Sunday
The idea for this trip was conceived well over a year ago, and involved others in the planning and date selection.
The planning began many months ago.
Less than two months ago a departure date from downtown Chicago was agreed upon for June 13, 2015.
I will leave home on June 12; spend the night in Chicago and leave from the downtown area on a Saturday morning.
The journey is Route 66, or what is left of Route 66, from Chicago to Santa Monica, a distance of roughly 2200 miles. Much of the "old road" is now gone, replaced by interstates and all that goes with interstate travel. Parts of the old road still in place. One of the longest and best maintained is a section just west of Williams, Arizona, but there are many smaller segments, in many other locations. There are also some longer segments, but not all have the feel of another era.
Some of the old motels, restaurants, and gift-aromas are still there, in some form. Most have long since been torn down (Very few were replaced). Some have been boarded, abandoned, and closed as their owners have either moved on to where traffic and opportunities are more favorable, or died as many of the towns did along the way. Many businesses that remain along the old 66 roads still have that nostalgic look from another time. But today's travelers may like that look, and feel, of those picturesque times, but they still want the air conditioning, the comfort, and of course free WiFi.
Much of the roadbed for Route 66 is gone. Nonetheless, time spent travelling the old road, or the interstates that replaced 66, rebuilds and magnifies memories from times of the old road, deep memories that have been inescapably embellished by TV programs, movies, and songs. Our combined expediences allow us to wistfully envision and believe in a time of travel and adventure over a road not tarnished by all that is new.
Make no mistake, Route 66 of old was an adventure, from a road too narrow, too poorly designed, and too much of everything, to include a mass of people wanting to feel the open road. Somehow all of the stories, the media, and the nostalgia was captured in our imagination, and in a way it is still there. Of course you have to be of a certain age, and of a mindset. But, for of us that are of that age, and/or of that mindset, the marvels and escapism afforded by travelling Route 66, especially by motorcycle, is like no other.
Travelling from Chicago to Santa Monica should take 7-8 days. This will allow for travelling 300 miles per day. This pace should allow for enough time for a not-so-pressured rate of travel and of course sightseeing.
This will not be my first time to ride Route 66 by motorcycle. I have been the entire route several times and parts of it on other trips. Each time I find it very enjoyable.
This trip I will not be alone, unlike some other adventures...more on that later.
Today I dug out an old checklist of things to pack and consider, and sometime next week I will begin to assemble things that I will take with me.
One of the things I wanted to do for this trip was to blog it, as I did my month-long (or longer) summer trips of the previous two years. So, this is my first blog entry for the trip. It is now set up, and I will try to add to it on a daily basis beginning at the end of the day on June 12.
Comments, suggestions, and/or recommended stops along the way are welcome and considered.
All is good.
