Route 66 Centennial

Welcome to Chicago! On arrival, take the airport shuttle to our hotel. Once at the hotel you can either relax, visit downtown Chicago, for numerous sightseeing, dining and shopping opportunities (our hotel is  just two blocks from the Rosemont Blue Line CTA station), or visit the nearby entertainment / shopping complex.  Just be back in time to meet your tour guides at the hospitality desk, get signed in and enjoy the complimentary welcome dinner this evening.

Today we will make our way north to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to visit the Harley-Davidson Museum. To get there, we will take the Old Skokie Highway, a road that pre-dates the interstate. There you will have plenty of time to go through the museum at a leisurely pace, be able to see and experience all there is in the museum and, shop for exclusive museum merchandise at the on-site shop. We will have lunch there at the Motor Bar & Restaurant. After checking in at the hotel and dinner downtown, we head back to the museum for Bike Night where music and motorcycles merge for a fun-filled evening.

We start our journey across the United States on one of the most well-known roads in the world today! We leave Milwaukee and ride back to Chicago where, downtown, we will start the route with a brief photo stop at the “begin Route 66” sign at E. Adams St. and Michigan Ave. And then our journey on the infamous Historic Route 66 begins! Along the way today we’ll stop for lunch and then visit a restored mid-1930’s Texaco gas station across the street, allowing for lunch to settle before getting back on the bikes. Later we will stop at the Route 66 Association Museum of Illinois in the little town of Pontiac before landing at the hotel for this evening.

The majority of the day today you’ll be in the countryside and farmlands of southern Illinois. Our first stop will be in the very small town of Atlanta (not Georgia), for the recently opened American Giants Museum. Here we’ll see the largest and best collection of “Gemini Giants”, huge fiberglass statues in various forms, which used to be all along the route. Here you can learn about how these statues were made, modified and displayed to draw in customers, and their eventual decline as the interstate bypassed Route 66.  After lunch at the Cozy Dog Drive In Restaurant, a Route 66 iconic stop, owned and operated by the Waldmire family, since 1946 we will ride in the direction of Springfield, the capital of Illinois. The next stop is for tea in the picturesque county seat town of Carlinville where Abraham Lincoln first set up a small log cabin and began his law practice for the locals. We will resume our journey on the old road, gradually making our way toward St.Louis, Missouri. En route, our last stop is a surprise and Orange & Black tour exclusive, one which we’re sure you won’t forget! Then it’s over the mighty Mississippi river and into the state of Missouri and into the city of Saint Louis. Just a few blocks away from the Gateway Arch Monument, visit this architectural wonder and symbol of the westward expansion of the United States!

Winding our way through the Ozark mountains today, twisty roads and rolling hills and valleys await us. Our first stop is at the Missouri Route 66 State Park and Museum. From there our route takes us to Meramec Caverns, once the hideout for the folk-heroes and outlaw bandit brothers, Frank and Jesse James where we’ll have some time to look around. We’ll stop for lunch at the Missouri Hick Bar-B-Q, in Cub, MO for some slow-smoked delicious meats. Located next to the historic and well-known Wagon Wheel Motel, opened in 1934 and one of the oldest, continually operating motels along the route, after lunch we’ll take some time to check out this landmark. Back on the bikes, we’ll ride through the small town of Cuba, with its famous murals, several of which depict Cuba’s history of Route 66 and then on to “Devil’s Elbow” and the bridge over the Meramec River. From there we will continue to riding, the Ozark hills slowly disappearing, the great plains opening up as we progress. We end our day in the town of Springfield, the hometown and HQ of Bass Pro Shops. Here you will find ANYTHING related to outdoor recreation – boating, camping, hunting and especially fishing. Our hotel is only a short distance from their massive flagship store where you can shop or just visit. Here they have their own giant salt and freshwater aquariums, swamp, and indoor waterfalls and taxidermy exhibits.

Into the vast openness of the great plains we go! The first part of the route today is a long straight stretch of almost 90 miles! We’re headed to Kansas, the third state on our tour, and the one with the least miles of Route 66 in any of the 8 on the route, through to Oklahoma, the state with the most miles of Route 66! Crossing into the state, we’re in the county where the Joad family , featured in John Steinbeck’s novel “The Grapes of Wrath” began their journey to California. We retrace their path through the rest of Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, on the same road they took on their migration of desperation during the great dust bowl of the early 1930’s. We will stop at the Totem Pole Park, just outside of Foyil, OK. The World’s Largest Concrete Totem Pole located in this unique sculpture park is impressive! After riding some more, our final stop for the day is the Blue Whale of Catoosa, a beloved historic landmark along Route 66. From there it’s a short ride – 20 miles(ish) – to our hotel in the oil city, Tulsa.

We head towards western Oklahoma and its wide-open spaces this morning. Oklahoma has more miles of Route 66 than any other state, and in better condition! So it’s a real mecca for bikers and old-road fans alike. The majority of the day is spent riding the ‘Old 66’ through pastures and prairie. We stop at the Route 66 Interpretive Center in Chandler, the Round Barn in Arcadia and ride the longest remaining stretch of the original 1928 -1935 alignment of the route.

Further west we ride through El Reno, over the mile-long pony-truss bridge near Hydro and end up at our hotel in the ranching and college town of Weatherford.

We start today at the Route 66 museum in Clinton, where you can learn more about the route and its importance in American history and do some souvenir shopping. Then it’s back on the road, passing through great plains, vast cattle ranches and small farming towns as we enter the Texas panhandle. We stop at the beautiful U-Drop Inn in Shamrock, featured in the film ‘Cars’ as Ramone’s Body Shop. Then we’re off across the plains for a well-deserved steak at the Big Texas Steak Ranch in Amarillo. Are you brave enough to attempt the 72-oz (2 kg) steak dinner challenge tonight?

First stop, the Cadillac Ranch: a crazy farmer planted Cadillacs in his field, hoping to grow new ones – guess what?! Then it’s off to Adrian, home of the Midpoint Café and our halfway point. After stopping for a coffee, we leave the great plains behind and head into the natural splendour of the southwest. Riding through the wide-open spaces and into the Rocky Mountains, we arrive in the beautiful city of Santa Fe where we will spend the next two nights.

Time for some rest and relaxation in one of the oldest (and highest, at over 2250 m) state capitals in the USA. Enjoy Santa Fe’s numerous art galleries, speciality shops and museums, all within easy walking distance of our hotel. Just roam around the beautiful downtown plaza taking in its unique combination of Native American and Spanish colonial architecture. Or if you want a gentle ride, we recommend the short visit to Taos – from a biker’s viewpoint probably the best day of all! Lots of bends to ride as we take the valley road there and the high-country road back. Taos is famous as an artist colony and some beautiful art and Native American crafts awaiting you.

It’s time to get back on the road and out into the deserts of the southwest, to our first stop for lunch in Albuquerque Old Town. Then we head on through the splendour of New Mexico’s natural beauty, ending the day in the old railroad town and Native American stronghold of Gallup and our historic El Rancho hotel.

We start this morning over a mile above sea level and ride on the interstate to our first stop. It may be a bit chilly to start but it should soon warm up. At the Petrified Forest & Painted Desert National Park you can observe a unique and stunning landscape, comprised of layers upon layers of colorful volcanic ash, separated and capped by layers of ancient sandstone. We’ll take time in the park to look around and ride the 28 miles through this amazing landscape, before making our way to our next stop. Now riding through wide-open landscape, with only sagebrush and high chaparral grasses and cactus to Holbrook, we will do a brief picture stop at the Route 66 icon, the Wigwam Motel. We stop for lunch at the El Falcone Restaurant in Winslow, Arizona. Afterwards, downtown, you’ll have the opportunity to be “Standin’ on a corner in Winslow Arizona”……….remember the Eagles song “Take it easy”?

From Winslow, we ride on to our next “out-of-this-world” destination, Meteor Crater Arizona! And then, we  continue, riding westward to Flagstaff, AZ where we will spend the night. We are nearby and tomorrow we visit the Grand Canyon!

Today we will visit the Grand Canyon, one of the 7 wonders of the world! We’ll head North, on our way stopping for food for a picnic lunch and entering the National Park at the East entrance where there is just over a mile to get to the best viewpoint of the canyon. From Desert View and the “Watchtower”, you’ll get an opportunity to ride on your own along the one road that goes along the edge of the canyon. You can stop at any of the various viewpoints along the way for more sightseeing, and to find a great place to enjoy your picnic lunch. We’ll rendezvous in a few hours at a spot in the small town just outside of the southern park entrance. It’s just over 27 miles to our rendezvous point, where we’ll meet before moving on.

From here we get on the bikes and head South to the town of Williams. You’ll have time here for dinner and to explore. We should get into town and to our hotel in enough time to get cleaned up, go get some dinner and explore the town a bit. Enjoy a stroll along the historic main street where antique street lamps decorate the sidewalks. Historic Route 66, which runs through Williams, was in former times the “Main Street of America”. It was only in 1984 that Interstate 40 was built, leading traffic around the town.

We start the day by riding to the small town of Seligman for breakfast and give ourselves some time for shopping at its many Route 66 shops. Then we’re off to Hackberry and then Kingman, the self-styled ‘Capital of Route 66’. Next comes what Americans like to call the ‘curviest’ part of the Route, the Oatman Highway, a twisting ride over the Black Mountains. We stop in Oatman to see one of the few remaining old west gold mining towns and its burros, left behind when the miners abandoned the mines.  And then we reach the Colorado River, California and Needles, our next historic Route 66 town.

We start the day by riding over the Spirit Mountains into the dramatic, desolate and hot Mojave Desert, stopping in Amboy, located in the middle of nowhere, to check out iconic Roy’s Motel and Café. We continue to our lunch stop in Barstow and then on to Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch. After a hot day riding through the desert our hotel’s refreshing pool beckons us to take a cool dip and relax.

The big adventure comes to an end today with our ride to Los Angeles. Much of the road has been lost, but the end of the Mother Road, Santa Monica Pier, is worth the wait. Park up the bike and dip your toes in the Pacific Ocean, this really is journey’s end! We take our time going to the end marker plaque, and then have a nice lunch on the pier. Afterwards you’ll have some time to look around. Then it just remains for us to return the motorcycles in the afternoon and enjoy our Farewell Party this evening.

Sadly, it’s time to pack our bags and head home, filled with the experiences and memories. We hope to see you back for another great tour. This is end of the road – for now!