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eric on Jan 2nd 2007 at 4:45 pm Motorscooters,Random Life Stuff,Route 66,Scooter Workings

Route 66 Meets Scoot 66

I’ve recently been thinking again about doing the Scoot 66 idea. What’s Scoot 66?

I’m most likely moving to the west coast and I’ve got to get the scooters out there somehow, so why not ride at least one.

All that is beside the point.

It was done in 2000 by a guy named Mike Frankovich. He did it in 10 days, but I’d like to do it in 15 or 16.

I certainly wouldn’t want to do it on my own. And I’d definitely need a truck to pick up the pieces and as a buffer on the interstates where traffic is a ridiculous 80mph. A pick up truck with 4ways on is so much better than a handful of scooters that are hard to see in the sun.

I’d like to make this happen in September or October. As it’s the only time of year where the desert temps wouldn’t be a ridiculous 120 degrees AND where there wouldn’t be snow (probably) in other parts of the route. Well, that and May (which is also an option).

I started thinking about this over a year ago and since then I’ve traveled the exact route that I’d be taking. It’s do-able in a scooter except for a few stretches of highway that are just horribly suicidal (like the hill going into the LA area) and some backroad portions (if it’s rained or taken too fast). But most of the route is pretty intact, especially the first 1/2 of it.

It would probably be pretty difficult to find someone willing to drive their pick up truck across the country while following a few scooters. Are pick up trucks rentable? That might be an option.

It wouldn’t be a race, more like a tour. Unlike the Cannonball Run (bi-yearly scooter race across the country). Take it at your own pace. Which also means (probably) less breakdowns since time really isn’t a factor.
I have an exact map for myself based on the Route 66 EZ guide (which really *is* EZ!).

I’d be averaging 175ish miles per day.
The whole route is 2448 miles long. And yeah, that would only be 14 days, but I’m taking a day or two off in Flagstaff because it’s such a great town.

Ok, that’s one trip.
But before that, I’d like to do Route 66 with my father and my son (who’s 15). How Americana! Three generations on the road.

The hard part there would be finding time and money for the three generations trip. I’d like to do that in June. It’ll just be in a car. But it will allow me to plan ahead for Scoot 66, double checking alignments and what may and may not be passable on a scooter.

Both will probably go on the Visa. Citibank will thank me, I’m sure.

Anyone interested in trailing me on Scoot 66 in Sept/Oct? I can’t pay you, but I promise you’ll have fun. If you like this kind of stuff.

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