Moncton to Sydney (Nova Scotia)

We had a longish leg to finish off the ride today 430km to our final destination in an Easterly direction to a place called Sydney.

We were planning to then get a ferry from there to Newfoundland and finish in St Johns, but as you all know we have had to cut that part of the trip off! (*grumble...fucking dog...grumble*) Sydney had been our original finish point in the beginning, as it somehow seemed fitting to finish our trip in a city with the same name as the start point.

It was an easy highway ride for the first 200km or so, and then there road came down to 90km/h,as we wound our way along the edge of the interior sea cost.

The dual carriageway disappeared and we were down to a single lane in both directions. So we were stuck behind people who were taking their sweet old time. It was nice though, and we were treated to sleepy coastal towns, and more than a few isolated houses right on the edge of the water

We crossed onto Cape Breton Island via a bridge and a Dam wall between Aulds Cove and Port Hastings, and soon after the GPS helpfully turned us onto a back road,  because apparently it had forgotten about the last warning I gave it on the last fuck-a-round, where I threatened to run it over, stomp on it and finally pound it's guts to a fine powder with a hammer, before adding it to my breakfast cereal and eating it, before an unceremonious trip to the the local sewer facility.

We rode a little through some rough looking coastal scrub, looking for a place to turn around. After 10km or so of a rapidly deteriorating and narrowing road, I decided to take matters into my own hands and make a right hand turn to force the GPS to recalculate. Getting the dreaded 'make a u-turn' I finally stopped and fiddled with it, which wasn't helpful at all, and eventually we saw a sign back the way we came and took it, finally ending back up on the original road. Turned out the GPS had crashed, and I had to take the battery out of it to get it to re-boot. Thanks for that - you little grey Bastard.

We crawled our way the last 80 or so km through Sydney's suburban sprawl, and arrived at our digs - The Holiday Inn a little early for check-in and so had a a beer at the Hotel Bar. Another couple of bikers turned up, and the usual conversations ensued - where have you come from/ how far to go etc etc.

After about a hour we checked into our room, cranked the A/C, and then set-off on a single bike to finish the last little stretch of our ride, and that was to ride to the coast and gaze over the remaining 3000km of ocean to Ireland - our finish point of our 2012 ride across Northern Asia and Europe.



We rode through the burbs and shopping district to a place called Glace Bay, which seemed as good a place as any to finish. The sun was shining, and we wound our way through the back streets past the fishing co-op and eventually found a dead end where the road stopped near the ocean.


We made it. And no-one died.

We had ridden over 15,000km from Anchorage, and over 32,000km from Vladivostok on these bikes. All without a single mechanical failure, or even a flat tyre.

I spent a while taking pics of my bike with the ocean in the background, and we talked about how quick this ride had gone and re-capped what each of our 'tops' were - (what was your 'Top' days riding - top experience etc) Mine was a tie, riding through Jasper National Park was very special, but then again - the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park was also amazing. It would be very hard to split those up. The most biggest disappointment for both of us had been Yellowstone, but that was all our fault really, we rode through it without stopping to look at anything, letting the crowds and the traffic get to us, which soured the whole thing. In our defense, there was NOWHERE left to park to see anything, and the queues looked like something that belonged at Disneyland.

We also had the inevitable "What/How would you do again?". we both decided that it wasn't worth starting in Anchorage. It had cost us an extra $6,000 Australian dollars to get our bike to Anchorage from LA. To put that into perspective, Sydney to LA only cost about $1500 and it only cost us $1200 to ship to Vladivostok. We both decided that 'next time' we would ride from LA to Anchorage, and see the 'apparently' beautiful coast of Oregon, and also see somethings we missed out on like Washington state, and the giant redwoods of California, and Lake Tahoe as well. We'd then ride up through the coast of BC, and around the gulf of Alaska as much as possible, and see Juneau, Homer and end up in Anchorage in time for the Salmon run.

We dreamed a little more, had more than a few 'do you remember' conversations, deeply breathed in the salt air, and with elated but slightly melancholy feelings, rode back along the bay to the hotel.


We showered, got changed, and went for a walk around the harbor, looking at all the WW2 memorials (Sydney was a big shipping port for merchant vessels to the UK) and had dinner at the pub just down the road.

We wandered back to the Hotel on Dusk, and had a few more drinks at the bar before hitting the sheets. Tomorrow we would finish the very last day of riding, 400 or so kms to Hallifax where our bikes had a date with a shipping crate.

The Hotel We stayed at (street view):
Holiday Inn, Sydney NS

The pub:
The Govenors' Inn

Welcome to Sydney!

World War Two Merchant Navy Memorial

Only a short Swim to Ireland - Where are the SeaDoos?

That'll do Bike - That'll do.

Inadvertent selfie.

A different Sydney Harbor to what we're used to

Sydney Harbor at Sunset, also the view from our window.

Bangor to Moncton (New Brunswick, Canada)

Big day today, and we must push push push to get our bikes to the shipper and make our flight home from Halifax.

We had to cover 488kms, and also complete a border crossing back into Canadia. We had no time for scenic routes, so we jumped on the I-95 pinned the throttle and burned all the way to the border.

Pretty soon we cleared the burbs of Bangor, and were then back to riding in the bush. It was almost like being back in the Yukon, with forests, and acres of  wooded country as far as you could see (from the road anyway)

Pretty soon we arrived at the Canadian border control, and we were filling out entry cards and answering all sorts of questions about the bikes. They asked us to pull over in the waiting bay, and the nice lady asked me for the original bike documents, but then when she saw that I had them in to bottom of my top box, and I started pulling our all manner of soiled clothing, (which probably smelled like it had been used to clean up roadkill) she said - "ahh... don't worry about it"

Eager to prove myself worthy - I fished it out anyway in its well organised plastic sleeve and she just gave it a cursory look and gave it back to me.

They also asked to see our 'bear spray' which we were told MUST say 'Bear Spray' on the label. I guess savvy Americano's try and sneak their Mace in under the guise of it being for the pointy teeth kind of Bear, and not the 6ft 6 Lumberjack border line psychotic type.

Satisfied that we weren't expecting a tryst gone wrong with 'Caribou Bill', we were allowed to keep our Bear spray. I re-packed my Topbox, deciding to bring some Hazmat labelled bags next time. and we continued on to burn down the remaining 300km to Moncton.

We hit a town called Woodstock, and afterwards veered south onto the Trans-Canada Highway, crossing the St John River. We stopped for fuel at a little service station just off the highway about 15km later. It was FUCKING hot, and we were both sweating like buggery inside our jackets. We had a cold Coke and an Icecream (Klondike!) and we ready to tackle the rest of the ride, but not put our gross stinky sweat soaked jackets again.

At one stage,  The guy in front of me veered violently off to the side of the road. Just as I got to the 'fuck' in 'what the fuck are you doing' in my head, I noticed there was a small Black Bear Cub running towards the road, the guy had aggressively swerved towards it and had successfully 'shooed' it back towards the forest and I saw it crash into the undergrowth in my mirror. Pretty sure if you tried with a Kangaroo, it would just keep on trucking straight into you.

We completed the remaining 245 kms and rode into Moncton around 4pm in the afternoon. We were buggered, but exhilarated to have finally made it back into Canada. We were also a bit melancholy realising that our trip was soon coming to an end in just a few more days. We were wondering exactly where the time had gone, and even though we had spent almost the same time riding in Russia, the Russia trip seemed to take WAY longer.

We checked into our hotel, and needed some assistance to get the Air Conditioning working. We had been FUCKING BOILING all day, and had been looking forward to some A/C, TV and a couple of beers. I called the front desk, forcing myself to sound happy, and only slightly put out, and the hotel 'maintenance guy' came up to fix it. We asked for another room, but they were booked solid, and sure enough a shitload of other bikers turned up. Fucking bikers.. :)

Eventually (after another visit from 'maintenance guy and the owner) the air-con kicked in and we had sweet relief from the heat.

I headed out to the local Bass Pro to do some last minute shopping, and was amazed by the sheer awesome size of the local store.

I thought the front of it looked like a Log cabin, and walking in - the entry way WAS A FUCKING LOG CABIN. there was a sofa, and a fire place (not lit) and thick wooden roof trusses, all made from logs. This was simply the mud room/double doors where shoppers could take off their coats and also not let all the warm air out of the shop during winter.

Walking inside - I was absolutely BLOWN away by the sheer scale of the place. There was a 25-30ft boat AS A DISPLAY. yep. perched up in the air what a fucking full size fishing boat. Jesus.

There were also loads of what I can only describe as full size dioramas around the place, with full size animal mounts, (set in the appropriate scenery - of course).

It was absolutely amazing, and quite frankly and animal rights activists worst nightmare. I am not a believer in Trophy Hunting -but- understand that due to human activity completely screwing the natural order, we must sometimes intervene at times to keep things in balance. In any case, most/all of the animals would have been eaten.

I also realise that I'm 'not in Kansas anymore', and for many people, Hunting is a normal way of life, and also for too many people; not not an option or choice, but a necessary part of their food budget.

anyways...

It was awesome... and I spent about a hour looking at all the amazing things that Canadians could buy, and lamented living in our pathetic 'don't run with the scissors' country that we live.

Amazing stuff, compound bows, binary explosive, and all sorts of rifles and guns. Some of them not even available to anyone with any kind of  gun license back home. *sigh*

I took lots of photos, bought a sweet new pocket knife. On the way back I bought some beer and dinner from Burger King. (not in the same place - although Beers at Burger King would be sweet!)

Getting back to the room, I made Megan look at all the pics, where she showed the kind of interest I show when she starts talking about clothes or shoes. :).. Boys eh?

Canadian Border!

waiting at the border

The front of BassPro Moncton

There was a GIANT fish tank with live Trout swimming in it

These are all real mounts

Look closely in the 'bush'

They are real Bison mounts above the Door. The are underneath is the Entryway

More dead animals...

I spy with my little eye.. something beginning with M.

Here is our Fuel stop Off the Trans-Canada Highway:

https://www.google.com.au/maps/dir/Bangor,+Maine,+United+States/Fredericton,+NB,+Canada/moncton/@45.975115,-67.4704138,3a,60y,278.5h,87.66t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s22U1ob0oDwQeKqV-T91GOQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4m30!4m29!1m15!1m1!1s0x4cae4b46101129bd:0x4d0918b0a7af7677!2m2!1d-68.7778138!2d44.8011821!3m4!1m2!1d-68.6816771!2d45.2052414!3s0x4cafee98bead9a51:0x610114af337019e!3m4!1m2!1d-68.6816771!2d45.2052414!3s0x4cafee98bead9a51:0x610114af337019e!1m5!1m1!1s0x4ca4220ba498fb2b:0xe7de2f297a415db4!2m2!1d-66.6431151!2d45.9635895!1m5!1m1!1s0x4ca0b92918d41765:0xdc10a333a4e63c4!2m2!1d-64.7782313!2d46.0878165!3e0



Here is the Hotel we stayed in Moncton:

https://www.google.com.au/maps/@46.1022538,-64.7641233,3a,75y,127.98h,86.12t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sodq9vosSEcF-IgcbRskSmg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1

Old Orchard Beach to Bangor

YES! ONLY 200KM TODAY!

We've been burning it over the last 10 days or so so we can finish up early, we have done 400km of more most days for that time, and it was nice to have a leisurely ride for once!

We even stayed within the same state for once and didn't even have to stop for fuel! Amazing how small things seem like a big win at this stage of the trip.

We arrived in Bangor after a couple of hours, and the first order of business  was to check out Stephen Kings house which luckily was only 4km form our hotel, and the second was to make a dent in the mammoth task of cleaning our bikes down for Australian customs.

We rode the very short distance to Stephen Kings house, which seemed large-ish from the street , but when you walked along the road a bit could see that extended a LONG way back from the street with a number of other 'additions' out the back. Unfortunately, there was no Storm water drains to hide in while wearing a clown mask!

We posed for a couple of rare 'selfies' while pulling stupid faces outside his house. there were at least about 4-5 other cars pulling up while we were there... and this was a week day! I'm sure the neighbours LOVE all the traffic in the street, and all the dickhead tourists taking selfies in front of the gate! We spent about 15 minutes here generally being a public nuisance, borderline trespassing, and examining all the cool gargoyles on the fence.

It was then the time to get back to the Hotel and start the shit (SHIIIIIIT!) task of cleaning the bikes for transport.

Last time we spent a whole day cleaning a multitude of dead bugs and encrusted filth off our bikes in Ireland, and I was not keen to repeat the performance, deciding to split it up a bit over a couple of innings.

3 hours later, the bikes were a little bit cleaner, and mostly dead body free, however there is still quite a lot of calcium carbonate encrusted to the underside on the stands, from all the road works we have ridden through. This shit is a bastard to clean off, and sticks like glue. It's really weird. If you're reading this, and planning a motorcycle trip across the US, I recommend applying WD-40 regularly to the underside of your bike, possibly every couple of days, Just to provide a barrier to stop this stuff from sticking.

We got the bulk of it done, with just a little more scrubbing and a liberal (LIBERAL!) application of WD-40 to get off all the tar spots and to shine all the metal so it looks new.


 We also needed to off-load a few things, including our 10L Jerry cans that we had carried the whole way from Australia. We left them in the Hotel car park, along with some spare oil,  left a 'FREE' sign on them and posted on a biking forum that they were there and waiting. who knows what became of them...

Shit. Laptop screen just died. Gonna have to finish this on my phone!

Stephen Kings house. You can feel the weirdness from here.

You can see it goes further back from the road

Bike washing... what a fucking pain in the arse...

Fare thee well Jerry cans.
May you be a pain in someone elses' arse from now on.
So glad I won't have to strap you on and off my back seat every day.
Or have you dig in to my back, or snag my boot getting on and off the bike
in fact - Die screaming mother fucker.

Williamstown to Old Orchard Beach (Maine)

We left around 9 am this morning, after getting a half decent coffee from Dunkin Donuts. Good coffee has been unbelievably hard to come by, and I am ashamed to say that I have been buying coffee from Starbucks when we can. Other than Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts, all other coffee is 'Americano' or bitter, watery drip filtered coffee. They drink it black, or with a horrific substance called 'creamer' - which is probably made out of the ground up foot skin of old people. It sure tastes that way anyway :)

We had programed the GPS the night before with a number of waypoint towns to keep us off the Interstate and take us through the back roads through Vermont.

The riding was amazing, starting off with tall trees and lush green forest on both sides of the road, and some great twisties up and down rolling hills. I was wearing a shit eating grin, and flogging my loaded up bike through everything, only slowing down when a bastard truck decided to spoil my morning... on purpose of course!

We road through some amazing towns, including the ski town Willmington, which had an amazing town centre, and some beautiful old colonial style buildings. The streets were narrow (for the US) and all the stores were grouped together and it had a cute 'little village' feel.

All of the houses had planters hung on their verandahs with matching or alternating coloured flowers, and lots of the houses had red white and blue bunting draped over the railings out the front. They were also very patriotic, with about 70% of the houses having one or more flags out the front. It was very cool, and one of the better days riding of the whole trip.

All too soon though, we had exhausted all the back roads we could take, and did the last 100km on the interstate, and I soon lapsed into my usual stupor and dreamed of all the things I would build when I got home.

About 3pm, we rolled into Old Orchard Beach, which is a small holiday town right on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. First thing we noticed was the salt air, which we had not smelt since we left Sydney. The second thing was we seemed to have re-materialised in a world that was a cross between the Royal Easter show, and Surfers paradise in the 70's. There was an amusement park right on the waterfront, which reminded me of The Lost Boys - one of my favourite movies from when I was a kid; when Vampires were still badass and not dick loving nancy boys like Edward fucking Cullen!

We checked into our hotel, and spent a great afternoon walking down the Beach to the Pier, dipping our toes in the water, and stepping around all of the sand castles and various other 'excavations' kids had made all over the place. The Sand was quite strange, it was very fine, and seemed to have a very high silt content, because the wet sand stuck to the bottom of your feet in places a bit like mud. The sand was also very hard, and it hurt our feet after a while, it was almost like walking on concrete, even down near the water. The people at the beach were kinda weird, they were more interested in sitting on the sand, and there was only a handful of people swimming, kinda the opposite of home. The ocean was the opposite as well, bugger all swell and it was actually warm for some reason, I was expecting it to be freezing cold.

We checked out the pier, which was a bit 'seedy' and had a Lobster roll at a nearby (much nicer) restaurant. It was ok I guess, shell fish are not really high on my list of favourite foods. You can keep your alien sea cockroaches thanks very much - I'll have a steak please.

We made our way back the 3km down the beach to our hotel, just as a huge storm started to roll, in. We got a little rained on, but it was really nice to be near the ocean and watch and hear the storm chasing us up the beach.

BOOYAH! Twisties!!!

OH....HELLO DICKHEAD. GO HOME.

 

Wilmington Vermont

Amusement park on the beach... What could go wrong?

Walking down the beach towards the Pier

looking down the Pier

View back to the beach from the end of the Pier

Allentown to Williamstown (Massachusetts)

Our latest start yet today! 10am!! holy crap! I think I said 'out of here by 10' as a bit of a joke,but it just kinda happened by accident. It was already stinking hot by the time we went out to load up the bikes, and we were both swimming in sweat before we even started.

While we were loading up the bikes, we got talking to a woman who was picking up her sons dog. Turned out that her son,  his girlfriend,  and his dog were hiking the whole of the Appalachian Trail. They had stared out in Georgia in March and had hiked 1200 miles so far, but the dog had had enough and was just refusing to walk anymore. Poor guy was probably knackered or had some sort of pain that had stopped him from going on. Even so - what and achievement... I can't even think of hiking 1200miles! Mind you the guy was 20 something. We've even noticed the difference 4 years has made since we rode Russia as to how shit you feel when you get up in the morning.

We rode the interstate for 350 of the 400km, turning off into some great countryside towards the end that made the previous 3 hours totally worth it!
We ended up in a small town called Williamstown in Massachusetts right near Williams College which was first established in 1793 as an all male liberal arts college. For kids who -  you know - want to live off welfare and not actually contribute anything worthwhile to society :)

The town was loaded with old buildings and churches that looked amazing. There were big leafy green trees, big grand houses and long lawns all the houses having huge setbacks.

We checked into our hotel,  and walked a couple of km into the town to get beer (as usual!) We went to a rather snobbish beer and wine bar, and unfortunately already ordered a drink before we realised how pretentious it was based on the other clientele (faux-rich New Yorkers) and got the hell out of there. The second bar we went to was a proper student pub, named after the school mascot (The Purple Cow).

A couple of beers later, and it was time for an early dinner - we got a burrito from the mexican place next door, which was the best Mexican food we had so far, mostly I think because the shop was run by mexicans, the TV blaring out some show in Spanish.
After scoffing that down, we fell into bed exhausted as usual and I don't even remember Megan turning of the Telly.

Harrisonburg to Allentown (Pennsylvania)

420km of Interstates today! Megan's shoulder is fucked up, she can barely move her right arm to put on her jacket, let alone look over her shoulder properly to change lanes!

All happened by sleeping on it badly, but it's probably some sort of fatigue related problem as well. Megan hasn't had a good nights sleep the whole trip apparently, and our left over Russian Voltaren and a few Tylenol extra strength don't seem to help.

We left Harrisonburg late (9am) and arrived here at Allentown in Pennsylvania about 1pm. It was a straight shot with the customary fuel stop at the half mark, where I customarily have a diet coke and an Ice-cream sandwich, Megan has a full strength coke and a bite of my ice-cream!

It s still quite warm, but not nearly as hot or as muggy as it was further down south. I can't believe how far we have come in the last week or so. It just seems like yesterday we were at Rachel or Vegas in the Desert.

The trip seem to have lost a certain amount of luster (for me at least) since we decided to come home early. I just feel like we have missed out on so much, and now the riding is more a means to an end then rather than something I look forward to every day.

We didn't really have time to plan what we wanted to see on this leg of the trip, and I am kinda regretting not doing some more research on riding roads around here. There really is so much to see, and the US is a bikers paradise. Megan and I have already talked about what we would do if we had a chance to come back here one day and tour again, either on a motorbike or maybe.. just maybe.. A FUCKOFF HUGE F-350 FORD CREW CAB TRUCK WITH A 5TH WHEELER CARAVAN AND A TRAILER WITH QUADS ON IT AND SHIT!!!!! FUCK YEAH!!!! AND A GIANT COWBOY HAT AND FUCKING CAMO EVERYTHING!!!
(**deep breaths**)

man that was close... almost went full redneck...

Seriously though... the people down south have been so friendly, every time we stop at a service station, someone has had a chat to us, and they are so polite, even the kids say 'excuse me sir' etc and everyone holds the door for you. Its a real eyeopener, and makes you realise how utterly horrible the people back home are. Even people out on the street say good morning, reminds us of Switzerland where everyone said 'Morgen' or 'Grutzie' or whatever the local dialect was... such a shame people at home just don't do it.

Maybe there wouldn't be so much road rage if people where actually nice to each other. Back home if you hold the door for someone, they seem to look down on you, and barely say thank-you, as if you somehow weakened yourself by subjugating yourself to the role of a slave or something, as if you have assumed a servitude role, and thereby making the other person seem more important than you. Where as over here, the bigger person is the one who is humble and stands there patiently for you to go through in front of them. And everyone calls you sir. It just feels... weird.. and it makes me feel uncomfortable for some reason...

I have also been 'blessed' so many times I thought my skin would have caught on fire by now! While we're both massive Atheists -  we still appreciate the sentiment in the way it's given.

We managed to cross through into Pennsylvania today, but we also managed to clip West Virginia and Maryland on the way.

Megan seems to notice way more of the scenery when were riding then I do. I seem  to 'mong out' on the interstate, my mind drifts away, I have made so many plans of stuff I have seen here that I want to try out when I get home. Building a bigger Offset smoker has taken up a lot of 'brain bandwidth'.... I've also made mental recipes of a lot of the food I have eaten over here that I've liked.

There is still so much stuff over here I want to buy and take home with me. Problem is sourcing it and carrying it on the bike. A second hand compound bow for example... how the fuck do you source, buy on credit card, and then pack that on the bike?

We're off to Williamstown tomorrow, up near Vermont.... apparently all the rich people from New York go there to look at the leaves in Autumn.

Current track log from the GPS

Blowing Rock to Harrisonburg (Virginia)

We both woke up tired this morning, possibly due to having one to many beers last night, or just because we stayed up watching "Naked and Afraid" till midnight!

Either way, it was a slow start, and we eventually rolled out about 9am. We had heard about a road we should be riding last night from the bikers we met called Blue Ridge Parkway - apparently a famous local road that everyone 'had to ride'.
Unfortunately - It doesn't go in our direction, and really is a 'take a day off to ride it' type of arrangement like we had at Monument Valley.
Luckily we got to ride a little bit of it on our route out of town, and it was amazing. tight sweeping corners, beautiful glimpses down the valley over the Smokey Mountains. All too soon though we had to turn off, and make our way north towards Virginia.
After a bit of pissing about getting on and off feeder roads, we ended up on Highway 221 which twisted and tuned its way through beautiful countryside. The road was good, but the locals had been cutting the corners and putting gravel on the apex and creating a few 'oh fuck' moments- but nothing serious.
All in all we were wearing shit eating grins, and I felt marvelously relaxed from riding through some beautiful country.
After a while - the fucker of a GPS took us off 221, and back on to the boring Interstate. We rode through a brief thunderstorm again, but this time it was just enough to cool us off without soaking us to the skin, quite a respite from the 37 degree heat!

We now only have 7 days of riding left. It has all come to an end very quickly, although when I think about it, it seems like a LONG time ago that we put the bikes back together in Anchorage. Not sure about Megan, but I could quite happily turn around and ride back the way we came. Like every holiday, I feel like we have just scratched the surface, and there is just so much more to see. Next time...

Gainesville to Blowing Rock (North Carolina)

Our leaving early plans were scuttled a little this morning - because it was Sunday, the hotel breakfast didn't start till 8am! Shocking! Taking advantage of the situation - we had a lie in till 7:30 before finally getting our shit together. We got everything packed up and mostly on the bikes before heading down for breakfast.

Up until now, we've been staying in really cheap places - the average of them being a hotel chain called 'Motel 6'. These places range on price (depending on location), but are usually less than $70US a night, and are understandably pretty basic. Having said that - They're a Palace compared to some of the places we stayed in Russia, including a place where Megan slept on a bed that could be best described as a pull-out arm chair if that make sense. HOWEVER! a few weeks ago, after our last cheap hotel, I woke up with bed bug bites from my neck to my little toe - literally the whole length on my body on one side. So no more cheap hotels. Even though bed bugs don't discriminate, and can be found all over the US in both expensive and budget places, Cheaper places tend to have less than diligent cleaning services.

So ...to my point... most of the places we have stayed over the last week or so are expensive enough to offer free breakfast. The breakfasts are different to what you get in Australia, the biggest difference is that everything is on disposable plates and cutlery. The food on offer is similar, although in the South, Biscuits and Gravy are pretty much standard,  and usually Eggs and Sausage** or Eggs and Bacon with Hash browns. It's ok I guess, but the eggs usually have cheese in them, and the sausage is really really salty. There are also the usual fair of Muffins, cereal etc, but the unusual additions are Bagels, and sometimes a Waffle station. A couple of times there have been pancakes which were really nice. Even so, we try to stuff ourselves and then go without lunch to try and save some money.

ANYWAY....

After breakfast we rolled out of North Carolina for a place called Blowing Rock which would start us off on our route to follow the Appalachian mountains up the east coast all the way to Maine.
We started off getting fucked around at the service station, the pumps were broken, and we had to try three times to get fuel. For some fucking ridiculous reason, ALL of the fuel stations are pre-pay. Nearly all of them allow you to use your credit card at the pump but some of them ask you to enter your Zip code as an authentication check. This only works for North American residents though it seems, and I have to go inside, and either pre-pay or pre-authorise with my card before I can get any fuel.
It's a complete waste of time and really fucking pisses me off! :)

After 15 long minutes we finally got 2 tanks of fuel and eventually got onto the highway after the GPS took us on another grand tour of U-turn-istan.
By now I was ready to explode the population of the earth with my mind.
I tried to calm down by hammering my bike as fast as it could possibly go carrying about 150kg of payload.
Head down on the tank, I wrung the throttle's neck all the way to the stop in every gear and the of the sound screaming engine calmed me down quite a bit as it usually does. Megan was a small dot in my mirrors as I rolled off the throttle at 160  just as things were starting to get interesting.

There followed a great few hours of riding, some highways, and some back roads, eventually winding our way up through the mountains to our stop at a place called Blowing Rock. The North Carolina countryside was amazing. Green rolling hills, beautiful forests and amazing country style homes with freshly mown grass.

Checking into out hotel, the owner came and chatted about our bikes and our trip, he was a rider himself, and owned (nor surprisingly) a Harley and also a Yamaha. He had also had a BMW at one stage, but had sold it. (Fool!!! )

After we had cooled down and changed, we set out on a mission to find a cold beer. Luckily the hotel was on the main street and we spent the afternoon bar hopping, including visiting the local micro brewery called Blowing Rock Brewing Company. We tried a few of the local offerings which were pretty good (no wet labrador taste) before walking up to an English Style pub. We had dinner there before getting talking to a couple from Pennsylvania who were also bikers. We talked for a good hour or more about riding, bikes and travel before we walked back to our hotel and bed at about 10.


**'Sausage' is a generic term here used to describe a sausage patty like you get on a McMufffin back home, or the traditional links we call sausages. There is also something called Sausage Gravy, which is like white sauce made with chicken stock and has broken up sausage meat in it. It's also sometimes called Country Gravy

Pissing about with the Throttle Lock - No hands at 130 and relaxing back on the luggage :)

More Shade! Top class.

North Carolina!

Tuscaloosa to Gainsville (Georgia)

Walking out the door this morning at 6:30am, my sunglasses instantly fogged up. A sure sign that the humidity was going to be through the roof today. And it didn't disappoint.

After a quick fuel stop near the hotel,  we started our journey north through Georgia at about 7:30am. I've stared riding without my gloves on, just to get some airflow up my sleeve into my jacket to try and keep things a little more bearable.

We left Alabama on a Saturday and everyone was out an about enjoying the Summer, loads of people with boats, side by sides and quads. We crossed over lots of rivers and lakes, and some beautiful back roads that took us through small towns and villages. We saw so many churches, that it was almost unbelievable that there would be enough of a population to support them all! The Churches, Schools and Community centres are all immaculate, with manicured lawns and gardens, most of the houses we saw seemed to be all on small acreages, with a huge set-back and striped lawns out front. Everyone seemed to be out with their bbq's running, the smell of wood smoke and cooking meat seemed to be on the air around every corner. Even the service station we stopped at for fuel had a pit (this is what they are called here) running out the back.

The scenery was amazing, and there were loads of run-down houses, farms and sheds, the forest starting to reclaim them. the rooves caving in and small shrubs breaking through the front porch I guess it is called over here. Some of them were spooky enough for me to remark to over the Radio - "Do you feel like you're in True Blood yet?"

The best part about today, was that we got to ride in the shade for some of the way! sounds crazy, but it really made a huge difference to our morale, not having the burning sun boring down into our faces - something to think about if you plan a motorcycle trip heading East! Towards the end of the afternoon, the clouds came over, and it started to look like we might get a storm.

Eventually, the heavens opened in a big way and we got dumped on. We both agreed not to wear rain gear because it had been so hot and a little rain sounded really inviting! we got MUCH more than we bargained for, and both got pretty well soaked. At one stage I was riding next to a truck that was creating a bow wave in the standing water on the road, and it was literally pouring into my lap like it was coming out of a bucket!

The rain was short lived, and we had about 60km to dry out a little bit before we got to our hotel. We arrived just in time before the lightning and thunder rolled through again. I had made the classic fuck-up of making our booking for the right dates, but in August not July. The front desk guy was cool though, cancelled it and gave us a King suite for the same rate. We got beer, ate, and have tumbled into bed like normal. It's my birthday today, but I'm having none of it. Birthdays just don't exist anymore as far as I am concerned.

Crossing bridges over lakes

riding in some shade -  FUCKING MINT!

Hmmm - might be in for a storm

Yep - Getting dumped on

cool small towns and villages

Munroe to Tuscaloosa (Alabama)

The early morning are staring to catch up with us. It was rough getting up this morning, it felt like it was a work day - you know the type - where you would rather lay back in bed and promptly die then have to slide your foot out onto the carpet. It's not just the early mornings I spose, its the heat, dehydration and the long days on the bike. Our legs and arms are really stiff and sore, and we both are just generally buggered and lethargic all the time. I guess its starting to catch up with us! we need to go back to work so we can get some rest :)

First thing we are doing in the morning is turning on the air conditioning, walking outside, it's still dark but already almost 30 degrees. And the humidity just hits you in the face as soon as the door is even cracked open a little!

It was more of the I-20 today - all the way across the rest of Louisiana, across the corner of Mississippi, and into Alabama.

There was some big divided road ways with trees and creeks lining the way. We crossed the Mississippi river which was HUGE and had some people in canoes in it who looked tiny.

We stopped for a drink and a rest at the half way point at a service station, and had a good chat with a guy about the trip and we were treated to his great southern accent! He kept saying "Well that's allright" all the time for some reason.

It was still stupidly hot, but luckily the servo had a cool room for beer in it! the first walk in cool room I had seen all trip. I wasted a good five minutes in there pretending to check the prices of the beer. The only bad part was that then the air conditioning in the servo felt hot when I came out!

We sat in the shade, which didn't seem to make any difference and decided to bite the bullet, put our soaking gear back on and get back to it.  I just couldn't stand around waiting for Megan while she got her gear on and so rode around in circles in the car park trying to get some airflow. A couple of people were looking at me funny, but fuck it.. even a slight tickle of air up your sleeve was like heaven.

We made it to Tuscaloosa just before 12pm, and the guy at the hotel was nice enough to let us check in early. He asked us what the hell possessed us to plan a motorcycle ride this far south in the summer - "because nobody does that you know?" We replied we weren't sure and it seemed like a good idea at the time, and made sense in our heads, but getting down here - it was a whole other story!

We turning north to Georgia tomorrow - hopefully things will get a little cooler, and if not cooler - dryer. Fingers crossed!

Big divided roads, and tall trees

Crossing the Mississippi !

McKinney to Munroe (Louisiana)

We decided to leave even earlier this morning and set an alarm for 5:30am! It was tough getting up that early, but it is just so fucking hot and muggy, after 12 o'clock you are in serious danger off passing out if you happen to get stopped at road works or run into traffic. Too bad it was fucking 28 degrees at half past 6 in the morning!

The heat in the desert was more bearable, even though it was hot it was a dry heat, but moving through Texas and into the south, the humidity has gone through the roof, and it's just impossible to cool down.

In the desert, if you sweat, it actually evaporates and cools you. In Texas and Louisiana, you just stay wet and hot!

The only way to stay cool is to go fast! luckily the interstates are all 130km/h (80mph) which makes 90% humidity and 38 degrees truly awful, but bearable.

We rode 497 kms to Munroe today, and unfortunately, we broke the law again - and for the same reason - to avoid traffic and not pass out. We took the 'Russian Lane' which is the shoulder of the road, to avoid some stupid people who thought it was necessary to merge lanes straight away rather than to drive all the way to the obstruction and then merge.

The further we go south, the worse and less courteous the drivers tend to be, and the more aggressive, but weirdly, off the road the people are friendlier. Today a guy with an amazing drawl had a 5 minute conversation with us at the service station about travel, which was good because up until then we had not heard a proper Texan accent! We chatted to him about riding through Poland and he had lots of questions about where we had been and where we were going.

The riding today was all interstate! we jumped onto the I-20 at McKinney and followed it all the way to Munroe. There wasn't much to see from the road except more road and scrub. You will have to use your imagination as to what Louisiana looks like, because I didn't take one scrap of helmet cam footage all day. That's really how little there was to see.

After checking into the hotel, we had some really nice BBQ from a small shack next door to the Hotel, and for dinner, being in Lousiana - it had to be fired chicken with beans and rice, green beans, and mashed potatoes for sides. It was nice, while eating it, but made you feel a bit gross afterwards. I think that gross feeling was made up of about 40% guilt though.

Off to Alabama tomorrow, another 440km day and an another early start!

Amarillo to McKinney

Big day today - the biggest ride day so far  - 580km! not a huge amount of kilometers if you have a car, but its a lot for us.

We generally like to only ride a half day, and spend the rest of the day sight seeing, or resting. Despite appearances, the BMW seats are not exactly comfortable after a few hours, and riding long km legs is something you need to be 'bike fit' for. Bike fit means you get all the muscles you use for riding in shape.

For example, its much easier to bang out a 600km ride if you ride your bike everyday, but doing a big ride if you haven't ridden for a while can be painful and soul-destroying, and even take you to the limit of your endurance.
Now that we've been riding for a few weeks straight, we can handle a 600k day, but it was still a bit tiring. If you're new to bike touring, or if you only ride your bike weekends to a cafe or something- probably not a good idea to pencil in a 1000k day for your first leg of your tour. Weather also makes a massive difference. Both too hot and cold can turn a nice day of riding into a epic battle against the elements. Having done both, I would say that too cold is the worst, although Megan tells me she feels the opposite!
You'll probably make your 1000km day, but can you do it everyday for 2 months straight, and if you could - would it be enjoyable? probably not. Better off to 'be the old bull' and actually enjoy it. Not to mention that when you're tired your are more likely to end up as 'flat meat' underneath a Semi or decapitated by a guard rail. Not cool! there are still loads more roads to ride and sights to see.

Anyways enough rambling! today's ride was not very exciting at all! it was mostly interstate highways , roadworks and sweating! We sat on 130 most of the way and tried to set out early to beat the heat.  Didn't work out that way though as it was 28 by 8am and over 30 by 10.

We set out with a mission to just knock out most of the kms as soon as possible, which will probably be our mantra for the rest of the trip from now on.

We stopped for fuel at some sort of Pecan nut shop/service station, and with 50km to go - ran into road works in 38 degree heat just short of McKinney, and for the first time this trip - broke the road rules. There was grid-locked traffic, and we just couldn't sit in the sun anymore, and we rode up the centre turning lane to overtake the standing cars. Not our finest hour, but it was either that or pass out from the heat.

We ended up having to do that three times- not particularly proud of it- and it wasn't a very smart thing to do especially in a state that has 'open carry'** laws!

We eventually rolled into our hotel about 2:30 and we just got off the bikes and went straight into the air conditioning to cool down. The last 50km were a nightmare, and we were both really dehydrated and in need of a cold beer stat!

Another 400+ kms to do tomorrow, hopefully we can leave even earlier and avoid anther finish like we had today, it's just too fucking hot after 12pm this far south.

An awesome custom truck I passed on the interstate!

Russian Ural (ooh-ral) motorcycle with sidecar and uni-go trailer

** Open Carry means that licensed gun owners can 'openly carry' their firearm with them in public.