Volume Three Number 11
The Shoe Maker's
Kids Got Shoes!
Ever since I organized the The 1st Annual Mother Road Ride/Rally® back in 1994 I've wanted to run Route 66 myself. Somehow the time was never right. This year I decided I would just make the time.
I still had to do the ride in two segments. First I did Chicago to Amarillo, TX, then Amarillo to the Santa Monica Pier. What a Trip!! I'm ready to go again! I now know why people fall in love with the old road. I particularly enjoyed Flagstaff, AZ. You reach Flagstaff after a hard, hot run from the Continental Divide of western New Mexico. Real flat, real hot. Then, pow! You climb to around 7,000 feet, lots of trees and twisties and neat places to camp.
The afternoon I arrived also included a light, cooling, welcome rain shower. Not hard enough for stopping or rain suit but it did drop the temperature down about 15 degrees.
After Flagstaff it's back to the Sonoran
desert and that long leg that the Interstate
lopped off. You do the Grand Canyon Caverns, Peach Springs, etc., and - of course -
Route 66 denizen Bob Waldmire's place at
Hackberry.
Route 66 Makes National Geographic
Thanks to Margot Quinn for sending along a
copy of the National Geographic magazine
(September, 1997 issue). They featured the
Arizona "loop" of Route 66. That's the
segment between Seligman
and Kingman that passed
through Peach Springs,
Truxton and Hackberry. It
was bypassed when the Interstate opened and is the longest (168 miles) loop of
"original" Route 66 still
rideable.
The Geographic also went beyond Kingman on the original route - over Sitgreaves Pass - to Oatman, AZ and their wild burros. In all it was twenty pages or so with the Geographic's usual stunning color photography. The magazine circulates in the millions all over the world, so it is a terrific boost for the route we love best. We've requested reprint rights, so stay tuned.
Something NEW on Route 66
Tucumcari, NM is home to the newest Route 66 Icon. Erected this past spring,
the monument is HUGE. Look for it on the south side of the highway at the
west edge of town . . . at the Convention Center. That's my 'Wing dwarfed at
the right side.
Harley Visa Card
Eaglemark Financial Services will be poking a new credit card offer in mailboxes. The "gimmick" for this particular Visa card (beyond its shiny chrome surface) is that you can have a picture of you on your HD put on the card.
I responded to an offer a year or so ago simply because it had a terrific picture of a bike (generic, not identifiable as a particular brand) riding off into the sunset. Never used the card, but still have it because of that terrific picture. I suppose the credit card folks know that that can happen - get it but never use it - but are hungry enough for "users" to take the gamble. (The card I really use gives back frequent flyer points)
