Route 66 conquered; a great adventure

[Ausjacko]

Well it is good to be back. We arrived home yesterday afternoon after one month away. Don’t get me wrong we had a fantastic time but it is good to be home. We are a bit over hamburgers, chips (or fries as they call them), bright yellow cheese, fried everything, peanut butter with added sugar, whipped yellow cheese with hazel nut, coffee that Brother Steve could use in his shop to strip panels, cheese with sugar and mayo, buckets of ‘soda’ (drink, not the stuff you use to strip panels), utes on steroids, diners, cheese burgers, gravy that is really white sauce, biscuits that are really scones, whipped cheese with pickles and fries, ketchup and not sauce, traffic snarls that last for 90 minutes, Sandra the stupid GPS lady and noisy air-conditioners.

However we will miss the people, the encounters, the big things, being able to stop at an interesting factory and getting a tour because ‘we all luuv how yawl taulk’, hamburgers, ribs (from a secret stash of dinosaurs they must have), IHOP (for dessert and not breakfast), Steak and Shake, friends, pickles (that come in a jar like gherkins on steroids), cool whip (for dessert and sexy time and not breakfast), being able to garner assistance from black gang bangers because ‘yaw not from around here arrr ya’ (said while driving a brand new black merc with four of your closest bloods after just palming off three ounces of your finest), purchasing a ’68 Mustang distributor, cap and rotor button for $79 AND getting a discount because ‘I like yawl accent’ and surviving the west side of Chicago (see previous reference to drug dealers).

On the Mustang side of things, we started talking photos of mustangs in LA. We stopped taking photos of Mustangs in LA when we realised these things are not that uncommon. Saw very few early model Mustangs (about 6 I think) but lots of black chev Camaros; great looking car but I think they only come in black (or that is how it appeared).

We had dinner with the Oklahoma Mustang owners and one of them had a ‘Blackjack Stage 3’ Roush (http://www.roushperformance.com/vehicle ... kjack.html). Great looking car that he had added carbon fibre braces and cowl to. They had just finished a track day where he took it for a few laps and it apparently went pretty hard. One tank of ‘gas’ lasted 90 miles.

For hire cars, we had a choice of a dodge challenger but stuck with the Hyundai Tuscon for ease of access, two 12 volt outlets in the centre and XM radio. Met a nice group of late model corvette owners doing a dash east; a 2009 or later could be my next quest (love those four centre exiting exhausts).

We dropped into Galpin Ford on Roscoe Blvd in LA as this is where our red car was sold. They were disappointingly disinterested in providing any information/help but I did get a number-plate surround for my trouble. I grabbed a shot of the ticket price of a 2012 Roush Stage 3; $57k- gotta love that! I also recall the line of grossly oversized pick-up trucks (weird utes) they had on sale. These things are suitable for a family of four to live in and are just nuts.

High points (in the rough order they happened):
Not having to return home after learning, en-route to collect the hire car, that H’s dad has broken his hip and had to remain in Perth where we left him with JBB’s taillight bezel that Mike68 had asked us to return.
Car meeting first Wednesday of the month outside Wally Parkes NHRA museum, Pamona
Getting re-married by Elvis in Las Vegas.
Being told to keep the laughter down as we cavorted with a negro couple and their wedding party as a drunk Hispanic guy actually got married in the Viva Las Vegas Elvis Wedding Chappell. Picture two Aussies and an African American wedding party sending facebook pictures of the bridesmaid and her ‘new man’ (read me) to her friends. I apparently was ‘OK’ as my sunburn made me ‘red’ not white!
Las Vegas (however I do agree with the Big Mac’s assessment of the place)
Hoover Dam
The Grand Canyon
Perseid meteor shower
Staying at the wigwam motel
Meteor crater
Los Alamos
Bass Pro world headquarters in Springfield- a truly bizarre place
Edwin Hubble memorial
Tour of cooperage factory by the owner (http://mcginnisbourbonbarrels.com/aboutus.html)
Meramac Caverns
Chicago
Smithsonian air and space annex, Dulles Airport

If anyone is interested, I can send them or am happy to post a link (if Hybrid can help do this) to the itinerary that we drafted and followed with addresses, timings etc. of the places we went. It was pretty good with the right amount of time/miles per day to stop and do things while following R66. We stuck to the early route that had dirt road sections. You would be nuts to do it without the Route 66 Ezy Guide and a GPS/phone with US maps just in case. We took over 1000 photos, so if you have a spare weekend we can go through them ;-)

Jacko and H

[Nuts]

Well said Jacko! Hey did you visit Los Alamos at night??

[StephenSLR]

I did R66 in 2010 with Fletch and tour guide Dale

http://route66tours.com.au/

Highly recommended if you want to do it the easy way, Dale takes you on as much of the traditional route as possible.

s

[shermatt]

Congrats on the "re-marry"...sheri and me did the same thing last year on Halloween

Sounds like you did pretty well everything except fly the plane there and back.

Matt

[ozbilt]

Mrsozbilt & I did 66 back in 1999 in a 65 Lincoln Continental. Great trip & met many of the icons of 66 that have now passed on ....

[trav68]

Good stop between LV and Grand Canyon was Burgers and Bullets. Went through there recently and shot a 50 cal barrett sniper rifle and usual M16 etc etc. Awesome piece of kit that 50 cal.

Good excuse to go back there if you missed it!

Trav

[Ausjacko]

I think we actually saw that store. Was it off to the left as you drove from Las Vegas, in a shed looking arrangement? If I recall correctly, it was not too far from the skywalk turn-off.

[Astro]

We have booked to go next year for a month - looking forward to all the sights.
The missus and I are dieting in anticipation - staying away from the liquid cheese tho

Cheers John

[trav68]

Yep, that was the one on left past Hoover Dam. Then you can have a sweet photo like this one for your fridge!

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[Ausjacko]

John, forget the diet. I put on 4 kgs while there. Happy to have a chat if you like, it was great fun.

[bages]

Awesome read jacko !!

got any pics?

Ive never been, but would love to do it one day, if I om you my email can you please send me the itinerary/details of your trip?

Thanks for sharing !!

[Ausjacko]

PM away (at least that is what I think you mean)

[bages]

hahaha yeah pm - om was a typo

[69candy]

Can you pm me to pls itinary

[Ausjacko]

you pm me with your email and I will send it through