Ride Route 66
On a Harley-davidson — what else?
CALL IT A mid-life crisis if you like, but riding from Chicago to Los Angeles along the length of Route 66, the Mother Road, has to be on every biker’s bucket list. We realised our dream with Eagle Rider tours, which offers a turn-key solution to a ride you’ll never forget. Accommodation, your bike, maps and fuel are all taken care of.
There’s also Dan Johnson, or DJ – our guide. For the ultimate experience, go guided. DJ is the link between the dream you hold in your mind’s eye and living it without trying to navigate the many broken sections of this legendary road.
There was only one bike for the trip. It had to be a Harley-davidson Electra Glide Ultra. Comfort, sat nav, luggage space and a big stereo were all on the list and it ticks all of those boxes and more.
Any-town America
From Chicago to Springfield, we ride through any-town America on to the oldest part of Route 66. A red-brick two-mile section, the equivalent of our old cobbled streets, tests the Harley’s air suspension, and conjures images of step-sided pick-ups full of families in search of the American Dream, and a new life in California back in the 1930s. Route 66 was built to enable the great migration West; it’s the road that opened up America and that sense of history is palpable.
Crossing the Mississippi
We cross the Mississippi River and into the state of Missouri, past where Deliverance was filmed. The 340 miles since Chicago have been mostly straight, but this is where Route 66 starts to get interesting. We hit a section called the Devil’s Elbow and four of us take off to make the most of the sweeping blacktop as the flatlands give way to hills. Despite a 319-mile day in the saddle, we’re all invigorated by the emerging sinuous tarmac.
Country roads, Texas rain
Texas rain is unlike any I’ve ever seen before but everything’s bigger in Texas. The trucks, the roads, the bugs, the cowboy hats; everything’s on steroids. But we’re not staying, we pass through Amarillo (we
Day two, heading into the backwaters of Missouri near St Louis
know the way) and into New Mexico for a day off the bikes in Santa Fe. The landscape is truly awe-inspiring. We’re tired after back-to-back 200 to 300-mile days, but that’s the reality of Route 66 and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Into Arizona
Many 66-devotees are really targeting one place. We hit it on day nine as we ride from Gallup, New Mexico, into Arizona: destination Grand Canyon. Arriving at sunset with a group of mates, realising how far you’ve come to get here, feels lifeaffirmingly special. There’s no doubt that this is one of the seminal moments.
It’s hot now, really hot. Some of our fellow riders are struggling in the heat as we head to Las Vegas for a well-earned night out on the town. The next day we plunge into the Mojave Desert and Joshua Tree National Park; a serene, other-worldly place. It’s a true motorcycling heaven that sees my inner peace arrive unexpectedly on a
Harley in the middle of the Mojave.
California here we come
Long-sleeved T-shirts and jeans, water and sun cream are all you need to ride here. But our arrival in California means we’re only 24 hours from the end. I wrote in my journal: “The emotion you feel making a journey from one point to another is something that’s hard to describe. But it’s why we ride motorcycles, not drive cars.
“Riding from Chicago to Los Angeles over 13 days changes you. Eight states, threetime zones, torrential rain, unbearable heat, 300-mile days, aching neck muscles, near misses, scrapes and breakdowns. The rider you were at the beginning isn’t the same person you’ve become by the end.”