Get your kicks on Route 66

Returning home from Oklahoma City for the National HOG rally, I wanted to take in a bit of Route 66, since I was so close. I have been on a couple of other sections, Amarillo in TX, and Kingman, AZ. So, head north in Oklahoma to go to Texas....

Most of the landmarks are long since gone but there are a few sights still to see. I hit the route in Edmond OK and headed East to Stroud before heading south on 377. I will have to watch the movie Cars again to catch up on my Route 66 lore.

HOG OKC

This weekend is the 26th annual National HOG rally. Last year we rode up to Milwaukee for the 25th, which coincided with the 105th anniversary of Harley-Davidson. Massive Party. This year the rally is much closer to home, in Oklahoma City. It will be a much smaller scale but is still shaping up to be a fairly significant rally. Lots of folks from the chapter appear to be going but for the most part everyone has made their own arrangements for lodging so I'm sure we will be running into everyone at the rally site and in Bricktown.

I'm heading up this afternoon, in the heat of the day, with temps in or near triple digits, oh joy.... But on that note I will be taking interstate to get there quickly. Theres a couple of dealerships in the area that are having some activities related to the rally so I may check them out on the way.

Oklahoma City is directly on the map with regards to Route 66 History. On my trip home on Sunday I hope to partake in some of this history with an extended route home.

Got my camera ready, hope to get some good and fun shots this weekend!

Wrap up

So after riding the Dragon we stopped back in the Deal's Gap for a store and to check out all the t-shirts and writings on the ceiling. Almost ready to go, and the sky's opened up again, hard, for about 45 minutes, so we wait that out until it slows down enough to head back out. This time we are going to take a bit of a detour as we are in a dry county and the nearest beer for purchase is about 15-20 miles away, on Highway 28 in Fontana Village. The ride to the beer store was awesome as it was along the river and there was a thick fog rolling along the river, we kept riding in and out of this fog and stopped at a pull off just before the road crossed the river.




Back on the road and more rain starts up and finally lets up just before we get back to the room and the others. We hang out with the group, exchanging lies and eating pizza for the rest of the night.



The next morning Darlene and I head out on the southern path and do the Cherohala Skyway, some of the others get their first opportunity to to the Dragon and take the northern route headed home. Carla and Tee stick around for another day riding with Family.



Long day this one, we want to make Memphis and decide to go further. Our route turned out to be a wise choice after a leisurely start as we had a couple of light sprinkles along the way that barely got our windshields wet. We run into Michael and Loyce in Arkansas where we stopped for gas and possible hotel, we decide to go another hour or so, but Michael and Loyce stay put. After 590 miles and 13.5 hours on the road we stop for the night, the rest of the crew are about 30 miles further in Little Rock.

A few more ABC points along the way and we arrive home mid afternoon on Saturday, just in time to rest up for the return to work on Monday.

Finally!

About time I get back to finishing my posting!!! If only I can remember the details...

So we left Charleston, and continued along the coast, stopping in Myrtle Beach. Carla had spent time here in her past. So we stopped for lunch and checked out the scene. Interestingly the recent rally has had some controversy so the locals were quite happy to see us.






After leaving Myrtle beach we continued onto Anderson SC. A bit of rain along the way, yet another rainsuit decision (good call....). We hooked up with Carla's famil and called it an early night as we were anxious to ride the tail of the Dragon the next day.

Darlene and I were on a mission so we headed off on our own while the rest of the crew checked out Terry's shop and hit the dealership. We had some great roads on the way into Robbinsville, NC,



and picked up some State markers for our ABCs and arrived dry at the Two Wheel Inn about 11:15 am. Got settled in, checked our bearings and fired up the bikes and pointed them to Deal's Gap. Whats this? Rain? Sure enough so we stop and suit up and ride through torrential rain into Deal's Gap. By the time we ride the 11 miles or so the rain eventually stops. We pick up our souvenirs and decide to have a shorter route, and do the Dragon twice since there rain forecast for the remainder of the day. Darlene of course makes yet another new friend.



and we get a shot of the "Tree of Shame"



So we do the Dragon, but have to do it very cautiously as the roads are wet, and yes it starts raining again as we are riding. Lots of Photographers, and the trick is to remember your training, look into where you are going, not at the photographers or that is where your bike will go...

more to come...

Road trip update part 2

Pending..... haven't had time to summarize and select the right pictures, will hopefully do over the next couple of days...

Road Trip Memories

So many pictures, so many memories, how does one summarize.... Haven't a clue.

Lets see, day 1 and 2, basically get to destination. Hmmm what happened, oh yeah, rain! But the best thing of course was our riding friends.

Day 2 - down for the night - Perry, GA

Day 3 - Hilton Head Island, rest stop and luggage repair.

Come day 4, we had 2 nights in Mount Pleasant, just east of Charleston, SC. Time to relax. We did a variety of things, some as groups and some as smaller groups. Activities included Boone Hall Plantation, carriage tour of Historic Charleston, swimming in the Atlantic Ocean at the Isle of Palms Beach, as well as the typical eating and drinking and other touring, in the appropriate orders of course.

Day 4 - Riding around Charleston.

Day 4 - Historic Charleston area sights.

Day 4 - Isle of Palms Beach

Halfway point, more to follow.....

States visited update

Free, personalized travel maps at mytriplogs.com




Updated with the three states traveled to last week, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. Starting to develop a couple of holes, notably Florida and Minnesota.

While on the road last week, I turned 50,000 on my odometer. Also picked up a Thunder Press magazine at one of the dealerships. There was an article in it on Dave Zien. Dave is a former senator from Wisconsin who helped our chapter ride over 2 million miles last year. He just officially retired his 1991 FXRT with 1,000,000 miles on it. Here is the article