Motorcycle ride across America, anyone?

[j]

Originally Posted by m@T

how about finally lighting off in this direction J? We'll go do the same Sapa ride that Tom and I did a couple years back. It's amazing. emptym - glad you made it safely, and add me to the list of guys awaiting pics-n-tales from the road.
If I have housing sorted in the next couple months, and figure out when the hell I'm going to Japan (Dec-Jan sometime), my plan is still to go through Nam on the way home. Also, it depends, but we may hit Korea on the way there, so we'll crash Brian's party and make him buy us beer.

 

[emptym]

Thanks for your interest and patience everyone.

Here I am w/ a friend about to leave DC:

Camped out the first night at Rocky Gap State Park. 90 degres F for the low. Hiked from 7-10 am. Came across a women's 5K run near a small dam and helped to hand out water for a while. Didn't take any pictures, stupidly, but here's a pict of a similar location in West Virginia from last summer:

From a Flying J truck stop in Ohio, an image my German friends might call "typisch Amerikanisch":

I was struck by how interesting and beautiful some of these midwest towns and cities were (Wheeling, WVa; Columbus, OH, etc.). A couple images from Indianapolis:

Extremely hot all the way from DC to St Louis - 95-99 with high, high humidity.
A friend and his son in St. Louis (he grilled despite the heat, and we had the best corn I've ever had):

The cathedral in St. Louis. Gorgeous mosaics and the world's largest collection of mosaics, some by Tiffany, acc. to a curator I met, named Ray:

In the cathedral, Ray came up to me and asked if that was my helmet on a bench by the door. Then he gave me a tour. At the end I asked if he had a tire pressure gauge I could borrow. He had two, so gave me one! Notice the cords from the Etymotics I gotthanks to SF and J/ADVrider:

 

[emptym]

By the Missouri River, northern part of Kansas City, MO (actually it was scorching here too):
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Planned to camp that night, but there was a storm coming and golf-ball sized hail was forcasted. So instead I stayed at some cheap motel. Tried to go to the Harley Davidson factory just outside of Kansas city the next day, but it was closed (or did they see me coming on the BMW?). Outside was interesting though, very subtle: small, low, grey and black sign (unlike the ubiquitous dealerships w/ their huge bright orange signs):

Their welcome sign:

50 or so employee's bikes parked outside:

Cooled down in upper Missouri and lower Nebraska. Welcome to "Nebraska... the good life":

Took that pict since it's the title of a class I taught last spring and will next spring.

Had a terrific time in Omaha w/ Michael J Krell and his family. Thanks a million for letting me stay w/ you Michael. Loved the fresh produce from your garden. Enjoyed the old downtown, visiting Boys Town and the conversations w/ you and your father. So glad to have been there for his birthday. Wish Dehner boots had been open when I drove by. Here I am w/ Michael, wearing a hoody I bought from his line (hope you don't mind me borrowing this photo from your post on WAYWRN):

Thanks too for your permission to show your family: First Mike and his loving brother Thomas, then his very interesting father and me:

Strangely, mid-grade gas is cheaper than regular in Nebraska:

Often the difference was greater, sometimes up to $.20 a gallon. Michael's dad said it was probably because the ethanol in premium gas comes from NE and Iowa.

I planned to camp that night in western NE, but the highway led to this huge, gorgeous cloud formation lit up in an amazing way by the setting sun. I'd never seen anything like it, except maybe in some science fiction movie. So I just kept riding west. Just around sunset, there came a really strong crosswind that pushed me across two lanes and almost knocked me off my bike (or my bike and me off the road, I should say). I was incredibly scared. After it happened two or three times, I went from going about 75 mph to about 30 on the breakdown lane. Thank God there wasn't a lot of traffic. When I could finally get off the highway at North Platte, NE, there were sirens blaring. Two dozen people were standing outside the motel watching. One guy told me a tornado might be forming and they were watching to see if it would drop its cone. He was from OK and his house had been destroyed twice by tornadoes. He told me he planned to move out of the Midwest if it happened again. I took this pict outside the motel:

It was about 5 miles away. Filmed this short video across the parking lot:
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I'll post the rest of the trip tomorrow.

 

[j]

Cool pics and video. FYI when you post a Youtube clip, just put the "YASFGISA" (e.g.) part of the URL in between the tags, not the whole URL. Just the part after the equals sign.

 

[Matt]

so cool. thanks for posting.

 

[emptym]

Originally Posted by j

Cool pics and video. FYI when you post a Youtube clip, just put the "YASFGISA" (e.g.) part of the URL in between the tags, not the whole URL. Just the part after the equals sign.
Ah. Thanks J. It should be fixed now. I also changed most of the picts on imageshack from 17" to 15" since a few wouldn't show for me. I assumed the largeness of the files was to blame. Was it?

Originally Posted by m@T

so cool. thanks for posting.
Thanks Matt. I took more picts, but don't want to bore people. Will post a similar amt of picts from the West tomorrow.

One thing I wish I'd photographed (but it would have been really tough) is the little low wave/peace sign bikers give each other. It's interesting to see who gives me one. I think those on cruizers tend not to give me one, and those on sport, touring, or dual-sports tend to do so. It's strange how sometimes I take it personally and get irritated if someone doesn't. But then I sometimes miss people myself when I'm not paying attention to oncoming bikers.

Btw, there were a ton of dualsports or adv. riders in MO and NE. When I got to Utah, someone asked me if I'd been to a big int'l BMW rally in Wyoming. Sadly I'd missed it. Wish I'd known about it.

 

[j]

Originally Posted by emptym

Ah. Thanks J. It should be fixed now. I also changed most of the picts on imageshack from 17" to 15" since a few wouldn't show for me. I assumed the largeness of the files was to blame. Was it?
Dunno, they all worked for me the first time.

One thing I wish I'd photographed (but it would have been really tough) is the little low wave/peace sign bikers give each other. It's interesting to see who gives me one. I think those on cruizers tend not to give me one and those on sport, touring, or dual-sports tend to do so. It's strange how I sometimes take it personally and get irritated if someone doesn't, but then I sometimes miss people myself when I'm not paying attention to oncoming bikers.

Yeah, that's a whole ridiculous topic on MC boards. I tried to explain it to a noob (actually the girlfriend of a MC noob) what it "means" and such a couple weeks ago. Basically it means nothing, but some of us make a habit of doing it and it just means yeah, I see you, and that's about it. It's also a good way to acknowledge each other when you feel invisible so much of the time. People who don't do it are either too intent on staying alive (i.e. holding on tight), too confused or overwhelmed, or too cool. Or on rare occasions, there are just so many damn bikes out that you get tired of flipping a hand every 15 seconds. Don't take it personally. No one who counts means anything by it.

 

[emptym]

The next morning I visited an interesting Western Trading post that celebrated a nearby ranch where Buffalo Bill lived for a time (near the Pony Express route, which he rode). It had a small museum of sorts the centerpiece of which was a large, very detailed set of figurines modeled after his Wild West Show. It filled a good-sized room. Also very interesting, particularly in a SF context, were two displays, one showing an average or standard quality set of cowboy gear (hat, boots, gloves, guns, saddle, etc) and one showing the top-of-the-line stuff. Being from Nevada, I was happy to see that the best saddlemaker of the time, GS Garcia, was from Elko, NV. I didn't take any picts of the inside of the shop (which sold stuff like rattlesnake belts, torquoise jewelry, and posters from Bill's show) but did of the outside:

As I left Nebraska and entered Colorado, I could tell that I'd returned out West by the dryness of the air and the landscape, as well as the high, gorgeous formations of clouds. It felt like home. Unfortunately though, high winds again threatened to push me off the road. This time I sped up thinking I'd get more stability from the momentum. I think it worked fairly well, but when I was hit by something really hard I would slow down. Seemed that gusts were strongest just over the crest of a hill. The air was so dry and the wind so hard that once after I got soaked in a brief but hard thunderstorm, it only took a half hour till I was dry again (except the insides of my boots). I would have pulled over to put on my rain gear, but the storm came and went too fast to justify it.

Spent that night at my cousin's. We hadn't seen each other for several years, but (or therefore?) we talked straight from about 4 pm to 3 am. He does ultra high end finishing work for artists and industry, as well as his own art. I find that it's always very engaging to talk to someone devoted to excellence, no matter what the field. And he is really devoted to excelence. A few picts from his shop:

I want his tool collection, but I wouldn't give them the use the deserve. The speakers in the foreground are for some company that starts w/ an A (I forget. Maybe Artisan Fan knows). They retail for 150,000 a pair:

I also want his art and architecture book collection, most of which is in storage. Ditto about the use:

Spent the next day at the Denver Art Museum. Here's a shot of the new wing and facing apt. complex, both by Liebeskind:

New wing joined by bridge to Ponti's old one:

Me sporting boots by Ron Rider, t-shirt by Michael Krell, and body by Spam (JJ about the last one. I saw that on a t-shirt at a Hawaiian festival on Sat and thought it was funny):

Outside of apt building by Liebeskind. I don't think I'm cool enough, or have the right attitude to live there, but I like it:

My bike outside the building. The hard cases in other picts are removed for city riding. Their harness is removable too:

The museum had a great collection of Native American and Western art, some new, some old. Great paintings by Russell, sculptures by Remington, and pottery by Maria and Julien Martinez. One piece that blended the old and the new in a fun way:

Across from the museum was the library designed by Michael Graves. I'm not much of a fan though, so no picts, except for where it peeks out here above the bridge linking the two museum wings:

I'll post the last leg (SW Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and California) tomorrow.

 

[acidboy]

Very cool. I'm envious!

 

[emptym]

^Maybe we can ride across the Philippines someday! (I'll be teaching at AdeM next June or so for a month.)

And we could meet Matt and J in Vietnam.

 

[Tck13]

Maybe I missed it but:

Is that a R1200GS?

How long did it take?

Did you use GPS?

Most importantly, what did you wear? Aerostitch? BMW clothing? (Your jacket looks like a BMW jacket)



Strangely, I'd never ride across the country in a car but I'd definitely do it on a motorcycle!

 

[emptym]

Just a lowly f650 gs.

I took 14 days. Went slow and enjoyed it. Could have used another day or two. I know some nut who did the whole thing in four, on a bike.

No GPS. Just a Rand McNally US atlas. If I'd had another week for research and $500 I would have gotten a GPS. I do like maps though. I like how you can get a sense of the area and make decisions accordingly. GPS would have been helpful a couple times when I got lost. The disadvantage w/ maps on a bike is that you need to memorize directions.

My jacket is a Belstaff Mercury. Pants are courdura from Patagonia. I'll take and post picts of the gear tomorrow.

 

[acidboy]

Originally Posted by emptym

^Maybe we can ride across the Philippines someday! (I'll be teaching at AdeM next June or so for a month.)

And we could meet Matt and J in Vietnam.

The only ride I had was a Vespa PX150, and that was more than 10 years ago. But yeah, let me know if you are here, maybe by then I have had enough energy to get off ****** and we could do some trail biking. I live a few minutes away from ADM so we could probably do a lot of damage here. And Vietnam to finally meet Matt and J?!

 

[michaeljkrell]

The Denver Art Museum looks very nice!

 

[Tck13]

Originally Posted by emptym

Just a lowly f650 gs.

I took 14 days. Went slow and enjoyed it. Could have used another day or two. I know some nut who did the whole thing in four, on a bike.

No GPS. Just a Rand McNally US atlas. If I'd had another week for research and $500 I would have gotten a GPS. I do like maps though. I like how you can get a sense of the area and make decisions accordingly. GPS would have been helpful a couple times when I got lost. The disadvantage w/ maps on a bike is that you need to memorize directions.

My jacket is a Belstaff Mercury. Pants are courdura from Patagonia. I'll take and post picts of the gear tomorrow.


Patagonia makes Cordura?