Last day

Well here we all are then back home.  We left Los Angeles on the flight at 21.20 last night and arrived at Heathrow 15.30 today.  Mr and Mrs Pakes are waiting for the jet lag to set in which will probably happen on Monday so don't be surprised if Mrs Pakes falls asleep at work.  I will be fine because I slept on the plane and then on the coach to Portsmouth. We weren't very happy to have left the lovely warm weather in California and arrive in the cold windy weather on the Island.  I am looking forward to going back to school and telling the reception class all about my adventures. So see you there and bye bye from the blog.

Day 16

So we left Victorville this morning and went on the interstate all the way to Los Angeles. We arrived at Santa Monica which is the end of route 66.

We then went into The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company for lunch and had popcorn shrimp which was delicious.

 Then we went and had our photos taken at the official end of the route.

Then sadly we had to return the Harleys to the dealer in L A and return to the hotel for the farewell dinner.  We have met some lovely people over the last two weeks and hope to stay in touch with some.  Mrs Pakes has had a great time and is not sure whether she wants to go back to work or not, but she will have to take me back!

Here are Mr and Mrs Pakes saying goodbye to the motorbike which has taken us 2,913 miles, WOW.

Day 15

Well, we left Las Vegas in the relative cool of the morning and headed for Victorville, California, our last state.  We went across the Mohave desert and shortly after reaching it our tour guide told us to stop and he turned around and went back the way we had come. We were abandoned in the desert!

Apparently one of the group was suffering from heat exhaustion, well it was very hot.  110 degrees Farenheit( 43 degrees Celsius). Shortly after we went through a forest of Joshua trees, which are becoming quite rare. I refused to sit on one after the cacti episode.

  We were soon back on the road and stopped at a place called Kelsoe which is basically just a train depot with a small museum. I tried a cowboy saddle for size while we were there.

We carried on and had a very late lunch ( 4.30) then we went to the Bottle Tree ranch, as seen on Billy Connolly, and met Elmo himself.










We then arrived at our hotel in Victorville, had a meal and went to bed, ready for the last leg in the morning. All feeling quite sad about having  to come home.

Day 14

Mrs Pakes says sorry she didn’t post the blog last night but the internet wouldn’t work!

After we left Williams we stopped at a place called Seligman for breakfast and I met Elvis and a Mater look-alike.

 








Then we carried on to Kingman to a Harley dealer where Mr and Mrs Pakes bought gel neck coolers which they said were very nice. We then went on to the Hoover Dam.

 It was a very hot day and when we left the dam it was about 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius).  We then went to Las Vegas where we saw the fountains at Belaggios,which were fantastic had a quick walk round and found Las Vegas to be manic and still hot so went to our air conditioned room to rest ready for a very hot day again tomorrow!  Mrs Pakes didn’t even put a coin in a slot machine.

The internet is still too slow so Mrs Pakes will add photos later.  Internet is much faster at Hilton in Victorville.

Day 13

So today we went to the Grand Canyon and this is the first place we stopped. You can't go anywhere can you without some reminders of home! 

Then we motored back to the airport and I got ready for take off. Not much more to say really.

Then it was back on the bike and we rode to the end and back.

It was an amazing day and Mrs Pakes got very excited when she saw a golden eagle. Apparently she's never seen one before.  Sadly we were advised not to stay for the sunset so Mrs Pakes had to download one from the net.

We were also told today that we had to miss something that was planned so instead we are having to visit Hoover Dam. What a blow tee hee!



Day 12

We left Gallup and rode into Arizona. Our first stop was the painted desert and the petrified forest. Amazing.

That's a very large tree trunk that I am in front of!

We then had lunch, I had a very nice dinner, then motored on to Winslouw where we stood on the corner.

We motored on down the highway and arrived at our hotel ready to go to thenGrand Canyon in the morning.

Day 11

We left Santa Fe and left route 66 for a while and went on the turquoise trail where we stopped at a place called Madrid, where they filmed Wild Hogs, a famous fim apparently, but Mr and Mrs Pakes have never seen it but will do when they get home, then they can say we've been there.  We then went into Alberquerque for lunch, where I tasted some guacomole which was great.  Then we saw some cacti and Mr Pakes sat me on top, OW!

We rode on and came across some very strong cross winds for the rest of the journey which Mr Pakes managed brilliantly.While we were riding down the rode we passed a freight train which Mrs Pakes videoed and when we watched it Mr Pakes worked out it was about three quarters of a mile long! We saw some fantastic scenery again and then stopped off at the continental divide, this was near where Billy Connolly dropped his trike!

We then rode on to Gallup and arrived just after 6.30, the earliest we have arrived so far.