Since my last post, this being my first of 2015, Mr Branson has changed our flight times once again and I have secured a room booking at another of my first choice hotels. That leaves just The Cactus Inn, Mclean, Texas as the only first choice hotel not confirmed. For some reason they prefer booking to be made only a couple of weeks in advance. Should be interesting, as it took me months to get any response from them at all, either through email or messaging them on Facebook. I do have a backup booked in Amarillo though, in case the Cactus doesn't come off.
Apart from that, it's all been very quiet, with only some minor tweaks made to the route, such as the 'singing' road, near Albuquerque. This is a stretch of road that has grooves cut into the tarmac, that when you run over them at a certain speed, 40 mph, 'sing' out the tune of The Star-Spangled Banner.
I did have concerns over the planned route, at the far end of the tour in California for a while, as last autumn/fall, flash flooding washed away part of the roads around Amboy in the Mojave. Imagine my shock when the route planner suddenly showed a massive (400 mile) detour back up to i40 and around the impasse. That all seems to be cleared up now, so fingers crossed there's no more before we go and especially whilst we are on that stretch of road in September. Apart from that, I read that an old R66 bridge had been closed, the Gasconade River bridge in Missouri. Seems it has been allowed to fall into some state of disrepair and has now become potentially unsafe for traffic. There's even talk of demolishing it, which surely can't be allowed to happen. This is the roads' heritage and should be preserved, not destroyed.
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| Gasconade River Bridge, now closed to traffic |
Ms Dozey has started to compile her list of music for the trip, though I'm not sure she has got past the obvious yet, referencing Tulsa, Amarillo and Winslow! Feel free to post your suggestions.
Lastly, I'm waiting to hear from our sunshine state buddies Dean and Carol, as to whether they will be around when we arrive in Los Angeles. As Dean is the Wild West Tour guide, it's possible they will be on a tour when we arrive in town. We should know by the end of the month.
That's all for now. Till next time.
Keep your motor runnin'
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