Proving to be more complicated than I expected and certainly more than I have been used to, on previous tours. You'd think getting me and Ms Dozey across the States would be a lot simpler to plan, than getting 4 blokes on bikes around the UK or Europe. Well, you'd be wrong.
Maybe I/we are making it more complicated? Not sure but having specific 'wants', such as places to stay (El Rancho Hotel, for example), trying to fit lots in yet not be travelling too far each day, are all conspiring to complicate matters.
I've been all through the EZ66 guide now, so the route and sights are all logged. All we have to do now, is break that 2500 miles, into manageable daily chunks, with a few 'rest' (read, non driving) days thrown in. Simples!
Maybe I'm painting a blacker picture than it actually is, we've both done pretty well not to strangle each other, thus far, so that's a positive.
One thing IS for sure. We shan't be bothering with a Mustang. I'm quite settled on the idea of a Toyota Rav4 or similar SUV, though I did have a 'moment', where I was considering buying a 1920s Model T Ford, to make the trip as authentic as possible! Crazy? Not quite so, when you can pick one up (probably no surprise to you yanks), for anything between $11,000 - $15,000. I kid you not Brits. Maybe one for when I'm retired.
Shouldn't be long now before we have something solid to work with, I believe we are pretty close already to deciding how many days we'll be away. I had initially thought 3 weeks (20/21 days). The way it is looking, we'll arrive in LA end of Day 18, so pretty much spot on, allowing a day of sightseeing in LA and a visit to my American chums, Dean & Carol.
Rest assured you'll be the first to know, assuming you've signed up for blog updates, that is ;-)
Monday, 27 October 2014
Tuesday, 21 October 2014
Planning continues at a pace
Quite a slow one though, if truth be told. I am now going back over the route using the EZ66 route book. I bought it from the US, as it comes highly recommended. I could have bought it on Amazon UK but that would have cost £30. Including postage from the States, it was about £17. I must confess, when I first opened it, I was a little disappointed but now I have actually started using it in anger, I can see what a good purchase it was.
Cath has joined the planning on a couple of days and added her ideas of what to stop and see. She's also knocked up a spreadsheet that tracks the mileage, so we can work out how long the trip will take. Once we have that, we can choose our dates and start booking things
Watch this space.
Sent from Samsung Mobile
Saturday, 4 October 2014
Four Wheels on my wagon?
But what's it gonna be?
Cath's dislike of riding pillion, meant this was never going to be another Harley trip, though I did briefly toy with the idea of a trike. However, there were two things wrong with that; one, the luggage space, even with a trunk (UK=boot), is barely enough to hold Cath's make-up bag and two, a trike would cost something approaching 4 times that of a car!
No, this would have to be four wheels. But what? On 2 wheels, you ride a Harley, obviously. On 4, then surely it has to be a Mustang convertible. One thing wrong with that! Again it boils down to the size of the trunk. Nelly the elephant could get more in hers than Ford has provided, the Mustang only having twice the cubic footage of the trike! Doesn't sound then, that that is going to leave any room for my clothes, once Cath has got all her footwear in. Now I can hear you all saying, " you can use the back seat, as there's only two of you". A fair suggestion, IF, we were going from airport to hotel and unloading. But we ain't. As we shall be moving on each day and stopping off en route, then that would leave our luggage on show, as temptation for ne'er do wells (I'm sure there are one or two in America) to break in the car. No, all our luggage needs to tucked away out of sight.
All might not be lost though, as I have found some interesting videos on you tube, which seem to suggest the Mustang trunk is bigger than one imagines. Might have to visit a local US car dealer and see for myself.
Failing the Mustang, we'll settle for something midsize or maybe even an SUV (Toyota Rav 4 or similar), as I am planning on running on some old unpaved Route 66!
Don't worry though, you guys will be the first to know, when a booking is made.
I've run through the list of sights to stop off with Cath and apart from one addition, she is in agreement. Now comes the task of guesstimating the amount of time we'll spend visiting. For the most part, I expect it'll be stopping, reading the information we have on the subject, taking a few pictures and then continuing on our way. 15 minutes tops. Others, may include some interaction with the natives (real natives, in some cases), so stopped time may be significantly more. It's not an exact science but will give us a good idea of what each day will hold. Do that for the entire 2448 miles and we'll know how many days it's going to take. Simples! Once we know that, we'll know how many days we have to top and tail the drive in Cjicago and LA.
Anyway, loads to do, so back to the planning.
P.S. I've added Cath as a contributor to the blog, so you may see the odd post from her, if not before, probably once we hit the road.
Cath's dislike of riding pillion, meant this was never going to be another Harley trip, though I did briefly toy with the idea of a trike. However, there were two things wrong with that; one, the luggage space, even with a trunk (UK=boot), is barely enough to hold Cath's make-up bag and two, a trike would cost something approaching 4 times that of a car!
No, this would have to be four wheels. But what? On 2 wheels, you ride a Harley, obviously. On 4, then surely it has to be a Mustang convertible. One thing wrong with that! Again it boils down to the size of the trunk. Nelly the elephant could get more in hers than Ford has provided, the Mustang only having twice the cubic footage of the trike! Doesn't sound then, that that is going to leave any room for my clothes, once Cath has got all her footwear in. Now I can hear you all saying, " you can use the back seat, as there's only two of you". A fair suggestion, IF, we were going from airport to hotel and unloading. But we ain't. As we shall be moving on each day and stopping off en route, then that would leave our luggage on show, as temptation for ne'er do wells (I'm sure there are one or two in America) to break in the car. No, all our luggage needs to tucked away out of sight.
All might not be lost though, as I have found some interesting videos on you tube, which seem to suggest the Mustang trunk is bigger than one imagines. Might have to visit a local US car dealer and see for myself.
Failing the Mustang, we'll settle for something midsize or maybe even an SUV (Toyota Rav 4 or similar), as I am planning on running on some old unpaved Route 66!
Don't worry though, you guys will be the first to know, when a booking is made.
I've run through the list of sights to stop off with Cath and apart from one addition, she is in agreement. Now comes the task of guesstimating the amount of time we'll spend visiting. For the most part, I expect it'll be stopping, reading the information we have on the subject, taking a few pictures and then continuing on our way. 15 minutes tops. Others, may include some interaction with the natives (real natives, in some cases), so stopped time may be significantly more. It's not an exact science but will give us a good idea of what each day will hold. Do that for the entire 2448 miles and we'll know how many days it's going to take. Simples! Once we know that, we'll know how many days we have to top and tail the drive in Cjicago and LA.
Anyway, loads to do, so back to the planning.
P.S. I've added Cath as a contributor to the blog, so you may see the odd post from her, if not before, probably once we hit the road.
Friday, 3 October 2014
There's more to this lark than just blogging!
Driving down Route 66 with Catherine, has been something we have talked about for a while now but fitting it in around my biking tours was always going to be difficult. As many will know, 2014 saw my old Irish muckah Patrick (a.k.a. Grizzly) and I spend 3 weeks touring Europe, so quality holiday time with my good lady was in short supply. I'd already started planning for a 2015 tour, The Wild Hogs Scandinavian Tour but I ran out of Hogs! Bill (a.k.a. Dudley) passed away in February, David (a.k.a. Biggsy), has, seemingly shut himself away from the world and reliable old Grizzly told me he had two weddings to go to in 2015, so wouldn't be able to afford another tour!
So, when one door closes, opportunity knocks, or some such thing and suddenly I was free for a 3 week tour with my partner.
And so the planning began.
We sat down searched the web for all Route 66 tours, 2 wheeled, 4 wheeled, coach, etc, and listed the places they stop over, together with the number of days they take to complete. It became clear quite quickly that 2 weeks is the average time. Longer tours just added a stopover somewhere, rather than reduce the mileage, and some days there are big mileages involved. We didn't just want to be sitting in the car for 8 hours each day, so we shall be looking to spread it out over 3 weeks, including some sightseeing in Chicago and some time in LA to visit with Carol & Dean, wife and tour guide from the Wild West tour I did in 2013.
Moving on from that, I downloaded a set of Route 66 TYRE routes, which I have gone through, tidying up and marking the alignments that I want to drive along. Then, in conjunction with the National Parks Service website (linked on this blog) and some other websites, I have marked the things/points of interest that I plan to stop at. Notice I said I. Cath will need to go through and agree or otherwise with my choices, before we can start to build in our mileages and overnight stops.
Rather than just driving the road, I want to get more involved with the history and culture this time round, so I already have some historic motels/hotels on my list of potential places to stay. Cath likes her luxuries though, so I'm hoping they don't still look like they did in 1949, though retain their old worldly charm.
There's loads more to do yet, so watch out for the next post.
So, when one door closes, opportunity knocks, or some such thing and suddenly I was free for a 3 week tour with my partner.
And so the planning began.
We sat down searched the web for all Route 66 tours, 2 wheeled, 4 wheeled, coach, etc, and listed the places they stop over, together with the number of days they take to complete. It became clear quite quickly that 2 weeks is the average time. Longer tours just added a stopover somewhere, rather than reduce the mileage, and some days there are big mileages involved. We didn't just want to be sitting in the car for 8 hours each day, so we shall be looking to spread it out over 3 weeks, including some sightseeing in Chicago and some time in LA to visit with Carol & Dean, wife and tour guide from the Wild West tour I did in 2013.
Moving on from that, I downloaded a set of Route 66 TYRE routes, which I have gone through, tidying up and marking the alignments that I want to drive along. Then, in conjunction with the National Parks Service website (linked on this blog) and some other websites, I have marked the things/points of interest that I plan to stop at. Notice I said I. Cath will need to go through and agree or otherwise with my choices, before we can start to build in our mileages and overnight stops.
Rather than just driving the road, I want to get more involved with the history and culture this time round, so I already have some historic motels/hotels on my list of potential places to stay. Cath likes her luxuries though, so I'm hoping they don't still look like they did in 1949, though retain their old worldly charm.
There's loads more to do yet, so watch out for the next post.
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