Rte 66

[Desert Spyder]

Suppose a group of Spyders (etc) take off from Chicago on the Mother Road, AND, at the exact same time, a group of Spyders (etc) take off from Santa Monica Pier. Adrian, TX is the midpoint of 66 but if both groups obeyed posted speed limits (yeah right, as if thats going to happen), where will the two groups meet? Theoretically. Someone who has done the Mother Road will be helpful here.

[Pampurrs]

They told me there would be no math questions when I signed up for this forum :banghead:

:shemademe_smilie: Pam

[Blue Star]

Suppose a group of Spyders (etc) take off from Chicago on the Mother Road, AND, at the exact same time, a group of Spyders (etc) take off from Santa Monica Pier. Adrian, TX is the midpoint of 66 but if both groups obeyed posted speed limits (yeah right, as if thats going to happen), where will the two groups meet? Theoretically. Someone who has done the Mother Road will be helpful here.

That's easy, at the restaurant, and every body knows that Spyder ryders follow the posted speed limit.

[AeroPilot]

We've traced the Rte from Cuba, MO to Santa Fe, NM (old alignment) and yes Adrian, TX is the mileage mid-point, but depends on how many Cafes/Photo Ops stops you make. Don't miss the Rock House Burger stop in OK.

[Chupaca]

Wherever they have reservations...:roflblack: But will it be for the same meal...??

[AeroPilot]

Just west of Tulsa Oklahoma, but also need to stop at the Blue Whale in Catoosa for pics...

[BoilerAnimal]

Wherever they have reservations...:roflblack: But will it be for the same meal...??


Well, if they have reservations, I'd play it safe and not eat the meal! :roflblack::roflblack:

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Suppose a group of Spyders (etc) take off from Chicago on the Mother Road, AND, at the exact same time, a group of Spyders (etc) take off from Santa Monica Pier. Adrian, TX is the midpoint of 66 but if both groups obeyed posted speed limits (yeah right, as if thats going to happen), where will the two groups meet? Theoretically. Someone who has done the Mother Road will be helpful here.
Based on what I remember without looking up the exact route of Rt 66, and mapping a route on Google Maps, the meeting point would be somewhere close to and east of Amarillo, TX. That's about 16 hours from Santa Monica and 17 hours to Chicago and about 1080 miles each direction. According to G Maps the average speed would be close to the same for both halves. For an I-40/I-44 route G Maps shows the midpoint to very close to Amarillo.

The most miles of original Rt 66 are in Oklahoma, and much of that is essentially a service road alongside the current highway. I traveled much of Rt 66 last year from Springfield, MO to Albuquerque, NM coming home from Spyderfest.

[Desert Spyder]

The majority of rte 66 is through a reservation I hear. But seriously, this would make a hell of a run. The Mother Road Criss Cross Run. The slowest part out west presumably would be the city streets from San Bernardino to SM Pier. Lots of stop n go. Speaking of San Bernardino, most of you are probably unaware that because of new I-15/215 allignment in Devore, they will be reconnecting the two halves of old 66 in Devore. There will only be a short freeway bypass in the Cajon Pass to travel on old 66.

[Desert Spyder]

Based on what I remember without looking up the exact route of Rt 66, and mapping a route on Google Maps, the meeting point would be somewhere close to and east of Amarillo, TX. That's about 16 hours from Santa Monica and 17 hours to Chicago and about 1080 miles each direction. According to G Maps the average speed would be close to the same for both halves. For an I-40/I-44 route G Maps shows the midpoint to very close to Amarillo.

The most miles of original Rt 66 are in Oklahoma, and much of that is essentially a service road alongside the current highway. I traveled much of Rt 66 last year from Springfield, MO to Albuquerque, NM coming home from Spyderfest.

I'm not sure how long it takes to travel the literal Hwy 66 east of Adrian, TX. It winds through several little towns slowing the speed way down. Out west its basically a straight shot.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

I'm not sure how long it takes to travel the literal Hwy 66 east of Adrian, TX. It winds through several little towns slowing the speed way down. Out west its basically a straight shot.
I found it to be pretty clear sailing most of the time from Springfield to Albuquerque. Much of the old route is replaced with modern highway so although you're following the old Rt 66 pathway you're doing it on modern roads. The slowest portion would probably be in Missouri and Illinois because of towns. In many sections, mostly Oklahoma of what I rode, the old road is next to the current highway and is interrupted by missing bridges, crossings by the current road, etc. If one is primarily interested in following the old route and seeing the scenery along the old route there is no real advantage to actually putting your tires on it much of the time. In fact it would really slow you down as you would have to backtrack when you come to a missing section, then travel the current highway, then get back on the old road, and so on. If you wanted to run your tires on the old road surface as much as possible you probably would add as much as 50% to the travel time. In Oklahoma I did ride many miles on the old surface as it is concrete and still in decent condition. On those sections there was very little traffic so speed was normal.

I missed riding the section from Chandler, OK to Oklahoma City because of tornadoes. They were going to be tracking right up Rt 66 so I dropped south to I-40 and Shawnee, stayed there for the night, and watched on TV as the tornadoes tore up OK City!

[Desert Spyder]

I found it to be pretty clear sailing most of the time from Springfield to Albuquerque. Much of the old route is replaced with modern highway so although you're following the old Rt 66 pathway you're doing it on modern roads. The slowest portion would probably be in Missouri and Illinois because of towns. In many sections, mostly Oklahoma of what I rode, the old road is next to the current highway and is interrupted by missing bridges, crossings by the current road, etc. If one is primarily interested in following the old route and seeing the scenery along the old route there is no real advantage to actually putting your tires on it much of the time. In fact it would really slow you down as you would have to backtrack when you come to a missing section, then travel the current highway, then get back on the old road, and so on. If you wanted to run your tires on the old road surface as much as possible you probably would add as much as 50% to the travel time. In Oklahoma I did ride many miles on the old surface as it is concrete and still in decent condition. On those sections there was very little traffic so speed was normal.

I missed riding the section from Chandler, OK to Oklahoma City because of tornadoes. They were going to be tracking right up Rt 66 so I dropped south to I-40 and Shawnee, stayed there for the night, and watched on TV as the tornadoes tore up OK City!

Its on my Spucket List to do the Mother Road. I, no doubt, will cheat in areas like you mentioned. Unless you have a tour guide that knows the course intimately, you pretty much have to. But I don't mind stopping and going if it means discovering more about the history of this great land we live in.

[SpyderAnn01]

FlamingoBabe and HotGlue are hitting RT 66 tomorrow in Illinois so if you run to Santa Monica and head out you could find out the answer for yourself.

[Bfromla]

They told me there would be no math questions when I signed up for this forum :banghead:

:shemademe_smilie: Pam

:firstplace: It's not :barf:MATH, but a invite to ride:thumbup::yes::yes: RT66 at that:ohyea::doorag: & meet other spyders:chat::cheers:


(if I was only closer to 66)

[KJWEB]

Pam, it's common core math....

If a train left Chicago at 6am traveling at a speed of 72 mph, and a bus left Los Angeles at 9pm three weeks before the train left Chicago, how many apples would you have? :yikes::clap:

[Dc8cappie]

Has anyone plotted Rt66 using all of the old rt66 road that is still rideable?

How about sharing it?:doorag:

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Has anyone plotted Rt66 using all of the old rt66 road that is still rideable?

How about sharing it?:doorag:
There are maps and GPS routes available. A Google search will bring up many links. I think some of the most complete maps come with a price. From what I remember reading about it there are segments of the original route, I believe mostly in NM, that are essentially 4 wheel drive paths now. The "original" route 66 was changed several times through the years and so I believe old but driveable segments exist parallel each other.

[Pampurrs]

If anyone actually organizes this, I could meet the eastbound group in Winslow, Arizona. :dg2:

133146

[Bob Denman]

Pam, it's common core math....

If a train left Chicago at 6am traveling at a speed of 72 mph, and a bus left Los Angeles at 9pm three weeks before the train left Chicago, how many apples would you have? :yikes::clap:

133147

[Gray Ghost]

Route 66 was on our route when we rode through the lower 48 in 2014. We did a lot of research for the trip in order to try and see all the interesting spots (even found dvds of a documentary on the route). Illinois had a lot of neat places to stop, but we quickly found that attempting to follow the exact route, and Route 66 was rerouted a few times during it's lifetime, was just about impossible.

In Illinois a lot of the "original" roads are still there and paved but riding them was just like riding across a giant washboard. Neither of our backs could handle the constant jarring even at slow speeds, so we ended up riding along the interstate and riding over to the original alignment to see the points of interest.

Then when we hit the southwest our main concern was the availability of fuel. Pulling a trailer and driving the gas hog (pre-heat fix) 2013 meant that I was very uncomfortable being on any stretch that might be over 110 miles between fuel stops. So in Arizona we stuck to I-40 when the original route cut off and we could not get any verification of reliable fuel along the route. Since then I have found better planning tools for fuel stops and we have had the heat recall so are getting better mpg.

We did add some off 66 excursions during our trip to include seeing family, making jogs to catch a state that didn't easily fit into the route any other way, POIs like the Grand Canyon, etc. IMO, the meeting point of the two theoretical groups of Spyders would meet well to the east of Adrian, TX if they were doing sightseeing along the trip. If you do go, make sure to take time in Adrian for the pie, it is excellent.

If you do have a bug to ride the road, there are some good resources out there. The dvd series we watched had some good information, the book Road Trip USA is an excellent resource with lots of details for many cross-country trips, and there are websites that do a good job of explaining the route. I still have the GPS files for our trip that I would be willing to share but you would have to do a bit of editing to remove any side trips.

[missouriboy]

Pam, it's common core math....

If a train left Chicago at 6am traveling at a speed of 72 mph, and a bus left Los Angeles at 9pm three weeks before the train left Chicago, how many apples would you have? :yikes::clap:If a hen and a half lays an egg and a half in a day and a half, how long would it take a rooster sitting on a brass doorknob to hatch a hardware store?

Give up? :dontknow:
So did the rooster! :yikes:

[Desert Spyder]

FlamingoBabe and HotGlue are hitting RT 66 tomorrow in Illinois so if you run to Santa Monica and head out you could find out the answer for yourself.

Does FlamingoBabe have more miles than you? It will take them at least 7 days to get here.

[Desert Spyder]

Route 66 was on our route when we rode through the lower 48 in 2014. We did a lot of research for the trip in order to try and see all the interesting spots (even found dvds of a documentary on the route). Illinois had a lot of neat places to stop, but we quickly found that attempting to follow the exact route, and Route 66 was rerouted a few times during it's lifetime, was just about impossible.

In Illinois a lot of the "original" roads are still there and paved but riding them was just like riding across a giant washboard. Neither of our backs could handle the constant jarring even at slow speeds, so we ended up riding along the interstate and riding over to the original alignment to see the points of interest.

Then when we hit the southwest our main concern was the availability of fuel. Pulling a trailer and driving the gas hog (pre-heat fix) 2013 meant that I was very uncomfortable being on any stretch that might be over 110 miles between fuel stops. So in Arizona we stuck to I-40 when the original route cut off and we could not get any verification of reliable fuel along the route. Since then I have found better planning tools for fuel stops and we have had the heat recall so are getting better mpg.

We did add some off 66 excursions during our trip to include seeing family, making jogs to catch a state that didn't easily fit into the route any other way, POIs like the Grand Canyon, etc. IMO, the meeting point of the two theoretical groups of Spyders would meet well to the east of Adrian, TX if they were doing sightseeing along the trip. If you do go, make sure to take time in Adrian for the pie, it is excellent.

If you do have a bug to ride the road, there are some good resources out there. The dvd series we watched had some good information, the book Road Trip USA is an excellent resource with lots of details for many cross-country trips, and there are websites that do a good job of explaining the route. I still have the GPS files for our trip that I would be willing to share but you would have to do a bit of editing to remove any side trips.

I hope you took lots of pictures and have them available on a blog, FB, or something. I have turn-by-turn maps of each state by Jim Ross and Jerry McClanahan plus I recently downloaded to my kindle app on the ipad "Motorcycle Party Guide to Route 66". How much is a round trip theoretically?

[Gray Ghost]

I have no idea about the length of the route 66 ride or the round trip length. We were doing the lower 48 and that was just about 16K over 71 days.
You can see photos from our trip here: https://www.facebook.com/fargasonservices/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel. Route 66 was the second and third legs of the trip.