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Monday 29th September 5 week american road trip
The sun has been shining today and had a nice easy ride to Santa Barbara stopping on route at Morro Bay and Pismo Beach. I just wished it had been as nice yesterday as the photos didn’t do it justice. Our hotels located right on the beach front and you couldn’t wish for a nicer location the only downside it’s has an outside bathroom. You must be fed up of bike photos so it’s just me and Pam photos with a bit of scenery thrown in
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| Lunch stop with the locals |
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| This is a order for one person which we split between us |
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| We’re getting used to having a drink in the afternoon |
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| View from our balcony |
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| Our outside bathroom |
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| Pre dinner drinks on our private terrace |
Tuesday 30th September 5 week american road trip
Phew it’s been a long hard day. We left the hotel at 9.00am and checked in at the stalybridge suites in San Bernardino at 5.00pm. The morning route on the pacific coast high way to Malibu and Los Angeles was lovely, we did however pass through some of the devastated areas caused by the fires. It looks like they have just cleared all the debris and left a blank canvas and all that’s left is remnants of foundations, some new building work has started. It was so sad to see such a large number of empty plots of what would have been beautiful coastal fronted properties. Once at Santa Monica we couldn’t ride onto the lPier so had to settle for underground parking, and with hindsight we should have just rode on. It’s just like Blackpool and couldn’t get out of Los Angeles quick enough but the 6 lane freeway wasn’t playing ball. I have never had to battle through so much traffic for 3 hrs solid and even white lining didn’t really speed thing up. Anyway that should hopefully be the last of the freeways for some time and on the plus side our hotel has free flowing wine and beer including food from 5.30pm until 7.00pm and I just need to work out how to get to our room. On the + side we’ve got a Brucy bonus, no sink washed undies tonight. We’ve got a laundry room so I think I’ll spoil my self with a morning and afternoon sock change tomorrow
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Foundations only things left standing
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Wednesday 1st October 5 week american road trip
It’s been a lot easier day than yesterday and soon picked up a section of route 66, I also spotted my 1st mile long train which just had container after container of Amazon prime goodies. We were made very welcome by some really friendly staff at the route 66 museum in Victorville, we then moved onto the bottle ranch at Helendale which we had visited back in 2013. We are now checked into our hotel at Barstow. I must say it seems a lot more expensive on this trip. American hotels have been ranging from £150 to 250 per night we avoided the places charging over £500, at dinner we share a sandwich and fries + 2 cokes and with taxes it’s $32.00 ( that’s $900 on butties ) on the plus side beer and wine is cheap and tonight’s hotel is only £70.00. It also looks like the US government have put a spanner in the works again announcing another lockdown, this will prevent us from visiting the Grand Canyon, Petrified forest and Bryce Canyon. I have arranged a detour for a couple of nights and will do some checking to make sure I’m right with my assumptions and make alternative plans
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| The fuel tank is enormous |
Thursday 2nd October 5 week american road trip
The sun was shining today on route 66 and temperatures got up to 37 degrees. We must have passed at least 15 mile long trains and it amazes me how they can get the train moving from a stand still position even with the 4 engines linked together. Another thing that amazes me is that each one of the containers needs a big truck to take it to its final destination. One of the advantages travelling route 66 is you don’t see much traffic and virtually have the road to yourself. My original plan for today was to travel to Kingman via Oatman but instead of taking a left turn I took a right which has taken us to our very posh suite at London Bridge resorts, which I must add cost more than £70.00. As we have gained some days and to see what’s happening with the government lockdown we are checked in for 2 days, which will give me ample time to decide where to travel to next. London Bridge is actually from London. The original bridge was sinking into the Thames and was sold to the Americans in 1968 for $2.4 million. It had to be dismantled and shipped back to Lake Havasu city in Arizona piece by piece. Time is getting on so you’ll have to wait for the bridge pictures tomorrow
Friday 3rd October 5 week american road trip
It’s been a very nice chill out day for Brownie tours, I also let Pam have a lie in this morning while I went to the business centre to edit my routes for the next 2 days and download them back to my memory stick which has been working well. At the moment some days I’ve also used TomTom to keep us on track. I’m so glad that I haven’t pre-booked our hotels other than the essential ones as it’s given us so much flexibility.
I’ve also checked if the government lockdown will affect any of our plans and at the moment everything appears to be ok. The London Bridge resort is an excellent place to visit and has everything within walking distance. Forgot to add I treated Pam to a freshly made pizza last night which will also do for tonight’s tea and at $20.00 ( now that’s living the life ) The beer wine and cheese and biscuits cost a lot more though. 2nd job was to hire a paddle board for a couple of hours which was great but just a bit tricky when boats came past even though they were only going slow, but at least I managed to stay on and 30 minutes was enough for me.
We then took a 1 hour boat trip to copper canyon which was well worth the money. The tour guide was really informative about the whole history of the area. It was very interesting learning about Robert McCulloch who was the founder of what was the biggest chainsaw company in the world and it was him who bought the bridge at auction. People thought he was mad building the bridge in the desert, but once it was built he excavated between the arches and connected both ends to the Colorado river. He then made billions selling off the land around it. After that it was 2 beers a shared club sandwich at the river café followed by a chill out around the pool. I must say we both thoroughly enjoyed our stay here.
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| Check out the 24” pizza |
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| Each stone was individually numbered then put on a barge to New York then transported overland |
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| View from top of bridge |
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| Entrance to copper canyon |
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| Dixi Bell Paddle Boat |
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| Getting use to a beer at dinner |
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| Pam’s got the pool to herself |
Saturday 4th October 5 week american road trip
Had a brilliant ride to our destination for the night at Kingman Arizona via Oatman which was a booming gold mining town in the 1910s. They closed down the mines in the mid 40s, and a lot of its existing buildings and timber sidewalks are still standing. It also has wild burros ( donkeys ) roaming the streets. It has become very touristy, but I suppose without us it would probably end up a ghost town like many others on route 66. The scenery from start to finish was spectacular. On the boat trip yesterday I learned that the black mounds are lava rocks formed from volcanic activity millions of years ago. We had a change from a club sandwich and dined at a traditional dinner in Kingman prior to visiting the route 66 museum, which we both didn’t rate very much. We then headed for the liquor store to get evening supplies before checking into the Best Western hotel.
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| Im carrying a lot of excess baggage |
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| Volcanic lava mound |
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| These Burros wonder the streets and in and out of the shops |
Sunday 5th October 5 week american road trip
Not much to report other than another nice easy ride and pleased the temperature is staying at a comfortable level. We have travelled mostly on Route 66 to Williams stopping at Hackberry and Seligman on route. I must say travelling on the back roads of America you do see a lot more and with very little traffic. We are staying at The Grand Canyon Railway Hotel at Williams which is a nice small town with a good variety of shops, restaurants and bars.
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| Hotel lobby |
That’s it for week 3 but click on the YouTube link to see a video summary for the week and if using phone view in landscape
Hi Pete and Pam we have been away in the van and so been catching up on the blog today. Trip looks amazing and driverless taxi in San Fransisco absolutely mind boggling. We are off again in the van Thursday but only to Burgess Hill Henley on Thames and London so not quite as exotic as your trip. Will keep following your amazing adventure,
ReplyDeleteHi Brian glad your enjoying the blog and thanks for commenting
DeleteI’ve eventually managed to log in properly to comment, for some reason it wasn’t letting me after I did my first one so hopefully this will go through.
ReplyDeleteLoving the blog, the photos & the videos at the end of the week.
I have so many questions about the driverless taxi. How does it stop YOU causing an accident, putting the hand break on or taking control of the wheel? My mind is absolutely blown!
Don’t forget my beef jerky if you can fit me a stash in your panniers 🩷
Can’t wait for week 3 x
Week 4 even
DeleteGlad you managed to comment and put beef jerky on my shopping list. With regards the driverless car. If you touch any of the controls the car would stop safely and a operator would activate the internal camera a tell you off also they have your card details so no doubt you would also get a hefty fine. I did press the call for assistance button just to tell the operator how pleased we were. Hope that answers your questions
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