Day 1 - May 31 - London - Chicago

 jump to: Day 2A Pre-trip


After traveling up to Heathrow Wednesday afternoon and staying at Travelodge 'Terminal 5' we were awake early and left the hotel for the short drive to Terminal 3, where we were met by the valet parking man from Purple Parking.

We had to deal with a dodgy self-service check-in machine at American Airlines (unfortunately they don't offer on-line check-in for Heathrow flights), then through a preliminary check by A.A. before dropping off the checked in bags.

After that it was through security and then we decided on Strada for breakfast.
Following breakfast we had about 90 minutes to kill before boarding was due to start.

While waiting we met up with the first couple who were on the same tour as us - Andrew & Wendy from the Isle of Wight. The 90 minutes soon passed and we boarded on time, but unfortunately we were a bit late taking off, Eight hours later we landed with a bump Chicago O'Hare International airport and started the usual performance of US immigration, customs, baggage reclaim, all without a hitch.

By now we were outside the terminal with the 9 other people on out tour who were on the same flight, and a quick phone call to the hotel had the courtesy bus on its way to pick us up. The airport shuttle soon has us at the Doubletree Hotel at Rosemont. Here we found the California Sunriders representative, our guide for the tour, Gary. We did our check-in, had a quick chat with Gary and then up to the room to get ourselves sorted.

While Mrs. K. was doing what she does best (taking care of re-packing the bags) I went back down to see Gary and get the paperwork sorted out for the bike hire. Thankfully I had everything I needed with me (basically Full bike driving licence and a credit card) and so after singing several forms we were done.

There was a pre-tour meeting arranged with everybody with Gary for 7PM, so in the meantime  back to the room for a room service order for tea.
The meeting lasted about an hour and covered various topics like...

• We'll have a riders briefing at the start and at the end of each day
• How we'll ride as a group, do's and don'ts
• For the next day we'll meet for our welcome breakfast at 7 am, Load up the truck with our luggage at 8 am, and we'll leave at 8.30 bound for the bike pickup at Chicago Harley-Davidson.

By now it was about 9 pm, and we were struggling to keep awake (remember that back in the UK it would have been 3 am!) and so by 9.30 we were in bed, lights out shortly after.

As predicted, at about 1 am we were awake, and really unable to get back to sleep - hopefully it'll be better tomorrow.

 jump to: Day 2A Pre-trip

3 days to go...

Just a few days to go now and everything's coming together, with pretty much all the clothing we need now delivered and just a few final preparations to make.

We stopped by Sainsburys at Hedge End on Saturday to get some Dollar bills from the currency exchange there. She was good and I now have 70$ worth of low denomination bills from 1 - 10$, should be ok for our initial requirements on arrival, until I can get to a cash machine where I can use the FairFx pre-pay card or my Zero card.

Other news, Graham's ready! - he's back from his visit to his tailor and now he's sporting his bespoke bear biker gear. Here he is posing aboard Frank - more of Graham later in the blog, no doubt.


I just checked what the weather'll for when we start the ride of Friday - 10% change of rain, top temperature 17°C - Well we are going prepared to encounter some rain during the trip, so no worries about that really, forecasts do change don't they? Anyway it's better that todays weather in Chicago (Thunderstorms!)

Two weeks to go!

In just two weeks time we'll be between UK and Chicago c/o American Airlines, and those two weeks will soon disappear won't they?

Last week we received the final paperwork from our tour agent HC Travel, including a useful 'Welcome to America' booklet that they have produced especially for the trip. It contains a bit about each day as well as useful tips about driving in the US. They aslo kindly sent us a complimentary copy of the Billy Connolly Route 66 hardback book.

Since we've now got the e-ticket reference for the airline, I've been able to log on and enter the required 'Advanced Passenger Information' (baiscally passport nos, passport expiry dates and address of the first hotel). Next thing there is to do the online checkin - but that's not possible until 24 hours before departure - so 12.25 on May 30th.

We've learnt that there's been a few changes to the Itinerary - a couple of the hotels we were to be in have altered (same towns just different Hotels) - but the bigger change is this; instead of being taken by coach from Chicago to Milwaukee to visit the Harley-Davidson museum, and then picking the bike up in Milwaukee, now ther'll be no coach trip because instead we'll be picking the bike up at 10.00 in the morning and riding up to Milwaukee.

We'll still do the museum there and stay over at the Iron Horse Hotel, but we'll have the bike for a bit longer and be able to get more (c. 100) miles riding in.

 

And just to whet our appetites, Mrs. K and I have just finished watching the Henry Cole TV series he made in 2010 for the Travel Channel, riding Route 66 'The Boulevard of Dreams' on his HD Chopper. link