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 Get your kicks on Route 66! Bike Friday Customer Evangelist Lynette Chiang, aka Galfromdownunder rode and shot a new video on Lon Haldeman's latest PACTOUR adventure. "I rode my Pocket Crusoe and shot the movie with my digital camera similar to the 16,000 Feet on a Friday Peru DVD," she says. Average mileage for the 20-rider group was around 80 miles a day,with some 100+ mile days. The DVD movie will be available after the trip from Lon Haldeman at PACTOUR LATEST NEWS 28 Oct, 2006: Gal interviewed on Boston NPR's 'Only a Game' Boston Bike Film Festival coverage - feature stars at minute 40:00 |
 ROUTE66 BY BICYCLE: PEDALING THE MOTHER ROAD BUY THE ROUTE 66 BY BICYCLE DVD from Bike Friday! | Read the DVD sleeve View 3-minute clip on YouTube | Download longer scene (8.1 Mb Quicktime movie) THE "Mother Road" of all highways, Route66, was once a 2,400-mile journey over national trails and farm roads linking Chicago to California. By the mid 1930s it was completely paved, and became famously known as the classic American road trip. Then the I-40 freeway came long, bypassing many colorful towns and businesses which were left to languish and die. Thanks to efforts by 'never say die' of fans of the Old Road, Route66 was re-born. Author, world bicycle traveler and handlebar videographer Lynette Chiang (The Galfromdownunder) shot a 45-minute DVD video of this journey using a simple digital camera tucked into her jersey pocket. The movie was made on a 12" Apple Powerbook using basic Apple software: iMovie, iDVD and Quicktime Pro and Garageband. This video is an upbeat journey along the 'forgotten highway', led by Race Across America bicycling legend and fan of Route66, Lon Haldeman. You'll ride in the slipstream of 25 cyclists over 29 days and 8 states, experiencing the people, places and chocolate malt milkshakes that made this highway great. Join us as we pedal along the original Route 66 and rediscover many beloved icons of roadside America. |
 PHOTO GALLERIES LIVE FROM THE ROUTE! Note: internet connections are hard to get on Route 66. If the pictures don't show, please check back later. Several shots are stills from movie clips appearing the forthcoming DVD, so there will be some variation in the resolution. And please pardon any typos - I am typing as fast as Lon rides! Days 1-5: Santa Monica-Rialto-Barstow-Ludlow-Needles-(CA) - includes a night in a genuine concrete teepee, loitering burros in Oatman, and a rendezvous with the funsters from Route 66 magazine. |
Days 6-10: Kingman-Seligman-Flagstaff-Holbrook(AZ)-Gallup(NM) - meeting Angel Degadillo at the re-birthplace of Route 66, some classic '66 icons like the Snowcap and Hackbury Cafes, off-roading on even older sections of Route 66, the nicest meal of the trip so far at La Posada, Winslow, and a spectacular historic movie star hotel in Gallup, NM
Days 11-15: Albuquerque-Santa Fe-Las Vegas-Santa Rosa-Tucumcari (NM) - Taking in the dazzling New Mexico architectural style, plus crossing the La Bajada Mesa - the 'bones of the old road', and a great tour of murals..
Days 16-20: Amarillo-Shamrock-Clinton (TX) -Oklahoma City-Bristow(OK) - a 72 oz steak challenge; bicycle pioneering on some old, old, old Route66; some intriguing museums and shrines to the Mother Road.
Days 21-25: Vinita (OK)-Carthage (MO)-Marshfield (MO)-Rolla (MO)-St Louis (MO) - mudslinging on the 8-foot wide section of Route66; crossing three state borders in a day (OK, KS, MO); eating real St Louis
Days 26-29: St Louis(MO)-Litchfield(IL)-Bloomington (IL)-Romeoville(IL)-FINISH - taking in some of the Illinois icons like the Gemini Giant, Al Capone's hideout, exploring Chicago and a big finale.
MOVIE CLIPS (You need a modern computer. You need to download free Quicktime 7 player for Mac | Windows). Please stop saying you cannot see the movies, this is all the advice I can offer. The initial batch of DVDs will be for sale via PACTOUR around the end of June - 45 minute movie plus separate 'director's cut' disc.
*** UPDATE! *** If you have trouble seeing the movies below, you can now access some of them at www.youtube.com/user/galfromdownunder
La Bajada Mesa (<5.4 Mb, 4 min) A hike-bike crossing of this giant Bone of the Old Road
Angel Delgadillo (2.2 Mb) The man himself, credited with spearheading the re-birth of Route66.
The Gal's 72oz steak challenge (14 Mb, 11 min) at the Big Texan, Amarillo (Lon made me do it). Of course I didn't eat the whole thing, it was a chewy top sirloin, not fillet mignon ...
Bruce Fields can whistle in a raging Route66 headwind! (<1Mb) Cool feat by this 20,000 mile PACTOUR veteran
A strange salad experience (1.8 Mb) there's something on Route66 for every palate ...
BLOG
Some thoughts along the way when I catch my breath
RELATED LINKS
PACTOUR website, with Route 66 itinerary
Route 66 Motels we'll be holing up at along the way.
Route 66 Magazine The bible for lovers of the Mother Road
Jim Bradbury's Blog Pactour veteran (4th trip) and Bike Friday owner reports from the road
Jim Meyer's Blog He rode with the Bike Friday Desert Camp this year, and reports from the road
Galfromdownunder Blog If I can stay awake long enough to write something! Enjoy the pictures instead, check back now and then.
At home with the Haldemans post-Route66, I get to see Chicago and homestay with the Haldemans, witnessing them off-duty, riding my pace ...
TECHNOLOGY
 I am using a Panasonic Lumix FX9 digital camera to shoot all the above footage. I bought it as an alternative to the Canon Digital Elph I used for the Peru movie as it featured image stabilization. After 5 months of shooting in Hawaii, Texas and Desert Camp it seems to have developed some some issues. The camera otherwise produces nice footage. |
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THE KICK OFF: 80th ANNIVERSARY TOUR of ROUTE 66 with PACTOUR
"GO read the Grapes of Wrath," said PACTOUR crew member Steve Sheerin, manoeuvering the PACTOUR van into a rest stop. I'd meekly asked for a 'Reader's Digest condensed version' of the history of the 'Mother Road' clearly showing I had not done my homework.
"Route 66 started in 1929, then the in 30's and 40's the migrants headed from the dustbowl of Oklahoma to the land of milk and honey, California."
Dustbowl?
"The drought of the Great Depression, when everything just turned to dust. Go read a history book!"
Or better still, ride it ... which is what this under-read Aussie is doing as the videographer for RAAM legend and Bike Friday owner Lon Haldeman's fourth PACTOUR Route 66 expedition: Santa Monica to Chicago, 2,488 miles, 29 cycling days ... and no rest stops.
First, let me state that I not the typical PACTOUR rider. When their website says 'Bicycle Tours for the Exceptional Cyclist', Lon and Susan don't mince words. They seek those who are willing and able to pedal 100-140 miles a day, stopping to smell only the smoking rubber. This form of unloaded bicycle touring - fully supported by a vehicle to carry gear and provide sustenance - is not for the 0-50 mile a day lollygagger like yours truly, accustomed to carrying their life support system and stopping every ten miles. On a classic PACTOUR expedition, all you have to do is fill your bottles with that hi-tech HAMMER powder (shaken not stirred), get on on your bike, and ride.
However, like the company's World's Highest Paved Road Peru trip, Route 66 is considered one of their more 'relaxed' tours (read: 80-100 miles a day), with no rest days. On these superbly organized tours, appreciating the sights is strongly encouraged.
"Don't be hammering and getting in to the hotel by 1pm, missing all the good stuff, we won't be ready for you," said Lon.
Many of the 25 riders on this tour are PACTOUR alumni - folks who have completed at least one of the company's gruelling trips or Arizona Desert training camps. One rider, Gary Bass, is on his THIRD '66. PACTOUR veteran Bruce Fields has also done Route 66, and crewed on over 25Desert Camps . It's an interesting bunch: some are doing only part of the route, there are riders from England, South Africa and Canada; four women riders, five Bike Fridays including Lon and crew member Steve Sheerin ...
I can barely stay awake each night long enough to download photos before my head hits the pillow with a thud, so forgive me letting pictures take the place of my usual wordfest ...
Thanks to www.travelhero.com for this map
Day 22: People who play together, stay together. Lon Haldeman and Susan Notorangelo of PACTOUR ride every mile to make sure their routes are up to date.
Day 16: TEXAS on a TwinAir: Lon and Anurang cross into Texas on the Haldeman's Bike Friday TwinAir tandem. Drafting behind are Jim Meyers (www.jamesmeyers.net) and PACTOUR crew member Jim Hvlaka.
Day 21: Forrest Roberts scoots past the Frankomer Pottery factory in Oklahoma on his drop-bar Bike Friday Pocket Crusoe.
Day 20: Here they come! The fast group led by Lon (left) head for the quicksand and broken bridge at Bridgeport, OK.
Day 18: We got the warm fuzzy treatment from theatrical duo Annabelle and Harley in Erick, Oklahoma.
Day 16: surreal Cadillac Ranch on the way to Tucumcari, NM. According to Route66 historian Jim Ross, a wealthy local commissioned a Californian think tank to come up with a shrine to the road, and this is what they came up with - Cadillacs tilted the same angle to the ground as the sides of the great Pyramid, and all facing south ... anyone and everyone can go and let their inner graffiti-artist knock themself out.
Day 12: The painted desert beckons ...
Day 12: The La Bajada mesa in New Mexico, between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Hike bike and fang across the top - thank Bhudda for fatter tires...
Day 10: Another view of that incredible desert. Best seen from the seat of a bicycle - not through a windshield!
Day 9: Jay of www.biketiresdirect.com is swallowed by his teepee hotel room in Holbrook.
Day 5: Don't you have to pedal more? a burro asks Leslie Tierstein's Friday in Oatman, CA.
Day 2: Our group was intercepted by the local paper at the Victorville museum - that's Klaus Schreiber with his Air Friday caught in an arty black and white moment.
Franz and Gary flank Angel Delgadillo who was the driving force behind the re-birth of Route 66 as a tourist destination. "For ten years, this town (Seligman)just died," he said.
The official start of Route66. Riders came from as far as England and South Africa.
Robinson the Adventurous BF Otter is at it again ... at the Victorville, CA Route66 Museum with Gary Bass, on his - can you believe it - 3rd PACTOUR Route 66. He's helping us find Robinson a helmet ... this Kaiser look isn't quite right ...
SOME FEEDBACK FROM FRIDAY PARTICIPANTS Hi Lynette, Route 66 is becoming history for you by now. My short ride from Santa Monica to Albuquerque was enough fun for me. It gave me lots of good impressions and it certainly convinced me that Air Friday is the way to go. I hope you continued to film for the reminder of the trip and I'm looking forward to see the DVD from Route 66, Director's cut included. Hope you are well and off to new & exciting adventures. Klaus Schreiber, NY I just looked at the picture site for the first leg of your Route 66 tour - Santa Monica to Kingman. The cactus you took pictures of is the ocatillo pronounced out here in the West as okateeyo. The ride from Daggett to Needles must have been a real chore. It's no fun to drive let alone ride on a bike. When I drive the route to Needles, Blythe or Primm, I think of the pioneers crossing the desert in covered wagons. Twelve miles was a good day. Some days were less than that, especially if the wagon lost a wheel or had some other mishap. It was especially tough on the women. They might be pregnant or nursing a baby and, of course, everyone walked. All the movies show the folk riding in the wagons, but only the most desperately ill or very small children rode in the wagons, everyone else walked to take a load off the animals pulling the wagons. If you think the road was rough, consider crossing that terrain in a springless wagon with no road. If you were lucky there were wagon ruts that you followed that had no major defects like huge rocks that had to be moved or large washed out areas. We think 100 or 120 miles on a bicycle on a paved road is a long day, but in those days, making breakfast, hitching the team to the wagon, getting everybody underway, breaking for lunch, more walking in the hot sun and then stopping for dinner, starting a fire, making hot water, then crawling unwashed except for face and hands into your blankets on the sand under the wagon -- wow, what fun. All the while it was necessary to watch all around as there were all sorts of unsavory folk who did not blink at relieving travelers of whatever they had in the way of valuables if they thought they could get away with it. If, the men were having fun, think how much fun the women were having with several little kids to watch and take car of along with the household chores while camping in the desert ... see the movie 'Grapes of Wrath' for more on this - Ed Chuck Voigtsberger Ventura CA Emailable link to this article: http://www.bikefriday.com/route66