So .... back safely to Blighty with some great memories !!
Monday, July 4, 2016
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
The last day of the tour. Morning briefing at 8 am before setting off for Los Angeles.
Instead of taking the freeway into L A we approached via the Angeles National Forest to the north which comprised a mountain chain with peaks of around 7,000 feet. The 55 mile crest road provided a couple of hours of entertaining cornering.
Break at the high point.
After a brief section of freeway and a diversion up and down a couple of canyon roads we approached the sea:
Santa Monica Pier - the end of Route 66 is around here somewhere .....
There it is...
Team Photo
Certificate of Completion for Howard & Dave
A short ride to the Eaglerider HQ to hand in our bikes:
'Farewell Trusty Steed'
Oooooeeerrrr !
So - 3,045 miles since leaving Chicago the tour is over......
.... apart of course for the end of trip party. However last time this involved lots of free beer and Jack Daniels which instigated a degree of ill-advised Karioke. At this stage we will lower the veil on such proceedings.
Music Clips:
Monday, June 20, 2016
Dear Diary, what a day its been !
We were lucky to have missed tornados in Kansas but by quirky happenstance we just happened to be doing the hottest leg of the tour on the hottest day of a national heatwave. Still as Shakespeare said: 'If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly'.
After a good night's sleep we breakfasted at 7 and were on the bikes at 8 am, stopping for a group 'Leaving Las Vegas' photo op.
View at fuel stop just outside Vegas:
Already hot - so group huddling in the shade:
Scenery:
We turned off the freeway and followed a winding road through the Mojave National Park.
Old post office at Kelso - an iron mining and rail transport depot.
Comfort break in Kelso.
Dropping down into the desert bowl we battled through the fearsome heat to Amboy:
Roys Motel - now just a cafe and petrol station.
Temperature in Amboy area a bracing 49 C - which we experienced for around an hour.
Volcanic cinder cone and lava field at Amboy - 80,000 years old - last eruption 10,000 years ago.
Other lava cones in distance.
Out of the frying pan - into Ludlow for lunch. Temperatures down to a more comfortable 43 C.
Why did they name this town at the edge of the Mojave desert 'Ludlow' ? Scenery at Ludlow, USA:
Scenery at Ludlow, UK - obvious resemblance !
Our route on Google Earth - about 275 miles
Google Earth close-up of Amboy - cinder cone and lava field evident.
Here we are - within a short ride from LA
So, we made it through the wilderness, but don't go thinking I'll put Madonna on the music clips - that would be like a vergein on the ridiculous !
Music Clips:
Sunday, June 19, 2016
OPTIONAL EXTRA DUST BOWL FEATURE
I read the grapes of wrath after riding Route 66 in 2011. Obviously much of the route is that followed by displaced farming families fleeing the devastaion of the 1930's Dust Bowl.
To pass part of an afternoon in Las Vegas, too hot to sensibly venture outside, I shamelessly plundered a few sources on the internet to compile a short summary of the Dust Bowl - as much for my own enlightement as anything else, albeit something of a 'busman's (research) holiday' task.
The area affected by the dust bowl included large areas of Kansas, the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles and the western areas of Colorado and New Mexico, characterized by plains with elevation ranges from 2,500 feet (760 m) in the east to 6,000 feet (1,800 m) at the base of the Rocky Mountains. The area is semiarid, receiving less than 20 inches (510 mm) of rain annually, supporting the short prairie grass originally present in the area. During early European and American exploration of the Great Plains, this region was thought unsuitable for European-style agriculture. The lack of surface water and timber made the region less attractive than other areas for pioneer settlement and agriculture.
The federal government encouraged settlement and development of the Plains for agriculture via the Homestead Act of 1862, offering settlers 160-acre (65 ha) plots. With the end of the Civil War in 1865 and the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, waves of new settlers reached the Great Plains, greatly increasing the acreage under cultivation. A return of unusually wet weather seemingly confirmed a previously held opinion that the "formerly" semiarid area could support large-scale agriculture. At the same time, technological improvements such as mechanized ploughing and harvesting made it possible to operate larger properties without high labour costs. The combined effects of the disruption of the Russian Revolution, which decreased the supply of wheat and other commodity crops, and World War 1 increased agricultural prices; encouraging farmers to dramatically increase cultivation.
The widespread conversion of the land by deep ploughing and other soil preparation methods to enable agriculture eliminated the native grasses which held the soil in place and helped retain moisture during dry periods. Furthermore, cotton farmers left fields bare during winter months, when winds in the High Plains are highest, and burned the stubble as a means to control weeds prior to planting, thus depriving the soil of organic nutrients and surface vegetation.
After fairly favourable climatic conditions in the 1920s, the region entered an unusually dry era in the summer of 1930. When severe drought struck the Great Plains region in the 1930s, it resulted in erosion and loss of topsoil. The dry topsoil became friable, reduced to a powdery consistency in some places. Without the indigenous grasses in place, the prevailing high winds picked up the topsoil and created the massive dust storms that marked the Dust Bowl period.
On April 14, 1935, known as ‘Black Sunday’, 20 of the worst "black blizzards" occurred across the entire sweep of the Great Plains, from Canada south to Texas. The dust storms caused extensive damage and turned the day to night; witnesses reported that they could not see five feet in front of them at certain points.
In 1935, many families were forced to leave their farms and travel to other areas seeking work. More than 500,000 Americans were left homeless. Families packed up ‘jalopies’ with a few personal belongings, and headed west in search of work. The Dust Bowl exodus was the largest migration in American history over a short period of time. Between 1930 and 1940, approximately 3.5 million people moved out of the Plains states. It is unknown how many moved to California but in one year, over 86,000 people migrated there. This is more than the number of migrants to that area during the 1849 Gold Rush. Migrants abandoned farms in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico, but were often generally referred to as "Okies", "Arkies", or "Texies". Terms such as "Okies" and "Arkies" came to be known in the 1930s as the standard terms for those who had lost everything and were struggling the most during the Great Depression.
During President F D Roosevelt’s first 100 days in office in 1933, his administration quickly initiated programs to conserve soil and restore the ecological balance of the nation. President Roosevelt ordered the Civilian Conservation Corps to plant a huge belt of more than 200 million trees from Canada to Abilene, Texas to break the wind, hold water in the soil, and hold the soil itself in place. The administration also began to educate farmers on soil conservation and anti-erosion techniques, including crop rotation, strip farming, contour ploughing, terracing, and other improved farming practices. The government paid reluctant farmers a dollar an acre to practice the new methods. By 1938, the massive conservation effort had reduced the amount of blowing soil by 65%. The land still failed to yield a decent living.
In the fall of 1939, after nearly a decade of dirt and dust, the drought ended when regular rainfall finally returned to the region. The government still encouraged continuing the use of conservation methods to protect the soil and ecology of the Plains. At the end of the drought, the programs which were implemented during these tough times helped to sustain a positive relationship between America's farmers and the federal government.
The human impact of the Dust Bowl storms is best illustrated by the following passage from Steinbeck’s ‘The Grapes of Wrath’, Chapter 1:
‘When the night came again it was black night, for the stars could not pierce the dust to get down, and the window lights could not even spread beyond their own yards now the dust was evenly mixed with the air, an emulsion of dust and air. Houses were shut tight, and cloth wedged around doors and windows, but the dust came in so thinly that it could not be seen in the air, and it settled like pollen on the chairs and tables, on the dishes. The people brushed it from their shoulders. Little lines of dust lay at the door sills.
In the middle of that night the wind passed on and left the land quiet. The dust-filled air muffled sound more completely than fog does. The people, lying in their beds heard the wind stop. They awakened when the rushing wind was gone. They lay quietly and listened deep into the stillness. Then the roosters crowed, and their voices were muffled, and the people stirred restlessly in their beds and wanted the morning they knew it would take a long time for the dust to settle out of the air. In the morning the dust hung like fog, and the sun was as red as ripe new blood. All day the dust sifted down from the sky, and the next day it sifted down. An even blanket covered the earth it settled on the corn, piled up on the tops of the fence posts, piled up on the wires; it settled on roofs, blanketed the weeds and trees.
The people came out of their houses and smelled the hot stinging air and covered their noses from it. And the children came out of the houses, but they did not run or shout as they would have done after a rain. Men stood by their fences and looked at the ruined corn, drying fast now, only a little green showing through the film of dust. The men were silent and they did not move often. And the women came out of the houses to stand beside their men—to feel whether this time the men would break. The women studied the men's faces secretly, for the corn could go, as long as something else remained. The children stood nearby, drawing figures in the dust with bare toes, and the children sent exploring senses out to see whether men and women would break. The children peeked at the faces of the men and women, and then drew careful lines in the dust with their toes. Horses came to the watering troughs and nuzzled the water to clear the surface dust. After a while the faces of the watching men lost their bemused perplexity and became hard and angry and resistant. Then the women knew that they were safe and that there was no break. Then they asked, ‘What'll we do?’ And the men replied, I don't know. But it was all right. The women knew it was all right, and the Watching children knew it was all right. Women and children knew deep in themselves that no misfortune was too great to bear if their men were whole. The women went into the houses to their work, and the children began to play, but cautiously at first. As the day went forward the sun became less red. It flared down on the dust-blanketed land. The men sat in the doorways of their houses; their hands were busy with sticks and Little rocks. The men sat still—thinking—figuring’.
I read the grapes of wrath after riding Route 66 in 2011. Obviously much of the route is that followed by displaced farming families fleeing the devastaion of the 1930's Dust Bowl.
To pass part of an afternoon in Las Vegas, too hot to sensibly venture outside, I shamelessly plundered a few sources on the internet to compile a short summary of the Dust Bowl - as much for my own enlightement as anything else, albeit something of a 'busman's (research) holiday' task.
The federal government encouraged settlement and development of the Plains for agriculture via the Homestead Act of 1862, offering settlers 160-acre (65 ha) plots. With the end of the Civil War in 1865 and the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, waves of new settlers reached the Great Plains, greatly increasing the acreage under cultivation. A return of unusually wet weather seemingly confirmed a previously held opinion that the "formerly" semiarid area could support large-scale agriculture. At the same time, technological improvements such as mechanized ploughing and harvesting made it possible to operate larger properties without high labour costs. The combined effects of the disruption of the Russian Revolution, which decreased the supply of wheat and other commodity crops, and World War 1 increased agricultural prices; encouraging farmers to dramatically increase cultivation.
The widespread conversion of the land by deep ploughing and other soil preparation methods to enable agriculture eliminated the native grasses which held the soil in place and helped retain moisture during dry periods. Furthermore, cotton farmers left fields bare during winter months, when winds in the High Plains are highest, and burned the stubble as a means to control weeds prior to planting, thus depriving the soil of organic nutrients and surface vegetation.
After fairly favourable climatic conditions in the 1920s, the region entered an unusually dry era in the summer of 1930. When severe drought struck the Great Plains region in the 1930s, it resulted in erosion and loss of topsoil. The dry topsoil became friable, reduced to a powdery consistency in some places. Without the indigenous grasses in place, the prevailing high winds picked up the topsoil and created the massive dust storms that marked the Dust Bowl period.
On April 14, 1935, known as ‘Black Sunday’, 20 of the worst "black blizzards" occurred across the entire sweep of the Great Plains, from Canada south to Texas. The dust storms caused extensive damage and turned the day to night; witnesses reported that they could not see five feet in front of them at certain points.
In 1935, many families were forced to leave their farms and travel to other areas seeking work. More than 500,000 Americans were left homeless. Families packed up ‘jalopies’ with a few personal belongings, and headed west in search of work. The Dust Bowl exodus was the largest migration in American history over a short period of time. Between 1930 and 1940, approximately 3.5 million people moved out of the Plains states. It is unknown how many moved to California but in one year, over 86,000 people migrated there. This is more than the number of migrants to that area during the 1849 Gold Rush. Migrants abandoned farms in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico, but were often generally referred to as "Okies", "Arkies", or "Texies". Terms such as "Okies" and "Arkies" came to be known in the 1930s as the standard terms for those who had lost everything and were struggling the most during the Great Depression.
During President F D Roosevelt’s first 100 days in office in 1933, his administration quickly initiated programs to conserve soil and restore the ecological balance of the nation. President Roosevelt ordered the Civilian Conservation Corps to plant a huge belt of more than 200 million trees from Canada to Abilene, Texas to break the wind, hold water in the soil, and hold the soil itself in place. The administration also began to educate farmers on soil conservation and anti-erosion techniques, including crop rotation, strip farming, contour ploughing, terracing, and other improved farming practices. The government paid reluctant farmers a dollar an acre to practice the new methods. By 1938, the massive conservation effort had reduced the amount of blowing soil by 65%. The land still failed to yield a decent living.
In the fall of 1939, after nearly a decade of dirt and dust, the drought ended when regular rainfall finally returned to the region. The government still encouraged continuing the use of conservation methods to protect the soil and ecology of the Plains. At the end of the drought, the programs which were implemented during these tough times helped to sustain a positive relationship between America's farmers and the federal government.
The human impact of the Dust Bowl storms is best illustrated by the following passage from Steinbeck’s ‘The Grapes of Wrath’, Chapter 1:
‘When the night came again it was black night, for the stars could not pierce the dust to get down, and the window lights could not even spread beyond their own yards now the dust was evenly mixed with the air, an emulsion of dust and air. Houses were shut tight, and cloth wedged around doors and windows, but the dust came in so thinly that it could not be seen in the air, and it settled like pollen on the chairs and tables, on the dishes. The people brushed it from their shoulders. Little lines of dust lay at the door sills.
In the middle of that night the wind passed on and left the land quiet. The dust-filled air muffled sound more completely than fog does. The people, lying in their beds heard the wind stop. They awakened when the rushing wind was gone. They lay quietly and listened deep into the stillness. Then the roosters crowed, and their voices were muffled, and the people stirred restlessly in their beds and wanted the morning they knew it would take a long time for the dust to settle out of the air. In the morning the dust hung like fog, and the sun was as red as ripe new blood. All day the dust sifted down from the sky, and the next day it sifted down. An even blanket covered the earth it settled on the corn, piled up on the tops of the fence posts, piled up on the wires; it settled on roofs, blanketed the weeds and trees.
The people came out of their houses and smelled the hot stinging air and covered their noses from it. And the children came out of the houses, but they did not run or shout as they would have done after a rain. Men stood by their fences and looked at the ruined corn, drying fast now, only a little green showing through the film of dust. The men were silent and they did not move often. And the women came out of the houses to stand beside their men—to feel whether this time the men would break. The women studied the men's faces secretly, for the corn could go, as long as something else remained. The children stood nearby, drawing figures in the dust with bare toes, and the children sent exploring senses out to see whether men and women would break. The children peeked at the faces of the men and women, and then drew careful lines in the dust with their toes. Horses came to the watering troughs and nuzzled the water to clear the surface dust. After a while the faces of the watching men lost their bemused perplexity and became hard and angry and resistant. Then the women knew that they were safe and that there was no break. Then they asked, ‘What'll we do?’ And the men replied, I don't know. But it was all right. The women knew it was all right, and the Watching children knew it was all right. Women and children knew deep in themselves that no misfortune was too great to bear if their men were whole. The women went into the houses to their work, and the children began to play, but cautiously at first. As the day went forward the sun became less red. It flared down on the dust-blanketed land. The men sat in the doorways of their houses; their hands were busy with sticks and Little rocks. The men sat still—thinking—figuring’.
A short ride today - 130 miles to Las Vegas, setting off at 8 am. Views of the rugged terrain.
A mid-morning petrol stop and a bit of shade.
Visited the Hoover Dam:
Las Vegas' 'water cistern' - not too full !
Sparse vegetation
Las Vegas in all its understated majesty.
45 C when we rode along the strip at 1 pm.
Lunch spot - the Harley Davidson Cafe
Inside
2,500 miles since Chicago
Music Clips:
Saturday, June 18, 2016
All up extra early this morning for our pre-booked helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon - 4 or 5 to a 'copter.
Dave on take-off
Great views !
After this early excitement we rode to Seligman for lunch. Another town which made its living from the Route 66 passing business and now going to strange lengths to trade on the nostalgia. (Note: figures on the roof are dummies).
Our lunch venue - the Road Runner cafe. Wifi password (predictably) 'beepbeep' !!
Next stop was Hackberry. Another Route 66 oasis in an increasingly arid lanscape.
As we descended form the Colorado plateau the temperature rose. Here it was 40.5 C.
... And the vegetation to match it.
Over a very windy pass to Oatman, a former mining boom town but with still several operational gold mines.
A local resident:
Scenery pretty rugged:
... especially in close-up - a bit like a holiday brochure for Mordor !
Another 20 or so miles took us to our hotel in the gambling resort of Laughlin, something of a younger sibling to Las Vegas. For the last 5 miles or so the air temperature hit 45 C. Some members of the party visibly wilting by the time we reached the air-conditioned hotel lobby. A restorative chilled beer much appreciated.
Music Clips:
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