North America, First and Second.

The black art of moving from A to B on foreign soil
OnHellas
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Re: North America, First and Second.

Post by OnHellas »

Sunday morning arrived cool and overcast. After the excitement and shivers of the night before we didn’t get going particularly early but breakfast and packing saw us head off at 10.15am.
We had a longer than average ride planned because we had arranged to meet some friends of mine that are in holiday over here from sunny sunny Whitstable.

I set the destination in the satnav to take us along part of Historic Route 66.
Long before we got to it we had the excitement of stopping to buy fuel...we weren’t expecting much from the ride along straight roads. I thought a lot of it would be dual carriageway but happily there wasn’t to much of it.
Around lunchtime, and time for a stop anyway time, I saw a sign for Historic Fort Scott. We pulled off of the main road and found the interesting part of town.
As soon as we got off of the bikes Bob started asking us the ‘where’ questions, to and from, and if we’d been to Fort Scott before.
As we hadn’t he helpfully pointed out the buildings we should go and look at. Thanks Bob, as I said to his friend when she asked if Bob was being a tour guide, he was a very ‘good’ tour guide. Thanks to Bob for his help and out Two Happy Bikes for getting his attention in the first place.
After that is was more southerly progress towards Catoosa just outside of Tulsa. Yes I’d been singing the Gene Pitney song to many times in my helmet.
The last bit of fun before we arrived wasn’t the second fuel station stop of the day for petrol and drinks, it was when I crossed a railway line seconds before the barriers came down but Sarah didn’t. She had to wait for the 100 ish wagon train to rumble by. It’s amazing the length of the trains here, and the volume of their whistles when the sound their warning.
Just after that we joined Route 66. Mick Jagger wasn’t there singing the famous song, but he’s not been well later so we’ll forgive him. Luckily for me I know some of the words, luckily for everyone else I had my helmet on and was doing 60mph....

Mark and Ange were staying at The Hard Rock Hotel, we were in a more cost effective solution across the road.
As their hotel is also a casino there was a free shuttle bus which was nice.
I can’t believe how quickly the evening went. A few beers, a ridiculously large chicken fried steak and plenty of chat.
Mark and I have known each other for 40 years or so. I think that I’ve been a bit of an arse to him a couple of times over the years. But friendship is important and he bought me donuts at a time when donuts said everything. Thanks Mark. Thanks Ange.

Enough emotional waffle. Waffles are for breakfast....with maple syrup.

Due to the late night and beers we didn’t wake very early and after said waffles and syrup decided to stay another day. The room was one of the nicest we’d been in for a while and the area was quiet so we weren’t to worried about the bikes.
A trip to the massive Walmart just over the road for supplies and a couple of bits that we still needed ensured that it was a totally stress free day. Supermarkets!!!

Monday morning and it was time to head west. A slightly longer ride again taking us past Oklahoma City and along Route 66 which is mainly an Interstate now on that section saw the miles slip by quickly if not in a dull manor.
Elk City was our chosen overnight town, partly because of a Route 66 museum that we want to have a look at. Partly because it fitted in distance wise to move us towards Sante Fe. The bikes need a bit of extra love so we are trying to get booked in to the dealer on Saturday. Front tyres for both and a new chain and sprockets for mine.
The museum was about to close by the time we got here, we finally found a motorcycle shop that had decent chain lube and a can of visor cleaner.
We are awake extra early today because of a call from the bank alerting me to a potentially fraudulent transaction on my credit card. Luckily they’d declined it and I’ve been through the automated fraud detection teams list of choices.
Hopefully that’s the end of that. Never what you want to hear, especially at 4.30am, but good that their system seems to work.

So, it’s a cup of tea and another day. The museum opens at 9.
Oh, the weather has changed again, we weren’t cold yesterday. No, it was 30 degrees C!!!

Two happy people, two happy bikes.
Last edited by OnHellas on Wed May 15, 2019 12:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
OnHellas
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Re: North America, First and Second.

Post by OnHellas »

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Fort Scott
OnHellas
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Re: North America, First and Second.

Post by OnHellas »

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OnHellas
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Re: North America, First and Second.

Post by OnHellas »

The Route 66 museum in Elk City was OK.
Just 5 Bucks each to go in and you got to have a look around some other buildings to with varied exhibits. Rodeo, how people used to live rooms/doctors/undertakers etc.
All clean and nicely presented with enthusiastic staff.
We could have spent a lot more time than the hour that we stayed. Museums aren’t at the top of our must do list. Oh, they sold stickers too so it couldn’t have been to bad.

Dalhart was our destination for the day. Long straight roads across Texas took us through mainly farmland. The land there got harvested above and below ground. Grain or cattle up top, oil from underneath.
There was an ever present waft of oil/gas throughout a good part of our ride.
An early lunch stop brought disappointment in the way of chicken fried steak in a burger bun advertised as a steak sandwich. Something got lost in the translation I reckon. Sarah vowed one try of chicken fried steak was one too many and as she’d tried it back at The Hard Rock Hotel in Catoosa I swapped my chilli covered fries for said sandwich.
Even the resident cafe flies seem to avoid it. Anyway, I suffered no repercussions from it so alls well there.

Dalhart seems to be a town in decline. Badly in decline. Shops and businesses closing or already closed. The motel owners told a story of woe.
Always sad to see.
The trains were still running, as were the oil, grain and cattle trucks. It seems as though you only end up staying in Dalhart if your work or chosen route, as in our case, takes you there.

The next day was......Thursday, I had to look that up as yesterday seems a long time ago already. Our destination??? Las Vegas... no not that one. Another one. In New Mexico.

Sometimes it’s quite difficult to keep track of the days or where we’ve just come from. It’s already over two weeks since we arrived in Houston.

So, the ride in to New Mexico was cooler than the previous day and the scenery started to change.
We got our first view of the still snow capped Rocky Mountains.
We actually rode a fair bit on an Interstate today. I try to give them a miss most of the time but straight roads is straight road I guess.

The chain on my bike was starting to protest a bit more and I was pleased as each mile became a memory.
Like most afternoons of late the wind started to increase and finding a minor road running alongside the Interstate we chose to use that instead. We tend to trundle along so getting away from the ‘Big Rigs’ is always a bit of a relief.

The time zone changed along the way so we ended up asking for an early check in at the motel. There was no problem with that and to add to our joy there was soup to be served at 6pm. First come first served, price zero dollars.
Wahoo! Free dinner......they could have chucked in a bread roll or two.....

Today was a short ride of just 70 miles to Santa Fe. We had a quick look around the central Plaza in Las Vegas before heading off to the Interstate for another 50 miles. The landscape continued to get a bit more rugged.
We checked out a KOA campsite on the way as we think that we will start camping again at some point. Although the next few weeks will be at higher altitudes and a bit more desert like so combined with the current weather forecasts......motels are much warmer.

We decided to go and have a look around the old town of Santa Fe as well. The forecast was for high winds in the Las Vegas area by 11am/midday so we got moving a bit earlier than normal.
We eventually found a suitable car park that actually had motorcycle bays. $2 per hour for each bike. There were a coupe of parking enforcement officers circulating so we tucked the ticket from the machine down the front of the bike seats and hoped that they didn’t blow away.

Tomorrow morning the bikes are booked in at a dealership just over the road from where we are staying for the next two nights.
They messaged us to say that all of the requested bits have arrived.

As usual I’ll post an update here of how that goes....but for now...it’s

Two happy people, two happy bikes.
Last edited by OnHellas on Fri May 17, 2019 10:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
OnHellas
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Re: North America, First and Second.

Post by OnHellas »

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OnHellas
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Re: North America, First and Second.

Post by OnHellas »

What this and loads of Popeye stuff has to do with Route 66 I don’t know??
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OnHellas
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Re: North America, First and Second.

Post by OnHellas »

Yeehaaarrr!!!
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OnHellas
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Re: North America, First and Second.

Post by OnHellas »

Goodbye Texas.
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OnHellas
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Re: North America, First and Second.

Post by OnHellas »

Hello New Mexico.
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OnHellas
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Re: North America, First and Second.

Post by OnHellas »

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Maybe it’s time I gotten me some new boots!!
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