June 2: Bloomington
I work with Lon haldeman in a company called Pac Tour. We are in
charge of making sure 25 riders have a great vacation on Route 66. We left
Chicago with great excitement and slept in Bloomington,IL 160 miles down
the Mother Road. We had strong head winds which made no one happy. I rode
25 miles with my niece, Therese. We had a very sick ride.
June 3: Litchfield
Today we left bloomington after a parking lot breakfast. We
visited The PIG HIP restuarant which closed recently. We met the owners
and had lunch with them in Springfield at the Cosy Dog.. The best was our
evening entertainment which Leland Storm an ex ILL State Trooper talked
about his partoling the mother road in the 1960's. we purchased sirup at
Funks Grove for another PAC Tour parking lot breakfast. Looking forward to
St. Louie.
June 6: Joplin
Today we left the Munger Moss in the rain..again we had wet weather but by
9 am the weather had cleared and we only had head winds. I had a great day
with breakfast at the Marshfield Country Club Cafe, lunch in Halltown and
dinner at Travetti's in Joplin! I rode 50 miles with Sylvia on the
tandem from Halltown to Joplin. In Cathage I met an 80 year old man who
said he was at the opening off Rt 66 in 1926 with his Grandpa. His grandpa
said that route 66 woudl be the demise of the world because all the cars
would scare the horses. He then asked me if I saw any horses. I did not.
June 9: Weatherford
It has been several days since I last wrote on the WEB Page but we are
having a great time. I need to bring you up to state with the addition of
Kansas into Oklahoma. The weather has finally turned hot with a very
strong sun today. Since we are traveling west this trip it seems hotter
in the late afternoon.
Highlights of the last several days include shopping in Kansas to purchase the book for my dad and a burma shave licsence and static cling Rt 66 signs for the car. More paraphanaiea. We even are carrying an old Shell sign for Roman. He paid $60 for it. Todays shopping besides the friut for the sag, happened at Lucille's in Hydro. Lon signed 4 Searching for Rt 66 books that she was selling and she shared some stories about rt 66 with us. I purchased more earings and a bumper sticker. Lon got an historic Oklahoma Rt 66 sign for the room.
On a sadder note, Lon Fogel crashed yesterday and had to leave the tour with a AC separation. We still have his stuff on board and wish him a painless as possible recovery. He gave Lon and I a beautuful Rt 66 quilt to add to the route room back home.
I got EMail from debby today. That was great. We are staying in Weatherford OK tonight on the strip. Business Rt 40 and old Rt 66. I think I'll need aer plugs.
I am enjoyign the tour alot. Especially not cooking every day! Today we had pac tour lunch at a Sonic!
June 16: Chambers
Here I stand under the awning of my PAC Tour trailer (in the parking lot of
the Best Western Chieftan) cooking garlic cheese tortellini with my garlic
cheese tortellini boiling over. The rest of my crew is busily chopping the
ingredients for tomorrows lunch. And the sun is setting over the
interstate. Meanwhile, back in the restaurant the bus tour people are
getting their entres.
We are in Chambers, Arizona. The state of New Mexico is history. All the riders have been riding for the last two days - everyone is healthy. It could be the shorter days and the beautiful weather.
I don't think I've written since the Big Texan so I will need to say something about New Mexico. The weather has been cool, with overcast skies and rain. I consider this a very good tour.
The days that PAC Tour supplies lunch I ride to the first sag (which is approx. 35 miles) and get in the van to set up lunch at approximately the 70 mile point. After setting up lunch I am able to ride into the motel. So I've been averaging 60 miles per day on the bike which is my personal record on PAC Tour for riding. I ride tandem with Susie (Therese) my niece, or my single bike. Neither of which are comfortable to me on my butt.