JOE’s Eric Lalor may have just arrived in the US last Friday for the legendary Route 66 Challenge for Temple St Children’s Hospital, but he’s already describing it as the experience of a lifetime. Check out his third diary entry below (you’ll find his first one here and second here)…
We had the day off yesterday so I went up with a few bikers from the group to see the Grand Canyon. It’s more than grand; it’s mind-boggling and amazing! I took a few snaps, all the while knowing quite well that the snaps could never do it justice. That didn’t stop me though, which is a worrying mental trait I seem to have developed as of late. The Grand Canyon really has to be seen to be believed, as it is just a staggering product of nature.
We woke up bright and early this morning looking forward to getting back on the bikes and continuing this magnificent journey. The destination today is Laughlin in Nevada. Most of you reading this are probably pronouncing it Lack-lin, but even though it’s spelt that way, it’s pronounced ‘Loff-lin’. Are they having a laugh?! Or a lack? I’m confused now…
Yet again, Arizona continues to throw amazing vistas at us and just when we think we have seen it all, something else breathtaking appears on the horizon. Arizona is an amazing place. Today, I’m with another new team and this one is led by the gent that is Eddie. Eddie is the team captain and he told me I would be riding with his second in command, the very lovely Peter.
We said our goodbyes to Flagstaff and hit the road. The sprawling landscape is something to behold, just miles and miles of mountains, rolling hills, dotted with tiny dwellings and all in glorious Technicolor. This is natural beauty like nothing I have ever seen before.
Our first stop today is at a place called Seligman. This is a hugely significant stop on Route 66 as one of it’s inhabitants, a fellah called Angel Delgadilo, is a founder of the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona, established in 1987 to campaign for “Historic Route 66” signage on the former US highway. He took on the big men who built the inter-state roads and won.
He is a barber by trade and still works in the town. Obviously we popped in for a nose and some of the lads had their beards shaven by him. I declined. Don’t get me wrong, he’s an absolute hero, legend and gent, but I wasn’t brave enough to let a 90-year-old man go at my throat with a switchblade. It should be said that he did a fantastic job on Tom and Phil though…
Our next stop was a place in the middle of nowhere, a store, called Hackberry General Store. It’s surrounded by huge mountains and contains a shop selling souvenirs. Outside it has the really classic old American gas pumps and inside there is a gents jacks, which is covered wall to wall and ceiling full of pictures of women in bikinis. No reason, it just was.
On the bikes again and this time we went upwards and headed up the hills of Black Mountain of Mohave County along a narrow pathway, climbing higher and higher and with me holding tighter and tighter. This was white-knuckle motorcycling at it’s very best and I have to say, I loved every minute of it. We then reached a point at the top, which was an old Indian burial ground.
The Irish Route 66 team has been doing this journey for years and sadly, in that time, some of their former members have passed away. They like to visit this area to place memorials to people who have passed on and everyone gathered for a bit of reflection. It was lump in the throat stuff and a beautifully poignant, serene stopover on this madcap journey that we were on.
We got back on our bikes again and headed downhill to an old mining town called Oatman. It’s perfectly preserved in the state it was in back in the gold rush days. It’s also a town over-run with donkeys. Yes, donkeys. The donkeys that were used in the mines were obviously left obsolete when the mines shut down, but they kept on breeding. These donkeys we saw today were direct descendants of the donkeys from those golden days.
They’re not shy either. They invariably walk up to you and rub their heads off you as if to say ‘You’re in my town now squire, we’ll have none of your lip.’ There was a little bar in the hotel and it was covered wall to wall and on the ceilings with one-dollar bills. It’s estimated around 100k is there in one dollar notes. I did not make off with $7,598 in singles at all. Honest.
We resumed our journey again and this time it was back to Laughlin in Nevada. I bid farewell to the majestic Arizona, but I know myself I will be back. One of the most stunningly beautiful parts of the world I have ever seen. Laughlin is a casino town, mini-Vegas if you like, and we are staying in a hotel called the Golden Nugget.
The Route 66 Challenge for Temple Street has been an incredible experience so far and easily one of the greatest experiences of my life. It’s an amazing team of people organising this and participating in it and I am humbled and honoured to be allowed to be part of it.
It’s an even better feeling knowing that a huge amount of money has been raised by these heroes for the amazing and deserving cause that is the Temple Street Children’s Hospital.
Till tomorrow…
Eric Lalor
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