join a tour which is pricy unless you know of any good ones. Do I hire a bike and search for others wanting to do the same etc. Bike hire also looks like around $100 a day. Any advice welcome
Also if anyone can recomend any good guide books

Check on 'Amazon' for very comprehensive books and route 66 guides, maps etc.

66
 

Did it also ,, on my own ,,
By starting here ,
https://www.google.co.kr/search?q=gu...JKWViQelx4HACg

Many of my friends hired Eagle Riders out of LA ,, then dropped off the bikes in Chicago.
https://www.google.co.kr/search?q=gu...icrosoft:en-US

You can possibly rent it locally ,, head out to Santa Monica first then back upto Chicago. For May north is still cold.

It was fun ,, loved it doing it alone,, as I passed many groups from all over the world.

30 days is more than plenty. Straight cross is 4 days,,
I did it in 6 days from Santa Monica- Chicago - New York on a Harley.
Gas about 50 a day ,, motel about 40-60 a day,,, food is upto you.
Enjoy as I did !

Thanks folks, is it safe to do it alone are there any areas to be aware of, two wks seems to a common length of time, I have 30 days to travel but dont think I could afford bike hire for 30 days then my fuel on top etc, if money too much I will even just do part of it. So excited to get out there. What about budget accomodation along the way? Most tours seem to be 3/4 grand but includes hotel etc. Ps it will be mid aug till mid sept

Oh just reading rest of your info at bottom, thanks mate appreciate it

Honestly I think you can have a much better riding experience in the US, especially the Western US, than riding Route 66, 99% of which is paved over, gone, runs through flat boring terrain, etc. (I grew up less than a mile from Route 66, or what used to be Route 66, in Missouri).

From Dallas you are relatively close to some great riding in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, etc., and a bit further afield to California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, etc. Not sure if you've been to those places, but there are plenty of beautiful national parks, cool little towns, beautiful roads, etc. There are a few interesting bits of Route 66 left, for instance around Tucumcari, NM and Kingman, AZ, and you can hit those for something of the Route 66 experience.

Excellent, thanks for the advice might just do that I have spent very little time in america so knowledge is very limited trying to do bit of research online on the area I will be staying but you cant beat local knowledge, thakyou for taking the time to reply.

Get your kicks on R 66, and don't forget Winona
 

Maggie5373, By chance Elisa and I will be at our ranch - located on the old Route 66 - Flagstaff, Arizona. The section of Route 66 that passes through the 2 horse town of Winona - if you remember the lyrics from the song "Get Your Kicks on Route 66" you will remember the lyrics,
"and, don't forget Winona"

This part of Route 66 only appears on the most authentic Route 66 maps, the interstate has bi passed Townsend Winona Rd.

I agree that most of Route 66 is overrated! Yet, still and a realistic hope for a very good time is Flagstaff, which is not overrated..... , near the Grand Canyon and real cowboys!

We have many interesting prehistoric sites, + the Zoo Club, which is not a Zoo at all, (OK there are dead animal heads hanging from the walls, a stuffed puma and as I recall, more than one drunk) but formerly a Museum and since Route 66 days a Country Western performance club for all the famous ..... names you will know....

You can two step, cowgirl up, or cowboy up whatever you prefer, at the Zoo club, with my personal pledge that if you don't enjoy your night out there , I will complain to the owner - who is a personal friend- his name is Martin .... This should be good for - at the very least- a couple of comped drinks and maybe a personal tour of the second floor....

And , of course you are more than welcome to sling your hammock, pitch your tent or sleep in our barn - now a private dance floor (mostly tango and salsa, with "curtinas" of 2 step and swing) , bar and kitchen or just visit, meet the locals and kick back with a beer, or whatever or whoever.

xfiltrate and rosa del desierto
Buenos Aires Hubb community members

see HUBB PUB thread.......Wabash Blues for the HU and http://youtu.be/ue_jj5i6A2E

I will second what Motoreiter said. Buy a cheap but reliable Honda CB450sc(I own one) with good tires for around $1000 and sell it at the end. Do a loop riding west/north to Utah then straight up to Montana. If you have the time and budget, go up to Banff then to Vancouver(in Canada) and head south to San Fran on hwy. 101. That's my dream trip.:scooter:

I have to agree with Motoreiter, I did CA R66 this summer and I was planning on doing all but I aborted the mission because it a little too hot and not as exiting as a thought. I end up taking I-15 up to Utah and then east to Colorado. I Still end up in Chicago and I had a great time visiting national parks and having cooler weather.

No
 

Yes there are many beautiful roads in the USA ,, but
Route 66 is an homage to motorcycle ride ,, to John Steinbeck,,,, to Americana.
Many towns ,, I found them very nostalgic.
As a biker it is a road to Mecca ,, place to lay eggs for Galapagos turtle.
It was a very meaningful ride for me ,,
Same as those amazing mountain passes in Northern Asia.
I highly recommend doing the 66. Not many have done it.

Hey, thankyou so much everyone some great advice cant wait to get out there. The zoo club sounds great. Buying a cheap bike may be the way to go. Cheers folks

Hi Maggie,My wife and myself live and work in Mesa Verde National Park,Co.(Four corners area:))We are both avid motorcycle riders.Within 4-6 hrs. you can reach the Grand Canyon,,Arches,Zion,Bryce Canyon,Lake Powell,Lake Mead,Hoover Dam,Colorado National Monument,Dinosaur National Monument,Rocky Mountain National Park ETC.ETC.:):)If you happen to be in the area on your RT.66 travels, look us up.No prob.with pitching a tent in our back yard.CHEERS....

Route 66
 

I rode Route 66 several years ago and posted on the forum.Link below:
Route 66 - ADVrider

Many things are disappearing comparing what I rode and saw 20 years ago. Look through my link to wet your appetite. There are a lot of unique things to see. When I first rode 66,signage was non existant.Half the time I was back tracking to the right road. Recently Illinois and Missouri have put up good signs. Other states have decent signage too. The route changed over the years.Many times you come to an intersection pointing Route 66 different directions for different years. Usually they are short sections.

There are many great places to visit in the USA. And I've seen a lot of them. But as Seoul Joe points out,Route 66 is legendary.See it before it's gone.

:funmeteryes:

I agree, RT 66 is way overrated and hardly worth it.

With so many great national parks, great roads and a fantastic climate in June/July, go to the National Parks, Bryce, Moab, Rockies, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, the California Coast, Yosemite etc.

Lookat EagleRider, each franchise in a major city is usually associated with a motorcycle dealer, and you can rent a Harley Davdison (not recommended but whatever floats your boat), BMW, or Triumph. You can rent it oneway too, and pay a drop fee, then fly back, or do a huge loop.

The advantage with EaglerRider is all the dealers, regardless of make of bike, support the program, should you have an issue, they will respond, pick up and replace the bike, good piece of mind. They also tend to be well mainatained bikes usually less than 2 years old.

I would look at getting a BMW 800GS, 1200GS, Triumph Tiger 800/XC or 1200 Tiger, with bags, and get a nice tent/waterproof duffle, GPS and hit the road with a good atlas of the states parks, camping and secondary roads. Just be prepared for cold nights in the mountains. :stormy:

Or, as above say, buy a nice Japanese used bike and get some new rubber, service it and go,,,far cheaper. Sell or trade in at dealer when done.

But the problem is that it is already essentially gone, other than a few bits here and there which will probably remain for some time. To each his own, but if I could choose one bike trip in the US, it wouldn't be to see what is left of Route 66.

I have to disagree
 

Not sure that I would want to ride all of Rt66 but there are a lot of stretches that really put you back in the 50s/60s and they are fun. My favorite is the part that I live on; from Needles at the Colorado River almost all the way to Ashfork. From there you have to jump on I 40 but go back to 66 at Williams. All of this area is still well preserved and has little travel.
From Williams (gateway to the Grand Canyon) go north to the canyon and then south again to Flagstaff. You can go one of two different ways and both are nice rides. Many options in the area and all are upper elevation and quite comfortable in the summer when riding.
If you are interested, drop me a line and I will gladly give you some more suggestions. Also, Mo and I have hosted many bicycle tourists throughout the years and would be glad to offer the same to a motorcycle traveler.
Mikey

66
 

Some memorable scenes on 66 ,,,
Great scenery ,,, nice people,, Flagstaff through Arizona, Colorado River,,New Mexico and Texas,, Was rather impressed with Texan hospitality.

Bad ones too ,, all the fat ones through Oklahoma,,, with mistrusting eyes, on any one who's not white ,, ones that will not respond to your questions on directions, on broad day light.( Met another one like that in Tampa, long ago) Ones that great Oakie Will Rogers would be shamed of ,,
Iowa, Illinois ,, St.Louis, Chicago and on to Philadelphia and Manhattan ,, great scenery and gentle people. The drive to Mark Twain's child home town Hannibal, along the old Missi ,, awesome.
Always wanted to visit Springfield, for their famous rifles.

Some shots of people I've met ,,
1) Grandpa and his grand son, at a fabulous Mexican restaurant, outside of Tucumcari
2) A family marching towards the Cadillac Ranch.
3) Old gas stations,, so many of them.. last one was just out side of Chicago.
4) Kids got on my bike outside of Philadelphia

Why So Negative?
 

I am thinking of doing Route 66 with my 12 year old son in June

Seems one camp thinks it will be sh*t-boring and the other thinks it is a historic must-do….

I want a trip that goes through lots of small quirky towns, has a mix of camping and cheap motels, has lots of photo opportunities, feels like an adventure and during which I get lost half a dozen times at least…

Oh - and about 10 days riding….

If not Route 66 …. where to find a good route?

Thanks..

hmmm, well let us know if you find such a road, if it exists. Kind of important where you are starting from, and where you want to go...

The closest you'll probably get are the few remaining stretches of Rt 66 out west. You can also consider Rt 50, which goes through lots of small towns, etc. but I wouldn't necessarily call them quirky, and the photo opps aren't really any better than average.

I don't mean to discourage people from visiting the bits of Rt 66 that remain, which are quirky. I just don't think it is worth it to ride the whole thing, because it doesn't really exist anymore.

Thanks motoreiter

My son wants to ride the Road of Bones or Vlad to Moscow....but I want to warm him up on something a little easier!

I will look into Route 50 and take your point about parts of 66 being good but a methodical one end to the other probably a waste of time

When we wanted a starting point for a tour of the US, as Brits, our thoughts turned to 'Get Your Kicks on Route 66'. We had planned a RTW tour as part of Roynie's retirement holiday and we had three months to kill in the US. We had it in mind to buy a car or RV but, a few months before we were due to leave, a couple of folk we met by chance on a skiing holiday heard the mention of Route 66 and said, "Wow, Route 66, you're doing that on bikes, right?!" They didn't know us well enough to know that we both had m/c licences. Suffice to say we started to do a little research when we got home. We found a bike dealer near Boston who would sell us a couple of new bikes (a Triumph Tiger 900 for Roynie, a BMW F650GS for me). We also found an all-brands Route 66 rally leaving Chicago two weeks after our arrival. The Mother Road Ride/Rally has been the foundation of an awful lot of friendships for us - and I think that riding Route 66 in the company of others is the secret of its enjoyment. The roadside attractions are not worth writing home about, but I couldn't put a price on the friendships that we made. The management of that particular rally has changed in the last couple of years, but I stand by my comment that it is the friendships that you make along the 2448-mile journey from Chicago to LA that are more valuable than the pseudo-Americana retro that you will see along the way. (If you read Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath", you will understand what I mean.)

Actually I forgot to mention another option: the Lincoln Highway, which was apparently "the first transcontinental improved highway for automobiles across the United States of America".

Lincoln Highway - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I haven't been on this route, so can't vouch for it, but it sounds interesting.

Rt 50, which I mentioned earlier, runs from Ocean City, Maryland, all the way to Sacramento, California. Several years ago I rode it from Ocean City to Kansas, where I had to divert way south to avoid snow in the Rockies. After leaving Rt 50 I was able to see many of the remaining Rt 66 highlights in New Mexico, Arizona, etc.

Top 3rd on the bucket list,, by Time Mag,,
No3 is the mother road,,

1 North Cape in Norway to see Aurora Borealis - Done in 1989
2 Diving Great Barrier Reef in Australia - Went north as far as the Gold Coast on a Harley 2010
3 A road trip down Route 66 - Did it 2011
4 Climbing/ hiking the Grand Canyon - Did it 1972 ,, 1984 ,,
5 Gondola ride down Grand Canal, Venice - Did it ,, 1979 ,, 1982 ,, 1996 ,, 2002 ,,, 2004 ,, 2006 ,, 2008 ,, 2009 ,, 2011
6 Explore The Forbidden City, China - Did it ,, 2006 ,, 2009
7 Marvel at the Pyramids of Giza - Did it ,, 1978 ,, 1982 ,, rode a horse ,, down the sand hills ,,
8 Witness sunrise at Uluru, Australia
9 A boat trip round the Galapagos Islands
10 Walk The Inca Trail, Machu Picchu, Peru - Did it ,, 1982 ,,
11 A helicopter Tour of Niagara Falls - Did it ,, 1998
12 Yellowstone National Park, US, and see the Yellowstone Caldera – the largest supervolcano on the continent - Did it 1973
13 Moai statues on Easter Island

14 Normandy War Graves, Somme battlefields - Went by there twice.
15 Tour the Terracotta Army, China - Did it ,, 2006
16 Experience dawn at the Taj Mahal, India Did it 1982 ,,1984 Sri Lanka,, Jaffna to Kerala by boat ,, train to Goa ,, Bombay ,, Delhi ,, Rajahstan ,, down to Agra ,, then on an elephant to the Taj.
17 Jungle trekking and river kayaking at the Amazon Basin, South America
18 Visit Stonehenge for the Summer Solstice
19 Island hopping in Greece by boat - Did ,, many many times ,, Mykonos used to be my favourite,, when it was a really gay island,, no more,
20 Camping Yosemite National Park, US - Did it 1973 ,, stoned on a good ganja.
21 Trans-Siberian Railway, Russia - Did it with my Harley,,,
22 Masai Mara Great Wildebeest
migration, Kenya - Only to Nairobi ,, soon though.
23 Celebrate Hogmanay in Edinburgh ,, Edinburgh , yes twice ,, not that particular fest.
24 Marvel at Michelangelo’s artwork in the Sistine Chapel, Italy ,, About half dozen times.
25 Tour the Rocky Mountains, Canada - Did it ,, Vancouver to Alberta,, skiing.