It was a nice cool morning and a clear sky when we left
Flagstaff. We were at an
elevation of around 7000 feet above sea level, so cooler mornings are to be
expected at this altitude. We rode through the town of Williams on Route 66 and
then after an hour and a half of riding, we stopped at the famous Route 66 town
of Seligman. This is a town that has really embraced its Route 66 heritage and
has made a concerted effort to be true to the era Route 66 represented. You
will see shops all down the main street that have classic cars out front,
mannequins dressed in 1950’s era fashion and a plethora of gift and souvenir
shops chock full of Route 66 memorabilia, clothing etc. It was very well done
and we saw tourist buses stopping, which must be great for the local economy. Seligman
has been bypassed by the interstate like a large number of other small
communities along the original Route 66, so it shows what can be achieved if
the business community pulls together and markets what is unique about the town
to make it a destination point.
We had a cold drink in one of the stores and then made our way to Kingman where we called into the Harley Davidson Dealership for a look around. At this stage of the ride we had been descending down from the mountain divide and the landscape was becoming more arid and barren. The temperature was also heating up! We had intentionally restricted our ride to about 3 hours riding time today, as we knew we would be entering Mojave Desert country and there have been extreme heat warnings.
After Kingman we had about an hour of riding to make it across the state line into California and our stop for the day at Needles. As we rode into the start of the desert there was a strong wind that made the air feel like a furnace in your face. I counted the km’s down until we finally made it to Needles around mid-day. Tracee was starting to get very hot legs from the heat off the bikes pipes! By the time we got off the bike the temperature was 114 Fahrenheit or 46 Celsius! And in this part of the country the temperature tends to keep climbing as the day gets longer!
We grabbed some lunch, fueled the bike up and then were fortunate enough to get an early check-in to our motel for the day. We are now hunkered down with the air conditioning unit down as cold as it can go and it is struggling to keep the room cool!
We had a cold drink in one of the stores and then made our way to Kingman where we called into the Harley Davidson Dealership for a look around. At this stage of the ride we had been descending down from the mountain divide and the landscape was becoming more arid and barren. The temperature was also heating up! We had intentionally restricted our ride to about 3 hours riding time today, as we knew we would be entering Mojave Desert country and there have been extreme heat warnings.
After Kingman we had about an hour of riding to make it across the state line into California and our stop for the day at Needles. As we rode into the start of the desert there was a strong wind that made the air feel like a furnace in your face. I counted the km’s down until we finally made it to Needles around mid-day. Tracee was starting to get very hot legs from the heat off the bikes pipes! By the time we got off the bike the temperature was 114 Fahrenheit or 46 Celsius! And in this part of the country the temperature tends to keep climbing as the day gets longer!
We grabbed some lunch, fueled the bike up and then were fortunate enough to get an early check-in to our motel for the day. We are now hunkered down with the air conditioning unit down as cold as it can go and it is struggling to keep the room cool!
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