Route 66 20115 day 1 Chicago

My second blog for Route 66 in 2015 I wrote today. Starting with Route 66 on Sunday together with Cees Vendel today. But before I could start I had a special meeting. For me the first time I saw my Honda ST1300 I bought from Eagle Rider in Los Angelos. Cees brought it to Chicago. First thing to do is built on the Garmin Zumo 660 Docking. Left was already the TomTom Urban Rider dock so I built it up on the right side. Now I can compare the routes.

And yes, the after sales from Eagle Rider contacted me because of my blog and report to them about the disaster at delivery.  Instead of a paper license plate I have now a real license plate. Thanks Charli Moreno. But we are not ready yet Charli. One down, more to go.

We started together Cees and I with I Route 66 drive to Chicago. We went to the Start and Endpoint of Route 66 and of course to the great lake parks and the Willes Tower and the Cloud Gate and Lou Mitchell's Restaurant. We ended the day in Dell Rhea's Chicken Basket Restaurant were we had the world famous Chicken Basket as our diner.

Of course I was in Country Side at the BMW dealer where in 2013 I rented my BMW R1200RT. It was closed but today it will be open. Just go back to meet my bike and some people who helped me in 2013. Go for some shopping at the Wallmart. Off course my girls gave me a shopping list and I promise to go and shop for them.

It is nearly seven in the morning now.

Time for a last brake fast with Cees and go on the road alone.

Route 66 my second time driving a dream 2015

Well before the drive starts on 29^th of August I have to write the first blog page for this tour. Where to start. Let me take the visit off Jim Hinckley as the start. 

I was already planning the second trip and Jim saw me posting the locations of nice things to see on route 66 and was wondering how it works. He came to the Netherlands and there we met with the Dutch Route 66 group in the Prael Amsterdam.

And with we,  I mean Cees Vendel and I. Cees did route 66 before like I did and he was planning to do it alone. But alone means renting a bike or bringing a bike with you to the USA. Renting now these days is so expensive that when going with two persons you can better buy a bike.

Renting a Honda ST1300 cost now with my plan only 3.701 euro  with www.USA-reisen.de excluding 595 us dollars drop of cost.  Counting a 4 week trip for Cees into this count a 4.935 euro extra and add again 595 us dollar drop off cost too.  Total cost 8636 euro and 1184 US$.

That made me think why don’t buy a bike in the USA and then bring it back to the Netherlands or leave it in Arizona and go route 83 next year because this would then be the best thing to do when buying a bike.

So I started looking where can I buy a bike I want to have and how are the prices and how is insurance done. The internet and google is then a great help.

There are a view sites for second hand sales one is Cycletrader were I started with looking for a BMW K1200LT of R1200RT.  I ended with this bike from Eagle Rider.

They are selling there ex-rental bikes so bought this bike for 8000 US dollar. How I did that and what happened and how Eagle Rider delivered the bike to Cees end of July is a separated story I promised Gary Guilen to write. Just to show how a big company like Eagle Rider is can go wrong with customer support and delivery.

Insurance is a complete other way of thinking then we are used to here in the Netherland. But with help of my sister Meiny, who lives in Arizona and Jesse Koehr from Eagle Rider, I learned the how to do the insurance thing also.

It helps that Progressive offers a complete online service to their customers.  Link to their website And the have a 24 phone line open so I used my app Viber a lot to call them. And yes my bike is in there portfolio now.

Then the last step to arrange was the decision bring the bike to the Netherlands. How to do that and what will it cost. Well also here I look a day for a transporter who could do that job and I found Schumacher Cargo in Los Angelos who can do that job. I was served by a nice guy from Belgium  Filip Michelet living in LA. The cost to bring it to Rotterdam is equal to the drop off cost of a bike in the USA and then custom is done by them to for 300 euro.

So in the end Cees and I will do Route 66 in 2015 on a Honda ST1300A and I will have the bike in the Netherlands to ride on it. 

Cees is now renting the bike from me. I did all the work from buying the bike, insuring the bike, making the route. And he has now my TomTom Rider to do the Ride Back.

The Ride back is for Cees not exactly riding route 66 back. A site turn to Utah from a week just ended.

Off course I need to do a Dutch licensing procedure. Piece of cake after the procedure I had with Eagle Rider. But that story is for later.

Now Cees picked up the bike and is driving it true New Mexico at the moment. And I am counting the day’s now before I will go to Chicago. Cees will be then there too and I will do a check on the bike. Change the engine oil when needed. Look at the tires of the Honda and built of the Garmin Zumo 660 holder so I can drive white my Garmin and my TomTom Urban Rider. Yes, not the newest TomTom. I wrote them a letter that I would love to test it for TomTom. Never had a reply. So no round up between them with the same GPS file.

What I do for roundup is a test between my own GPS files on the TomTom Urban Rider and the files Riverpilot on my Garmin Zumo 660. River Pilot gave the files to my for free because I promised him to write a review from this file. If you want to know how River Pilot made the Route 66 files turn by turn look at the home page here.  I will report on my blog and on facebook how I like their work. As a vehicle test engineer from DAF I can be objective. And if they are better than I can make the file or easier to use then my files I will tell that.

For sofar today. The story of what can go wrong with Eagle Rider soon.