Maybe I just spent to much time in Hollywood, I don't know, but I just made my first movie ;-)
Really, it was a great way to cram a lot of stuff into a small space. No writing on my part which lets me get on with all the other missing entries, and, It was fun to put together.
Hope you enjoy...
Having arrived back in the USA after a couple of weeks in very cold South Korea, I came up with a great plan to see a bit of the country.
I'd passed my motorbike test shortly before coming on this trip and I decided to put this new skill to the test and rent a motorbike. So, with about 5 days total motorcycling experience behind me and almost 17 months without even sitting on a motorbike, I rented a new BMW F650GS and set off on a 4000 mile road trip across the country! No half measures here you know.
It took a little while to get 'back in the saddle' as it were. And, unfortunately, the first 40 miles or so were through the VERY busy LA Freeway system. Still, in at the deep end and i'd have to say, quite ..exciting at times!
I had hoped to get an early start from LA and make it all the way to Lake Havasu City (home of London Bridge), but it was almost 1pm before I managed to get away from Long Beach and so I revised the original plan as the 350 miles i'd hoped to cover today were looking very unlikely.
As it was, I made it to a small town called Twentynine Palms just next to the town of Joshua Tree and The Joshua Tree National Park. Some 150 miles short of the days target, but a great location to start exploring the National Park first thing in the morning. The Joshua Tree (yes that is the same one of U2 fame) is actually a very large Yucca found around the Mojave desert, but in the largest concentrations here in the Joshua Tree National Park.
One of the other things i've done since I arrived in the US is to buy a Laptop. There seemed to be a distinct lack of Internet Cafes here and those that do exist are expensive. So, I bit the bullet and bought some more technology to lug around. As it turns out most of the motels i'm staying in have wireless Internet and of course there's aways the coffee shops. So I no longer have any excuses for the website getting out of date. For the bike trip, i'll try and post daily entries with a map, although I won't send out daily notifications.
Spending the night so close the National Park meant that I could make an early start and get straight into the park as soon as it opened. The other advantage of being in the park so early is that the private roads there were empty and this gave me a chance to get comfortable with the bike and practice a few motorcycle maneuvers - wheelies etc. :-)
From here I was heading to the second main stop of the day, Lake Havasu City over in Arizona. The only real draw to this city is the fact that they bought London Bridge back in 1962. At the time, the structure wasn't considered suitable to support the increasing traffic volumes in London and so The city of London sold it to Lake Havasu City . Taking it to pieces, labling every piece, shipping and rebuilding it in this remote desert city. Rumor has it that they thought they were buying Tower Bridge!
Pushing on South bound in search of somewhere to stay for the night took me down to Quartzsite. Not a great choice as all three motels were full and I ended up heading back in to California, to Blythe for the night. I'll push on through Arizona tomorrow.
A few pics:
Some days just have very little to write about and this is one of them. Thats not to say that it wasn't a good day. Infact, it was a GREAT day. Its just that there were no major sights en-route to Tucson. No side trips or diversions. Just several hours on the bike in the sunshine passing mile after mile after mile of VAST wilderness. No cities, no people around, passing the occasional long distance truck and seeing the odd ranch pass by in the distance.
Some times, thats more than enough :-)
It was evening when I arrived in Tucson and there appeared to be a distinct lack of budget accomodation in town. As i'd ridden long enough and didn't really know where to start looking, I resorted to grabbing an option out of the Lonely Planet. I was definitely surprised when the check-in staff told me the rate of $110 per night. Still at that point i'd already decided I was done riding for the day so with a sigh, shelled out the cash.
Nice place though. Lots of 'period features' - my room had a 1940's Bakalite telephone and large 1930's valve 'wireless' radio. Neither of which I used (i'm not even sure if they worked) but they looked right at home with the rest of the decor. As I could only afford the one night, it was soon time to move on again.
Southbound from Tucson I was heading for the iconic western town of Tombstone. Once a hangout for Wyatt Earp (and the other Earp brothers) & Doc Holliday and location of the famous 1881 'Gunfight at the OK Corral'. Admittedly, the town has become a mini western theme park, with gun slingers and stage coaches cruising the streets, but beyond the theatrics there is a lot of the original town intact - The Courthouse, the Birdcage Theater and Bar and of course the famous 'Boot-Hill' cemetery. There is something quite cool about standing at the same bar where Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday used to drink and play poker.
Continuing the Western theme (which is difficult to avoid in this part of the world) I left Tombstone, calling at Boot-Hill to pay my respects and "rode out of town" heading to Silver City. Silver City's most (in)famous resident was "Billy The Kid". This whole region must have been one TOUGH neighbourhood after another!
Only a brief stop in Silver City. Just enough time to take a quick look around and refuel (the bike and me). I wanted to reach the GREAT named town of ... Truth or Consequences before dark. Truth or Consequences (or ToC as its known locally) is a hot springs town almost 85 miles further on from Silver City. The only down side to the final leg of the day was that there was a large mountain range between me and my desired destination (ToC) and it was already late evening.
Still, off I went and it wasn't too long before the road got narrower and narrower and steeper and steeper and it got DARK and COLD (the heated hand grips were definitely a blessing that night). Snow lay around and "Beware of Ice on the road" signs began to appear. TIGHT S-bends on the way up and even TIGHTER S-bends on the steep descent, one after another. The big drop offs at the edge of the road brought back memories of "Death Road" in Bolivia. I'm sure the route would have been great during the day, no doubt spectacular scenery. BUT, to a 'newbie' biker like me its a tough way to end a long day. Especially when the low fuel light came on part way through the pass!
Anyway, I eventually made it safely to Truth or Consequences and the waiting Hot Springs were more than welcoming!
A few more pics:
It was a cold start this morning (but not as bad as it had been the night before when I came through the mountains). Once again I was thankful for the heated grips on the bike. I was now heading south, this time to Las Cruces but only to pick up a westerly road on to Alamogordo - nearest town to the White Sands National Park (and missile testing range - a strange combination!)
One of the most challenging things about getting out to the National Park was having to ride through dust storms and dodge the masses of large tumbleweed which seemed to come out of nowhere. Certainly sharpens your concentration when you have to slalom around these road loving, potential disasters. I did at one point feel like I was in a bizarre video game, as I dodged tumbleweed appearing out of the dust storm. Still, safely through to the next level and I arrived at the White Sands National Park.
The name of the park pretty much gives away what to expect. White Sands is the world's largest gypsum dune field with gypsum sand having engulfed 275 square miles of desert. Certainly startling to look at, and it was a nice change to be able to take the bike of the asphalt for a while, although I didn't manage to get it up any of the dunes (i'm quite sure thats not allowed anyway.) The bright white of the sand gave the impression of being out in the snow (only much warmer :-))
After a couple of hours of riding and walking around the park (remembering to keep an eye on the skies for any 'friendly fire') I left with boots full of the white stuff and set off for my next stop of the day...
... Roswell - Its not missiles in the skies around Roswell that you need to worry about!
Actually there isn't a lot to see in Roswell, but it was only a couple of hours away so I couldn't resist. Such a famous name and the locals have certainly cashed in on the whole Alien thing. Even the street lights are painted up with Alien faces. The International UFO Museum and Research Center was very interesting and they do present a good case with lots of intriguing documentary evidence and government reports. I left without any real answers (of course I wasn't expecting any) but lots of questions. Enough to keep my mind busy at least for the next hour and a half until I reached my home for the night in Carlsbad
A few more pics of the 'White Stuff':
Today is planned to be a driving day. Lots of bike hours to get in as I head from New Mexico into Texas. The one stop I want to make today before I start the sprint into Mexico is at the Carlsbad Caverns. That was the reason for choosing Carlsbad as my overnight stop.
The Carlsbad cavern system consists of dozens of different cave systems and chambers. The one that is of particular interest is known (quite appropriately) as "Big Room". Its the largest natural limestone chamber in the northern hemesphere. Who could pass up a chance to see that?
The chamber is 4,000 feet (1219 m) long, 625 feet (190.5 m) wide, and 255 feet (78 m) high at the highest point. Thats a floor space of 33,210 m² or roughly 6.2 football fields. Basically its HUGE! Very impressive.
Unfortunately I only had chance to see this one chamber (but what a chamber!) before I had to get on the road. I was heading for Austin Texas some 500 miles away and the hour was already getting late. So, the plan - just drive and see how far I can get before it gets dark.
Now, when I left Carslbad town I was low on gas, but i'd seen a sign telling me that there was a gas station out at the caves (about 30 miles from town.) Unfortunately that gas station was closed! So, assuming (blindly) that there would be a gas station as I headed towards the Texas border I carried on. Nothing as I left New Mexico and passed the "Welcome to Texas" sign.
As I looked ahead all I could see was desolate open road stretching ahead as far as the eye could see. Mile after mile passed by without any signs of life. Mile after increasingly anxious mile without gas. I was driving through a flat landscape dotted with what looked like oil pumps, but no people and NO GAS STATIONS. How could I run out of gas in TEXAS! Its one thing this state is famous for.
A full fuel tank gives me about 160-170 miles before i'm driving on the reserve - and the reserve gives another 40-50 miles. The clock was now reading 160. I drove on and the landscape refused to change. I was really starting to worry. This was the middle of nowhere and nobody was passing this way. Not the place to run out of fuel.
The low fuel light came on :-(
After a short time (seemed like AGES) I arrived at the tiny town of Orla - a small cluster of buildings some with doors hanging off (a ghost town?). Saved?! No. I asked an old Texan (I could tell by the hat :-) and he told me the bad news that Orla didn't have a gas station.
The next town of Pecos would have gas. I'd been driving on reserve for a while. I was a very rough guess, but i'd say I had maybe 30 miles worth of gas left. As I rode out of Orla a sign told me that Pecos was another 28 miles ahead. It was a LONG 28 miles and thankfully I managed to roll into the gas station in Pecos. Much relieved.
Refueled and on my way again. But, as I found out at the Gas Station, i'd now moved into the USA Central Time Zone and so i'd just lost an hour out of my day. By the time it started to get dark i'd reached the town of Ozona, as good a place as any to pass the night. Tomorrow I can continue to push on towards Austin (with a full tank of gas.)
The ride continues. Just trying to make it to Austin Texas. That means a good few hours blasting along Interstate Highway number 10. Highway 10 actually goes all the way from LA to New Orleans and on to Jacksonville on the East coast, but i've tried to take the smaller routes that keep me off the main, more direct highway.
There are plenty of interesting side-trips along the way to keep me from heading in anything close to a straight line :-) Lots of small (tiny) one street 'towns' and a few interesting place names along the way: Iraan, Bagdad and, of course, Truth or Consequences (where I spent a night enjoying the hot springs.)
Not too much to report from the days ride apart from lots of miles and lots of quite tiring, gusty, side winds. I stopped in Fredriksburg for lunch - a town with German origins. Lots of german sounding signs and I ate in The German Bakery. With both the bike and I refueled it was another hour and a half in Austin.
Fortunately, there is a Hostelling International in Austin so that has saved a few dollars over the usual Motel rates.
Austin has a good reputation for music and night life and tonight is a BIG day in the political calender know as "Super Tuesday" (when many states hold presidential primaries - an election to nominate the favoured presidential candidate from each party. I may have got that wrong, politics has never been my forte but i'm sure my North American friends can put me right :-)) Anyway the upshot is that it looks like there is going to be quite a party here tonight!
A day in Austin. A roadtrip day without road, or rather without bike. I decided to give the bike a rest today and spend my day wandering the city on foot. A chance to walk off all those enchiladas and burgers :-)
Anyway, after a few beers last night I decided a slow and easy start to the day would be the best option. I took a recommendation from the hostel staff for breakfast - something of a 'death by breakfast challenge'. At least I'll only need to eat once today!
The rest of the day was simply spent wandering the city and continuing the Internet onslaught in order to catch up with the website.
I also bought a new Domain Name this morning. So, for those who can't remember 1smallworld.com, you can now also get to the same place using russjones.org. You can use whichever you prefer.
Thats it for today. No map, no pictures, no worries :-)
Todays mission is to get from Austin through to Houston (just over 300 miles) with one major stop along the way. This stop is going to be in San Antonio - home of The Alamo. Remember The Alamo??
Originally named Misión San Antonio de Valero, the Alamo served as home to missionaries and their Indian converts for nearly seventy years in an area that was then Mexican territory. Large numbers of 'American' immigrants moving in to the area and the responses of Mexican President General Antonio López de Santa Anna created increasing tensions and this led to violent conflicts between the two groups. Ultimately, leading to the battle we all think of as 'The Alamo'.
On the immigrants side - holed up inside the Alamo - were just less than 200 people. Among the Alamo's garrison were Jim Bowie, renowned knife fighter, and David Crockett, famed frontiersman and former congressman from Tennessee. Also choosing to stand against the Mexican forces were men from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales as well as from other areas across Europe. Everyone had a chance to leave before the Mexican troops arrived and all bar one chose to stay and fight.
The 200 'strong' Alamo force was to face an on coming Mexican force of just over 6000. Pretty tough odds i'd say.
The Mexican approach was to lay seige to The Alamo. The seige lasted 13 days with the final assault coming before daybreak on the morning of March 6, 1836. Despite fighting off the assault twice, the third attack saw the walls breached and almost all of those inside killed.
As it turned out, it was the end of that battle but far from the end of the story. But from me its the end of the History lesson. If you want to know more, you can find lots more information here ... The Alamo - More Information
From San Antonio I was heading through to Houston. Unfortunately, i'd spent longer than expected at San Antonio and so it was around 5:30pm when I hit the city freeway around Houston. RUSH HOUR! 6 lanes of crazy traffic, bumper to bumper, switching lanes at will without signals. Not the best place to be on a Motorcycle. After far too long dodging traffic I saw an exit signed for Galveston ( a small island some 50 miles south of Houston) and made my escape heading for the sea.
Todays final destination would be an unknown until I eventually arrived there. I was basically heading towards New Orleans, but would only make it part way today. Quite how far I manage to travel depends on just how long I spend at todays main attraction. One small step for man but quite a long motorcycle ride from California... NASA's Johnson Space Center.
I made a fairly early start from Galveston. Enough time to explore the town a little and grab breakfast by the sea before riding on to the NASA Space Center.
The Space Center was a very cool day out. Lectures on living in Space, mock-ups of the inside of the International Space Station and Space Shuttles even a Shuttle landing simulator (at which I failed miserably - apparently I have "flown where no man has flown before!") The guided tour allows access to the areas in which the Astronauts train and the control center from which all US space missions are controlled. The main control center was a hive of activity as there had been a Shuttle lauch from Florida the day before. A lot of history in these buildings. Plenty to fill a good few hours, which is exactly what happened.
After leaving NASA I only managed to make it (via Beaumont - Texas) over the state border to Lake Charles in Louisiana before night fell. Something of a dodgy motel with 'long-term residents' hanging out in the hallways. The place had a sketchy feel to it, but its just one night before I continue on to New Orleans.
Not much to report from today. A day of riding through the Louisiana swamplands - keeping an eye open for any alligators as I passed by.
The slight downside to the day was that I arrived in New Orleans just after lunch time (around 1pm) and the hostel where I was planning to stay (the only hostel in town) closed the reception between 12pm and 5pm. I had a little difficulty getting anyone to open the door but eventually I managed to blag my way into the building so that I could at least drop off my bags.
To while away the afternoon (until check-in) I spent a few hours riding around the city exploring the French Quarter and then simply getting quite lost. I ended up in some pretty poor neighbourhoods. Areas where there still appeared to be damaged buildings from Hurricane Katrina (2005). It was more good luck than any sense of direction that finally got me back to the hostel in time to check-in.
With only one more day in the city of New Orleans I made an early start and booked onto a tour to visit the famous Number One Cemetery. The Cemetery is famous for its historically interesting occupants (Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau in particular) and there are many ghost and Voodoo stories surrounding the area. Unfortunately, in recent years it has also become famous for violent crime and muggings - hence the organised tour. In addition to providing a bit of security (safety in numbers), the tour guide was very well informed and quite a story teller. The tour finished off with a visit to a Voodoo High Priestess (Chicken blood and the undead optional). Well worth the $15 tour fee.
I spent the afternoon watching blues bands in the streets, watching paddle steamers on the missippippi river and wandering the streets of the French Quarter. Unfortunately, i'd JUST missed Mardi Gras by 4 days! Oh so close. Maybe next time :-)
Today i'm back on the road and making the long trip to complete the coast to coast portion of this USA bike trip. By the end of today I hope to hit the east coast. Its a trip of almost 600 miles to the town of Jacksonville Florida (originally home to Lynyrd Skynyrd.)
Because of the distance I need to cover today its basically going to be a long day heading along the Number 10 Interstate - not much to see along the way as I leave behind Louisiana and pass through Mississippi and Alabama on my way to the 'Sunshine State' of Florida. To make things more difficult, i'll be losing another hour out of the travelling day as I head further east.
Todays stops will be nothing more than rest stops giving chance to refill the bike with gas and me with coffee and the main entertainment of the day will be spotting famous or unusual place names. Nominations in this category include: The Suwannee River (that one had me singing for a while), Niceville (the name says it all) and Bagdad (passing quickly by with head kept low and eyes wide open for insurgents!)
I felt at this point that i'd attained my goal and the rest of the bike trip was kind of a bonus. I have to admit thats a bit strange, because when I set off riding from LA I had not planned to ride from the West to East Coast. Plan 'A' had been to ride as far as New Orleans and then start heading north from there via Memphis to Nashville. Coast to Coast had never been part of the plan, but as I rode and plotted my route on the map the East coast began to beckon. Having riden so far east, it seemed like a logical and increasingly undenyable destination.
So now, having looked out at the Atlantic Ocean I was going to begin the trip northwards, ultimately to Nashville to drop off the bike. But between here and there lay 5 more days, some very cool cities and a LOT of miles. Todays ride would continue up the east coast of Georgia to Savannah before joining the freeway into Atlanta.
The two downsides of hitting Atlanta were: 1) that the weather became increasingly cold and 2) I arrived in Atlanta, a car jammed city at the best of times, around 5:30pm just in time to enjoy their 6 lane gridlocked, indicator free, random lane changing, RUSH HOUR! Not a lot of fun.
I actually ended up getting off the freeway at the wrong exit and then really struggled to find any way back on again as I got lost in the one-way system. So it was later than expected when I finally found the hostel. I arrived cold and traffic stressed, but the hostel was a good choice - friendly staff, warm and a great central location. A very pleasant change from some of the faceless Motels i'd been using along the way.
A damp, cold day even a few light snow showers! Worst weather i've seen since I arrived in the USA. Although i'm sure things will get worse as I head further north. I've seen news and weather clips from Chicago (where i'm headed) and they're deep in snow drifts! Better get used to it I guess - not ideal for biking though.
I'm stopping in Atlanta today (so no map for this entry) and there's a couple of places I'm going to visit. Two of Atlantas claims to 'fame' and the first of those is the CNN News Studios. The studios run daily tours so I signed up, braved the usual 'jobsworth' security guards and joined the tour. Quite interesting to see the activity that goes on in the background to produce live news and weather programming. I passed on the opportunity to have my photo taken reading the news at the CNN news desk.
Next stop, the Auburn area of Atlanta. Birthplace, Home, Chapel and Gravesite of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. The visitors area within The King Center features old news and documentary footage, several exhibits and provides some powerful and emotionally packed lessons. MLK Jr was killed on the 4th April 1968 in Memphis - my next stop after Atlanta.
Todays plan started badly, got worse and then got abandoned - but as it turned out the day ended well.
I was heading for Memphis, but I didn't make it there. I set of at 5:55am as I wanted to take in quite a few stops along the way. The early start was the BIG mistake. We'd had icy cold winds blowing through the day before and at this time of the morning in the pitch dark it was no more than 10 minutes into the days riding before the brutal cold had penetrated every joint in my body and quite violent shaking began - far from ideal on a motorbike! It would take a LOT more than heated hand grips to get me through this morning. I managed to ride for around 30 minutes before I had to get off the bike in pain. I stopped at a McDonalds and bought a coffee. The problem was that every time I tried to pick it up, I would spill coffee everywhere as I had absolutely no control over the quite dramatic shaking. Three people stopped and asked if I was ok. Eventually after almost 30 minutes I was at least able to hold the cup.
It was still very early and VERY cold when I got back on the bike and again within 10 minutes I was suffering badly with the cold. I managed another couple of 30 minute stints (with 15 minute breaks to run around trying to warm up) which brought me to Chattanooga, the first planned stop of the day. I knew nothing else about Chattanooga except the name (The Chattanooga Choo-choo) but that was enough to bring me here. The first mission to warm up and get some breakfast.
It was at the breakfast stop that things improved and the plan changed. I ended up talking to an American couple who had just travelled down from Nashville. They were initially worried about my shaking and shivering and then interested in the bike and bike trip (fellow bikers as it turned out.)
The first piece of good info that they gave me was that there was a Wal-Mart down the street and there i'd be able to buy warmer gloves and thermal underwear. The second gem was that they had just travelled down through Lynchburg Tennessee - Home of the Jack Daniels Distillery.
This was to change the days plan. Fed and fully kitted out with some new Wal-Mart warm gear I abandoned the Memphis mission and set off in search of Mr Jack Daniels :-)
The directions from Chattanooga sounded strangely familiar... "head north to MANCHESTER..."
The strange thing about the location of the Jack Daniels Distillery is that its in a 'Dry County' so you can't try the produce or buy any for consumption inside the county area. Any purchases have to be specially sealed and remain that way until you leave the county. Still (no pun intended), it was good to see the the lengthy and very traditional process involved in creating the drink i've enjoyed for so many years.
If you buy directly from the distillery, its possible to buy a BARREL (some 240 bottles worth) of their finest selection, but at $10,000 a barrel its quite an 'investment'. Anyway, it would have been a nightmare to carry on the bike :-)
The side trip meant I was still a long way from Memphis when night fell, so I spent the night in Savannah (Tennessee) - ravaged by tornadoes only a week earlier!
Having survived the night in 'Tornado Alley', I awoke and was relieved to find that i'd not made any new metallic or feline friends (although I did see a rather sketchy looking scarecrow hanging out in a field nearby). However, it was safe to say that I was not in Kansas :-)
Todays mission was to complete the journey on to Memphis. I made an early start and by mid morning I was safely installed in a hostel and ready to explore the city. Two places of interest today:
The Gibson Guitar Factory: I've had a very keen interest in Guitars since I was about 16 years old. I actually took a few guitar lessons when I was 8, but it took another 8 years before I picked up the instrument with real enthusiasm and that lasted until my mid-twenties. But, even though its been over a decade since I played the instrument myself, I still maintain an interest.
Seeing such a famous Instrument as a Gibson Guitar created from the beginning blocks of wood through to the shiney finished product was a morning well spent. The tour finished in the factory shop and it would have been very easy to add a few new additions to the 'dust gathering' guitar collection back in the UK. However, I managed to show restraint and left empty handed.
Next stop Graceland.
I've never really been a big Elvis fan but 'when in Memphis.' Apparently Elvis bought the whole 13.8 acre estate for $100,000 back in 1957. It was opened to the public back in 1982 and it is now the second most visited private residence in the USA just behind the Whitehouse. Elvis lived here until his death in 1977 and although his body was initially buried at the Forrest Hill Cemetery, it was moved to Graceland after a grave robbery attempt. He is buried alongside his parents and his grandmother.
As well as the House, Elvis amassed a pretty cool collection of Cars, Bikes and Planes.
Today i'm heading on to Nashville (the last stop for this bike trip), but I couldn't leave Memphis without a visit to Sun Studios.
Sun Studios is generally considered to be the birthplace of Rock and Roll. The studio that first discovered and recorded Elvis Presley and was also the first to sign artists such as Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis , Howlin' Wolf, Junior Parker, Little Milton and B.B. King.
Certainly an impressive list of early artists and even today there's still many well known artists recording in this tiny studio with a huge amount of history. People such as Paul Simon, Tom Petty, Maroon 5, Def Leppard, Beck and of course U2.
I even had a chance to sing into the very same microphone that Elvis used for his early recordings. If only I could sing!
From here its back on the bike and i'm on the 'home straight' to Nashville, otherwise known as 'The Music Highway.'
Day 19! This should have been the last day with the bike. I've had 18 days of dry weather and now on the last day I wake to torrential downpours :-(
The garage where I need to return the bike is some 25 miles outside of Nashville and it looks like i'm going to get VERY wet. However, just to make sure, I called the garage to confirm the return and nobody answered the phone. Checking the companies website I found the following useful message... "Open 7 days a week for your convenience - closed on Sundays during February"
At least it means I won't have to ride the bike in this bad weather. Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow. I checked with the garage in L.A. where I rented the bike and they didn't seem bothered about me keeping the bike for another day (without charge of course.) And on the bright side, the days heavy rain will at least mean i'll be returning a clean bike tomorrow.
Sunshine! Yeah!!
A sunny Monday morning and time to drop off the motorcycle - i'm going to miss the freedom and flexibility that the bike has given me. Its been a fantastic 3 weeks and a LOT of miles have been covered (4609 miles to be exact).
But, from here its The Greyhound bus to Indianapolis, where i'll be meeting Chika. We'll be heading to Chika's home town of Chicago. I'm really looking forward to spending the next 3 weeks NOT moving around and experiencing Chicago with the locals.
Well it was a long bike trip, and its taken considerably longer to get all the blog entries written. But, now they're all done and i've grouped the whole story together under the separate category heading of:
Hope you enjoy the reading as much as I enjoyed the riding.
At the risk of sounding like an episode of Dragnet... the next few entries will be little more than "Just the facts." Consider it a concerted effort to finally catch up with the entries on the website.
One of the best things about being in Chicago was spending three weeks in one place with Chika and her folks. I was really well looked after and felt very much at home - so a HUGE thanks to Chika and her Mum & Dad. It had been quite a while since I'd eaten so well. During the bike trip I was living on far too much fast food as there weren't too many other good options around. So the vast amounts of Sushi and other fresh foods all did me a lot of good. I'm trying hard not to undo all that good work!
Thanks to Chika, I had a locals view of things in Chicago. Cruising the neighbourhoods as well as all the tourist 'must do' activities: The STUNNING view from the 96th floor of the John Hancock Building, a visit to the Billy Goat Tavern for a few beers, Chicago style pizza at Lou Malnatis (superb - not all pizzas are equal!), a successful visit to an ice hockey game and getting ripped-off trying to buy tickets outside a basketball game, a fantastic Foo Fighters gig and meeting lots of new friends. In short, having a GREAT time.
I was quite sad to be leaving Chika behind as I finally left Chicago on a flight bound for Seattle. But, we will be meeting up again at the end of March in L.A. and from there heading onwards together back to South America and Ecuador.
The next leg of the USA trip will take me down the West Coast, all the way from Seattle down to San Diego. Once again I’ll be back on the road, but this time I’ll be on four wheels, not two (if at any time I end up on two wheels I could be in real trouble :-)
It also gave me the chance to catch up with old friends (that’s friends I’ve not seen for a long time rather than aged ones - wouldn’t want to cause any offence :-) Kristie who I first met 9 years ago (!) in Northern Laos was once again back in Seattle and was kind enough to put up with me for a few days and took some time to show me the sights. The first impressive sight was the location where she was living - basically on the shore of Puget Sound with the waters lapping at the back door and Seals, Orcas and Eagles making up the majority of passing traffic.
As some of you may know I’m a big coffee fan and so a trip to the world's first Starbucks was a welcome start to the first day in Seattle - followed by Pikes Place Market, The Troll under the Bridge, a variety of cool parks and interesting neighbourhoods. Seattle has notoriety for lots of rain but it held off .. At least for the first day and even after that it didn’t cause any real problem. I am from England after all :-)
From Seattle I took the train down to Portland Oregon to meet up with Tyson. I met Tyson in Buenos Aires last year. The chance to catch up over a couple of beers was very welcome. And from here I rented a car for a week. Before I began the long drive south, there were still a couple of places that I wanted to visit north of Portland - Namely Mount St Helens and Mount Rainier. Stunning volcanic scenery deep in snow, and I MEAN deep. The snow plough had been out in some areas and cut channels to provide some access, but left behind banks of snow 4m high by the side of the roads. In places only the roofs of houses could be seen sticking out of the snow!
This meant that in the National Park areas there was only VERY limited access and in both cases I had to back track out of the park. After a few days in the snowy Cascade mountains I was ready to hit the coast where I would spend most of the southbound road-trip. The only other major inland detour was along the McKenzie River Valley to Bend Oregon and on to Crater Lake (more snow). Only a short detour before returning to the coast and the MIGHTY Redwood Forests.
The whole stretch of the Western coast is truly beautiful. Wild and rugged, (but enough about me :-) both the Oregon & North California stretches are dotted with small port towns & fishing villages. My southward journey did coincide with the annual migration of the Gray Whales along that coastal stretch but despite lots of stops with time to stare out to sea, I didn’t see any.
Most of my overnight stops were in the small port towns although I did of course spend a few nights in San Francisco. Enough time to visit the usual tourist haunts: Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 39 and the Sealions, Lombards Street - “The ‘Crookedest’ Street in the World”, Twin Peaks, Chinatown and lots of the local neighbourhoods. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get out to Alcatraz as you have to book at least 4 days in advance! Good job I got a nice new zoom lens on my new camera.
From San Francisco I was southbound once again and heading for LA. Still a few stops to make along the way though (including Manchester - Population 462). I called in at Santa Cruz, home to the old boardwalk Fun Fair seen in movies such as ‘The Lost Boys’, ‘The Sting II’ and a few others. I passed by Santa Casita and Santa Maria, but was VERY tempted to take a detour to have a look at the town of Santa Claus! (I knew he existed, I just knew it! :-). Other stops included : The beautiful coastal road known as Big Sur, Monterey (superb Aquarium here - I’ll post a video at some point. Very impressive Jellyfish exhibits.), Santa Barbara and the end of the road for the car - LAX Airport. I’ll be meeting Chika here and then we’ll be on the bus to Santa Monica.
A few more pics...
Any good movie needs a sequel... just look at Rocky 16 or Friday the 13th part 29. So, with that in mind its finally here (one of those films that went straight to video :-)) ... Jellyfish 2 (for those who saw Jellyfish 1 - Palau Lake).
These little video clips are really proving fun to put together. I'm fairly sure it's better than the book and if nothing else, the music is pretty good!
I filmed this on a trip to Monterey Aquarium in Northern California. Its definitely one of the best aquariums i've been to. Yes, they have all the usual suspects such as Hammer Head Sharks, HUGE Tuna, various Rays and 'touch pools' where the kids can man-handle the poor creatures. However, it was the small, unusual stuff that most interested me... Anenome Shrimp, Cuttlefish, Leafy Sea Dragons. But for me, the most unusual and most beautiful was the jellyfish collection. Uniquely presented and strangely hypnotic to watch. I hope this little video gives a feel of what they managed to achieve - Impressed me anyway (not always a tough job :-))
Enjoy...
