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Some of the original highway is gone, and some of it is hard to find, but it is worth the effort to ride it from Jackson St. in Chicago to Santa Monica. Plan on about 200 to 250 miles per day if you are really going to try and find all the road and see all the sights.
Michael Wallis has several books on the highway, and is probably one of the foremost authorities out there. Any serious rider of the road will do well to check out his works.
The February issue of Baggers magazine has an article (the first of 8-10 installments) on Route 66. I've ridden over parts of it and it's hard to believe that little road was "The Mother Road". Someday I'd like to ride it all too. HD/Mad Maps has a turn by turn map of 66 also.
Route 66 ain't what it used to be.
I-40 killed it.
There are sections now plowed up and gone. No road even exists.
Other sections abruptly dead end into the desert.
The motels are mostly run down, flea bag, crumbling relics.
Explore whatever sections still exist, but plan to skip ahead on sections of I-40.
Of course any adventure on a bike is a good time.
I sure wish I could go back in time and explore the roadduring the early 60's.
I am planning the trip, starting @ Chicago 7/20. Expect to reach/leave Santa Monica on 8/3, Seattle by 8/10, & back to NY by 8/20. (part of the group stopping in Milwaukee for the party). I am fully aware of what roads exist or donât, but need to understand what are âdonât missâ sites and or motels.
My last trip, also with the help of forum readers was 3 years ago, shipped bikes to Vegas, and rode back to NY through Sturgis, a ride of a lifetime.
Thanks, obviously weâll be passing by its front door. (comming from upstate NY,it did take a bit to realize it as williams, Arizona)This is the kind of information Iâm hoping to gather. Other then the three âhard datesâ mentioned, all other times are at leisureâs whim, and weâre not sure where weâll be at days end. Knowing of others experienced stops helps adjust daily times when possible.
Also thereâs reportable a great âevery Sunday morningâ biker gathering just north of LA (equivalent to our Marcus Dairy up here in the north east), anyone with info on that?
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