500 Miles Home: Route 66, a Dead Battery and a Whole Lot of Wind
There’s something about the ride home after a long motorcycle trip.
You’ve already seen the places you came to see, put a pile of miles behind you, and made enough memories to keep you thinking about the trip for a long time. At that point, home starts pulling pretty hard.
But the road doesn’t always care that you’re ready to get there.
This stretch of the ride home would include around 500 miles, about 46 miles of historic Route 66, a chance meeting with a Route 66 Ambassador, plenty of wind—and a dead motorcycle sitting on the shoulder of the interstate.
Just another day on the road.
A Little More Route 66
I’ve ridden parts of Route 66 before, but any time I get the chance to get off the interstate and spend some miles on the Mother Road, I’m going to take it.
This time I picked up roughly 46 miles of Route 66.
You’re not making interstate time out there, and that’s exactly the point.
Old pavement, small towns, roadside businesses and pieces of history are still scattered along the route. Some places are hanging on, some have been restored, and others are slowly disappearing.
That’s part of what makes riding Route 66 interesting. You never really know what you’re going to find.
And sometimes it’s not a place you find—it’s a person.
Meeting TJ Sanchez in Amarillo
One of the unexpected highlights of the ride was getting to meet TJ Sanchez, a Route 66 Ambassador, in Amarillo.
Those are the kinds of stops I enjoy most when I’m traveling by motorcycle.
You can look up landmarks before a trip. You can plan roads, fuel stops and hotels. But you can’t really plan the people you’re going to run into along the way.
Talking with somebody who has a real connection to Route 66 adds something to the ride that you’re never going to get by just blowing past everything on the interstate.
It was a good reminder that sometimes the best part of a road trip isn’t another scenic overlook.
It’s stopping long enough to meet somebody.
TJ Sanchez - Route 66 Ambassador
Then the Ride Home Got Interesting
Eventually, though, it was time to point the bike toward Texas and start knocking down miles.
And the wind decided it wanted to come along.
Anyone who has spent much time riding across the Texas Panhandle or eastern New Mexico knows what that can be like. A strong crosswind doesn’t necessarily make for exciting video, but after hours of leaning against it, correcting the bike and getting knocked around by gusts, it wears you out.
The scenery may say, “wide-open road.”
Your shoulders say something completely different.
But the wind wasn’t going to be the biggest problem of the day.
Dead on the Interstate
East of Gallup, New Mexico, the bike gave me a little surprise.
The battery was dead.
There are better places to work on a motorcycle than the shoulder of an interstate.
Actually, just about anywhere is a better place.
But when you travel long distances on a motorcycle, eventually something is going to happen somewhere you’d rather it didn’t.
So there I was on the side of the highway, luggage on the bike, traffic going by and a battery that had decided it had gone far enough.
There wasn’t much point in getting mad about it.
The battery had to be changed, so the battery got changed.
Right there on the shoulder.
[PHOTO: Bike on interstate shoulder / battery change]
That’s one of those moments that isn’t much fun while you’re dealing with it, but later it becomes part of the story.
And every long motorcycle trip seems to collect a few of those.
Back on the Road
Once the new battery was in and the bike fired back up, there was only one thing left to do.
Keep riding.
More wind. More miles. More highway.
And eventually, home.
After a long trip, pulling into your own driveway feels pretty good. You’re tired, the motorcycle needs cleaning, everything you packed somehow has to be unpacked again, and you’re already thinking about things you might do differently on the next trip.
But that’s motorcycle travel.
Not every mile is a postcard.
Some miles give you beautiful scenery. Some introduce you to interesting people. Some beat you up with wind.
And every once in a while, one leaves you changing a battery on the shoulder of the interstate.
They all become part of the ride.
And for me, the ride is the point.
Watch the Ride
Come along for the ride as I spend some time on historic Route 66, meet Route 66 Ambassador TJ Sanchez in Amarillo, battle the wind across the Southwest and deal with an unexpected battery failure on the interstate.
~Lewis - AThrottleholic
One mile at a time.
