Revisiting An Old Trip

I had forgotten how amazed I was at leaving Santa Fe last time I was there. The trip down the mountains offers some fantastic vistas into the valleys below. Amazing beauty.
When we hit the bottom though, the temperature dropped 20degrees and we found ourselves in the thickest fog. In a way it was a blessing though as the sunrise was brutally bright and directly in our eyes.
Now, the last time that we traveled Route 66, we were bound and determined to ride as much of the old road as possible. This time, not so much so. We are actually traveling mostly on the "new road" and dropping off for the things that we want to visit or in some cases, revisit. In that vein, we stopped at some cool auto museums, (one where all of the cars were for sale, like paying admission to shop) some good old diners and an aircraft museum that actually has a Russian MIG on display at it's entrance. We saw The Cadillac Ranch, where there are 12 Caddys buried nose first in the desert, in passing too. I guess somebody calls it art. of course, there are always Harley Dealers to stop at too.
Today we got stopped short of our goal by the most incredible storms. We could see them, there were two cloud formations, off in the distance. Thankfully we were smart enough to stop and just made our hotel when the clouds came together and it poured. Five minutes after we checked in, the power went off for over two hours. So, we are in Joplin Mo. tonight. Tomorrow we hope to make it to Springfield Il. where we will stay for two nights and explore all of the Abraham Lincoln stuff that is there.

Always good places to eat

Russian MIG

Lots of great Cars to see

Riding into the sun can be tough but the sunrise was beautiful

'63 Split Window Coupe, not a lot of them around

Harley Dealers!!!

Whatever it takes to get people off the highway

Half way point between Chicago and Santa Monica

Basket Case

Always lots of old gas stations

You never know what you will see. An Edsel backhoe!

A day of exploring and rest

Santa Fe is a city that has been inhabited for at least a couple of thousand years. The San Miguel Mission is said to be the oldest standing church structure in the United States. It is a city of arts and culture, with a friendly attitude, great shopping and food. This morning we took some time to sample a bit of the old city around the "Plaza". There are churches, stores, government buildings and native craftsmen that set up their wares on the sidewalks of the plaza. We spend a good part of the morning just walking and taking in all of the flavors of the central city. Before we left we topped it off with a delicious lunch at a 2nd floor restaurant overlooking the Plaza. It was a great morning. Of course we had to visit the local Harley dealer, this time with a purpose though. Cherif had to replace the helmet that he lost off his bike yesterday. The rest of the day was spent doing laundry, planning our route and resting up.

The Sangro De Cristo mountains grace Santa Fe to the east and they are a magnificent sight to behold both as the sun rises over them and with the light of the sunset reflecting off them. It is truly a beautiful place.

                       There is an abundance of beautiful of churches around the square in Santa Fe.

 Tomorrow we will continue south then east and continue this adventure on Route 66.

Route 50 in the rear view, 66 ahead

Last night we decided to skip Route 50 west to Pueblo and instead to head southwest directly to Santa Fe. This route took us through Kansas to Oklahoma and then to New Mexico.
The first part of the trip was much like yesterday, long stretches of farmland and ranches. Once we crossed into New Mexico it all changed. Off in the distance we could see the mountains, the road got a bit curvy and gradually changed elevations. Late morning we stopped in Conway N.M. at a small cafe. While we were eating a guy stopped at our table and asked if we were the guys on Harleys. It seems that Cherif lost his spare helmet (both of us have a nice weather half helmet and a bad weather full helmet) and this guy picked it up and chased us for several miles to return it. Nice guy, nice story.

As we continued towards Santa Fe, the mountains got bigger and the elevations higher. The vistas were sometimes breathtaking. We climbed to over 7000 feet before we landed here. We will spend 2 nights here and will explore Santa Fe tomorrow. It is the first of our Route 66 revisits.

As soon as we crossed into New Mexico, the mountains appeared on the horizon

...and they just got bigger

We did a lot of climbing

The views here are spectacular

Windy Day On The Plains

Weather, whether or not always has some impact on these trips. Sometimes it is humorous, like this morning when it looked like rain so Cherif suited up in his rain gear. I, as usual was stubborn and simply said to him "you just guaranteed it won't rain". We had a good laugh a while later when the skies cleared and he had to take it all off.

This morning we discovered a wonderful stretch of old route 50 that we rode for more than an hour. It was a great 2 lane, country road that wound through the Kansas farmland. Unfortunately, most of the rest of our day, which was 325 miles of riding, was on an open road that is as straight as you can imagine. After lunch, a south wind kicked up and our last 120 miles was spent alternately fighting a 30 mph side wind and the impact of the passing semis. So, we quit a bit early and are pending the night in Dodge City, of course the historical setting for much of the western TV of our youth. Who can forget Gun smoke? Because we were here with time on our hands, we went to "The Boot Hill Museum" dedicated to the real history of Dodge City and real characters like Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson, both of whom were real life lawmen here. The museum is a depiction of the original main street and is built near Boot Hill Cemetery.

Fancy casket

I have to say that Route 50 has been a bit of a disappointment. I suppose I expected a bit more of the flavor of history and Americana that we found when we last traveled Route 66. While we did pass through a lot of little towns that have preserved their heritage and had main streets that reminded one of the past, there were not a lot of reasons to stop. A bit too much wide open, 65 mph roads. Tomorrow we head to Santa Fe, NM where we plan on spending a couple of days exploring and resting, then it is on to Route 66.

Kansas!

Yesterday was a wash, literally. We hit rain early in the day and it continued throughout. Fortunately we were able to stop and "suit up" in our rain gear before we got too wet and were able to make it to St. Louis by late afternoon, about 350 miles for the day. A good meal at a local Steak house and we were both ready to call it a day.

This morning was a different story. We started our day in warm, muggy and overcast but the day soon cleared to brilliant sun and cloudless skies. Yesterday, between Cincinnati and  St. Louis we were mostly on 2 lane, very straight roads which helped with the rain. Today the first 200 miles was like a roller coaster in comparison. There were constant long slow curves and the road rose and fell constantly. It was great fun!
Later in the morning we stopped at a Harley dealer (big surprise) where we were able to look at one of the '19 bikes. More horsepower and better communication/navigation systems make it inviting.

Stopping at a Harley dealer is always a must.

After the Harley Dealer we stopped for lunch at a really neat diner. Kehde's Barbecue is just down the road from the Harley dealer in Sedalia Missouri. If you have followed my trips in the past you know that one of my pursuits on these junkets ids finding good barbecue. Today was a success. Half of Kehde's is actually an old railroad car with booths. It is a really unique experience and the barbecue was superb.

Inside The diner

We ate in the old railroad car

Open kitchen so you can watch the cooks

For the rest of the day, Rte 50 was a four land so the next 100 miles went quick and the 95 degree temperature took it's toll on us. Beautiful countryside but sadly, they are experiencing a serious drought in this part of the country and it shows.

It was a good day and it was refreshing to hit the pool at the hotel. Tomorrow looks to be another day on 2 lane roads for most of it and we should make Colorado. 

ANOTHER YEAR, ANOTHER TRIP

Each year since 2009 my friend Cherif and I have spent a few weeks each summer traversing different parts of America on our Harleys. Usually, our trips are a bit earlier but this year Cherif had some business and I have a new grand daughter, born July 16,  that I wanted to get to know a bit before I left for a few weeks.

Our plan this year is to do a section of U.S. route 50 between Cincinnati and Pueblo Co. Route 50 is one of the early cross country roads and it runs from Baltimore to Sacramento and we have talked about riding it for several years. At Pueblo, we will head south to Santa Fe, NM and Route 66. We did Route 66 in it's entirety in 2009 and have wanted to revisit this iconic route to see some of the things we missed back then.

To that end, I left Baldwinsville this morning and headed west. 535 miles and 10 hours later I arrived in Cincinnati.  It was all highways, routes 90 and 71and was a great day to ride, cool this morning and hot at the end of the day.

So, tomorrow we will head west and really don't know what this route will present. Parts of route 50 are called "The loneliest road in America". I guess we will find out.

Just after I got on 90 this morning, I was greeted by a double rainbow. MAybe a good omen for this trip?