ROUTE 66

47steve

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I am looking to travel Route 66 next year with a few of my mates. Has anyone any information on the best way to book / travel this? I have looked on line but it seems to be a mine field with everyone looking for business.

There will be a few who want to travel by car but I am looking to hire a bike and do it or part of it. Has anyone done this route and can shed a bit light on it for me?

Do you pre book accommodation or just see how far you get then use something like Booking.com?
Best place for car / bike rental?

I have done a search on this site but cannot find anything???

TA Steve:thumb
 
Hi

I did it last year, 3 of us on bikes & 1 in a car. PM me if you want, I’ll give you my phone number which may be easier than the glacial like speed of my typing.

I bought all the books and maps, then forgot to take them so if your interested in buying them let me know
 
My advice would be to not over plan it. If there is only a few of you, I would suggest you play it by ear and get motels along the way. As long as you are in town by 4pm you should get rooms no problem. However, if you want to book ahead use booking.com

R66 isn't the best route and I get asked by a lot of people if I would organise a trip on R66 but I won't because there are so many better places to ride in my opinion. Having said that, it has that iconic ring to it and I can see why people would want to ride it.

If you are after the tag of doing R66 then good job but as a pure riding route, it's not that good.

Anyway, get yourself some good maps and see what there is to see of the beaten track as it were and use R66 as a guide only.

Lots of car hire places with a wide range from convetibles to SUV's depending on your taste but be aware that it can get blisteringly hot out their and air con is a must.

Bike hire is Eaglerider so you are restricted to a Hardly Movinson.

The big alternative would be to ship your own bike out to do it and let me know if you want advice on this as I could do it for you.

Also. let me know if you want advice on routing and what to see.
 
My advice would be to not over plan it. If there is only a few of you, I would suggest you play it by ear and get motels along the way. As long as you are in town by 4pm you should get rooms no problem. However, if you want to book ahead use booking.com

R66 isn't the best route and I get asked by a lot of people if I would organise a trip on R66 but I won't because there are so many better places to ride in my opinion. Having said that, it has that iconic ring to it and I can see why people would want to ride it.

If you are after the tag of doing R66 then good job but as a pure riding route, it's not that good.

Anyway, get yourself some good maps and see what there is to see of the beaten track as it were and use R66 as a guide only.

Lots of car hire places with a wide range from convetibles to SUV's depending on your taste but be aware that it can get blisteringly hot out their and air con is a must.

Bike hire is Eaglerider so you are restricted to a Hardly Movinson.

The big alternative would be to ship your own bike out to do it and let me know if you want advice on this as I could do it for you.

Also. let me know if you want advice on routing and what to see.

Cheers SGT that's a great bit of info to get started. It is early days as we are looking to go possibly around August / September next year so we have plenty of time to plan??? TA:beerjug:
 
Just got one word of advice, if you get pulled over by the Police, do not jump out of the car or jump quickly off the bike, or you will get shot, once they realise you are a tourist, they are very nice, but up until that moment freeze like in the movies, ask me how I know lol, but like Sgt Bilco said way better places to do, but if you must do it, go to Peggy sues diner, its just off Route 66 about and hour or so from Vegas in the Mojave desert, this is where we stopped to have a coffee after seeing the barrel of a pump action shotgun pointed in or direction, because I did not hear, do not move, still half deaf from the noise of the Harley, lol, but not their fault we found out later there was a shooting involving bikers in the area.

http://www.peggysuesdiner.com/
 
Just got one word of advice, if you get pulled over by the Police, do not jump out of the car or jump quickly off the bike, or you will get shot, once they realise you are a tourist, they are very nice, but up until that moment freeze like in the movies, ask me how I know lol, but like Sgt Bilco said way better places to do, but if you must do it, go to Peggy sues diner, its just off Route 66 about and hour or so from Vegas in the Mojave desert, this is where we stopped to have a coffee after seeing the barrel of a pump action shotgun pointed in or direction, because I did not hear, do not move, still half deaf from the noise of the Harley, lol, but not their fault we found out later there was a shooting involving bikers in the area.

http://www.peggysuesdiner.com/

Thanks Bob, any info will be taken on board ...TA:beerjug:
 
Hi

I did it last year, 3 of us on bikes & 1 in a car. PM me if you want, I’ll give you my phone number which may be easier than the glacial like speed of my typing.

I bought all the books and maps, then forgot to take them so if your interested in buying them let me know

Bill I will PM you during the week when I get a bit time to make notes etc.......:beerjug:
 
My advice would be don’t bother with Route 66. It’s dull east of the Rockies and you’ll miss the best sights e.g. Bryce Canyon, Zion, Grand Canyon (OK, maybe you’ll get to the south rim), Death Valley, Yosemite etc. :thumb2

Just fly into LA, Vegas or San Francisco and use the Eaglerider “Western Highlights” itinerary as a starting point, but book your own accommodation http://www.eaglerider.com/self-drive-motorcycle-tours/western-highlights-i-motorcycle-tour
 
We diid the 66 a few years back.

Our local independant Travel Agent did the works - flights, bike rental & Hotels. They took the 14 day car rental holiday that American Ring Travel provide to agents & swopped the car for a bike, a one way rental through Eagle rider, which turned out to be a brand new Street Glide when we turned up at HD Chicago. We went in September, when ER were wanting to get bikes out of the snow States, so were offering deals to get their inventory southbound. For the journey, we used a DK USA travel guide & the Harley Davidson Historic Route 66 'Americas Mother Road' map, along with maps of each State - no SatNav, as they were pricey to rent at the time. We did an intial loop up to Milwaukee for the HD Museum, then across Wisconsin to Madison before heading south. A memorable trip & even with loads of 'slab' still calls us to go back - then I would probably do Sven's suggested ride via LV.

Whatever ......... have a great time.
 
We diid the 66 a few years back.

Our local independant Travel Agent did the works - flights, bike rental & Hotels. They took the 14 day car rental holiday that American Ring Travel provide to agents & swopped the car for a bike, a one way rental through Eagle rider, which turned out to be a brand new Street Glide when we turned up at HD Chicago. We went in September, when ER were wanting to get bikes out of the snow States, so were offering deals to get their inventory southbound. For the journey, we used a DK USA travel guide & the Harley Davidson Historic Route 66 'Americas Mother Road' map, along with maps of each State - no SatNav, as they were pricey to rent at the time. We did an intial loop up to Milwaukee for the HD Museum, then across Wisconsin to Madison before heading south. A memorable trip & even with loads of 'slab' still calls us to go back - then I would probably do Sven's suggested ride via LV.

Whatever ......... have a great time.

Duly noted, and thanks
 
Hire a sat nav from one of the Harley dealers, they have the pre planned route on them, my wife and I done it in 2015, absolutely fabulous.
 
Thanks again for all the replies. Yes I got the feeling parts of it will be a drag and will be looking forward to going off route? Their are a couple of friends who have had this on there bucket list but are planning on hiring a car or two. Me and my mate would like to ride it if not part of it so will be back for any ideas. I am just setting the ball rolling and gathering information. We are looking towards either May or September next year so that will give us plenty of time to plan and save.

Thanks again ....TA:beerjug:
 
My advice would be don’t bother with Route 66. It’s dull east of the Rockies and you’ll miss the best sights e.g. Bryce Canyon, Zion, Grand Canyon (OK, maybe you’ll get to the south rim), Death Valley, Yosemite etc. :thumb2

Just fly into LA, Vegas or San Francisco and use the Eaglerider “Western Highlights” itinerary as a starting point, but book your own accommodation http://www.eaglerider.com/self-drive-motorcycle-tours/western-highlights-i-motorcycle-tour

Pretty much what we did first time out eagle rider picked us up at San fran then we went ,Yosemite, Death Vally, Grand canyon. Hoover dam,Vegas, Palm Springs ,LA and down the pacific highway to monteray and back to San fran rode along the end bit of 66 ,popped into Roys Cafe, pictures at the Golden Gate, Joshua Tree etc etc have a great time
 
Thanks Bob, any info will be taken on board ...TA:beerjug:

The best info to take on board is don’t do Route 66,as others have said ! There are much better rides to do.
Surely it’s better to enjoy the ride and the scenery rather than ride a very mediocre route just for bragging rides/to say you’ve done it ?

I’d rather spend a week or two riding around Utah,having just done most of the canyons this last week ,and Bilbco won’t even touch 66 on his tours as it’s basically over-hyped shite that is mostly no longer there.....
 
The best bits are in Oklahoma and Arizona - do them and miss out all the rest!
 
We seem to be missing the fact that Route 66 no longer exists. There are some bits of it which are still driveable and some 'iconic' buildings and murals, but most are a detour off of the modern day beaten track and many just about scratching a living on the nostalgia but a few are worth the extra miles. Plan yourself a nice road trip which passes by as many of these as you need to 'get your fix' and enjoy what else you can include in your visit.

I've done quite a lot of these trips independently, including taking in some Route 66. Once you get the hang of it, you'll be surprised just how easy it is to have a loose route for planning purposes and book accommodation as you go. It got much easier when you could sit in McDonald's (other cafes with WiFi are available) with your laptop, but there's so much hotel capacity in the States that it was rarely difficult to arrive in a town and book a room. The only pre booking you need is the essential (for immigration) first night and any special places you want to stay. I've never had an accommodation failure.

Having a roaming 4G service (such as 3) or buying a local sim with date has changed things again. A Nav app such as TomTom on your phone is also a bit of a boon for a tenner or so.

Most of the advice you've had so far seems to focus on the South West. Is that area actually your target or did you mean to go the whole route from Chicago to LA?
 
Did it in 2006 with another couple who had the loan of a house in a place called big Canoe above Atlanta. Flew into Phoenix, made our way up to see the Grand Canyon to do the helicopter ride of the Valkyries thing and then joined the mother road nearby. boring in places due to the speed limit but saw the real America when visiting some of the cut off dying townships. Did not book anything staying in easy to sort hotels/motels which were plentiful. Got bored in Texas and overtook a big truck we had been next to for about an hour at 55 to then get pulled by the police. short lecture about driving so I kept quiet and warned by my mate that they enjoy throwing mouthy sorts into the cooler for fun. No booking just tourist advice. Stayed in places where we could not understand what folks were saying but overall an experience worth doing. Quite a few parts of 66 are bypassed and you can't drive on, otherwise its just a very long rolling concrete and tarmac dual carriageway. Much of the countryside surprisingly like the UK. Saw how the Indians were dumped in the most inhospitable spots and how they seemed to be doing nicely from the many gambling establishments, saw one at a filling station where folks would pop in to place a bet or two after filling up the motor. Overall a lot of driving but definitely worth doing. Oklahoma was pleasant, stayed in the Chattanooga choo choo, favourite places were Memphis and Nashville. I would say a definite bucket list item.
 
Personally I would love to do the south west again. What's left of 66 holds no draw for me. But each to their own....
 
Oatman Arizona is worth a visit lots of donkeys wandering about and a good gun fight went someone robs the store and after a good Clint type shoot out with the main drag covered in bodies the collection hat comes around for ma local childrens hospice. Good laugh I had the sherrife stick a revolver up my nose requesting a donation, reckon I could stick my finger down the barrel so paid up!!.
 


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