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Last day on the bike! And I must be honest; I was really looking forward to returning the bike to the Harley dealer, cause I’ve had my share of riding for now.

We visited Funks Grove, a farm making pancake-sirup. Bought a route66 cap there and some other souvernirs as it was our last chance. Went to Odell, cosy little village where we visited another of those old gas-stations. This one was beautiful …really, but anyways …how interesting can an old gas-station be? I really just wanted to be back on the road

From there we went to Zylstra Harley Davidson and returned our bikes to the dealer. What a relief ….and then when you pop the beer they serve you …..a million thoughts go trough your head. A million experiences from 12 days on the bike. Lots of nice people, beautiful scenery & fantastic nature mixed with the sensation of the free feeling of wind in your hair (I aint got much of it but still) and then you cant do nothing but smile and think about what you’ve just gone trough. Relaxing vacation? Hell no, but rewarding? Oh yes!

A few of us rented a couple of limousines and went downtown chicago that evening. We visited Kingston Mines, a very nice blues-club. Jimi PrimeTime Smith did a very nice performance there. It was really great. Had a few whiskeys and listened to good live blues for some hours.

Experience of a lifetime. Route 66. Been there, done that! Awsome

Thanks, Trond Moberg, for making it possible.

256 miles today! Oh my. Went trough Hookers Cut towards Devils Elbow then continued trough Rolla. After that we passed the small towns Cuba and Bourbon. Nice narrow roads towards Meremac Cavern were we had lunch. There are some caves in this area known to be one of Jesse James hideouts.

On our way to the Mississippi river we could see “the Gateway Arch” in the distance. The brigde to to west. We visited Rich Henrys Rabbit Farm in Staunton. Yeah, those creatures sure know how to reproduce haha.

After that we went trough what seems to be a million miles of cornfields. The fields are so huge …. it would make a norwegian farmer feel like a fly on a Texan 72oz steak.

Arrived in Springfield in the evening ….very tired… and all I could think was “where the hell are the Simpsons?” …and then Chief Wiggum showed up! We left our stuff at the hotel so I just jumped on my bike to go to the gas-station and buy a few beers when I didnt stop for a FULL STOP sign on my way back. I parked at the hotel and noticed a funny noice and flashing lights behind me. It was indeed “Chief Wiggum”. Pretty funny to be a bit stressed talking to the police when the other 28 “friends” in our group keep taking pictures and filming me. Do’h!

Later that night I had a whiskey in the hotel-bar and the bartender, who happened to own the place or something, told me I was supposed to get a 100 dollar bill from Chief Wiggum earlier. Guess I was lucky, cause the bartender knew Chief Wiggum and spoke to him without me really paying attention to what they were talking about. The bartender had told him that “They’re norwegians …they’ll spend their money in the bar anyways.”… And so it was. I got away with it. To be honest it would have been a bit fun to get a bill so I could frame it and hang it on my wall hehe.

Had to start way too early cause we were going 230 miles. Long trip. Visited the famous blue whale thingie in a small lake in Catoosa. Charing villages like Vinita, Afton and Miami (no, not the big one Miami).

We crossed the border to Kansas. Met a crazy old man who could turn his feet making them point backwards. Silly …crazy ..weird… Gave him a dollar for tips haha. He showed us around the museum in Baxter Springs too tho, which was really nice. Lots of original stuff from early 1800 and up. Lincoln stuff, The Civil War, Second World War etc. Wish I had another hour there cause I found lot of interesting reading.

From Riverton we headed back out on the interstate and headed out east of Springfield in Missouri. More wonderful scenery. Cant get enough of it ..and the differences are so huge from place to place.

Everyone was kind of tired after the long trip so we agreed upon meeting around the hotel-pool (Munger Moss) that evening and we just ordered pizza from across the street. Had a good party at the pool and I brought my stereo for some Creedence to cheer up the old guys (who btw threw each one of us in the pool as we came along). *fist in the air*

Went on the interstate to Lucilie’s (Mother of Route 66) gas-station (out-of-duty, one of the original old ones). After a short visit there, we headed to check out the famous round barn. Yey, a round barn :O. We met a dude there (whos name I cant remember) who took us to a cafe where we got some sandwhiches and cold drinks before we continued. The next couple of hours of riding included some of the most awsome roads and sceneries I’ve ever experienced. Oklahoma has got to be a riders dream when it comes to good roads and nice views ……….. and then ofcourse you get the stench from the roadkills …eeeew. Never seen as many odd dead animals in my entire life. They sure got some strange stuff over there hehe.

We visited Rock Cafe, built on rocks from the original route 66 road …or so they say. (Maybe it was just plastic? ….Nah hehe it look real). Had a scoop of icecream and a coke and chatted with some old guy and had a lot of fun trying to ask him where the nearest skislopes are.

We gathered in the hotel-restaurant and ate beef fajitas that evening and got to know some people from Finmark in northern Norway. Really nice people indeed.

Not much more to say. Had a great day on the bike. It is hard to share the experiences I had on my bike as I wasnt able to take any pictures while riding….naturally.

Didnt start off till 11 today. Great. Got to sleep for a long while and it was pretty nice to have some rest cause its hard riding as much as we have done each day.

We went trough McLean and visisted some very old gas-station and then continued into Oklahoma. Oklahoma has got quite different scenery compared to Texas (and every other previous state we’ve been to). Its not as flat as the rest and its very green and can from time to time remind you of Norway (except for the trees). We went to Erick and visited Harley & Anabelle’s Sand Hills Curiousity Shop where we got food and entertainment…. uhm well ….them rednecks are crazy as hell.

Short trip today. An hour after Erick we arrived in Clinton where they have a famous route 66 museum. Honestly it wasnt much, but they had a couple of things worth seeing.

Beers by the pool this evening. Very nice and relaxing. Weather is great.

Headed out at 9 in the morning (way too early) trough Tucumcari which is known for hosting over 2000 beds back in the days when the route was still hot. We came down from an altitude of 7000 feet to the Texas prairie and we could really feel the heat again. We followed route 66 to San Jon. Route 66 between San Jon and Glenrio isnt much so we left the route and continued on the Interstate. On the boarder between New Mexico and texas we stopped in the ghost-town Glenrio. There we could stand with one foot in each state and at the same time one foot in each timezone. Funny?

After another half an hour we visited Fran and Joann at “Midpoint Cafe”. This is the very center of the route. We were half way from LA and half way to Chicago at that point. We had some sandwiches and ice/applepie there (really nice) and they told us some stuff about the route and informed us of the upcoming movie (I think its out in the states allready) called “Cars”. It is made by the same people who made “Toy Story”, “Finding Nemo” etc. They have scenes in the movie from this cafe so it will be fun watching it knowning we have been there.

We had to go trough a couple of mudholes in the road. That was a bit scary. Water and mud all over. 3 of the people in the group fell of their bikes in there. Im happy (and proud) that I wasnt one of them knowning im the shortest guy in the group also riding the largest bike available. Guess being able to walk on a wire pays off afterall wahaha

We went to Cadillac Ranch too. Shrug. I dont know why people bother watching 10 cadillacs halfway burried in the ground ….and neither does the guy who did it apparently…. but anyway we did.

About an hour later we came to our hotel in Texas, and this guy, dressed up as a cowboy, swung his bottleopener like a revolver and served cold, cold beer. IIIIIIIIIHAAA!!

By our hotel we had the Big Texan Steakhouse ..famous for its Free 72 Oz. (2,2kg) Steak. Free …if you can eat it all! Two of the guys in our group tried it. One of them managed to eat like 1/3 of it while the other guy almost finished it. He could have done it I guess if it wasnt for the steak being cold and raw at the end.

Gotta mention the girls working there haha. Cute little girls in ponytails wearing cowboy-leatherpants and a cowboy-hat. Mmmm

Started off from Albuquerque at 9 this morning. We went straight for the hippie-city named Madrid. Had a good laugh there watching the buildings they live in. The houses are painted in all kinds of colors ….pink,yellow,blue,orange,red …you name it. Everyone had a gallery of some kind ..showing off their art in the form of curtains, jewelry, pottery, candy, coffee and what not. A funny sight for sure. Nice people too ofcourse (all hippies are nice people as far as I have experienced).

We continued on HW 14 to Santa Fe. Sante Fe is a nice city where most of the buildings are in Adobe style. I the center of the city they actually have to build in Adobe style and no building can be taller than Francis of Asissi’s Cathedral. We stopped there for a couple of hours to visit the indian market which takes place this time of year. Too many people, too much junk (in my opinion), but still worth a visit.

We are now in Santa Rosa. There is a natural swimmingpool-thingy here named “Blue Hole” which holds a constant 62 degree (fahrenheit). Its a nice place to cool down if the weather is too hot. We got a pool by our hotel so we havent gone there to take a bath as of yet tho’.

Another day with lots and lots of amazing scenery to watch. We also had like half an hour of really heavy rain. (Dont think I have ever experienced as heavy rain hehe), but we dried up pretty fast after ..so it was not a big deal.

Off to drink beer and have dinner! Laters!

Today we went trough the national park “Painted Desert / Petrified Forest”. This is a place where really old trees has turned into solid rock. Very weird. Never saw anything like it before. The mountains there are painted for sure! I dont belive in God, but if there is a God …he/she sure must have had a lot of fun making this place. Wonderful scenery. Really worth a visit!

We came out of Arizona today and entered New Mexico. We went trough Milan and Grants. In Grants they refined great amounts of uranium during and after the second world war. They even got a cafe named “Uranium Cafe”. Then we continued trough Gallup, Cubero, Laguna and Mesita and this is the Indian countryside hehe. Its like being in a western movie.

It rained a bit today and it seems everyone but me was annoyed by it. Rain doesnt bother me if its hot. Its just a purifying feeling.

We ended up in Albuquerque and went out for a mexican dinner. The Corona tastes great and so does the food, so I enjoyed my stay there allthough it was really heavy thunder just above the city. A very nice day with good roads, great scenery and more beer & tasty food!

Its been a long day. We started off from Williams very early and headed for Grand Canyon. It was rather chilly so I had to use a sweater. Pretty wierd since one day ago we barely managed to stay outside cause of the heat in Laughlin. Williams to Grand Canyon was about an hour ride on a very nice road. We had preordered chopter-trips over the canyon and that trip surely bounces up amongst the top 10 experiences of my life (so far). It was a rather small chopter with room for 6 persons (including the pilot). The trip lasted about 30 minutes and we crossed the canyon and sort of got to experience how huge this phenomena really is. Recommended! When the chopter was back on the ground we left for another part of the canyon where we could stand on the very edge of it and take some photos and have some food. Amazing moments for sure.

Later we went from Grand Canyon to Winslow. In their hit “Take it Easy”, Eagles sings about “Standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona”. We stood on that very corner and visited a few shops and took some more photos. Pretty funny how the make money outta that still hehe. I bought an Eagles cd to play on my motorcycle wohoo

We arrived in Holbrook just an hour ago and Ive had a Budweiser and starting to feel a bit hungry so guess Im gonna head out for some dinner.

Think I have found out this bikerlife really suits me. Guess Ill go search for my first Harley when I get back home!

This has been a really, really great day, and Im tired as hell, so Ill try and update with some more info later on. Laters!

A culture rich in Indian and Hispanic influences, and a landscape wrought with diversity, lends a distinctive character to the Arizona highway. Bound by the Painted Desert to the north, and the Petrified Forest National Park to the south.The road ahead leads to the Grand Canyon and some of America’s most stunning landscapes; cactus deserts, high mesa country and Ponderosa pine forests.

We travelled from Laughlin yesterday, over the mountains on the 66 trough the little village Oatman. This was really a sight. It had the look and feel of an old western town. The road down from the mountains was fantastic. I guess it is pretty much like “Trollstigen” back home in Norway. We came back onto the Interstate after a while and had to stop at a Harley dealer since one of us had a flat tire. After 3 hours of wait the trip continued to Seligman where we visited a famous Ice Cream shop known for its service rather than the shop or the product itself. It was pretty much a comedyshow.

The road up to Williams was awsome. Wish I could post pictures from it. With the pine forest it looked a bit like Norway to be honest, but it was a great relief as the temperature was reduced by a whole lot compared to the desert we had just gone trough. We learned today that the temperature in Laughlin was close to 50 celsius. No wonder people were close to passing out. A woman told us we were probably making history ..as none goes that way in August. Anyways, Williams was a really cosy little village. We went out to get some grilled beef as we hadnt had anything but mcdonalds and pizzahut that day. I shopped a couple of tshirts and a sweater and strolled the streets just watching old cars from the 50s and such. Great place. Too bad we didnt have more time to hang around.

We arrived Edgewater Hotel in Laughlin yesterday. The trip from Barstow to here was desert, desert and desert. Its supposed to be one of the least interesting days for us as theres nothing to see but desert. Well, I thought it was great anyway. The road was very nice and the traffic was a lot easier to handle compared to the previous day. Only problem here is the heat. This is honestly the warmest place I have ever visited and I have been around a bit. Greece is like …cold …compared to this. At 9 last evening the sun was down and it was getting dark, but it was still too hot to go outside. We gotta drink a lot of water during the day, but yesterday the truck that carries our luggage here and there went out of water and so a couple of people almost passed out cause of the heat and too little to drink. A bit scary. I didnt really have any problems myself. I just found myself smiling as I was riding trough the desert.

My bikes got a friggin cd-player/radio hehe so we are playing some good rock and even a few country tunes to maximize the experience. Gotta go and see if I can find an ACDC cd or something to play on my bike. That would be totally awsome for sure.

Yesterday we were supposed to go by bus to Las Vegas, but the company who owned the bus had fucked up so the bus never came. That was really annoying as I wanted to see that place. I think some people in our group rented a car and went there, but we really thought it was too late allready since its a 2 hour ride there and it was like 7 in the evening by the time someone came up with the idea. Anyways I have mixed feelings about it right now. If we had gone there… we wouldnt have been in bed till like 3 in the night and then we would only have had 4 hours of sleep or so ..before a day of travelling. ..which is not good at all.

Its 7 in the morning and I found a computer in our hotel, so gotta put down a few words before we leave for breakfast.

First of all : Note to self : TURN OFF THE MOBILEPHONE WHEN SLEEPING. The timedifference from home is 8 hours and people at work keep calling all night.

Yesterday was most exciting as we went out to pick up our bikes. Im a short person and this ElectraGlide is huge, so I didnt really know if I was able to handle its weight. It weighs close to half a ton and with my gf on top of that (shes nowhere close to half a ton hehe, shes rather skinny but all weight adds up so… ). I was really nerveous as I first started it up and took it for a little ride around the block.

Oh, I met a fellow MotoGP fan in LA. He spotted me wearing a MotoGP-tshirt and was all excited. He told me his sister worked at some track here in the US and that he had met (in person) people like Rossi (even got his autograph), Hayden and Capirossi. That was pretty awsome. I left him my email-address since he wanted to send me his pictures, so as soon as I get his mail, I’ll reply with pictures from our trip to Sachsenring in Germany.

We started our trip at 11, but as traffic was very high, we missed a left-turn pretty early and therefore ended up driving the wrong way out of LA as our guide was allready missing. As soon as we got back on track and on the right way out it went rather smooth. The bike is really great to ride. It is stable and sure provides enough power for me as of yet. Pretty awsome sight too …. like 15-20 harleys in a row reaching for the desert.

Barlow is pretty much desert! Its dry and its very hot here. Thank god the hotel has a pool so we got to enjoy some swimming and a few Budweisers to chill down. Oh the sweetness.

Cant believe anyone is actually living here in Barstow tho’. There is nothing here except for sand and sun, and it seems as they make a living from the traffic that passes by every day.

Oki, gotta head of for breakfast. Gonna update as soon as possible.

We arrived in LA last night after a really long trip. 10 and a half hour from Amsterdam was just a bit too much. I now know how terrorists are made by the way. You put a person who havent slept for 24 hours on a plane with lots of babies screaming and 2 twins about 5 years old in the seat behind you …constantly kicking your chair for 10 hours. And boom there you go. A terrorist has been made. Ah well I guess its not all that bad now that its over. I managed to behave. Its morning now and we have just had breakfast in our hotel. We have met the people we are riding with and they seem like a good bunch. We are about 30 people. Twice as many as I first thought. In about an hour from now we’re leaving for the rental shop to pick up our bikes and we’re ready to go. The trip today will be about 3 hours total ..so an easy start for sure (which is good for a first day in my opinion). It isnt easy to get an overview over LA and we are not going to stay here for long so I cant say much about it. It will take us about 1 and a half hour to get out of the city so maybe we’ll get to see some of it on our way out tho’. Not much seen yet, so not much to write about, but I’ll post an update as soon as I find another computer.

Update: Heres a couple of pics from the first 2 days. (Will be more here later when I get pics from our second camera.)