Mark entered our hotel lobby in the evening to find a group of eager people all hanging onto every word of a local ghost tour operator "I can tell by this that there is a presence here....." "Oh-that's lovely" came the reply. Mark must have had a look of "What a pack of nutters" on his face as they all stopped dead (bad pun) in their tracks and waited for him to leave.
We had a great brekkie at our Hotel as part of the deal so hung around for a slightly later departure then normal. It was worth the wait.
Motorcyclists listen up! If you have ridden in Arizona and have not passed through Jerome to ride the 89A out of town, turn off your computer and give yourself an upper cut to the face.
The road is champagne motorcycling. Nicely resurfaced it snakes its way up and over beautifully forested hillside. Then it has corner after corner with no rude surprises.
It was already 80 degrees at 8am at altitude so we knew we would be in for a roasting by the time we descended late in the day towards Laughlin.
We had an hour or so of desert riding and passed though Chino Valley. It reminded us a bit of the Blenheim area because of the long straight roads, rural (desert in this case) outlook and mountains in the distance. It went on for about 50 miles though. Ken tells us it was not there a few years ago.Its huge. What do all those people do living there?
We hit Route 66 and stayed on it most of the time. First stop was Seligman a small settlement that is doing its best to cash in on the nostalgia around the mother road.
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| I think I can I think I can... |
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| I thought could, I thought I could.... |
A good stop, parts of it were so cheesy a person with an allergy to dairy products would go into shock.
The gentleman who started it all for this little town has been cutting hair and playing in a jazz band since early last century. Angel the Barber seemed to Mark to be the only genuine experience in town, so he had Angel give him a cut throat shave as he has been doing since the war.
It also boasts the famous Road Kill Cafe. You can eat from the menu, or run your lunch over and bring it in for cooking.
Arizona has also revealed another of Americas wonders to us. The straight road. We have obviously had them but overwelmingly in the past month they have been a tiny proportion. This is because we keep criss crossing the continental divide. Gerry has lost count of the number of sign's advising us we just....crossed the continental divide.
All the story's of having to travel for ages on straight roads to get to he next point of interest has us wondering what drugs you people had been taking. Now we experienced it truly. Desert, long straights, Burma Shave ads that ran long the side of the road. Here they all where.
It was a pleasant change in some ways so it was cruise control on and marvel at the fact we are riding a Harley on the mother road in desert heat.
It was fun watching all the trains and trucks. America on the move. All manner of things heading all around the country to sell, or make other things with.
We caught up with some of the far north contingent on our trip and sat behind them for awhile.
We stopped in at the Hackberry store, in the middle of no where. This has done a terrific job of capturing yesteryear. Less cheese more class.
We hadn't picked up any route 66 memorabilia so Mark brought a bottle of Route 66 Root Beer and drank that.
We rode on again enjoying the novelty of straight straight roads and watched the trains. Kingman appeared and we stopped in the old town at -what else- a route 66 Diner for lunch. Hamburger please, hold the Fry's, rye bread maam,ranch dressing please maam.
Suitably getting our kicks, we headed out on Route 66 again and turned towards Oatman. For a short distance 66 followed the new interstate. Bizarre. We have seen the opposing lanes of interstate further apart then the road was to the new motorway.
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| Thats interstate to our right |
This part of the road was vintage Route 66, or what you imagine. Previously it was just an old road. Now it narrowed as it snaked over Sitgreaves pass. Views, desert flowers and quite an experience. The road snakes were everywhere of course but only added to the drama of it all. Could only be in America, Arizona, Route 66. The highlight of our Route 66 experience.
Oatman appeared before long. Another Route 66 cash in, never the less a good stop. The burros crowd around and generally want you to feed them. We stayed for a reasonable time, had a drink and wander about and enjoyed ourselves generally.
Cold drinks, bums rested we pushed on the the final leg. The day had been hovering at 100 degrees and we knew the decent into the Mohave Basin would mean a soaring temperature.
It did. 120 degrees showed on the Harley's temperature gauge. It was like riding in a hairdryer. Fantastic experience really. We had loaded up on lots of fluids so managed it well. Some others hit a wall and didn't enjoy it. Maybe their excesses of the previous evening bit them in the bum? Tut tut.
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| 120 degrees. bit blurry but. |
We had a little argument with our GPS here but a local put us right and we arrived at our Casino lodgings safe and happy.
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| Mate. It was an 80 minute game. Full credit to the opposition mate. |
Gerry had an urgent appointment with the cold shower and we joined the others for a sociable evening.
Tomorrow Hoover Dam and Los Vegas....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCYApJtsyd0
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