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Well, I wrote a full blog for yesterday, our biggest day, and then the wireless internet crashed and I lost it all... at 1am. So I was not well pleased.
So, here's two days worth of blog! :)
We have had two massive days: 387.5 miles yesterday, and about 280 today. When we pulled up at the hotel tonight we had clocked up 1,999 miles in 9 days! :) Basically we're about half distance, a little ahead of time so we're planning for a day off in Chicago! :)
Yesterday, our massive day, was pretty easy actually. We got up at 630 in Santa Fe, were on the road at about 830, and arrived in Amarillo at 1730 local time, or in other words, 8 hours later. The cool werather (I actually had goosebumpos for the first couple of hours), and the great roads made it pretty easy to crank on the miles. We basically sat on 70 mph all day! We came down from the mountains onto the plains of Texas.
By the time we got to Amarillo we all agreed we could've done another hundred miles without too much drama. Nonetheless, we were pretty happy to see the pool at the motel. :) I probably scared a few people on the interstate (that basically ran along the side of the pool at the Motel) with my swimmers, but it was very refreshing (the pool :)
After a swim we called the free limo service to take us to the Texas Steak Ranch, the one with the 'Free 72oz Steak' (only free if you finish it, otherwise its $72. :) It was awesome, totally wild-west. I didn't give the 72oz a go as after seeing the display version it just looked inhuman to be able to put it in your body in an hour. So I settled for a 28 oz ribeye which was actually 2 14oz steaks joined together. I ate it in 11 minutes, even after pausing to take photos of the people trying for the 72oz challenge. :) There was a Canadian girl who was trying to do the 72oz (2.4 kg) in 1 hour. She didn't make it. I looked over at one stage and could see pain in her eyes. When they took it away and weighed it to see how much she had eaten, she had done 30oz in one hour. I did 28oz in 11 minutes! I probably could've given the big one a go! :)
We got talking to a motorcycle cop out the front as he rode a Harley too. We were quite amused as Harley's has no go whatsoever. Overtaking is a time-consuming process :) We got a photo with him too! Everybody loves to chat to us :)
Yesterday we also passed the half-way mark of Route 66, just near Adrian, a few miles to the west of Amarillo! We paused a moment to celebrate. :) The first half has been amazing, and probably the best part of the route with the most to see and the most jaw-dropping scenery. We don't really know what to expect from the second half, but thats half the fun!
Without realising it, perhaps in our desire just to get to Amarillo, we completely bypassed the 10 Cadillacs buried nose-first in the ground. We're all mega-pissed off as its a real icon of Route 66. We only realised today when we were about 100 miles the wrong side of Amarillo... we stopped so I could check on the GPS where they were and some Danish guys pulled up on Harleys alongside us (the were heading the opposite direction to us). We asked them if they had seen the Cadillacs and they said they were going to see them. Alarm bells wrang. Books were pulled out. Swear words were uttered.
Anyway, there's no going back so we just have to be men about it. And grow beards. (which are coming along nicely now that you ask :)
Today the miles didn't come as easily, probably becasue the rods weren't as good. We've been following a lot of the old cement version of Rt66 which is bloooooody rough. Very authentic, but very teeth-jarring. We also saw, but didn't go on, a very old dirt section called Jericho Gap which apparently used to be treacherous as the mud ate the traveller's cards for breakfast. :)
Today was also a low-photo day as there just isn't as much to see. We did see a giant cross (yep, weird :) And some very very flat parts of Texas. And two comical Danish dudes, probably father and son.
We eventually decided that we just wanted to be in Oklahoma City more than ride every centimeter of Rt66, so we got on the Freeway and high-tailed it :) That meant it was pretty boring, so we had to stop for a break as we were all falling asleep.
Finally we made it into Oklahoma City, and after chatting with another Harley rider who pointed us in the right direction, we are now staying in the Bricktown area of town. We got a room at the Hampton Inn overlooking the city's baseball stadium, possibly the best seats in the house. :) Except there's no game tonight (I called to ask.. damn) :)
Just about to head out in town and find some food and a beer. Feeling pretty comfortable and looking forward to the unkown of the next week. :)
PS. We had tapas for dinner tonight at a very nice outdoor restaurant overlooking the canal, but the funny thing was that the owner confused us with Austrians (it happens a lot), and was telling us a lot of stories about his former Austrian cook... we didn't stop him, it was entertaining. :)
PPS. I've uploaded a few videos to YouTube so you can all see whats its like :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O34aCEi6RA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4LNUR5gRLE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qNB2JgfwSo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcWZKfC5yWY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRRCHJA0Jk4
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