10:06 pm in Travel by Gaz
It’s Tave and my first anniversary today. I don’t think we’ll ever forget the feeling of just us, the bikes and 2500 miles of road ahead of us as we cruised along Route 66 after lunch, with Interstate 55 to our right and the railway tracks to our left, lined by old telegraph poles stretching as far into the distance as we could see. Our first stop was for a hot chocolate at the Launchpad Cafe at Wilmington at the foot of the Gemini Giant (with Tave alongside in the picture for scale).
We had hoped to make it to Springfield in our first leg, but despite the beautiful sunset on our left beyond the cornfields and the silhouettes of startled birds taking flight before over 3 litres of V-Twin engine, we lost enthusiasm about an hour after sundown as the temperature plummeted and the warmth fled our fingers and toes. Nevertheless, we made it almost to Bloomington, and will spend the night just beyond Pontiac watching Halloween TV in bed.
From here on in, we’ll be sure to set off plenty early to avoid riding after dark. At least until we get further west where the temperatures should be less terrifying.
11:01 pm in Travel by Gaz
Since we’ve seen the Chicago end of Route 66 already, we will head South from Naperville, bypassing Joliet and re-join Route 66 at Wilmington. Hopefully we’ll reach Springfield IL by the end of the day…
7:24 pm in Bikes & Cars by Gaz
Here I am backing up my Harley, ready to eat some miles. Just got back to the hotel after picking it up from Illinois Harley Davidson.
We then rode back into the loop to collect Tave’s Street Bob and hunt for the official ‘Start of Historic Route 66′ sign. We found it at the junction of Adams and Michigan, although traffic was really heavy, and there was nowhere to pull up, so we didn’t get a photo. This will be our last night in Chicago, because after breakfast tomorrow we head west for Springfield while the weather holds.
10:47 am in Travel by Gaz
This picture sums up my last few days. Rain and airports.
Due to bit of a booking error, I had to fly back to the UK on Tuesday to help teach a Linux Security course. Despite a few teething problems the course was a lot of fun, due in the main part to the enthusiasm of the delegates. As the crow flies, I’ve covered 10326 miles and taken in 4 airports (2 of them twice, so that’s 6 really), plus another 500 miles or so of driving (on the left again!). On Thursday, I even dropped in to my Tae Kwon-Do club for an hour of being beaten up by my buddies at Droitwich GTI, before a whistle stop tour of friends in Kidderminster I haven’t seen in too long a time.
Anyway, I eventually arrived back at the hotel after 19 hours of travelling, gorged on delicious prepack food eaten at 37000 feet, before passing out for 8 hours. Mercifully, the clocks went back today so I snuck in an extra nap after breakfast which might counteract my “jetlag harikari”. Or not. :-)
