In 1926 the Route 66 was the first east-west connecting road in the USA, which was a straight a concrete road. The distance is more than 2400 miles (=4400 km) and goes through 8 states (Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California). With the Bobby Troup song "Get your kicks on Route Sixty-Six" the road got famous all over the world. And with the 1940 award-winning novel from John Steinbeck "The Grapes of Wrath" she is nicknamed "Mother Road", which is widespreaded ever since.

Our adventure had a harmless start in autumn 94, when our friends and we drank a glass of wine together. They asked us, if we would like to drive the route 66 together by motorbike. What a question. At a glance Bunny and I already had the answer. Of course, this is the right thing for us USA-fans.

After this evening the organisation of our trip began. First of all we had to find a period of time where we all had holiday. That wasnīt a easy job. Christine L. changed her job to the 1st of January and her new colleagues had precedence to apply for holiday. Juergenīs job is to built up fair pavilions and therefore his holiday depend on the fairs. And if you think studentīs are available everytime: because of Bunny we had to change the date for 3 times. Last but not least we managed to came to an agreement. Now we had to manage that motorbike problem. We agreed to take our own motorbikes with us. In fact thatīs expensive, but at least much cheaper than to rent two bikes.

At this time a friend of ours lived in Wisconsin and arranged a insurance for our motorbikes. O.k., this matter was finished as well.

Departure was the 15th July 95 from Frankfurt via London to Chicago. If anybody ever flew from Frankfurt, he or she can imagine that our "adventure" already began on German soil. Often enough, and again this time, the very modern train between terminal 1 and 2 didnīt want to work. After waiting some time, they put on busses. And with the second overfilled bus we drove to the other terminal. Bless god we hadnīt have any luggage. We sent our stuff already 6 weeks in advance with our motorbikes by ship. So we only had to take our hand-luggage and our helmets. We lost a lot of time and ran to the check-in. The lady said, that the plane already was waiting for us. But thanks to a group of japanese women, which were waiting at the terminal-train as well, we got onto the plane on time. Breathless.

Christoph picked us up from the airport in Chicago. Of course we had to get our motorbikes first. Our boys were hot to see their favourites again. They looked quite good. No scratches or other damages. Our luggage was still inside (the suitcases were open because of customs clearance). Our clothes, which we packed in plastic bags as a precaution, were neither wet nor they stank.

On sunday we went to Chicago for sightseeing, because Christine L. wasnīt there before. We left the bikes at the hotel in Racine. At least we started on monday. But not yet to route 66. First we drove north to Milwaukee. There we wanted to visit Harley-Davidson. After confusion of the lot of gates we found the right one with the tour-office. The tour started with a movie about the HD-History. Then we had to wear protective goggles and walked through the production shed. The disappointment was big when we recognized, that they only built up motors in this factory. We didnīt saw one single HD-motorbike. But we have to mention that we saw lots of motorbikes (and not bad ones) on the employeeīs parking place. And all the working men in the shed weared Harley-t-shirts.

St. Louis, summertime, 26/7/95, but the sky didnīt showed us the friendliest side. It was very cloudy. Not really the right weather for sightseeing, but we hadnīt a choice. And what is there for tourist without any time? The Gateway to the West. We drove to the gateway, bought us a ticket for a movie and the gondola to the top. There is space for 5 persons in the cabins. But even with european figures you can get claustrophobia in the cabins, which carry people, which have a good head for heights, up to the top since 1965. After this more dull views we had lunch and went out of town to Stanton. There we visited the Meramec-Caverns. A really impressive dripstone-cave, where the famous Jesse James hid himself. But unfortunately the cavern is very kitschy offered for sale. On this day we drove via Cuba as far as St. James. Because of the sightseeings it was a short leg - about 220 km.

From St. James to Joplin. A distance from about 337 km with stifling heat. Slowly but surely the scenerie changed. It was hilly, a lot of forest and open countryside. And more and more cattle. After a jump into the motelīs pool we travelled with direction Kansas at high noon (ca. 38 °C). That was our third state we travelled through. In Galena we visited a funny museum. In an old train station an old man is collecting everything you can collect. In Baxter Springs we had a break for an ice-cream. With temperatures like this you canīt made kmīs by bikes "without air-conditioning". We only did 215 km at that day. But again we had a motel with pool (in Tulsa)!

We planned a long trip for saturday (405 km). We started early in the morning because of the temperatures. Again we had breakfast at a part of the route 66, at Normas Cafe. We drove up and down - but the landscape changed slowly and got barren. At the round barn in Arcadia we stopped as well. This barn is all wooden and newly renovated by the special association. You can find it a few km before Oklahoma City. Than we drove all over the route 66 but most parallel to the interstate 40. In Elk City we looked for a motel, where we wanted to stay for the next two nights. After one week on the road we planned a relaxing-day. Anyway, we had to do some washing as well. After a short sightseeing-tour of the town we discovered a pub in an old train station. Nice decorated we drank a small beer against our thirst. And because they doesnīt have much tourists we got a free one as well. Who stays for holiday in Elk City anyway?

After that break in Elk City we travelled to Texas. The landscape still changed. Itīs plain and barren overgrown and sparley som bushes.

Again we had to drive 8 km on an unsealed track before Santa Rosa. And again we are the only ones on the road. Sometimes we thought we were lost. But we werenīt. Our travelguide always helped us to find the right direction and the real old Route 66. From Santa Rosa we drove towards Las Vegas (NM). The vegetation is quite different again. It got greener, which was a good contrast to the red soil and the red rocks. 40 km before Santa Fe we had a bad thunder storm. And it had to happen when we drove through road works. After that, we had the bright red soil on the bikes and on some parts of our clothes.  First we went to a car-wash, when we arrived in Santa Fe. Besides, Juergenīs motorbike chain showed some signs of wear, and it had to be changed soon. A friendly motorbike dealer called another one in Albuquerque, about 100 km away. On the next day we drove to Albuquerque. But we had to seperate our ways. Juergen and Christine drove the old Route 66. And we - because of a very upset stomach and circulatory troubles of mine - drove the direct route via Interstate. We met each others in the motel. In this town we had two days of a compulsory break.  I had to get fit again and we had to wait for the spare parts for Juergens Transalp. But we were lucky that exact this two models of Transalp we have, were sold in the USA as well. Otherwise we had to wait much longer for help.

There are some things to look at in Albuquerque. For example the National Atomic Museum. It is in the army field next to the airport. It shows the history of atomic weapons and some models. In the old Town of Albuquerque you can see a lot of buildings with the adobe architecture, the same as in Santa Fe.

On the next day we probably had our longest and hardest distance, 613 km! Therefore we had to do some side-trips to a few National Parks, which arenīt exact beside the route 66. And thatīs the reason why we donīt want to write too much about these (Mesa Verde (CO), Monument Valley (UT), Glen Canyon (AZ), Bryce Canyon (UT), Zion (UT) und Gran Canyon (AZ)). They are all worth their own story.

In the morning we drove to the first National Park, the Petrified Forest. There you can see petrified trees and a landscape similar to the moon.

Because of very heavy rain we had another compulsory break in Flagstaff. After we checked out from the motel and filled up our motorbikes it began to rain. We only had one choice: escape in the next motel.

The next day, well relaxed, we drove to the most well known, historic town of the Route 66. Seligman. Thanks to the rediscovered Route 66 this town has a good chance to survive. The Snow Cap, just a fast food restaurant, is known over the whole country. We think itīs the most curious restaurant we saw yet. And the owner is a real original. Two houses further there is the Visitor Center and the Barber Shop. In the Vistor Center you can forget the time, because there is so much to see about the Route 66. Including the souvenirs. Unfortunately the Barber Shop was closed. The owner is a famous collector of business cards. Another original you can find a few km down the road, in Hackberry. This hermit is a living museum. In his shed he collects all stuff about the Route 66.

We did a two days side-trip from Kingman to the Hoover Damm and to Las Vegas.

Back in Kingman we had lunch in a real american Diner. Everything was all right. The meals, the prices, the music box. Another stop at the Route was Oatman. In former times it was a gold-digger-town, but now it is a ghost town. But nevertheless there are a few ghosts walking around in Oatman. Tourists. And a few "wild" donkeys, released from the gold-diggers, when they went away. As we were already in the mojave desert, the temperatures therefore were hot. In Needles we had 39 °C or 100 ° Fahrenheit at 6 oīclock pm. The lady at the reception desk said itīs quit cool for this time of year (?).

From Needles, which is already in California, we drove to Viktorville. Here we saw forests and we were back in the mountains again. San Bernardino is quite nice, right in the mountains in front of the big area of Los Angeles.

On our last 80 km on the Route 66 there wasnīt much romantic feeling left. We struggled through the freeways from Los Angeles. It was on the point 3 pm when we arrived at the end of the Route 66. Santa Monica Boulevard corner Oceandrive. For us it was a impressive place and we had to take some pictures of our motorbikes. They did a good job without problems for over 7000 km (4400 km Route 66). Of course we had to take a picture of Will Rogers memorial stone. He was one of them, who drove the good old Mother Road and wrote a book about it.

We got our kicks on route sixtysix

Copyright by Bunny&Christine
10.08.00