Gettin' Our Kicks: Chapter 14 – Day Eight Exploring the South Rim

June 12, 2015

Up and at’em – let’s go we have a canyon to see.

OK, OK – we got up pretty early, but proceeded slowly to get a little breakfast and then take advantage of the great shuttle bus service run in the Grand Canyon.

First the Visitors Center and Mather Point, where we saw many, many tourists – just like us. I did get a couple of Grand Canyon Fashion Tips however.

The Latest Fashion for the Grand Canyon

Another Fashion Tip

 

Selfie Sticks were all over

We hopped on another shuttle to go over to the rim walk.

I took over 350 pictures of the Canyon and I’m going to post everyone right here in this blog… No way!!!

The big problem is it is impossible to capture the size and grander of the Grand Canyon in a photograph while walking along the Rim Trail. I’m going to post a few and then you will need to go to National Geographic or something.

 

From Mather Point

From Mather Point

A big storm was over on the North Rim

The Colorado River was about one mile below from where I took this picture with a 300 mm lens. The little white water rapids are actually about 15 feet waves.

This is the very difficult hiking tail we had to endure.

Cactus bloom

Finally, the end of the trail.
Now back on the shuttle bus.

At the end of the day we were pretty whipped and turned in early.

Gettin' Our Kicks: Chapter 13 – Day Seven Kingman to Grand Canyon

June 11, 2015

Old Route 66 in-between Kingman and Seligman is one of the more interesting stretches.

First stop was the Hackberry General Store – and old general store, gas station and garage back in the day. Today it is a souvenir shop. Last time I was there in 2010 they had a nice ’56 Corvette in front, but it’s gone now.

When we arrived there was a large group of Japanese guys riding Harleys from Eagle Tours, out of Las Vegas. We would see them a couple more times through out the day.

Hackberry General Store

Old Burma Shave Signs:
Big Mistake
Many Make
Rely on the Horn
Instead of the Brake

New Friend

Down the road from the Hackberry General Store we stopped at a gas station for gas and talked to a real nice guy from Canada – Ron – riding his Harley Bagger. He was on a solo tour around the South West and then back up north to Western Canada.

Everybody gets a rest at the gas stop before Seligman

Seligman was next. This town really embraces the Route 66 tradition with quite a few old businesses. The place I was looking for was Angel’s Barber Shop to get a shave.

Angel Delgadillo has a very special relationship with the road called Route 66. He was born in his family home on April 19, 1927 on Route 66 when the roads from Chicago to Santa Monica were first being connected to form the newly created “U.S. Highway 66”. He grew up in that house with his 8 siblings, using the lights of the nighttime Route 66 traffic streaming through town to make a game of chasing shadows. When the Great Depression hit Seligman, the Delgadillo family was able to stay in their home town because Angel’s older brothers, Juan and Joe, got jobs playing music for dances in the towns along Route 66 in Northern, Arizona. As a teenager, Angel experienced World War II by watching all the convoys of cannons, jeeps, and trucks drive through Seligman on Route 66. Then when Angel became an adult and decided to take after his father, Angel Delgadillo Sr., by becoming a barber, he attended the American Barber College in Pasadena, California, which just happened to be on California’s section of Route 66. For his barbering apprenticeship, he completed that on Route 66 in Williams, Arizona. Then in 1950, Angel opened his barber shop in the same building his father had opened his barber shop and pool hall on Route 66 in 1922, before the road even had its now famous name. And yet, all of these connections are not the reason that the name Angel Delgadillo and Route 66 go hand in hand. It is just the beginning of Angel’s Route 66 story. 

Source: http://www.route66giftshop.com/the-angel-of-route-66/

Angel
Source: Internet

Angel's Barber Shop

Inside Angel's Barber Shop

Being 88 years old, Angel has cut back on the shave and haircut work. He only works in the mornings now and I missed him – Scheiße!

We ran into Ron again while in Seligman.

 

Williams was the next stop for some lunch at Crusier’s Cafe – a pretty decent burger and beer place with live music in the afternoon and good local beer. Unfortunately, I did not have any beer this time. We ran into Ron once again and had lunch with him.

Crusier's Cafe

 

One of the best bar signs I've seen

The Grand Canyon was calling so we turned north, up AZ 64.

After waiting in a pretty short line to enter the park we got checked in, cleaned up, took a walk to get our first look of the Canyon and then went to dinner (way too much eating on this tour).

From the South Rim at dusk

Turns out I have no cell reception and the WiFi is painfully overloaded by all of the younger generation texting – thus radio silence ensued.

Gettin' Our Kicks: Chapter 12 – Day Six A Rest in Kingman

June 10, 2015

We hung around the El Trovarore for most of the day and relaxed. In the late afternoon we walked into the old down town to look around and find a beer and dinner.

There’s not too much going on in the old down town area, but we found a good local beer. Next find dinner.

Mr.D’z is an old style dinner with plenty of atmosphere, and mediocre dinner food.

Mr. D'z - nice '53 Cnevy Pick-up out front

Back at the ET we enjoyed a bottle of wine out in front of the room and watched the tourists come and go, and talked to Sam for awhile.

Gettin' Our Kicks: Chapter 11 - Day Five Barstow to Kingman

June 9, 2015

Toady the next part of our excursion begins…

After breakfast with Jim, Judith and I rode over to the National Trails Highway, otherwise known as Old Route 66. Here’s where Judith’s first taste of Old Route 66 starts – she was very excited to now actually be on the Old Mother Road.

Yeah!!!

This is a long, pretty much straight, stretch of road that is not used much, so traffic was extremely light and we were making good time… That is until we saw the “Rough Road Next 9 Miles” sign. Usually this means the road is bumpy and / or patched, but not too bad. Usually!! This part of 66 is really, really rough and we had to slow down to about 25 - 30 MPH. I need to check, but I think the Calif. DOT must calculate miles using a different standard – this was the longest nines miles I have ever seen.

 

We finally got our extra long nine miles ticked off and decided to stop in Amboy to check if our fillings were still intact. Judith found a horse and got her first Kicks on Route 66.

Amboy

 The original plan was to stay on Rt. 66 all the way to Kingman. Unfortunately, about 20 miles from Amboy the road was closed for some reason and we had to divert to Interstate 40. The wind was indeed blowing in from the south (right side) and it was a chore to keep the bikes between the white lines. We stopped in Needles for gas and a rest, and then got back on Old 66 on to Oatman.

Oatman is an old Gold Mining town, almost a ghost town in some ways. Many of the residents are a bit like the folks might have been back in the original Gold Mining boom. Wild Burros roam around the town freely. The Burros are wild, but pretty tame, as the tourists feed them. The first Gold Miners used the Burros many years ago. When the mines shut down the Burros were let loose to fend for themselves. The scent in Oatman is – well like Burro poop – it was charming to say the least.

This ole' gal been around Oatman for awhile

No Parking does not apply to Burros

Kingman is only 25 or 30 miles from Oatman, so were home free when we headed out. The first 10 miles or so out of Oatman is a scenic twisty road that meanders past several old Gold Mines, some of which are back in operation.

On the way to Kingman

By late afternoon we pulled into the El Trovarore Motel. The ET was a great find. It was built around 1937 and is still in super condition for it’s age. There were many famous movie stars from the Golden Age of cinema who stayed at the ET. We stayed in the John Wayne room.

The current owners, Sam and Monica are wonderful hosts. Sam has many interesting and funny stories about Route 66 and the surrounding area. He is one of those storytellers that you don’t get tired of listing too. Monica was a sweet lady who always had a smile on her face, no matter how hard she was working to keep everything in order.

We were pretty happy about staying at the El Trovarore.

Lots of Neon - The tower is about 60 feet tall

Good Steak House a couple of blocks from ET
I had grilled Pork Chops that were delicious

Gettin' Our Kicks: Chapter 10 - Day Four Oxnard to Barstow

June 8, 2015

Today we meet up with our friend Jim Foreman to ride The Angeles Crest Highway (ACH) – CA 2.

We had met Jim in Germany through some other mutual friends when we did a four-day tour in the Czech Republic. Jim was a lot of fun on the tour and we planned to meet in Calif. for a ride over the ACH. Actually Jim had suggested this and we are very happy that he did.

We met at a Shell Gas Station just before 11:00. After gassing up and a little discussion about the ride we jumped on the ACH. The fun starts immediately and continues through the Angeles National Forest.

Judith and Dennis' arrival at the designated meeting point in La Canada Flintridge
Picture credit - Jim Foeman

Judith and Jim - getting ready to go up the ACH

The weather was beautiful and the traffic was very light. The road has views galore, great turns, rhythm, surface and grip. What more could you want.

 

We stopped for lunch at Newcomb’s Ranch for lunch – a nice Southern Calif. bike destination, al la The Rock Shop.

 

Newcomb's Ranch
Picture credit - Jim Foeman

After lunch we continued on ACH and then connected to CA 138 past Silverwood Lake and then to CA 18 - The Rim of the World, with stops at Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear Lake. 

Lake Arrowhead
Picture credit - Jim Foeman

At The Ridge of the World
Picture credit - Jim Foeman

 

View from The Ridge of the World

We continued around Big Bear on CA 18 to Lucerne Valley and then pretty much a straight shot into Barstow.

 

A short break before the final 30 miles to Barstow
Picture credit - Jim Foeman

Our Route with Jim

Jim was recruiting a new rider

The entire day was full of splendid views and great roads.

Jim spent the night on Barstow with us. The next morning, after breakfast he headed back home in Orange County and we hopped on old Route 66 heading east.

Gettin' Our Kicks: Chapter 9 - Day Three San Simeon to Oxnard

June 7, 2015

We left San Simeon around 8:30 to a typical California overcast morning. By San Luis Obispo (SLO) the grey sky had turned sunny and pleasant.

Pretty much dodged a bullet today.

Remember I mentioned my R1200GSA was cranking a little hard and I suspected the battery was going to go to hell in a hand basket soon. But the battery had tested good in the Scotts Valley Batteries Plus when I had them load test it.

Weelll, this morning at a gas stop in San Luis Obispo it wouldn't restart - Scheiße!

As luck would have it I had been talking to a guy at the gas station about his very cool '63 Matchless. He pushed down a small hill in the gas station. There was enough juice in the battery for the fuel pump and ignition and I was able to bump start it.

Then of all things I found a Batteries Plus store within five miles that was open on Sunday. They had a battery and I replaced the old one, which once again load tested OK. I did test the charging system and it's seems just fine. The battery was three years old, so who knows. Engine cranks over just fine now. 

This is the '63 Matchless I was looking at - really nice bike and a really nice guy that owns it and bailed me out.

Next stop was breakfast at The Madonna Inn in SLO. This is a funny place, built by a wealthy building contractor for his wife. There are 110 rooms, each with a different goofy theme. The overall theme is sort of Bavarian like, and the color theme is a weird pink.

Madonna Inn: Picture form the Internet

Sinks in the Madonna Inn Coffee Shop Men's Room

After breakfast we headed east over CA 166 to CA 33. CA 166 is not so interesting, but CA 33 is a nice twisty road up over the mountains and drops into Ojai (or as an old friend refers to it Oh Jeez Another Idiot), sort of an art community above Ventura.

In Ojai, across from a gas stop - we knew we were going the right direction towards Oxnard

From there we headed to Oxnard and to our hotel in a somewhat sketchy neighborhood. It actually was probably a just fine neighborhood; there was something that didn’t feel right about leaving the bikes out in the parking lot.

I came up with the genius idea of putting them in the room.

First I moved in Judith’s bike, which fit through the door with no problem.

Judith's riding mascot, Tony the Tiger, was happy to spend a night indoors

 

Tis’ a scratch. Nothing but a flesh wound.

However, when it came to mine there was a different story. As I started to try to wiggle it through the door I smacked the right side auxiliary light into the door jam and promptly broke it off – it is plastic after all.

Plan B was to move the now wounded bike around in back, with the idea of an out of sight out of mind thing. Next thing was to tend to the busted light. 

Ouch!

The magic of duct tap came through once again. In this case WD-40 was not required.

The remainder of the evening was uneventful… Thank God.