A Little About Us

A Little About Us
INTRODUCTION: First, allow me to introduce the members of this group...I'm Mike riding my 2003 Heritage Softail Springer...my wife Juju is on her 2015 Freewheeler...and Ed and Nancy are on their 2009 Heritage Softail. For the purposes of this trip we are referring to ourselves as H.A.R.P. HARP is a made-up name and it simply stands for Hogs And Retired People...and all that means is that we are members of HOG (Harley Owners Group) and we are...you guessed it...retired! The name came about when seven of us made a trip out west, but just the four of us this time. I've done blogs before, and this one will be for the same reason...to refresh our memories in our "Golden Years" (they say the memory is the second thing to go...and I can't remember what the first thing was). What is different this time is the blog is being shared by THUNDER ROADS PENNSYLVANIA MAGAZINE...Truly, an honor. This journey will be a round trip from, and to our home town of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The plan is to travel to the Atlantic coast at Ocean City, Maryland for the "Official" start on U.S. Route 50. We will follow U.S. 50 west for over 3,000 miles to its terminus in Sacramento, California. From Sacramento, we will head a bit further west to the Pacific Ocean before we begin to travel south. California Highway 1 and U.S. Route 101, better known as the Pacific Coast Highway, will be the route for about 500 miles to Santa Monica. At the world famous Santa Monica Pier, we hop on Route 66...The "Mother Road". Travelling about 2,500 miles to the north east, we'll arrive at the end of 66 in Chicago, Illinois. The "Official" end of our journey. From Chicago, it's just another 450 miles and we're back in Pittsburgh. We've made very few lodging reservations, thus eliminating the pressure of trying to get somewhere by some deadline. The whole purpose of this ride to see this country and whatever piques our interest along the way...and we will be looking for that giant ball of yarn! So we invite you to ride along with us. We hope you will find it both entertaining and informative. Please feel free to leave your comments and share this with anyone you feel would have an interest.

Monday, August 17, 2015

Day 22 Saturday August 15, 2015

Days without an incident - 0
Days without rain gear - 8

Well, things started out alright this morning...Until we
actually got on "Historic" Route 66.  For the first few miles, it wasn't too bad.  Then, the road got so bad, it looked like it was a bombing practice site for the Air Force.  Our pace slowed to a tooth rattling 5 mph.

We finally got to an entrance ramp for Interstate 40 and quickly decided to use that route to get to Needles.  Granted, it wasn't the path we planned, but we were afraid every nut and bolt on the bikes would come undone if we stayed on it any longer.

Once in Needles, the temperatures were now about 110° and seemed to be climbing.

Here is where I really screwed up.  I thought we were on 66, but somehow, maybe it was the heat, we ended up in Vidal Junction.  Pretty much in the middle of nowhere!  And about 60 miles from our expected destination of Kingman, Arizona.  We had also planned a stop in Oatman, but now we were pretty far from there too.

When we realized I had gotten us lost, we were all nearing heat stroke as the
temperature was now around 120°.  We stopped in a little gas station, where the lady behind the counter recognized the signs.  She immediately began to fill bags of ice and placed them on our heads, necks and down our backs.  Bonnie is a Saint and has truly helped restore my faith in humanity.  I don't care what anyone says...there ARE good people out there.

We changed our plans and stayed the night in Parker, Arizona.  It was early, so we were in the pool within minutes of checking in.  It took a while, but we eventually cooled down.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be better as we head for Oatman and get back on track.


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1 comment:

  1. FrankoAugust 19, 2015 at 8:13 AM

    It wouldn't be a sanctioned ride if there wasn't a turn around. Don't forget the ice cream stop before you get home

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