Pictures from top to bottom: Williams, AZ; Ash Fork, AZ; Seligman, AZ; Black Mountains in AZ; and Oatman, AZ.
Hello again. I have been receiving several comments from numerous individuals and that is very encouraging to me. After riding all day, it usually takes me all night just to get my thoughts down in the computer and to get it posted to the blogsite. I didn’t expect it to be that much work, but it is fun. Especially when I know that many of you are enjoying it.
Today I got a later start than usual, but not because I was sleeping in. Actually I got up at 6:30 a.m. and after checking outside and seeing a little drizzle I decided to take care of some of my bills that I received notice of electronically. Although that should not have taken too long it ended up taking a couple hours because I could not login to find out how much my credit card bill was. After several attempts with a particularly slow WiFi, I eventually tried to contact the company by phone. Even then it didn’t work so back on the phone again. Eventually I got in and was able to get the amount and make my payment online. What a relief.
It was cool this morning, about 55 degrees in Williams, AZ. It was still spitting a little rain and the sky to the west was really dark. So I got fully suited up for the worst: leather jacket, rain suit, gloves, and Harley boots with plastic shopping bags over them tied at the ankles and then covered part way with the rain pants. I even had the weather tight bag over my suit case to keep that from getting wet. At least if I had to ride in the rain today, I was not going to let it be like yesterday; i.e. getting wet first and then put on the rain suit.
I was on the road for about 5 minutes and it started raining a little harder but nothing like yesterday. Actually it didn’t feel too bad because I was prepared for it. I started out on I-40 because the girl at the gas station told me that Route 66 did not connect to the next town which is Ash Fork. At Ash Fork Route 66 follows within 2 miles I-40 all the way to Seligman. At Seligman Route 66 turns northwest and stays about 30 to 40 miles away from I-40 all the way to Kingman which was about 80 miles away. I was glad I chose this route today because there was a huge thunderstorm that I had been watching and I appeared to be heading right at it until Route 66 turned north at Seligman. I got a few drops, but nothing like what I would have gotten had I been traveling on I-40. About 40 miles past Seligman, there was another major storm approaching from the north. Again, it looked like I was headed right for it until Route 66 took a turn to the southwest to head toward Kingman. Just when I thought I was clear of that one, I came across a guy and his girlfriend who were broken down on the side of the road. I stopped to see if I could be of help. He asked if I had any tools because he thought he fouled a plug on his Harley Sportster. I had a crescent wrench, channel locks, and vice grips. He used the crescent wrench to check the plugs but they were okay. So he checked a few more things and was able to start it. The bad part about all of this was that the thunder storm that I thought I was going to avoid started to come our way. Any he got the bike started and we took off but within about two miles he stalled again so we stopped again. The storm got closer as we searched for the problem. Eventually he came across a vacuum hose that was not connected. He was not sure where it went but when he blocked the hose the bike would run. He then used the inside of a ball point pen to plug the hose and we were able to ride off again. At that point it looked like we were heading directly into a major downpour. Just as it started to rain with some big drops, the road took another turn to the south and directed us around the major part of the rain. Once I got to Kingman, I could tell that most of the storms were to the east of me to I was able to take off my rain suit. I was happy about that because it was starting to warm up.
From Kingman, I stayed on Route 66 to Oatman. At Kingman, you descend from the mountains into a true desert like valley. In the distance you could see another mountain range (the Black Mountains) that looked exceptionally ominous. I wondered if the road would take me around this mountain range or over it. Well it took me over it and let me tell you this was some of the most treacherous riding I have encountered on any of my trips. The road was narrow and twisty. There were numerous switchbacks and in many cases there were huge drop offs on the very edge of the road; in many cases without any guardrails. Back when I was at the Route 66 Museum, I watch a movie that showed some extremely bad road sections. I am quite sure that this is where they took those movies. After a few miles of this I figured that I might want to try to capture some of this on my camcorder, so I found a place to stop and I taped the camera to the handle bars by my right mirror. The problem is there are so many variables to get right: angle, camera settings, zoom, and countless other things which are hard enough to get right under good conditions. These were not good conditions. It was about 99 degrees and I still had my leather jacket on. The camera is wrapped in a washcloth and taped to the handle bar. You can’t see most of the camera controls, much let get at them. I just hooked it up and hoped for the best. On my first attempt the angle was a little bit too far to the right but the video actually turned out pretty good. At one point I stopped to change the angle but inadvertently pushed the zoom button so unfortunately the next section turned out to be very blurry. As I approached Oatman, I noticed that the zoom had been changed so I pulled back the washcloth enough to change the setting. Luckily I did because I was able to get some video riding through Oatman. Oatman is a really neat little town with a whole bunch of little donkeys roaming around on main street.
As I descended from the hills at Oatman, I could see in the distance what I thought was a very large body of water. At first I thought it was a mirage because we were in a desert. But as I approached it I could tell that it was really water. It turned out to be the Colorado River. The same river I saw the day before at the Grand Canyon but then I was 5000 feet above it. At the canyon the river looked muddy, most likely because of runoff from the recent rains. Here, at the California border the river was quite blue and beautiful. Earlier today when I was crossing the desert in the valley between two mountain ranges, there were numerous signs that warned travelers not to cross if there was water flowing across the road. These areas were major dry washes. One was named the Sacramento Wash. As I approached the Colorado River I came across the other end of the Sacramento Wash at the point where it emptied into the Colorado River. All along the river there was a very heavy plant growth of some of the most twisted looking trees that I have ever seen. There was evidence everywhere that there must have been many times when the Sacramento Wash was a raging torrent of water that just ravaged this vegetation. I was glad that there weren’t any flash floods going on while I was there.
Today I got a later start than usual, but not because I was sleeping in. Actually I got up at 6:30 a.m. and after checking outside and seeing a little drizzle I decided to take care of some of my bills that I received notice of electronically. Although that should not have taken too long it ended up taking a couple hours because I could not login to find out how much my credit card bill was. After several attempts with a particularly slow WiFi, I eventually tried to contact the company by phone. Even then it didn’t work so back on the phone again. Eventually I got in and was able to get the amount and make my payment online. What a relief.
It was cool this morning, about 55 degrees in Williams, AZ. It was still spitting a little rain and the sky to the west was really dark. So I got fully suited up for the worst: leather jacket, rain suit, gloves, and Harley boots with plastic shopping bags over them tied at the ankles and then covered part way with the rain pants. I even had the weather tight bag over my suit case to keep that from getting wet. At least if I had to ride in the rain today, I was not going to let it be like yesterday; i.e. getting wet first and then put on the rain suit.
I was on the road for about 5 minutes and it started raining a little harder but nothing like yesterday. Actually it didn’t feel too bad because I was prepared for it. I started out on I-40 because the girl at the gas station told me that Route 66 did not connect to the next town which is Ash Fork. At Ash Fork Route 66 follows within 2 miles I-40 all the way to Seligman. At Seligman Route 66 turns northwest and stays about 30 to 40 miles away from I-40 all the way to Kingman which was about 80 miles away. I was glad I chose this route today because there was a huge thunderstorm that I had been watching and I appeared to be heading right at it until Route 66 turned north at Seligman. I got a few drops, but nothing like what I would have gotten had I been traveling on I-40. About 40 miles past Seligman, there was another major storm approaching from the north. Again, it looked like I was headed right for it until Route 66 took a turn to the southwest to head toward Kingman. Just when I thought I was clear of that one, I came across a guy and his girlfriend who were broken down on the side of the road. I stopped to see if I could be of help. He asked if I had any tools because he thought he fouled a plug on his Harley Sportster. I had a crescent wrench, channel locks, and vice grips. He used the crescent wrench to check the plugs but they were okay. So he checked a few more things and was able to start it. The bad part about all of this was that the thunder storm that I thought I was going to avoid started to come our way. Any he got the bike started and we took off but within about two miles he stalled again so we stopped again. The storm got closer as we searched for the problem. Eventually he came across a vacuum hose that was not connected. He was not sure where it went but when he blocked the hose the bike would run. He then used the inside of a ball point pen to plug the hose and we were able to ride off again. At that point it looked like we were heading directly into a major downpour. Just as it started to rain with some big drops, the road took another turn to the south and directed us around the major part of the rain. Once I got to Kingman, I could tell that most of the storms were to the east of me to I was able to take off my rain suit. I was happy about that because it was starting to warm up.
From Kingman, I stayed on Route 66 to Oatman. At Kingman, you descend from the mountains into a true desert like valley. In the distance you could see another mountain range (the Black Mountains) that looked exceptionally ominous. I wondered if the road would take me around this mountain range or over it. Well it took me over it and let me tell you this was some of the most treacherous riding I have encountered on any of my trips. The road was narrow and twisty. There were numerous switchbacks and in many cases there were huge drop offs on the very edge of the road; in many cases without any guardrails. Back when I was at the Route 66 Museum, I watch a movie that showed some extremely bad road sections. I am quite sure that this is where they took those movies. After a few miles of this I figured that I might want to try to capture some of this on my camcorder, so I found a place to stop and I taped the camera to the handle bars by my right mirror. The problem is there are so many variables to get right: angle, camera settings, zoom, and countless other things which are hard enough to get right under good conditions. These were not good conditions. It was about 99 degrees and I still had my leather jacket on. The camera is wrapped in a washcloth and taped to the handle bar. You can’t see most of the camera controls, much let get at them. I just hooked it up and hoped for the best. On my first attempt the angle was a little bit too far to the right but the video actually turned out pretty good. At one point I stopped to change the angle but inadvertently pushed the zoom button so unfortunately the next section turned out to be very blurry. As I approached Oatman, I noticed that the zoom had been changed so I pulled back the washcloth enough to change the setting. Luckily I did because I was able to get some video riding through Oatman. Oatman is a really neat little town with a whole bunch of little donkeys roaming around on main street.
As I descended from the hills at Oatman, I could see in the distance what I thought was a very large body of water. At first I thought it was a mirage because we were in a desert. But as I approached it I could tell that it was really water. It turned out to be the Colorado River. The same river I saw the day before at the Grand Canyon but then I was 5000 feet above it. At the canyon the river looked muddy, most likely because of runoff from the recent rains. Here, at the California border the river was quite blue and beautiful. Earlier today when I was crossing the desert in the valley between two mountain ranges, there were numerous signs that warned travelers not to cross if there was water flowing across the road. These areas were major dry washes. One was named the Sacramento Wash. As I approached the Colorado River I came across the other end of the Sacramento Wash at the point where it emptied into the Colorado River. All along the river there was a very heavy plant growth of some of the most twisted looking trees that I have ever seen. There was evidence everywhere that there must have been many times when the Sacramento Wash was a raging torrent of water that just ravaged this vegetation. I was glad that there weren’t any flash floods going on while I was there.
Today's ride was a total of 240 miles and probably about 210 of that was on Route 66. My hat's off to Arizona for there exceptional marking of the historic highway. I never got lost or off track once today, or anywhere in Arizona for that matter. I can not say that for all of the states I have been through.
Anyway I crossed over the Colorado into California and got a room at Needles, CA. Tomorrow I am heading to my niece’s house in San Bernardino which is about 250 miles away if I take Route 66. Most of this will be across the Mohave Desert. I hope I can get an early start.
Anyway I crossed over the Colorado into California and got a room at Needles, CA. Tomorrow I am heading to my niece’s house in San Bernardino which is about 250 miles away if I take Route 66. Most of this will be across the Mohave Desert. I hope I can get an early start.
2 comments:
Even though we're enjoying your adventure, we'd just as soon have you get a good night's rest!
If I ever take that trip I think I'll avoid the Black Mountains. There must be a lot of stories about people going over the edge.
Can't wait to hear the California stories. Needles is where Snoopy's brother lives, so maybe you'll see him.
You made it to the coast ! GREAT! Don't go into LA... It's too dangerous when you don't know where you are headed in that city.
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