Route 66 - the start

We made our final preparations for Rt 66 on Saturday morning. First we had to load the bikes with all our gear.

Stu made a final dump run, finished other outside chores while I cleaned inside and brought in the slides. We moved the bikes (and trailer) to the front of the driveway and pulled Scooby under the pavilion. Perfect fit!

 

Snausage tried to help....we talked to the neighbors yesterday and they are going to keep working with him in hopes of eventually getting him comfortable with people.

So the bikes were loaded and we were ready to go!

We headed out around 12:30 and had a wonderful afternoon of riding the back roads. The weather wasn't too hot for the most part. We even stopped for a nice peanut butter sandwich lunch break at a park.

We spent the night in a VERY nice Best Western in eastern Louisville. After a decent hot breakfast buffet, we loaded up the bikes - conveniently in the shade.

Sunday was brutal...hot, Hot, HOt and HOTTER! We ended up with too many miles planned, already paid for our hotel and just kept going. Many stops to cool down, get ice and gas before we finally pulled into the Red Roof on the edge of Chicago. No frills (no pool, no breakfast) but VERY nicely refurbished. King bed - we both slept well, so well we decided to stay a second night to rest our sore muscles and tired bodies.

We both slept in before heading over to a local recommended restaurant, Honey-Jam Cafe (almost walking distance from the hotel). We had a great breakfast with superb coffee. (My bike stayed put along with the trailer.)

Filled, we headed out to see what we could find locally on Rt 66 before we "officially" start tomorrow. Here are a few shots...

We came back to the room to cool down, take a nap (Stu) and catch up online (me). LOL! Then we plan to take in a movie and dinner. Tomorrow we plan to set the alarm and get an early start so we can have an early stop. Another day in the upper 90's and Wednesday looks to be the same. We'll take a couple of days, looking forward to cooler weather moving in on Thursday.