Introduction

In May 2012 I had just returned from an overseas trip to Thailand and Vietnam. I decided that in 2013, to co-incide with my 55th birthday, that I would do a bike ride somewhere overseas. I looked at various tour options in Asia, Europe, UK, New Zealand & USA. And then I thought why not the iconic Route 66 on a Harley Davidson.

From that day on, my now famous saying was “I’ve never ridden a Harley in my life, never wanted to, but I’ve got to ride a Harley on Route 66.

It was something that I wanted to share with some good mates, so I sent out a group email to about 12 of my mates, well people I know anyway. Ray & Brett (Nob) were instantly onboard, and in the end that’s who it was, Hazza, Ray & Nob.

After some searching on the Internet, a plan was formulated, and preparations begun. As funds were not unlimited a self-guided tour was the preferable option. We found a Reverse Route 66 self guided tour offered by California Sunriders (http://www.california-sunriders.com/) was the cheapest deal going. Instead of travelling the traditional Route 66 direction from Chicago to LA, we were going to pick up the bikes in LA, and travel West –> East, LA to Chicago. The tour package included hire of the bikes for the 13 day trip, accommodation in good class hotels / motels for 15 nights, and a guide book detailing our route, daily plan, tourist hotspots along our route, and accommodation details. A booking was made, and over the next 12 months bikes were selected, flights booked, and a myriad of other details sorted.

And then we were on our way.