We set the alarm this morning to be sure we didn't sleep in. We wanted to be sure to get out early to beat as much heat as we could. It was noticeably less hot (couldn't use the term "cooler") this morning so we were grateful for that. We topped off on gas because it was $3.39 and we don't expect to see anything near that in California. We had out water coolers full of ice and water and headed out at 7:00 AM on the nose.
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| Day 14 Track |
Our main goal today wasn't to do with the Team Strange tours... Back in 2007 Larry and his son Larry Jr. (Bud) ran route 66 starting in Chicago and they got out as far as Needles CA before Bud's work forced them to cut the ride off there. Since we are "in the neighborhood", Larry wanted to finish out the last segment of Route 66 to call it done, so that's what we were about today. The first order of business was to get to Needles which was just 25 miles south, but right down the chute of the Mojave Valley.We got there and got a photo of the spot where Larry and Bud finished their 2007 ride.
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| Needles CA |
From here we would be riding on the original US-66 route, where it still exists and is open. It is pretty well marked, but you do have to pay attention as it does wind around here and there, especially through towns. The most notable hing about it for us today is that the next 160 miles (between Needles and Barstow) in what most of you know as the Mojave Desert. It is hot, dry, windy and extremely sparsely populated. We wound our way through Needles and criss-crossed I-40 a couple of times before running parallel to I-40 for some 6 miles or so before old 66 veers north away from I-40 and follows alongside the BNSF railway bed that is still in use today. It then runs westerly, along the edge of the Mojave National Preserve, and then cuts south, crossing I-40 again and also joining what is called the National Trails Highway. This dips down and then heads west running through a little town named Amboy. As it turns out this is where Larry and I decide its time for our first break of the day as we spot an now
defunct hotel/gas station/restaurant (Roy's) that now only has a small "coffee shop". It is also 80 miles from our start in Needles and exactly half way across the desert. We walk into what looks like an old 50's diner complete with counter and tables, but there is no food, no kitchen, just a single guy with a coffee urn and packaged plastic ware with powdered creamer and sugar. At least the AC was working. We had a quick cup of coffee, took a "bio break" and then soaked our shirts for the next leg. I wanted to get a photo of the place, but had to settle for a photo of the post office across the street.
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| Amboy CA Post Office |
It is only 9:00 AM and it is already 100 degrees out! With the wet shirts it feels much cooler though so down the road we go. Here's a shot of what it looks like on the road.
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| Crossing the desert at 100+ degrees |
In 26 more miles 66 again comes parallel with I-40 (at a little "town" called Ludlow) and runs on one side or the other of it for almost all the way across. The We are running along ok for the most part though at one point we have to cross the train tracks and a train is passing by so we have to wait a couple of minutes for that. Further along we cross over I-40 to run along the south side and encounter a sign that says "Rough Road next 10 miles" - Well, I mean to tell you they weren't kidding! Rough road was being kind. Any worse and this stretch of road would be all but impassable. We had to slow to 30 MPH or less and it ran that way for something closer to 20 miles. Then, just before Barstow, route 66 disappears and we are forced onto I-40. It's 11:07 AM here so we decide to stop at a McDonalds for a quick bite and to wet down again. The stop is just 20 minutes and we are rolling again. We pick up 66 again here in Barstow and still paralleling the railroad, it turns south along the Mojave River and down into a town named Victorville where 66 ends again and we are forced onto I-15. This takes us up through the San Bernardino National Forest. We don't actually see much forest, but we do definitely climb in elevation and thus drop about 10 degrees of temperature, before descending 300 ft in 20 miles and back into the heat again. We also get off I-15 and back onto old 66 again. Here it is called Cajon Blvd before it turns directly west and now becomes the Foothills Blvd.\ in San Bernardino. Here too it turns into a metropolitan surface road complete with traffic lights every couple of blocks. It is a hot slog of stop and go and our hops of making the Santa Monica Pier are fading fast. We stop for gas at a station I had scoped out last night using Gasbuddy to find the best price station. We also soak the shirts again. That stop takes just 8 minutes. By now it is becoming apparent that the smart thing to do is find a hotel and call it a night so we can start fresh early tomorrow and hopefully to less traffic due to the holiday. We search the GPS and have a hotel picked out but then we spot one right on 66 that looks good so we pull in and that becomes our stop for tonight. It's kind of fitting too because it is a non-chain motel - The Stardust, and looks like it may have been an old 66 motel so it completes the experience. As I "de-brief" the GPS I determine that for this leg of the Foothills parkway, we traveled 25.3 miles and it took us 1hr 26 minutes - so we averaged just 18 MPH.
Today's Stats: 284 miles in 7:35 elapsed time, 5:56 saddle time
Since this was our 14th day and second week I though I'd recap the trip to date map and stat wise.
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| 2 weeks on the road |
We've ridden 5,220 miles in 14 days.
