Route 66 Self Guided Motorcycle Tour

Welcome to the Windy City! Nicknamed the ‘Paris of the Prairie’, Chicago is the biggest and most exciting of the Great Lake cities. It includes a stunning skyline along Lake Michigan, and a gamut of top-rated museums, restaurants, and cafes, and innumerable bars and nightclubs that pay homage to the city’s strong jazz and blues heritage.

This morning you pick up your bike and are off to the ultimate American road trip. From Chicago, you head south along the Pontiac Trail, the original name for this bit of the road here, passing through Joliet, checking out the Launching Pad Giant, stopping at the amazing RT 66 Museum in Pontiac are all options as you get a feel for the rubber on Mother Road.

Today you head towards St. Louis! You will stay primarily on the 2-lane sections of the Mother Road, traversing cornfields and small towns that represent the heartland of America. Overnight in Rolla, Missouri.

Today you will head west through the hills and horse country through Oklahoma, crossing Miami, Claremore, and Catoosa, home of the legendary Blue Whale to Tulsa, where you will overnight.

Continue west through the reservations of several Native American tribes. In the 1830s, much of this land was considered “unusable” by the Federal Government, so various Indian tribes were “settled” thereafter colonization, including the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, Creek, and Cherokee. Visit Oklahoma City before you overnight in Clinton, Oklahoma.

Today you cross the border into the Texas Panhandle, the southernmost portion of the Great Plains. At the Big Texan Steakhouse in Amarillo, you have the opportunity to enjoy the best steaks in Texas, guaranteed! Overnight in Amarillo.

Today you leave Texas and are on your way into The Land of Enchantment, New Mexico. After passing through the world-famous Cadillac Ranch, you can stop at the midway point of RT 66 in Adrian, Texas! And how about the ghost town of Glen Rio, where you can stand with one foot in New Mexico and the other one in Texas? From there you enter the land of the Comanche Indians, where mesas, mountains, cactus and pines define the landscape as you head up into the High Plains and altitude of Santa Fe in central New Mexico. Santa Fe is one of America’s oldest and most beautiful cities and will be your base for the next two nights.

Today is at leisure to rest and enjoy the distinctive flavour of this nearly 400-year-old city. The blend of cultures here becomes evident in the southwestern architectural style so closely associated with New Mexico’s capital city. Perhaps you would like to take a ride along the river valley to the old Native American Indian town of Taos, enjoy a sunrise hot air balloon ride or play cowboy for a day on a horseback ride along a mountain or canyon trail. Santa Fe provides all of these opportunities and more.

This morning you head south, down to Albuquerque, New Mexico’s largest city, with a third of the state’s population. Albuquerque is sprawling at the heart of New Mexico, where the main east-west road and rail routes cross both the Rio Grande and the old road south to Mexico. You cross the Rio Grande and head west out into the open country and the hues of the Navajo wilderness. You are skirting mesas and bluffs on into Laguna. Further on ride through Grants and along Cibola National Forest towards the famous Route 66 town of Gallup an old railroad town and Indian stronghold.

Today is another huge day, full of spectacular scenery and iconic Route 66 stops. You cross the border into Arizona and ride to Petrified Forest National Park, a fossilized prehistoric forest of gigantic trees that has been unearthed by erosion. Here you will have the time to explore this stunning landscape and take a moment to get lost in the expansiveness that defines this area. Leaving Petrified Forest NP, you travel further west to the Wigwam Hotel in Holbrook, and stop to stand on the corner in Winslow! Tonight you will stay in Flagstaff, the northern Arizona community on historic Route 66 and is the hub of the region for visits to the Grand Canyon.

Today is your chance to visit the Grand Canyon. Enjoy the spectacular scenery and maybe take a helicopter trip for a dramatic view of this iconic natural wonder. Leaving the Grand Canyon, you will pick Route 66 back up in Williams, Arizona.

Cruise down ‘Memory Lane’ and head towards the town of Seligman, one of the longest surviving stretches of the ‘Mother Road’. Continue on Route 66 into Kingman, and travel on the Oatman Highway winding through canyons and dessert to Laughlin, NV.

Today you will cross the border into California! One thing is for sure – today is a day like no other as you traverse the Mojave Desert which offers some of the most dramatic scenery in Southern California. You can imagine what it must have been like for early Route 66 travelers making their way across this huge expanse of the desert, dotted with Joshua Trees, cactus, volcanic rock, and sand as you stop in the tiny “waystations” of Amboy and Ludlow.

Today you head off for your final destination the end of the road on the Santa Monica Pier! To get there, however, you first get to ride the 66 miles of the Angeles Crest Highway through the mountainous terrain of the Angeles National Forest. This highway is considered one of the top motorcycles rides in southern California and rises to over 2300 meters. Next, you descend the Crestinto the Los Angeles Basin and head towards the Pacific Ocean. Riders always have mixed emotions as they stand at the “End of the Trail” sign on the Santa Monica Pier. There is a sense of joy and elation at having completed a journey most people only dream about, and a sense of sadness at the thought of the ride having come to an end.

Today your exciting trip will conclude in Los Angeles.