David puts on his chaps before taking off.

David from Ohio stayed with us last week, another Motorcycle Travel Network member passing through. By the time he got home he had been out for three weeks. Not an excessively long trip, but I guess for him it had been a long ride.

David has recently developed some unfortunate health issues and he was on a bucket-list ride. He had taken old Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica. His take on it was different than any I had heard before.

What he found particularly striking about that route is how old and worn out so many of the buildings were. Route 66 was once a happening place and then the interstate took over and the old route faded. All these motels and restaurants that did booming business in their hey-day were now rotting hulks.

What must people from other countries think about the U.S., he wondered, when they come here to ride this road and see all this decrepitude? He talked about how someone referred to some of these places as “ruins” and how he had always thought about ruins in the sense of Roman ruins or Greek ruins. But these absolutely were ruins, just from a much more recent era.

He said following the old route was pretty difficult at times, which doesn’t surprise me. I did an article a few years ago about an outfit that leads a Route 66 ride every year and the main guy told me that in some places the official route changed as many as five times. Each year he would vary things by taking different segments.

At other times, said David, the old road ran right alongside the new road and he figured out he could cut short some of the longer, more boring stretches by taking the new road. He’d still be seeing the exact same things and passing through the exact same countryside. Is that cheating? Some games you don’t really have to play by someone else’s rules, you get to make up your own. Especially if you’re riding alone.

One of David’s biggest disappointments about this ride was also interesting. He was passing through Springfield, Illinois, and stopped at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site. This is a several-block area of old Springfield that has Lincoln’s home and all his neighbors’ homes just as they were when he lived there. An interesting coincidence here is that I was set to work on that park unit the very next day in my job at the National Park Service.

So what disappointed him is that he really wanted to see the actual original Gettysburg Address. And it wasn’t on display. They told him it is very fragile and is only available for viewing for short periods each year. I don’t remember exactly but they may also have told him that when it is on display it is not on display there, but somewhere else.

The next morning David rolled on across Kansas headed for another MTN stop out that way. We’ve become something of a route. Michel, our last MTN guest, headed out for that same Kansas stop after leaving us. And those Kansas folks have stayed with us previously. Everybody says the same thing: The Motorcycle Travel Network seems to be getting smaller and smaller. It may eventually sputter out. What a shame that will be if it happens.

Biker Quote for Today

Drive?! Why?! Cars have too many wheels… just makes me feel… awkwardly stable… I’ll ride thank you!