Well booked my flights and arriving in Chicago in September ready to ride Route 66 to LA, just need to find a hotel for 2 nights with secure bike parking, any suggestions guys?

Preferably somewhere not to costly

 

Secure and not too costly are mutually exclusive in Chicago. Are you flying into O' Hare or Midway? If you are flying in, what are you riding?

If you are at O' Hare you can stay at a safe Super8 in Suburbs cheap. Midway bad neighborhood, no safe, cheap places in city, that I know of. If you use Priceline you can get a nice Hotel with secure parking like the Crowne Plaza Metro, at 733 West Madison for around $100. Parking was extra, if I remember correctly.

What about staying in suburbs where Route 66 starts?

 

I am picking my RK up in Tampa, riding up to Chicago and meeting up with friends before riding Rte 66 to LA.
We intend to have 2 nights in Chicago but would like to try and keep costs down if possible.

 

Route 66 does not start in the suburbs. It starts downtown.

 

You really have to be careful if you don't know the area. There are a lot of "suburbs" that you may not survive - Ford Heights for example. Name sounds innocuous enough but it looks like the Gaza strip. Anything under $100 is suspect. Downtown is tricky because a lot of hotels offer only valet parking.

If you stay northwest, I like the Wyndham in Glenview. It's a self park surface lot but very safe. The rooms are nice and usually about $100.

http://www.wyndham.com/hotels/ORDGV/main.wnt

Downtown I like the Four Points Sheraton on Rush because you can self park in a very secure garage, the rooms are comfortable, and it is in a great area - as low as $130 , with parking if you get really lucky.

http://www.fourpointschicago.com/

Otherwise plan on spending $40 for overnight parking anywhere downtown. You could park on the street but it's only after nine in most places and even with a bike, hard to score a spot.

You're on a US road trip and live in UK! Stop cheaping out and enjoy!

 

Some "Cut and Paste" info:

"Historic Route 66 begins at Lake Shore Drive (US 41) and Jackson Drive (Art Institute of Chicago). Head west on Jackson. At Michigan Avenue, Jackson becomes one way (eastbound). Turn right, then left on Adams Street. Here is posted a "Begin Historic Route 66" sign (this was an earlier beginning, but the traditional end is at Lake Michigan on Lake Shore Drive). Follow Adams through the "Loop", past the Sears Tower, to Ogden Avenue. Take Ogden all the way through the remainder of Chicago (Note: Ogden Avenue runs through some rough Latino neighborhoods as you pass Roosevelt Ave., so keep a steady clip if you're traveling at night :-)) and Cicero. Turn south on Harlem Avenue, then southwest again on Joliet Road. At Indian Head Park, Joliet Road will dump onto Interstate 55. Follow Interstate 55 to the next Joliet Road exit, then head south towards Joliet."

Purists will like to start at the beginning as described above, but I'd foresee a day of lot's of downtown traffic congestion, and an "interesting" ride through some ethnic neighborhoods.

Me? I'd do this part in a car, and then start the motorcycle trip in Joliet, Illinois, heading towards St. Louis, Missouri. You can also get a much better Motel rate say a little south of Joliet, and with free parking.

I suggest the best way to do the "real" Route 66 would be to spend a ton of time researching whatever scraps of the old original road remain, and programming these into a GPS. I'd say "no way" you could memorize a map of the route if you really want to ride on as much of the old Route 66 pavement as possible. It comes and goes frequently as you travel from Chicago to Santa Monica, California.

Bob

 

Well Chicago is a BIG city and covers a LOT of ground. You dont say where you are meeting up with your friend so its real hard to help here. You can stay in one of many suburbs of Chicago safely, just depends on where you are coming from. Unless you are desiring to stay down town and see the city, I suggest you not even go down town.

 

Bob is dead on with these comments. I "rode" US66 in 2009 from Indianapolis, Indiana to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Well, whats left of it anyway. Really wasnt the trip I thought it would be. I can show you a good part of US66 running smack down the middle of downtown Albuquerque. You wont be impressed.

Do ride the leg from Kingman, Arizona to Oatman, Arizona. That stretch of road to me really stood out. I could imagine traffic coming and going on this little two lane blacktop out in the middle of no where in low lying hills, er, dare I say, mountains? Hard to me to imagine cars and trucks back in the '30s and '40s making that trip. Have a great time!

 

I would suggest that good reading material with routes detailed is the following book:

Road Trip USA: Cross-Country Adventures on America's Two Lane Highways, written by Jaime Jensen.

The section on Route 66 is 50 pages of information.

 

I have the EZ66 Guide for Travellers and Route 66 Travelers Guide by Tom Snyder. I know we will get lost but we have enough time ( I hope)
I know the road isn't what it used to be, but, being a old petrolhead just gotta ride the 'Mother Road' once in my life, its on my 'Bucket List' !
I am coming up from Tampa and meeting friends who are flying in from the UK, in theory we can can stay anywhere, but will be starting off from Adams and stopping at Lou Michelles for breakfast. Car not an option, only have our bikes.
I also have 2 DVD's on Riding Route 66 on a Harley, which are very informative. I think once we get to Joliet the adventure will begin