U.S.A. - Bike

My first trip outside of Australia.

Be patient as the page downloads. I have included a lot of map information for your benefit and have kept the scenic pictures to a minimum. This is in your interest.

I'm writing the trip up in a different way to any of the other trips I have undertaken. This time I'm relying on my and Rita's memory after the completion of the trip. There really wasn't enough time to write anything down on a day by day basis, and anyway, I wanted to enjoy the trip.

There are a couple of caveats in the write-up: Temperatures are in degrees Fahrenheit and distances for the most part are in miles. It's just too hard to convert, I'll leave that up to you.

Having said that, I had quite a degree of difficulty relating to miles. My mind hadn't made the shift that miles are longer than kilometres. For the first week I would consistently underestimate the time required to travel a given distance. Some of my earlier plans just couldn't be achieved. Temperatures didn't take that much work. The bike came with it's own thermometer, so I knew what was going on.

The major plan was to ride the Rockies, Sierra Nevada, the deserts and the Appalachia. I had done extensive research and decided that I would probably need a couple of life times to see it all. I then picked what I wanted to see and let the rest of the trip just happen. I knew that I had to cover a certain amount of miles each day and made sure that happened.

Hint: If you have never travelled this way before, I encourage you to use Google Earth. You will quickly understand the beauty of most of the terrain using this tool. Make sure you exaggerate the vertical height by three to get a more realistic idea of what I faced. One more hint: Don't just settle for a vertical view, you will not appreciate the terrain. Use the Tilt control to virtually ride down the roads. Google has done a fantastic job! What I saw on Google Earth is pretty much what I saw on my travels, and was used as the basis for picking out the route I travelled.

Follow this link for the next month - Bikeless

To get to a particular day in the tour, click on any of these links:

One month before

My first decision was not try and ship my bike, which left me with the option of either buying a bike or renting a bike. Although it may have cost more, I opted to rent a bike. Where from? After searching the Internet, I decided that Eagle Rider (ER) was the company of choice. They met the following requirements:

• Located two miles from Los Angeles airport.
• Had a one-way option. I wanted to pick up the bike in Los Angeles, California, and drop off the bike in Manchester, New Hampshire.
• Help if I had problems.
• I really didn't want a Harley Davidson. ER offered an BMW R1200RT option.

I initially contacted ER by email and then did the fine tuning by telephone. ER had daily, three daily and weekly rates. I managed to haggle a better rate because I would have the bike for a month.

I had also decided to pre-book the first four days accommodation:

• Las Vegas, California.
• Hurricane, Utah.
• Salt Lake City, Utah, and,
• West Yellowstone, Montana for two days.

This has its advantages and disadvantages.
The advantage is that you know you have a bed when you arrive. The disadvantage is that you have to reach the motel to make use of its facilities. As you will see I made use of both options.

Rita was able to get some discount coupons for the NightsOut chain, so we made use of them.

I also bought $500 worth of Travelers Cheques through Australia Post.

Day Minus One - Home to Melbourne, Australia.

Visited my mother at lunchtime to say goodbye.
Took the train to Melbourne and stayed the night at the Grand Chancellor hotel. My daughter was staying there as she was doing an induction course for her new job so it proved to be a convenient meeting place. We went out for dinner at Taco Bills just around the corner. Glad we said our goodbyes this late before I left.

Didn't sleep all that well. That always happens the day before I start a trip.

Day Zero(1) - Melbourne, Australia to Las Vegas Nevada.

Took a tram to Spencer Street and then a shuttle to Tullamarine Airport. Checked my luggage in and went through security. This proved to be a bit of a challenge for a number of reasons. As I didn't have a lot of room, I had to wear my bike boots and they attracted a lot of attention by the metal detector as it had metal eyelets, etc. I was wearing a Ulysses belt buckle and that deserved a second check. I also took along a stainless steel slide that I use to play slide guitar and that really had them confused. Unfortunately the pair of needle nosed pliers that I use to tighten the nuts on my glasses and an Allen key set were confiscated.

I was allocated an aisle seat which gave me a bit of room, but it was still squishy for a person my size. Food, food and more food.

When I booked the flight, I was under the impression that it was a direct flight, not so, we had to change planes in New Zealand. Here I had more trouble with security. I had bought Rita a gift, which was a money tin with a toy Koala inside it. Of course I had it wrapped. NZ Security were on the verge of taking it off me as they couldn't work out what it was and they were playing it safe. I had to unwrap it and pull it apart to show them it wasn't a problem before they relented and passed it. Security was still tight after the British scare and the bottle of water that I bought in Melbourne was confiscated.

The long trip from NZ to the U.S.A. brought back the suffering I experienced on the Nullabor train, namely trying to sleep in a recliner seat. I'm just not very good at it. There were some vacant seats at the back of the plane that I took advantage of, but I still didn't get a lot of sleep. You just can't beat a bed.

Day Zero(2) Las Vegas, Nevada

Arrived at Los Angeles airport ten minutes before I left Melbourne, a weird situation. We all then had to walk from the International terminal to terminal four where Immigration and Customs do their thing. I made a lot of use of the moving footpath which made the trip a lot shorter.

I had been warned earlier to expect some sour and grumpy people, so I was a little anxious. We formed a queue and waited for our turn. There were four or five Immigration people, whose task was to check our passports, take a digital picture of us and take fingerprints. The man processing me seemed happy enough and wished me a pleasant trip.
Next we walked onto Customs where we formed three queues and waited our turn. I was processed by a very pleasant Afro-American lady who's opening line was "You look like a Country singer." I replied "I play 'The Blues' as well." To which she let out a laugh and responded "That's 'Our' music." I replied "I know" and that was it for Customs. A complete anticlimax.

Walked on and spotted Rita in a crowd of people. Finally after eleven years of communication over the Internet and the telephone we get the meet in person.

Took a taxi to Eagle Rider. This was an exercise in itself as I didn't have their address. I had assumed that some of the documentation I had faxed to ER regarding insurance options and had their letterhead at the top included an address. Not so and the taxi driver was not impressed, he wanted an address or we weren't going anywhere. I went into search mode and found an address on another document and we were on our way. Rita didn't have any proper motorcycle gear so the minimum requirements for me was a helmet and gloves. Since Rita had never worn a helmet before a full face helmet was just too claustrophobic, so a helmet without the lower portion was purchased. Gloves were another matter, nothing fitted, so I relaxed that requirement and planned to ride extra careful.

Even though it was the day before I was supposed to pick up the bike, the ER people delivered the bike to our motel that night. This was good as it gave us a chance to work out how to pack things.

Our first NightsOut motel was located to the North east of LAX and just seemed a convenient point to base locations as it was also only two miles from Eagle Rider.
As came to be the pattern with the chain, there was always at least one thing wrong with each room. The first room didn't have the beds made, so that was an automatic black mark. The second room fared better but was still very basic.

There was a Mexican restaurant next door, so we made use of that for dinner.

The hire bike.

Day One - Los Angeles, California to Las Vegas, Nevada.

Left around 9:00 and headed for San Bernardino. The weather was warm, already in the middle 80's. I decided to follow Route 91 and managed to find the entrance with no problems at all. I got a little concerned when I passed an exit that named Barstow as the exit (Route 15) and stopped soon after for a McDonalds stop. A quick check of the map revealed, that I could have taken the Route 15 exit as it was a short cut, but I wasn't lost. Continued on our way and stopped at Barstow for lunch. Getting warm now, in the middle 90's. As we progressed, we were held up twice by emergency vehicles recovering vehicles that had fallen off the road. Normally wouldn't have been a problem, but by now the temperature had risen to around 110 degrees. By the time we cleared all of these obstacles, I had nearly used up all my strength to reach Baker. A most ironic name, because that's what it felt like, baked. I stopped in front of a Denny's restaurant and wobbled in and found a place on the floor and had a 'Power Nap'. The manager took pity on me and allowed me to rest for about half an hour before I slowly recovered. The problem was not entirely the result of the heat, but also the jet lag, I was really fatigued and needed this adjustment period.

After about an hour, I got up off the floor and made my way to a booth where I consumed cold liquids and further recovered. The manager was most accommodating, as I'm sure this wasn't a normal situation. The manager looked out the window and informed me that the temperature was 118 degrees. Boy oh boy! Baker has a tower with lights spaced every ten degrees and the actual temperature at the top.

Continued on our way to Las Vegas and arrived there after dark. A bad situation in the fact that we didn't reach our intended destination (Hurricane, Utah), and, we were in a city at night with no accommodation and there were road works and detours everywhere. We continued on past 'The Strip' and finally took an exit where a Comfort Inn was advertised. We were both just so tired. Fortunately they had a room for us and we unloaded the bike and headed straight for the pool. There was a fast food place next door to the motel, so we had a quick meal before retiring for the night.

Day Two - Las Vegas, Nevada to Salt Lake City, Utah.

Up fairly early, had breakfast and hit the road. Our first stop was Hurricane, Utah, the place I had planned to end the first day. The place was full of people as the town was celebrating it's centenary or something like that. In all the traffic I managed to miss the turn off to Zion National Park and ended up back on Route 15. Not only that, but the left hand mirror assembly had disappeared. It was there one moment and gone the next. As I heading back to Hurricane anyway, I made the trip slow enough to spot the mirror assembly, turned around and retrieved it. Amazingly the mirror was still intact, so the first lot of Gaffa tape is applied to the hold the mirror assembly in place. (Ulysses folk use wire or fishing line to link the mirror to the frame of the bike. I now see the wisdom in the process.) We stopped for lunch at a very pleasant town named Springdale. Seems the restaurant is famous for Bumbleberries, so that's what I had for lunch. They spin a pleasant yarn about the fictitious Bumbleberry much in the same line as the Travelling Willburies history. We didn't actually get a chance to ride up the Zion Canyon as only tour buses were allowed there. You know that really didn't matter, the scenery was breathtaking and the road full of hairpins as it negotiated its way up and out of the canyon. Rita informed me she had her eyes shut most of the time as it was a long way down on one side with no guard rails. The road was something to behold. Parts of it are cut inside the sheer walls of the canyon a few metres into the face, with viewing holes every hundred metres or so. A wonderful piece of engineering. Next stop was Bryce National park which was a few hours away. I purchased a entry permit that allowed me to enter any park in the U.S.A. for $50. You make your money back after about three day entries to a National Park as a one off entry is $20. The road to the end of Bryce Canyon took an hour thanks to their very slow speed limit. I was becoming concerned at the black clouds closing in from the East and the spots of rain starting to fall.

We had a good look at the stops and made our way back to the entrance.

As the trip progressed, it became quite apparent that there were two types of parks: One where you could see everything from your vehicle and Two, where you couldn't. You could further divide this into the type of Park: a) Park where what you would see was the result of erosion, or b) not the result of erosion.

Zion was the result of erosion of rock, but could easily be appreciated from a vehicle. Bryce was also the result of erosion, but on softer rocks and couldn't be appreciated close up. Bryce had all the attributes of an abandoned sand mine. Cute, but not as spectacular as Zion.

Bryce National Park

I was almost prepared to stop for the night here, but a break in the clouds encouraged me to continue on our way. With good luck and a few long hours we may be able to make Salt Lake City that night.

Night had fallen and we stopped at {town name} for dinner at McDonalds. I had commented to Rita that the manager seemed a little agitated and distracted. All became clear when a few minutes later an ambulance pulls up and takes away one of the employees who was apparently convulsing in the back room. After the ambulance left he returned to a jolly boss again.

We were lucky that we stopped for dinner, because about ten minutes away we came up to flashing lights and slow traffic - an accident of some sort. When it came to our turn to pass, we found that the problem was that a car had struck a large brown cow. If we hadn't had stopped it could have been us versus the cow, not a pretty thought.

We pushed on, a little slower than before and finally made it to the outskirts of Salt Lake City. I spotted a motel and pulled over thinking Rita had had enough for one day. But no, Rita encouraged me to continue to the motel we had prebooked.

We reached our motel (Another NightsOut) and checked in but weren't able to open the door to the motel room. I went back to reception and asked for assistance. The manager came back with me and he couldn't open the door either. He tried all sorts of tricks like kicking the door, doing little dance steps, etc. Nothing worked. In the end we were assigned another room.

By the time we had unloaded everything, the pool had closed. Another mission to the desk and the manager kindly opened up the pool and the hot tub for us. Ah!

Day Three - Salt Lake City, Utah to West Yellowstone, Montana.

Up and on the road by 9:00 am. I intended to buy Rita a proper jacket today, but found the store closed. Still not cold, so we can get by. By now we had established a routine on the bike, the main of which was to stop for a rest after one hundred miles. The seats on the BMW are just not comfortable enough and you run out of none sore spots to put your backside on. You just have to stop. For the first time the barren landscape turned into a forest when we crossed into Idaho. You really get the feeling you're away from civilization out here. The petrol station look like camping stores. I even think I saw the outline of the Grand Teton National Park to our right. Pulled into West Yellowstone and found our motel. I'm glad we booked ahead as it was the Labour Day weekend and there were people everywhere. While Rita did our laundry, I went for a look around town. For some reason I was very tired and the six or so blocks I walked took a very long time. By the time Rita had finished the laundry we set out for some food and it was getting late. We found a restaurant that hadn't closed and had pizza. Since we were the last customers in the restaurant, the staff really were trying to push us a long. Hints like turning out the lights emphasised the point. Rita informed me later that it had been quite an adventure to track down the laundry, as it wasn't in a very obvious place. To make matters worse, soap powder was only available from the front desk, another trip. Being the last days before Labour Day, there were children everywhere. As a result we didn't hit the pool, just too many wild children. I had been most excited about seeing the stars of the Northern hemisphere and often cast a look upwards to be greeted by nearly nothing. Rita informed me that there are no stars in Montana. Ah, so that's why.

Not really happy with the digital display on the motorcycle. For some reason the display has lost its initial crispness and was now a rather dim shadow. Probably no big deal, but that's where the petrol gauge is located, that is important to me.

Day Four - West Yellowstone, Montana - Yellowstone, Wyoming and back.

Up fairly early and had a lovely breakfast. I ordered two pancakes. The lady serving us decided to give me an extra pancake for some reason, but I wasn't able to eat it, just not enough room. Back on the bike and headed for Yellowstone. This proved to be no trip at all. Even though we were in Montana a quick trip of about fifty metres from the last road in town and you were there in Yellowstone, Wyoming. Forest, forest and more forest and the slow National Park speed limit. First planned stop for the day was 'Old Faithful', so we followed the signs. About half way there we see an area gushing steam out of the ground and a parking area, so we stop. We follow the boardwalks that take us around the small geysers and hot pools. Some of the pools and geysers on our walk are very new. Some having appeared as little as a year ago. After a recent earthquake, a few new pools and geysers have appeared, so to boardwalk has been modified to suit. The whole area is in the caldera of a not quite extinct volcano and is still quite active. There are many warnings of not walking off the boardwalk as a geyser could appear just about anywhere and the steam could burn you.

Not having seen a geyser before I was of the opinion that every now and then there's a tower of water that is expelled from a geyser. Well that is true, but nothing prepared me for the steam that comes along with the hot water. The steam covers the spout of water, so a little bit of imagination is required. I would imagine that the best view of the spout would occur when there is a wind blowing to push away the cloud of steam. Today the weather was calm, so we had to use our imagination most of the time.

Continued on our way and arrived at where 'Old Faithful' is located. A huge area full of lodging, shops and restaurants. The first order was to determine when 'Old Faithful' would erupt. A sign predicted around 2:00 pm, so that gave us enough time to have lunch and purchase a few trinkets.

The area around 'Old Faithful' caters for the tourists. A double row of seats surrounds half of the geyser. We found a seat and waited for the appointed time and was quite surprised that the predicted time matched the actual eruption time. The ground shook a little and then the water/steam spout appeared. The whole eruption took about thirty seconds.

Old Faithful erupting.
If you look real close you can see the water.

The next planned stop was the Grand Teton National Park, so off we go. As we made our way and dropped in elevation, Yellowstone Lake appeared out of the trees, very beautiful. I had intended taking the road to the shore of the lake but instead took Route 20 for about twenty miles following the shore. We found a parking area and just took in the sights. I really took a very short 'power nap' and checked out the temperature of the water. Warm enough to swim in. That gives me ideas.

Back tracked to Route 89 and made our was to the Grand Teton National Park. The road follows a valley with the rugged mountains rising up to your right. Lovely.

As it was getting late in the day, we headed back to West Yellowstone.

Usually trips home seem shorter than the trip out, not so today, the road just seemed to go on forever. Night fell and we were just busting to get back to the motel. At one point I was about to pass a car, but changed my mind when the car in front of me nearly ran over a deer. I just followed the car thank you very much.

Day Five - West Yellowstone, Montana to Sheridan, Wyoming

Left around 9:00 and headed east across and out of Yellowstone. This time we took the Norris Canyon Road and followed the Grand Loop road back to Yellowstone Lake.

About ten miles before the lake the traffic slowed to a crawl. Up ahead was a herd of Bison walking slowly down the road. Seems their track leaves the forest at one point, follows the road for awhile and then heads back into the forest. A big bull Bison was keeping an eye on things from one of the parking areas. All of a sudden he just takes off and runs across the road between the cars and heads for the forest. In a few moments they were all gone.

A few miles before the East Entrance Road leaves the lake, I pulled over and headed for the lake. The water looked so good I just had to have a swim in it. There was no sand on the beach, just pebbles, so I took a long while to get in and out of the water. Boy did my feet hurt. The swim however was very refreshing. The surface water was relatively warm, but cooled quite a deal once you got in, as a consequence I didn't go out very far.

Wonderfully refreshed.

Continued following the East Entrance Road through some wonderful canyons, gaps and drops out of the mountains. Lovely scenery. During the drop there were road works in progress and that slowed traffic to a crawl. A lot of the traffic heading west were most unhappy about the roadworks.

That is one constant for the whole trip: There was always somewhere each day where there were road works. Road works can go for a very long way, sometimes twenty miles or more. Sometimes this becomes frustrating, as the work appears to be in the other lane and there is a median strip between lanes.

Stopped at Cody for fuel and struck up a conversation with a man named Don. I told I was heading for Sheridan so he gave me a lot of tips on the trip. Don's a fellow biker and owns quite a few bikes including BMW's.

The trip between Greybull and Ranchester is one of those roads you'd like to ride on for the pure enjoyment of it. Lots of turns, high elevations (up to ten thousand feet.) and just beautiful views. Magnificent.

We stopped at Ranchester for a back-side break and struck up a conversation with a lady walking her dog. Seems she used to live in Sheridan but it became to expensive, so she lives here now.

Made it to Sheridan and found a motel. A very pleasant day.

Day Six - Sheridan, Wyoming to Rapid City, South Dakota.

Left Sheridan early, with the temperatures in the low forties. The temperature gradually rose and a few hours later we were at Devils Tower. It's quite a compact National Park, but very beautiful. Not so long ago the site was swarming with motorcycles on the annual Sturgis rally. I cheated and bought a rally pin and now have bragging rights :) We parked in the car park and while Rita waited, I walked the base track. A most relaxing ninety minute walk.

Devils Tower	The base walking track.

The real name of the structure is not Devils Tower, but something along the line 'Bears Lodge', 'Bears House', Bears Tipi', etc. Attaching dark names to places seems to be fodder for tourists in the U.S.A.

The tower is very popular with climbers and this causes some issues with the local indigenous population. As a sign of respect, climbing is not allowed in June.
As I walked the track, there were probably a dozen climbers on the tower, an amazing sight.

After the walk we went down to the tourist area and bought postcards, etc. I decided to send all of the brochures, postcards, etc from the Post Office so as to lighten the load a little. Paper weighs a lot don't you know!

We travelled to Devil's tower by leaving Route 90 at Moorcroft and followed Route 14 and then Route 24 to the tower. Just to be different I followed Route 24, turned right onto Route 85 but made the mistake of turning left upon reaching Route 90. The wrong direction. A few miles down the road I realise my mistake (Rita already knew) and I stopped by the side of the road. This was my first brush with 'The Law'. As I was working my way through the stuff in the top box looking for a map, I heard the sound of gravel being disturbed. I looked around and there was a State Trooper car. Uh Oh! The Trooper stepped out, looking very official and asked me what the problem was. I replied that I thought I was lost. He asked me where I was heading to and I replied Rapid City. He said it was the other way and I thanked him and that was the end of that. I have a feeling that I had committed at faux pas, as I now realise, you can't stop on an interstate unless you have broken down and I hadn't! The incident could have been more serious.

I asked the Trooper where I could turn around and he said the next point I could turn around on was half a mile away. Now I was still coming to terms with miles and didn't realise that the turn off was right in front of me, not some way down the road. As a consequence we explored more of the wrong way for several miles until the next turn off.

Found accommodation in Rapid City. There was still some daylight left, so I suggested we visit the Bad Lands National park about an hour down the road, as this would save us some time tomorrow.

Off we go and check out the park. Another erosion site, but with fabulous colours and shapes. Well worth the visit.
By the time we reached the main road the sun had set and another cold night trip back to base.

Day Seven - Rapid City, South Dakota to Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Left for Mount Rushmore and just followed the signs. We stopped in Keystone for a presentation of the artist who created the site and how the site was constructed. There was a film and a lot of memorabilia, such as tools, pictures and personal effects. Good value. As we made our way to the monument I stopped at a viewing point. This was the place of the first and only incident for the trip. After we had finished taking in the view, I went to take off, over balanced and very gently laid down the bike. Great! I turned around and found Rita on her back. Tourists around us came to our rescue. Rita's only comment was to get the bike up. I pulled up the bike and then with the help of others got Rita to her feet. Thankfully no damage to me or Rita. The bike collected a nasty graze to the left hand pannier. The comment of one rescuer seemed rather tactless "You haven't been riding long have you?!" For the artist, Gutson Borglum, this wasn't his first foray into mountain carving, he'd done it several times before. He died before it was completed and his son finished up the work. The original proposal was to have Washington carved to the waist, but Gutson's death and lack of money put and end to that. This is as close as you can get to Mt Rushmore. I was expecting something tacky, but that wasn't the case, the place has a very serene, uncluttered feel. In the immediate foreground are rows of square columns, with each face representing a state. Each face holds a flag and the name of the state as well as when it was admitted to the Union. I was surprised to find Samoa amongst the column faces with the entry legend stating 'Acquired', very interesting. We had a look through the souveneir shop and bought an ice cream, sat down and took in the view.

Mount Rushmore up as close as you can get.

Everything about the site was clean from the car park to the restaurants. Apparently at the night the site is illuminated which must make for a splendid sight.

The roads around Mount Rushmore are quite twisty, but all of that turned into flat land as we followed Route 385, 89, 18 and finally Route 85 to Cheyenne.

We stopped for lunch at a place called Lusk and found a shop that actually make an Aussie style salad sandwich. The shop is motorcycle themed (not that you'd know from the outside) and the owners were most entertaining.

Pushed on to Cheyenne.

Day Eight - Cheyenne, Wyoming to Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Left around 10:00 am and headed for Colorado Springs. Denver is a big city and best passed through. Just a little bit of rain today. Another car accident and emergency vehicles passed us. Again, all of the motorists headed for the bush. We stayed at another NightsOut motel and this one really set the bottom standard. The motel was interesting in that it was actually two motels sharing a lot of the facilities. The pool was located in the other motel and requires separate security cards. The room was something to behold. It was on the ground floor around the back of the motel and looked like it was due for demolition. You could tell the concrete was re enforced as you could see the steel through the concrete. The room looked it had been furnished from a second hand store and was really bulky. The bathroom had a shower, but no way to make it work, hence I had my one and only bath for the trip. I ordered in Pizza-Hut pizza for dinner.

Day Nine - Colorado Springs, Colorado to Alamosa, Colorado

Left fairly early for a ride on the Pikes Peak Cog Railway. It must have been too early as I missed the turn at Manitou Springs and went on another twenty miles before bothering to turn around. Not a wasted trip though, more spectacular scenery. On the way back the sign was obvious, so we followed a narrow winding street to the railway station. I had thought that they would be using a steam train, but no, diesel-electric. Somehow it doesn't have the same charm. From the onset the angle of the tracks was up, all the way. More than one train runs on the tracks, so at various points up the mountain one train will stop at a siding to let a train coming down the mountain pass. I had entertained the notion of actually riding the bike up the mountain, but I'm very glad I didn't. At fourteen thousand feet I was light headed and had reasonable difficulty walking straight. The view from the top was fantastic in all directions and the air temperature was of course cooler. By the time we ate a bite at the restaurant, it was time to catch the train down the mountain. The restaurant offered a 'special' doughnut which we tried. It wasn't that special, just greasy! By the time we had eaten our meal it was time to go back down the mountain. I was halfway to a spot to take a photograph when the train sounded its whistle. I had to turn around and find Rita.

We were told about a place called the 'Garden of the Gods', so we checked that out before departing. Not having enough time for a good look, we stuck with the bike and just rode through the garden. A walk would have been much better.

Tracked down the local bike shop and bought Rita a proper jacket and gloves. This was probably the first and only time that I made use of my AMA membership and that was only for the gloves, as the jacket was already marked down. I would have been much better off signing up with AAA, at least that was recognised at every motel we stayed at.

Around this time, I hit upon the idea of using my windcheater as a seat comforter for Rita and seemed to have good results. The trick was to use the windcheater from the onset. Once you rear was sore nothing helped.

Headed south with the intention of staying at Walsenburg, but the only motel was full, so we kept going. We turn west here, heading into the Rockies and the weather looked terrible ahead. Black clouds and rain. Amazingly just as I thought we were about to get soaked the road turned away to the left and away from the rain and we made Alamosa perfectly dry.

Our first task was to find accommodation, then do the laundry and finally food.

Day Ten - Alamos, Colorado to Cortez, Colorado.

Rather cool this morning, around thirty five degrees, so for the first time I thought I'd warm the bike up. My only mistake was to drape my denim jacket over the handle bars. By the time I left the bike and came back with another pannier the jacket had nearly caught fire. There was smoke pouring off the jacket, so I quickly threw the jacket to the ground and jumped on the burning area. Not flames, but embers. The result is a hole the size of my fist right through the jacket and a pair of unhappy sunglasses (Rita's) that were in the pocket. Ah life on the road.

How not to leave a jacket on a bike!

Stopped at Pagosa Springs for a very relaxed lunch.

Had to stop for an hour at Durango to let a rain storm through. We killed time by checking out the Mall.

Found a motel at Cortez and booked a tour of Mesa Verde for tomorrow.

A T-Shirt in the souvenirs section of the motel caught my eye. It had the picture of three native Americans holding rifles with the text "Fighting Terrorism since 1463!" That sure puts things in perspective.

Rita decided to stay in Cortez while I made the short ride of forty miles to the only place where four states meet: Four Corners.

A close up of the centre of the monument.	The complete monument.

As you can see from the left photograph, each state has a quarter where the flag, name, motto and crest is displayed.

In the right photograph you can see the complete monument. The area is raised about three feet and also has a raised lookout area to get better pictures.

The whole area is like a cul-de-sac that leaves the highway. You have to pay admission and the money goes to the local Indians. They do not honour the National Park pass.

Surrounding the monument on the periphery of the circle are selling booths for local wares, mainly jewellery with some pottery and clothes.

Day Eleven - Cortez, Colorado.

The whole day was spent on a tour of Mesa Verde. I booked us onto an organised tour as there was just too much to see and we would have wasted a lot of time trying to work out where everything was. The tour started at the visitors centre and didn't pick up clients from motels, so we had to leave our motel early and reach the visitors centre before the tour started. The trip was only thirty miles but the hairpin turns as we climbed up the mesa slowed us down a little. The suited us just fine as we were able to take in spectacular views as we climbed the road. The bus held about twenty five people and of course was fully booked. There are literally thousands of sites to see ranging from very small to very large. The tour operator picked out the best sites and just that kept us busy all day. The majority of sites are on top the mesa and are typically smaller than the cliff dwellings. We were told that sites are still being found, the latest as the result of bushfires which clears the ground of vegetation.

The highlight of the tour was certainly Mesa Verde itself. This required a walk down to the dwellings from the top. Rita's not a great walker, so she opted to stay on the mesa. As you can see from the left photograph, tourists are arranged into groups of about twenty people and then taken down to the dwellings. As one tour is at the dwellings, the next tour is down at the same level but stopped on the trail waiting for the previous group to leave. Time is killed by our guide telling us about the history of the area and answering any questions that are asked.

Our guide was a native Hopi Indian. We were going to pass through their territory after we left the Grand Canyon, so I asked for a few pointers and received hardly any information. Fine!

A couple of things surprised me:

• The inhabitants of Mesa Verde had a life expectancy of only twenty five years.
• The site was 'discovered' in a state of decay and was rebuilt.

When I say 'discovered' I mean by white folk. The discoverer had a native of the area with him and of course he didn't tell the discoverer the location of anything.

A view of Mesa Verde from the mesa.	Me by one of the Kiva's (Ritual rooms)

The Kiva's, even now, are off limits except for one which the locals have given permission to enter. Originally the Kiva's all had flat roofs, only one has now, the public one. They have an interesting structure in that they are really reverse chimneys. The roof has a square hole in the centre which has a ladder protruding so you can reach the floor. In the centre is a fire. Air reaches the fire from a chimney that is located outside the circle, so the smoke actually exits from the entry point. Not much is known about the actual ceremonies held in the Kiva's seemingly lost after the area was abandoned.

To get out of Mesa Verde you continue to the right and have to climb huge wooden ladders to reach the top.

The tour operators had arranged lunch for us at the Visitors Centre. That proved to be the worst part of the tour. The tour food was boiled senseless and was greasy. You could purchase, at extra cost, other food, but it had no redeeming value either. We ate what we could and felt terrible for the rest of the day.

Day Twelve - Cortez, Colorado to Price, Wyoming.

The intention was too reach Salt Lake City today, but a detour proved to tempting. I had planned to take the road to Monticello, but a much more scenic route was to take the road through Telluride. The road follows the valleys up through the mesas over a saddle (ten thousand feet again) and drops into Telluride. Another fantastic piece of road. The mountains are at fourteen thousand feet and had snow on them. The town itself looks like something out of Disneyland, everything is so new, clean and manicured. You almost get the impression that the original town was demolished and rebuilt with replicas. A free gondola runs between Telluride and Keystone so we took it. Fantastic views. Rita wasn't so sure, as she not keen on heights, but this was just too good to miss. A view from the gondola.

Continued on our way and finally stopped at Price as the sun was setting.

Today would have to have been the best in mesa/valley/'over a range' section of road I have ever been on. One postcard picture after another. The day just never seemed to end, but finally the sun had its way: We couldn't see the sights anymore.

I wanted to stop at a Best Western motel, but they were full, so I went to the motel across the road and booked us in. The motel had a restaurant, but I think the title is a little extravagant, it's more of a cafe.

Day Thirteen - Price, Wyoming to Elko, Nevada.

Set off around 9:00 am and headed for Salt Lake City and then west. Just before reaching the Nevada border are the Bonneville Salt Flats, so I just had stop. As we were relaxing another rider on a R1200RT pulled up, so we had a bit of chat. He had an accessory attached to the cylinder heads that allowed him to rest his feet on them. Very clever. He was rather annoyed about the fact that he had to put on a helmet before entering Nevada. Even then the helmet was a half helmet. Headed west until the sun ran out. Not a lot of towns out this way so trying to reach the next town is a bit of an exercise.

We finally stopped at Elko at a motel that had a Casino attached. Rita sunk a few dollars and didn't win a fortune. The restaurant served excellent food so we went to bed satisfied.

The motel also had a dedicated Internet terminal, so I made use of that.

Day Fourteen - Elko, Nevada to South Lake Tahoe, California.

Up around 9:00 and had a most satisfying breakfast. Continued heading west towards Reno. The weather service had predicted a bit of an incursion of cold air from Canada with gusty to very gusty conditions. I'll say, up around the 40 miles an hour mark. Turned south at Reno and then took route 431 to Lake Tahoe. This is one of those pass roads where you climb for thousands of feet and then come down the other side. Today the ride was tricky at best, with the tight winding road and the wind gusts, but we survived. I must admit that at times I was wondering if I'd bitten off more than I could chew. Signposts on the road stated that you should pull over to let faster traffic pass you if more than four vehicles collected behind you. The cars behind us were quite unforgiving and I ended up with quite a line behind me. Where I could I pulled over to let them past, but there weren't too many flat turn outs and after Mt Rushmore I was doubly concerned at stopping on a sloping area.

Coming down the other side and seeing Lake Tahoe was a splendid sight. The water was whiped up because of the wind and would have made a good 'Kodak moment'. We stopped at a visitors area, both for a break and to check out the view. We continued on and decided to call it a day at South Lake Tahoe.

We had dinner at the motel. I found a bottle of Riesling at Safeway and retired to our room. Cool night tonight.

Day Fifteen - South Lake Tahoe, California to Yosemite, California.

The ride today was very slow and took us through a lot of back roads and back streets of towns making for a rather slow, tiring trip. We followed routes 89, 50, 49, 120 and finally 140. We stopped at Placerville because I had become tired of the low oil warning indicator (icon) appearing on the bikes display. The icon would appear and then disappear to reapprear soon after. Just simply annoying. I found a motorcycle shop (quite by accident) and asked them to check the oil. They determind that I needed oil, so I purchased some oil and topped up the oil reservoir. Even after that effort, the icon still randomly appeared for the rest of the trip. (This is where the non existant handbook would have come in handy.) The ride into Yosemite is quite spectacular with a quite steep climb up the side of the valley with lots of hairpin turns and then a slow ride through Stanislaus Forest before entering Yosemite. Arriving at Yosemite, our first priority was accommodation and that proved to be in very short supply. I didn't want to take a ride out of the park as it was about sixty miles with a difficult road, not the sort of thing you want to tackle day late in the day. The only thing available was canvas tent accommodation. I decided we could handle that for one night, Rita wasn't so sure. I rang a hot line and booked the accommodation.

Upon arrival at Curry Village, you are made immediately aware that you are in bear territory. You even have to sign a document that defines all the do's and don'ts of bear protocol. All food (read anything with a scent) has to go in bear proof lockers, so we did.

Then began our first problem: The booking office weren't able to pass on our booking, so I had to pay again! Not happy.

We had dinner in the great public eating area and had a good feed. This is the only time in the whole trip that I qualified for a seniors discount!

It was getting late and cold, so we retired to our canvas tent. We found two beds and what we considered woefully inadequate sheets and blankets. A top and bottom sheet and two flimsy blankets each. We 'hit the sack' and spent most of the night trying to stay warm.

Somewhere through the night I heard a noise and then felt the bed move a little. What was that? I went back to sleep and then again more noise followed by the door being opened as a silhouette of something that definitely looked like a bear. I yelled out at the shape to be greeted to the sounds of Rita's voice. Oops, major faux pas.

The Canvas tent.

Day Sixteen - Yosemite, California to Bishop, California.

My estimation was that the temperature fell to twenty degrees as at 8:00 am the bike was showing twenty eight degrees. It would have to be the coldest night we've ever experienced. We almost ran for the warmth of the public eating area. Breakfast was consumed almost in silence. There was absolutely no way we would stay another night in these conditions. Sorted out the double booking, my surname had been ms-spelled and was lost. Thankfully I received a full refund for the hot line booking and was only charged half the rate for the second booking. Somehow it didn't seem enough after what we had gone through.

I queried the management about the woefully inadequate bedding material, to be told "Oh it's usually good enough! You could have asked for more." We wish we had.

We had a short look around and quickly realised that to take in the wonder of the area you really need to walk it. Views from the bike just didn't work, so we moved on.

El Capitan.

The way out was on route 120, which was extremely scenic. There are some things you can't take pictures of and this was one of them. The mountains were solid rock or sheets of solid rock. No boulders or debris, just solid rock, fantastic. The final part of route 120 before it reaches route 395 is basically following a mountain valley down to the plains, very picturesque.

Upon reaching route 395, you still drop thousands of feet in a short period. You are basically on the valley floor with these large mountains to your right.

We finally stopped early at Bishop as Rita wasn't feeling the best. Probably the lack of sleep from last night. We stopped at a Best Western and was a little taken aback at the price of a room: $170. There were two Best Western motels in town but the other was infested/occupied with Harley Davidson riders. I think we got the best deal. The motel even had a creek running through its property, but I'm not sure if that explains the price.

Pizza again for dinner.

Day Seventeen - Bishop, California to Las Vegas, Nevada.

Easy ride to Death Valley, which we reached around mid day. The temperature was a little under one hundred degrees in the lower parts of the valley, but quite comfortable everywhere else. The drop into Stovepipe Wells was just incredible. It's one long, almost straight drop of about five thousand feet and a steady decline. Only one like this on the trip. Stovepipe Wells has an altitude of zero feet - Sea level. There was supposed to be someplace to register to enter the park here but I couldn't locate it. Continued on to Furnace Creek. The land between is below seal level.

We continued on to Badwater, where you can walk to the lowest point. I had the mistaken notion that Badwater was a town. Not so, it's a car park, with toilets and a walk to the lowest point. I didn't walk all the way out, but I did get salt on my boots.

Headed back to Furnace Creek and filled up with petrol.

Next stop, Dante's View. Just follow Route 190 and then follow Dante's View Road. You rise five thousand feet and have an opportunity to look into Death Valley. Wonderful views. The final part of the road gets quite twisty with steep grades up to fifteen percent.

Looking straight across Death Valley.

Continued on and made our way to Las Vegas. I took a shortcut but got a little disorientated, not lost mind you. The simplified map that I had been given had no relation to their actually placements, read: Tourist Map. So at one of our regular back-side stops I checked the map and we just continued on our way.

The sun yet again beat us and the temperature plummeted. We stopped to add another layer and then made the final stretch to Las Vegas. The road works on the main road caused chaos yet again, especially at night, but I managed to find us a motel.

Day Eighteen - Las Vegas, Nevada.

Today was a bit of a lost day partly as I wasn't feeling too well. I rode downtown and checked out 'The Strip' but found it rather unattractive and strangely grubby like most other big cities. The image of Las Vegas is glittery, let me tell you it wasn't. The flow of traffic was nearly non existent, down to a crawl in many places and the bike wasn't happy about it. The temperature gauge climbed and climbed. Thankfully I was able to escape. Back to Hotel and took Rita for a ride of some of the same area. l asked for Rita's impression of the scenes. She wasn't impressed either.

Went for a ride through Red River Canyon Park. We followed West Charleston Boulevard out of Las Vegas and were thoroughly exhausted once we exited city limits. It just seemed to be one red light after another, no fun at all as I could feel myself cramping up.

Yet again more roadworks, so we escaped to the visitors centre where I recovered a little. Rita wasn't keen to take the scenic route because of all of the height and curves involved so we opted to go back to Las Vegas and try and see Hoover Dam. This was another trip of depression. Once in Las Vegas the traffic slowed to a near crawl and the bike temperature gauge hit the top. To escape I just took any exit I could and then tried to find the route 147. Not having a map I just poked around trying this and that before eventually locating and entry ramp. The trip to Hoover Dam was much quicker.

One other quirk, we couldn't actually reach Hoover Dam as the road across the dam was closed because the gusty winds had blown over two cranes. So instead we put up with very pleasant view of a not quite full Lake Mead. This same water is the water that flows through the Grand Canyon.

Back to our motel and then had a small rest and then dinner at the motels restaurant. Oh, about a mile from the motel we noticed homeless people setting up for the night against a cyclone fence.

Rita wanted a flutter at the casino's so we took a taxi to the MGM Grand and took in the sights. I just looked around while Rita attempted the win of a life time. Sad to report that it didn't happen.

Back to our motel and lights out. Well yes, lights out, but I was still watching the T.V. and one news item caught my eye, the road over Hoover Dam was being opened tomorrow, so our direct route the Williams was now open.

Day Nineteen - Las Vegas, Nevada to Williams, Arizona.

Had breakfast and headed for Hoover Dam. No problems today in finding the road, a few turns and there you are. There is a huge road upgrade being undertaken at Hoover Dam in an attempt to get traffic off the dam wall. Only the bridges have been built so far, but boy oh boy, it's an interesting route. We stopped on the other side of Hoover Dam at a parking point and took in the view. There were a couple of Harley riders also taking in the view and we chatted for awhile. While they had all the Harley gear, they were really ordinary people, very reassuring.

Continued onto Williams and tried NightsOut again and for the only time on the trip they got everything right.

Rita wasn't up to dinner tonight, so I explored the railway and booked two tickets on the Grand Canyon railway. I had two classes of service: Observation class on the way in and first class on the way back.

On my way through Williams I noticed a steak house, so I took a chance and had dinner there. The steak house was set up in an old movie theatre which sure brought back a lot of good memories. The forward sloping stage, the front stage lights, all the wood. Unfortunately it wasn't a weekend so there was no live music. I could see a drum kit and other band gear set up on stage but no people. Dinner was very tasty and they accomodated my love of tomatoes.

Day Twenty - Williams, Arizona.

Up early and had breakfast and then headed off for the Grand Canyon railway station. There were quite a few options on how to travel, so I went top of the class and booked seats on the Observation Car, which as you can see gives you a better view of the surrounding countryside. Yes, you could see further, but as the country was flat you didn't actually see more scenery. Food and drink were expensive, but the host of each carriage worked hard to keep everyone entertained. If I shut my eyes I swear I could hear Minnie Mouse, my she had a very high voice. There were even musicians dressed in period costumes to serenade and tell tall stories to. All good value. Somehow the musician determined that I was a musician and told me to contact the railroad for a gig. At the canyon, we were herded (escorted) to a bus where we began a tour of part of the southern rim. Our driver was most entertaining and kept us on our toes. He would stop at various points and he would explain what we were looking at.

View from the Observation Car.

The view wasn't as sharp as it could have been as smoke from bush fires had filled the canyon. You know for all of it's size, the canyon needs to be walked to get a proper feel of it and we just didn't have the time, not to mention that we weren't fit for the task.

On the way back to Williams we were held up by Outlaws and had to pay a token fee of a dollar to stay out of harms way. Not to sure where the money went though.

Decided to have dinner at an 'Authentic Mexican Restaurant' and were very sorry for our troubles. Everything was deep fried, neither of us finished our meals and didn't feel well after.

Day Twenty One - Williams, Arizona to St Michaels, Arizona.

Left Williams around 8:00 and rode to Flagstaff and took a tour of the Lowell Observatory. Very interesting in a historic/scientific context. Bought a star guide so I could find Polaris. I missed the shortcut to the Grand Canyon and nearly ended up back in Williams before heading for the Grand Canyon. It's interesting comparing the route travelled by the train and the road. The railway just travels directly to the Grand Canyon, whereas the road travels through several towns that I didn't even know existed.

We didn't stop and look, just sort of parked and looked except for the final curve in the road where you leave the canyon, Desert View Point. A stone tower has been built that from a distance looks like an Anasazi watchtower. It's the best place to get good looks of the canyon. The inside of the tower has a staircase that clings to the inside wall and has about six horizontal levels that you can peer out of the windows to see the view. The windows are of various sizes and heights, something for everyone. The wind had changed direction and the smoke that reduced visibility yesterday was nowhere to be seen.

Instead of riding back to Flagstaff, we headed into the Hopi reservation via Route 264 with the hope of buying some authentic jewellery. Due to a mix up in time zones we missed the Hopi Tourist Centre by 10 minutes. Arizona is a strange place time zone wise. Some places honour day light savings others don't. The Indians don't!

We pushed off and hoped to reach Gallup by night fall, but yet again ran out of time. It got darker and colder, and as if in a mirage, a motel appears out of the darkness about forty miles from Gallup. Even though it's a NightsOut motel we have just had enough for the day and stay the night.

Day Twenty Two - St Michaels, Arizona to Amarillo, Texas.

We just rode today with the intention of going as far as we could. Flat land now. We decided to stop at Amarillo as the sun would be down by the time we reached the next town.

Had dinner at the Big Texan Steakhouse. Their claim to fame is a free steak, but there are stings attached. The steak is seventy two ounces and you have to consume it in under one hour. Not only steak, but there are other entrees and sweets that need to be consumed as well. I passed the opportunity.

The restaurant located in half of a two storey building, with the other half selling souvenirs. In fact they had rattlesnakes right at the back.

I ordered an ordinary steak, and, tomatoes and onion slices. Now this is where I got caught out. They described the tomatoes and onions as three slices of tomato and onion slices. Previously, at Denny's' I had to order two rounds, as three slices doesn't go far. When dinner was delivered well I knew I was in trouble. The three slices turned out to be three halves of tomatoes and the onion rings were similarly large. My oh my, three whole tomatoes. I'm proud to say I got through all of the tomatoes.

The restaurant had three house musicians (Guitar, fiddle and double bass) that would go around each of the tables and perform songs. I went up to the guitarist and asked him if he would let me use his guitar for one song. I was most surprised when he handed me his guitar and looked me in the eye and said "You know what sort of a guitar this is don't you?" I looked at the Martin brand on the headstock and replied "Yes, a real one!" I borrowed the services of the bass player and performed "All Shook Up" to Rita. I gave the guitarist a good tip for using his guitar.

Day Twenty Three - Amarillo, Texas to Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Up around 8:00 and went out to unchain the bike and was greeted with a rather unpleasant sight.

The bike on its side.

There's only two conclusions I can come to that could explains the result: Firstly, it was a very gusty, windy night, the bike could have blown over. Secondly, the cynic in me thinks that the bike was probably pushed over. All of the damage was confined to the right hand side, plus the tail light assembly had suffered quite a bit of damage. Checking the electrical side of things revealed that one indicator bulb and one stop light were not functioning. It was around this time that I discovered that Eagle Rider had not provided a tool kit. I walked to the nearest petrol station and bought a screwdriver and replacement bulbs. The right hand mirror assembly had also fallen off, so with a lot of Gaffa tape I put everything back together.

As a side note, as I was walking to the petrol station, I noticed a beaten up car stop and a black guy get out and walk over to me. He spun a line about needing to get to Salt Lake City and must have been short of money. I'll never know, as I cut him off and complained about the damage to the bike and kept walking. Probably the best thing I could have done.

Lost the interstate going through Little Rock, but found it again by chance.

Kept going until we reached Fort Smith. Dark again, but we had a good day.

Day Twenty Four - Fort Smith, Arkansas to Memphis, Tennessee.

As we arrived at Memphis, I thought it might be good if we checked out the Graceland area before going to the motel. I followed Route 55, but didn't see the turn off. The area got rougher the further we went and we both got a little nervous. While we were stopped at a traffic like this guy yells out to Rita "Yo Biker Babe ..." We couldn't make out the rest of the conversation. I decided it was time to turn around and find a safer place, so I did and made our way to the north of the city where we found a NightsOut motel and booked in for two nights. As usual the room was nothing flash, but seemed good enough for a couple of nights.

I had noticed that the bike behaved a little wobbly as we came into Memphis, so I checked the tyres and was very surprised to see the state of the back tyre. The tyre was a Metzler Roadtec and obviously had harder rubber in the centre of the tyre. The softer rubber had worn revealing the steel belt, rather terrifying. Clearly the first order of the day is to purchase a new back tyre.
I rang Eagle Rider and informed them of the tyre situation. Their immediate response was that they don't do the servicing, a BMW shop will have to. They told me that they'd call me back with a location. They never did!

A quick look in the Yellow Pages revealed 'BMW of Memphis' about three miles away, so that's the first call tomorrow morning.

A very worn back tyre

Rita decided to go to Appleby's for dinner, so we rang for a taxi and were driven there. Unfortunately, the restaurant had closed down, so our friendly taxi driver took as to an equivalent establishment, Shoneys. Had a most pleasant dinner and retired back to the motel.

During the night feeling the call of nature, I shuffled into the bathroom to be met by the sight of scurrying cockroaches. Take a note: Must change rooms tomorrow.

Day Twenty Five - Memphis, Tennessee.

Rita had the same experience last night, so the first thing we did was to go to reception and demand a better room. The lady at reception agreed and waltzed down the corridor to take us to a 'beautiful room'. I was really expecting a different layout to the room, maybe even chandeliers, but no, the room looked the same as the room we were in. We took her at her word that it was a better room and moved all out belongings.

Next call of the day was to 'BMW of Memphis' to determine if they had a tyre to suit the bike. After a quick check of inventory they informed me they had a SportTec not a RoadTec. I said that was fine and rode the bike to their shop and they fitted the tyre. It took them about an hour and a half to do the job. I filled in time by talking to a gentleman who rode a BMW R1200 CL. We exchanged stories about bikes and trips etc, a most pleasant way to pass the time.

The next stop was to get a new phone for Rita. Rita had dropped hers the previous day and the screen no longer functioned. The staff were less than friendly and took quite a bit of prodding to get them to do anything. In the end, Rita obtained a new phone. I asked if they had a charger for my phone, but sadly they didn't.

Next stop was medicine for Rita. That took a bad turn when they wouldn't except Rita's medical insurance, so we had to pay full price.

Finally, we head for Graceland and park in the huge car park. The routine is to buy a ticket for one of their tours and then get bussed across the road to Graceland in lots of twenty people.

There were three levels of tour, so I chose the middle level. Before you reach the bus queue, you are herded in front of a backdrop to have your picture taken. I naively thought that the photo was part of the tour. Not so, "That will be $20 thank you" you find out at the end of the tour.
When you arrive at the doorstep of Graceland, a guide basically just tells you to keep your hands to yourself and stay behind the ropes. I was a bit disappointed in the guides delivery. She did it a flat, sort of distracted voice, not selling the tour at all.

I was rather surprised at the presentation given by our tour guide at the front door of Graceland. This person just didn't care about how in awe we were, she came across as one very bored person.

The Graceland estate is huge compared to anything in the area and almost looks like it was set up for horses. Because of the great open expanses of green the estate is very relaxing.

The house was a bit of a surprise, mainly in the sense that the rooms are not huge. The rooms are rather compact and give the impression that there weren't a lot of people partying at once. Seeing all of those gold records at once is quite impressive.

Back on the other side of the road we did the other parts of the tour but weren't all that impressed. It's almost like they were set up to extract as much as they could from your wallet for not much benefit. Maybe it would have meant more for an Elvis fan, but it got it a bit silly near the end, just too much of too little.

Day Twenty Six - Memphis, Tennessee to Nashville, Tennessee.

Set off early for Nashville and found a motel quite close to where IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) was holding a function. Rita took a rest while I checked out the function. I was more interested in the playing of music and the informal jams that were supposed to be a hallmark of the week. I hardly found any of that. The function was actually a business event: How to make money out of Bluegrass and lacked that informal feel.

The first jolt is the price of admission: $140 for a day, or in my case, four hours. I went to the exhibitors hall checked out all of the instruments. Not only that, but did the following:

• I had intended to meet as many possible people that are members of the Jerry Douglas Bulletin Board. I had made a sign with JD BB on it in an attempt to communicate the fact. Sadly I didn't get the any patrons of the bulletin board, except for the following item.
  
  
• As I was walking past the Paul Beard stand, the business manager for PB recognised the sign and introduced himself to me and in turn to the man himself, Paul Beard. I have a Paul Beard slide guitar and it's one of the best investments I have ever made. Very good to meet its maker in the flesh.
  
  
• Stopped in at the Scheerhorn stand and watched to guys playing Dobro style. When they found out I was from Australia, one of them immediately went into the song 'Down Under', so I sang the vocal line. Got to play a couple of songs as well.
  
  
• Very good to catch up with Laurie Grundy of Grundy Banjos. Laurie is a fellow Australian trying to break into the selling of banjos scene in the U.S.A. Have to be seen and this is the place for it.

I hung out until the exhibitors hall closed and looked around for signs of jamming. I didn't find any so I headed back to the motel.

Rita had heard that the food at BB Kings Blues Club was good and reasonably priced, to we took a taxi there. As luck would have it, it was a 'Soul' night. The band was very good, but somehow I would have rather listened to some blues.

The food was very good and our waiter very entertaining, but somehow that didn't add up to $80 worth of value. The steak I had was $30. Rita's cheeseburger was $18. Good value, maybe.

We decided to walk back to the IBMA function as it wasn't far away and were amazed at how much live music was happening. In some places there were small bars right next to each other, each with a live band. The town was jumping. Nothing happening at IBMA so I hailed a taxi and told him the name of the motel. That wasn't good enough, he wanted an address. The logic behind this is that he had an electronic map thingamebob (GPS) and he really wasn't prepared to go anywhere without the address of the destination. After a bit of negotiation and manipulation, I managed to persuade him that it really wasn't all that hard to get to the motel. Just follow the street we are on until it ends and turn right. The motel is about a half mile beyond that. Simple or what? Even then he wasn't too sure, but he went along with it.

Back at the motel there was a solo artist performing in the bar. We listened to a few songs before retiring.

Day Twenty Seven - Nashville, Tennessee to Bristol, Virginia.

Rode all day and finally pulled up at Bristol. Bristol is interesting as it exists in both Tennessee and Virginia. In Australia it's a bit like Albury-Wodonga. Two different states same town.

We had dinner outside of the motel as they had live music. The band consisted of two musicians: A vocalist/guitarist and a harmonica player. I asked the guitarist if I could play a song, but he refused my request. He made the all but sad statement that he's "Playing to tables and chairs." For those not in the know, this means that the patrons just ignore you. The musicians had been around for awhile and were just trying to eke out a living from music. Pretty soon even that will be impossible. Musicians have finally become redundant on the small to medium scale. I thought this was just an Australian phenomena, sadly it seems world wide.

As we walked back the rain started to fall. Would tomorrow be a 'lay day'?

Checked the Internet and still wasn't sure what the weather would hold for tomorrow.

Day Twenty Eight - Bristol, Virginia to Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Up late as I just wasn't sure what the weather would hold. The ground was wet, but the skies had blue patches, let's go for it. We rushed trying to beat the rain and all went well until about ten miles before Harrisonburg when the heavens opened up. The road we were following had hills on the left and the road wound its way through them. The clouds became lower and blacker and you could see the clouds swirling at the base. The road kept on veering ever so slightly to the right so we kept beating the rain until the spot where the road veered left and bang, the rain was so heavy I couldn't see a thing. I lifted up the visor and took the nearest exit and then headed for what looked like a service station and pulled up. Well it was a service station, once, but is now abandoned. Two other bikes were also taking refuge, so we chatted away until the thunderstorm passed.

We continued on, but a steady light rain continued after the storm, so we stopped at the next town for the night, Harrisonburg.

Had dinner at Outback. Our waiter had obviously seen better days, as he got just about everything wrong with our order. Later in the night he came back and appologised stating that he's had an anxiety attack yesterday and hadn't recovered fully.

You know for all of the hype about Outback being Australian, all I heard music wise over the speakers was English music. Why is that?

Day Twenty Nine - Harrisonburg, Virginia to Edgewood, Maryland.

Took of around 10:00 am and then headed for Washington D.C. and this was just a pathetic day. Getting to Washington D.C. was easy. Trying to get to the landmarks was another issue. A simple choice has enormous ramifications. It's a lot like Canberra, Australia, one wrong move and you are trapped to a road with no exits. Yes I saw the White House, even if for only three seconds out of my peripheral vision, but I did see it. The roads have been modified to secure the area around the White House. I suspect that unless you booked onto an official tour you weren't going to see anything. I tried, just a waste of time.

After three trips across the same bridge I'd had enough. Let's get out of here, this place is just nuts!

Route 495 just has to be travelled upon to be believed. The signposting on this road is just plain ridiculous. I wasted a lot of time here too.

Rode until we just got to tired and the sun run out. Hello Edgewood.

Day Thirty - Edgewood, Maryland to Salem, Massachusetts.

Today was really a rush to reach Salem before the rain overtook us from the west. We only stopped for fuel and lunch. I had planned to stop in a park opposite the Statue of Liberty, but that all changed when I reached the city limits. The traffic was just so quick and aggressive that I just kept going. The ride on the Bronx Interchange has to be done to appreciate the darkness/gloom of the road. It had all the attributes of Mad Max or perhaps a storm water drain, I just kept on a moving. Today also marked the beginning of toll roads, they were everywhere. I fell foul of not knowing the area around Trenton, Pennsylvania today. While following Route 95 I had no idea that the road folded up on itself. I really should have taken the New Jersey Turnpike, that would have saved a lot of time.

We finally arrived at Salem around 10:00 pm, late and cold, but we did the trip and were still dry.

Day Thirty One - Salem

From now on I'll be staying at the home of Bill and Lorraine, Rita's friends.

I rang Eagle Rider to inform them I would be a day late as it rained all day. The weather we were trying to beat finally caught up with us. They happily informed me this would not be a problem.

Day Thirty Two - Salem, Massachusetts to Manchester, New Hampshire.

Left around 11:00 am and drove the finally leg of the trip. Half way through the trip I had a few drops of rain but nothing more thank goodness.

The Eagle Rider office was nothing spectacular at this end of the U.S.A. In fact you had to look hard to not take the bike to the Harley Davidson shop in the next building.

I explained all the scratches,/damage on the bike, but was surprised to find that I wouldn't get an outcome today. They haven't even seen a BMW before and was told the bike might be 'tested' for a few days to evaluate it. Each ER shop is effectively independent of each other. I was informed that the bike would have to be shipped back to Los Angeles for them to asses the damage.

Bill kindly retraced my steps to take me home.

The physical cost of the trip.

I hadn't taken this into account, but there are issues:

• Being on a motorcycle does not give you a lot of exercise, so in the long term there should be other activity to compensate for this.
  
  
• Being 'two up' and also having both panniers and a top box full also had it's cost. The bike was working at or beyond its rated weight capacity and consequently behaved like a barge at low or zero speeds.
  
  
• Because the seats weren't really up to the task, I ended up riding side-saddle for a large proportion of the trip. This did nothing for my back (sciatica). Nearly three weeks later the pain has subsided.
  
  
• I developed a pain in my right thumb in the last few days of the ride. RSI? And yes, I did have cruise control.
  
  
• Having my legs scrunched up on the bike put a lot of pressure on my heels. That was hard to take near the end of the trip.
  Yes, I know, the position and faring protects you from the elements, but there are long term costs to this strategy.
  
  
• This cost I didn't take into account, but when I arrived home and rode my bike for the first time, I had major problems. From trying to fit into a corset on the R1200RT, it felt like I was in the Outback on my R1200 CI. There was just so much room! As I hurtled down my driveway I couldn't find the rear brake pedal. The reason was that I had put my feet on the rear pillion footpegs. I was just so used to being in a cramped bike position that my bike felt like I was floating in outer space, there just so much room.

Tips for Eagle Rider

• Provide the bike with a manual.
  
  
• Provide the bike with a tool kit.
  
  
• Set up the head lights so they work with the load they are carrying. The high beam was all but useless.
  
  
• Samef or the tyre pressure.
  
  
• Providing a bike implies that you can service the bike at all your stores. That wasn't the case.
  
  
• Return telephone calls.

Comments

Riding in the U.S.A.

A few things become immediately obvious:

• You ride on the right hand side of the road.
  
  
• You keep to the right. The fast lane is on the left.
  
  
• Traffic lights are on the far side of the intersection. Do not attempt to stop in front of them or you will find yourself stopped in the intersection.
  
  
• Be extra careful of off ramps that look suspiciously like ordinary roads.
  
  
• Cars do not give way or make room for you when you try and change lanes.
  
  
• Cars will always stop for you when you try and cross the road if you are walking or on a bike. Don't try this in Australia.
  The most glaring example occurred whilst returning from Beverley Hills to Los Angeles. As we were driving south along La Cienega Boulevard in Friday night peak traffic, I saw a lady cross the three lane highway and hold her hand up to stop the traffic as she walked across the highway. Faith or what?
• Cars head for the bush and clear the road at the first sign of an emergency vehicle with its lights flashing.
  In the major cities this wasn't so true, but outside of them it's an impressive sight watching all the cars head bush.

A few things I really liked:

• If you are facing a red light, you can turn right if the road is clear.
  
  
• In mountainous areas, there are signs, up to fifty miles before a road closure due to snow, to warn you that the road is closed. A most practical idea.

A few things I'm not sure about:

• Double lines are everywhere, but no one seems to abide them.
  
  
• Road users seem to have a need to have icons/symbols explained to them in words.
  e.g. You are going up a hill and the centre line changes to a solid line on your side and a dashed line on the other side. At this point there will usually be a sign stating 'Do not pass after this point'.
  
  
• In Marblehead, the road signs became politically correct. "30 mph please", "Heavily Populated Area", etc.
  
  
• Hollywood Boulevard had a sign restricting 'Cruising'. If you were caught traversing the road twice in a certain time, you could be booked.
  
  
• In Salem there seemed to be a conspiracy in road naming. I had to turn off Route 107 into a street named Barnes Rd. The next turn to the right was Barnes Cir. The one after Barnes Ave. There seemed to be this 'clumping' behaviour in naming streets. Most confusing.

The Road System

The U.S.A. has standardised the road numbering system:

• Odd numbers run north-south. Numbers generally increase from the south to the north.
  
  
• Even numbers run east-west. Numbers generally increase from the west to the east.

This sort of makes sense until state and local routes are added. The same road can have a multitude of route numbers which of course leads to confusion. By this I mean that not all the route numbers are displayed at the same time, but are staggered in their appearance.

Exit mile numbers are another oddity. Exits from interstates are numbered in milles from the border, much as in the numbering system. To make the most of any town, learn the exit numbering system, it will save you a lot of time.

I have particular empathy with route 495 which is a circular highway which surrounds Washington D.C. This is a two lane highway in each direction. For some unknown reason, going clockwise the highway is known as 495 South or the Inner Loop. The other side as 495 North or the Outer Loop. Get it? It's a circular road. What does north and south really mean? Nothing when I was traversing it, let me tell you. Because the highway traverses different states, exit numbers mean nothing either.

California is a state in transition. Sometimes the exits are suburbs, roads, etc. Sometimes they have exit mile numbers. Most confusing.

The Currency

Money in the U.S.A. is, umm, how can I put it, cute? different? Just weird and doesn't make a lot of sense to an Aussie.

• Paper currency are all the same size and colour regardless of the value.
  
  
• One dollar and two dollar bills still exist!
  
  
• A coins value is not related to its size! A ten cent coin is smaller than the five cent coin.
  I have rethought the situation and realise that we, in Australia, have the same problem: Our two dollar coin is smaller than a one dollar coin.
  
  
• A one cent coin is still in existence and is colloquially called 'A Penny'. Go figure.

When it comes to coins I usually dug out a lot of coins from my pocket and just tell the cashier "Take what you need!".

Internet

Internet access was a hit and miss affair and caused its own share of disappointment.

• Not every motel has Internet access.
  
  
• Those that do can be broken down further into:

1. Those that have wireless connectivity but for some reason can't be connected to. (Least favourite.)
   Some motels even offer the friendly advice "Go to the restaurant next door and use theirs!"
   
   
2. Those that have wireless connectivity and can be accessed. (Second favourite.)
   
   
3. Those that do not have wireless connectivity but have dedicated terminals. (My favourite.)
   
   
4. Those that do not have wireless connectivity but provide dedicated cable access points in each room, Ethernet. (Same as 1.)

I brought a HP iPAQ with me and being a PDA, there were further problems with web sites not supporting PDA's. These sites were useless as they just clogged up the screen and were unreadable. My Internet provider in Australia falls into this category and sending email was just impossible because of a timeout issue. I ended up subscribing to a free email service: mail.com, tedious, but it worked.

The Food

I had been warned about the food in the U.S.A. and largely the advice I had been given was true. Expect a lot of greasy, sugary food.

I went along with the sugary drinks which were just humungous is size for awhile. I never finished them and after awhile switched to water. I tried most of the fast food chains and made it a priority to stop at Subway. All of that fried, fatty food just can't be good for you. The real trick is to find restaurants, not fast food places. The food is always better and healthier with a wider variety of meals to choose from. Of course it costs more, but, you feel better after eating a healthier meal.

Restaurants can be a challenge too. Most of time the portion sizes can just be enormous. This brings me to another difference between Australia and the U.S.A. In the U.S.A:

• An entree is reffered to as an appetiser.
• A main is reffered to as an entree.

Not only that, but salads are expected to be eaten before the main is served. Quite a few times the waiter would state "Oh, I'm waiting for you to finish your salad." I pushed my luck at the salad stage and asked for lots and lots of tomatoes. This was accepted to varying degrees of result. Some food places had a fixed idea of what I wanted in terms of salad, usually way smaller, but as I we travelled east, portion sizes increased. You just can't get enough tomatoes.

Regrets

• Not meeting Claudio from ER. Everytime I had the opportunity he was never in.

The result of the damage to the bike

I did send an email to Eagle Rider to try and work out the cost of the damage to the bike. I broke it all down and even sent pictures. I am disappointed to report that the Client Affairs section of Eagle Rider is not functional. They did not reply to my email and just took the maximum amount they could from my account without even informing me. I regard this sort of behaviour as very poor and unprofessional, but at the end of the day they don't care, so what the hell!

Follow this link for the next month - Bikeless