bigplatcool

Big Sky Country

This is the name by which Montana is known and it lived up to it. Not a cloud in the sky and the temperature perfect at 75 degrees. I was not sure when I woke up that I was going to ride today. Another night of feverish sweating and feeling awful. Cannot decide if it is a cold, flu or a dreaded 72 Hour virus. However another day of no riding would eventually end up putting pressure on me towards the end of next week, so I decided to tough it out and get on with it. Man up time!

Leaving Billings Montana, it was soon into the plains and Karoo like scenery. Not what I thought that I had signed up for. Too many straight roads and miles and miles of flat scrub everywhere. Through Comanche and Lavina. Then left onto the Hwy12 West. Marked as a scenic route, the view started improving. Then a sign “Road works ahead, motorcyclists should consider alternative route”.

They chased them everywhere. Relentlessly!

Worry, not me I am on a GS not a Harley. So FMF. About twenty miles down the road I found out what they were talking about. Similar to Jan’s advanced off road course but this time I was on a bike with about 120 lbs. of extra weight on the back.

So I stood up, looked up and worked my way through it all. Great training for Alaska. Need to adjust my handlebars though or I am going to have a very sore back and hands. Good to know this now as I do not have the tools to do it with me. Left them in Michigan – Idiot!

Passed through White Sulphur Springs and turned north on the I 89. I get my first sight of the mountains with snow still on the top. I will have to cross these mountains to get to where I am going. Soon things start changing, the scenery becoming more interesting. An alpine look and feel. More fir trees.  Small streams winding through those trees and the fields. This is trout fishing country and signs of it everywhere. Little fishing shacks dotting the riverbanks and chalk streams. This is perfect water. A few big dams, lakes and people camping out for the weekend.

Then suddenly, a message from the woman underneath me. My bike. The road has been slowly becoming more and more twisty, the curves tighter and tighter and I have been focusing on the scenery and not the road.

The message from her is: concentrate, I need attention!

No more easy riding, this is short stoke time!

Riding a bike is, as I have said, like being with a woman. Enjoy, but never relax. The secret to successfully negotiating the corners is tempo and timing and the right line (angle-of approach into the corner). If you get these right it is a slam-dunk. If not everything starts going wrong in a hurry.

So in the required order. Get your speed right (tempo), then get your approach angle right and then just feel your way through whilst setting up for the next corner. When you get it right you just flow through one bend into and through the next effortlessly. But never ever relax. Always keep one foot lightly on the rear brake pedal and your hand lightly on the throttle, as these two controls are the key to successfully managing the bike in the bends.

So I was doing it the way it was meant to be done. In control, managing the tempo and loving it. Mile after mile through the trees, up and then down, left and then right. A bit faster then a bit slower, then a slightly more acute angle and then a bit more upright, feeling the bike underneath me and enjoying the total feeling of being one with it and alive.

I had been watching a small river on my right side for a few miles and reflecting on the time, 38 years ago, when a few of us were hiking on the Elands River in the Du Toits Kloof. A hot day and we decided to have a swim. Clothes off and into the water, when who should walk out of the bushes, but a group of nuns

Well it was hot today and the chances of nuns slim, so I stopped, climbed a fence, took my gear off and had a fantastic swim, pity it had to be on my own. Afterwards I sat on a tree stump and dried off enjoying the feeling of the son on my body and the cool of the water evaporating.

Parking for the swim and a coffee

My stream in Montana

Then back on my girl and off to Great Falls.

Another surprising town. Bigger and more modern than I expected. It has an air force base that dominates the town. During the cold war, Montana, the Dakota’s and Nebraska were home to much air force activity due to the central US situation and the fact that they were felt to be as far from the Russians as needed.

Tonight, rather than eating out I am doing “take ins”. The local supermarket is next door and I have bought myself some soup, salads and bits and pieces. It is going to be an early Nyquil (US version of Vicks Medinite) night as tomorrow I go up to the Glacier National Park. I have still not decided as to whether I will camp or lodge. This will depend on how I feel and what time I get there.

It is unlikely that I will have internet connectivity in the park so I will catch up on Tuesday or Wednesday when I come out the West side of the park and stay somewhere with the “net”.

Till then, enjoy whatever it is that you are doing.

The video in the previous blog should now work. I am learning as I go along.

It is open to the public. Thanks Charles

This is the You Tube Link to the video

Enjoy

Little Big Horn

The Main Protagonists. Sitting Bull and Ulysses S grant

The spot at which Custer is meant to have stopped standing

As Custer would have seen it

This is of course where George Armstrong Custer is rumoured to have muttered those famous words “Look at all them F—ing Indians” and where he had his last stand and died for his country. Little Big Horn in Montana is named after the nearby Little Big Horn River and it was at that time deep in Indian Territory. Here I am, standing at the spot where he and over 230 of his men fought and died.

Custer was West Point graduate who became a Civil war hero. After this battle he became a legendary figure in American history. Born and raised in Michigan he traveled America as a military man.

The reason he came to be in Montana has it roots in the finding of Gold on the West coast. First in California and then Oregon, Washington State, Colorado and Montana. Each finding sparked off a new gold rush with people streaming from the economic recession in the Eastern States following the civil war to the find wealth and fame west. “Go west young man, go west” was the advice given by fathers to sons.

This brought these settlers into direct conflict with the Indian tribes inhabiting the open areas of Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and the Dakota’s. The Indians lived off the land and in particular, being hunters and not farmers; they lived off the bison and game. The settlers moving west were also hunting these animals and more importantly were bringing cattle with them and claiming the land for themselves. (Sound familiar – South Africans?).

The most important of the west  bound trails established were the Mormon Trail through Utah, The Colorado Trail and the Oregon Trail which went though Wyoming and Montana, almost exactly on the road on which I am travelling.

The latter was the trail which sparked off the most bitter of the Indian campaigns and which ultimately destroyed the Indian nation. In the late 1880’s, an edict was issued by General Ulysses S Grant (of Civil war fame), that all Indians would be required to move into reservations (read into this homelands and you have the picture). Preferring to rather fight and die, Chief Sitting Bull, amongst a number of tribal chiefs, resisted the demand and took up arms.

The hill where Custer and his men died occupies the high ground in the area. However the shear weight of numbers involved and the fact that by this stage the Indians were armed with firearms and not just bows and arrows, meant that the outcome of this battle was inevitable. However, Custer’s defeat and massacre resulted in huge numbers of soldiers being sent to the area and a ruthless campaign conducted which lead to the the final demise of the Indian nations.

My trip from Rapid City SD to Billings MT (Montana) takes me through the Indian Territories. Names like Thunder Basin, Custer National Park, Lame Deer, Crow Agency, and Bighorn National Park point to the history of the area. There are also various Indian Reservations that I pass through – Northern Cheyenne and Crow Indian Reserves. These are neither nice nor good places. A bit like driving through the Trankei in the 80’s. No reason to come here for a holiday.

The locals’ physical traits confirm their gene pool. They are the products of their forefathers, but like many people in these situations, they are generally very poor, bone idle and cursed with afflictions of alcohol abuse and diabetes (virtually everyone is fat).

Then to add insult to injury, there are small casinos everywhere as there are no restrictions on these anywhere in the Indian Territories of the US. So in the most unlikely places you see a dismal casino with the parking lot full of ramshackle vehicles. Why is it that those who can least afford to, end up gambling the most? Maybe when you have nothing really to loose you have the most to gain!

So setting off from Rapid City, my first stop is Sturgis. In the world of motorcycling Sturgis is famous. This is the Glastonbury of the Motorcycling fraternity. Once a year, in August, Sturgis holds a three-day bike festival. Over 600,000, yes over Six Hundred Thousand bikers descend on this town for three days of riding, drinking, wet T Shirt competitions, sex fests and anything else which goes.

Biker Capital of the World and Proud of it

The Biggest Biker bar in the world 25000 people at once

Biker Bar  in Sturgis A small one

The economic benefits of this are immense and everything in Sturgis revolves around this week and the fact that it is also a must go to place, particularly for people like me, outside of the festival, something which I and many committed bikers like me, have no desire to be involved in.

It also helps that the Black Hills are, as I am finding out, one of the best areas in the US to bike in. So Sturgis is getting ready for the mayhem and is clearly proud and happy to be a “Bikers town” as the welcoming signs makes clear. There are bikes everywhere all the time in this area.

From there onto Belle Fourche. Given the name I am expecting something exciting. It is anything but. This is a Potchefstroom or Kroonstad. Dismal and dry. The traffic is crawling along. I immediately know this is Koelte Vark heaven. Sure enough, there he is, parked in the shade with mirror shades and a radar detector. It is that sort of place and the reason that as kids we tried to avoid Koster in the evenings when we were on my parents’ farm. I cannot get through this shithole fast enough.

So back on the I 212 West. I cut through the North East corner of Wyoming and then into Montana. This is a three states in a day ride. Flat country much like the Karoo. Not that interesting and I am thinking unlike the Karoo no sheep, when there is the first sheep flock I have seen on this trip. The US is beef country, not mutton country.

Wyoming this cowboy has arrived

And Montana he is here as well. A faster horse than Custer

Passing Boyes, which only has a US Post Office and a flag, I remember to post a letter with a cheque for the alarm maintenance for our condo, which has been in my bag since I set off. I think they will never have received a cheque posted in Boyes Montana. The moment has passed and I ride on.

It is getting hotter. The riding is not interesting and I have to concentrate, as this is one of those times it is easy to find oneself taking a detour through the bushes, a Terry Eleftheriou off the taxiway moment! Fortunately I have scrapped my Sirius XM satellite radio, which Bluetooth connects to my helmet, as the volume is insufficient. I now have a much more efficient solution. My iPod connected to a small set of earphones directly into my ears. This blanks out the wind noise and provides me with great music. I love music when driving and riding and would have it when flying if it was not for the need to listen out for radio transmissions.

Fleetwood Mac, Dire Straits, Rio Speedway, The Counting Crows, The Beach Boys, The Eagles, America, Phyllis Nelson, Antonio Venditti to mention a few make riding a pleasure. I am also starting to feel completely at one with the bike.

Riding is like being with a woman. Difficult and exciting at first. A new challenge makes it all a bit unpredictable. Then, as one of my great flying friends says, when you have started spending enough time on type, so you get to feel as if you are a part of the bike. One becomes sensitive to all the small nuances that make the difference in controlling the bike and riding it optimally. You assess the feel and noises. This feedback is processed instantly to allow you to be more in control, a better rider. It is only you and the bike and nothing else exists or matters.

Eventually you start feeling completely at one with your bike. This is when you can really hang it into the turns, knowing exactly when a touch of rear brake is needed to tighten it up and push the rear wheel down for more grip. When a slight twist of the throttle to speed up will have the required and instant response. This is why biking is so special and I am on a superb bike. A through bred, which is in the bed and with the rider it was designed for.

But you can never, like with your woman, afford take her for granted and relax for a second or take your hand off the throttle!

I stop in Ashland for a cold drink. Two choices. A dinkum brothel or a sleeze pit store. A fairly attractive (At least through my insect stained visor) belle is hanging over a chair at the brothel and she says that not only do they have great cold beers but also that she can see that I am exactly her type of man. The thought crosses my mind but then I lift the visor and in an instant see that she is not my type of gal!

Ashland Entertainment beckons

So it is the pit stop. Here I have a Coke and a chat to the lady serving who laughingly tells me she has been watching the whole process. She asks me where I am going. I tell her Billings and she asks where I am staying. The Hilton Garden Inn. She says she knows it well, which I doubt. She says I have to try Jakes restaurant nearby the hotel as she and her husband always go there when they are in Billings. I am now sure that Jakes is not my sort of place.

A lady comes in brandishing my keys. Apparently I dropped them on the road. I definitely didn’t leave them in the brothel so they must have slipped out of my pocket. I am thankful for the overwhelming honesty of Americans. For sure there are some really bad people and bad areas, which is to be expected in country of this size and with a population of over 370 million people. Wherever I go I am amazed at how this honesty makes living in this country easy.

Whenever I stop, I am used to having to somehow secure my helmet and riding jacket etc. Here they do not worry and simply leave their helmets, bags, jackets draped over their bikes and walk off. I have now taken doing the same and when I get back it is all there.

In Africa one has to worry about your bike still being there when you get back. For sure you could not do it in the UK or for that matter anywhere in Europe as well. In all my years of travelling the only place I ever had something of value stolen in a public place was in Switzerland. In the foyer of our 5 star hotel Gstaad, where someone stole my new laptop off the luggage trolley while we were having lunch waiting for our room.

In America, outside of New York and one or two other major cities they do not even have room safes. They look at you as if you have crawled off the moon when you ask at reception about one. The fact is that in most parts of the US people have more than enough and are content with what they have. Not so in the Indian Reserves where you have to be much more diligent, or so I am warned, by the lady behind the counter. I promise her I will go to Jakes and leave.

So back on the bike and through Lame Deer where the deer is still limping and nothing much else is happening. Then Busby, where I see another Post Office. I do not miss the opportunity. Max braking and a 180 turn and I am at the US Postal Service. Another thing that makes this country work is a proper postal service. Add to this FedEx and UPS and you can do business and live anywhere in the US. Everywhere I go I see FedEx and UPS trucks coming and going. Even in the back of nowhere there vans are moving. Overnight to and from anywhere in the US.

US Post Office Busby

Ten minutes later I am back on the road and the cheque is on the way to Michigan. It will be there in one day. Now I am hungry. Starving in fact. What I want is Biltong. I decide when I get to the hotel I will order Biltong from Biltong USA to be delivered to me c/o Randy in Oregon. I am staying with Randy and Lynn Norris for a few days at the end of next week. Also a proper side stand bottom, not from Biltong USA but from Touratech USA.

Along the road, two very interesting things. The first all traffic had to stop for an abnormal load. This was no ordinary abnormal load, this was a whole mining processing plant being moved. Wyoming and Montana are big mining areas. This plant was being transported on three of the biggest low bed horse and trailer combinations I have ever seen. They occupied the entire road. Then to cap it off, in front of my eyes, the first vehicle with four quadruple bogeys on the trailer reverses the entire thing at 90 degrees off the road into a siding. I have video of this that I will try and download to You Tube.

A real oversize load

Blocking the road

The second was near Lame Deer when I cam across over 100 Indians of all shapes and sizes on horseback riding bare back on the side of the road on the way to their local rodeo. It is fair time throughout the US and this is in full force in Montana with small fairs and rodeo’s everywhere.

Tribe on the move

It is also road repair time as bitter winters with many feet of snow stop all roadwork and repairs for months. This results in feverish activity during the summer months, short as these are. Long daylight hours are used to the maximum.

Next stop Little Bighorn. I did not have this on my original list of to do’s but having grown up reading about Custer’s Last Stand and all that stuff we did instead of the Great Trek and Blood River, I have to go. When I get there I am pleased I have. It is not a place I would make a special trip to see, as one would have to fly to Billings, which is not a major hub and then drive for an hour. The visitor center is a trove of fascinating information well presented and in a short period I know more about the Indian wars and the causes than I ever knew. In many ways it is so similar to the history of South Africa. Its simply the numbers and hence the final outcome which has been so different. Here the European population always outnumbered the Native Americans, as they are known. They were also ruthless in oppressing them and never saw them as a servant body.

So two hours later on to Billings. This is a surprising pleasant city and bigger than I thought. A population of over 150,000 it is modern and spacious. At 3200 ft. it has a Highveld like climate and as with all frontier type towns, everyone is very friendly.

I am actually feeling like death when I check in, having been fighting a cold for the past four days. I think it is the major temperature shifts, constant wind in the face and a large degree of exhaustion combined. Huge amounts of Echinacea, Vitamins C, D3 and others are just keeping it at bay. I think a good meal and sleep will fix me. I ask the receptionist where the best steak in town is. Jakes just around the corner! My Ashland lady was on the mark. It was a great recommendation as well.

I order the Biltong. Two-day delivery to Portland, Oregon and a side stand foot from Touratech. I know they will be waiting for me.

Woke up in a feverish sweat at 03h30. Whatever had been ailing me had arrived. I had packed a full medical kit and could not find it. Was it in the bike panniers or had I shipped to via UPS to Alaska with my replenishment kit? So I suffered through the next few hours on Disprin. When I woke I decide not to ride at all today.

Even in Rapid City where I stayed for two nights, I rode on the middle day to Mount Rushmore. So today I am not getting on the bike and have arranged to spend an extra night here before going to Great Falls tomorrow and then onto the Glacier National Park, where I will now probably only spend one rather than two nights. In fact I fully unpacked everything and found my medical kit hiding in the bottom of my bag that sits on the saddle behind me. Where the nurse should be sitting.

This is a true R and R day. I might even have an afternoon nap. I am told that this is normal for Grandfathers and Grandmothers!

This is and now was the first of my “Big Things” for this trip. Only 25 Miles from Rapid City I was looking forward to an easy and non stressed ride. Rather than set off early I spent the morning writing my blog and updating photos etc..

Setting off at 13h00 I was almost immediately in the foothills of the Black Hills. This is a gorgeous area where the Douglas Firs are on every slope, water running in streams and rivers and magnificent roads. In no hurry I was content to let the bike idle along at 50-55 mph.

The boxer engine (for the uninitiated BMW motorbikes have twin cylinder air cooled engines in which the cylinders are opposite each other and are horizontal – this means they protrude to the left and right side of the motorbike. This is contrary to most Japanese and American motorbikes in which the cylinders are next to each other in vertical banks. These BMW engines are known as “Boxer” engines). Now I have always been a “Boxer”fanatic having owned eight of these motor bikes over 25 years. I love the guttural noise they make when you open the throttle and their sound when they are idling along – as it was today.

I had decided to travel light, as opposed to the past four days and only took my point and shoot Canon camera with me. I also have a very good Nikon but left this and virtually everything else at the hotel. Passing through Keystone which is the village before Mount Rushmore I stopped to take photos of the old village and a steam engine which was pulling in. Bang – my camera packed up – battery flat. Normally fastidious in charging everything every evening I had omitted to do so for the past few nights and now was paying the price for that omission and the fact that I had decided to travel light. I even have a travel charger I can use on the bike, but it too was at the hotel. Fortunately my iPhone was not and all the photos are taken on it.

Arriving at Mount Rushmore, run by the US National Forest Service, is like everything else in America. Highly organised and everyone very friendly and helpful. I am always in awe of concepts or objects that people have created which defy belief. Ideas and “things” that blow one away with their grandeur or functionality. The Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower, St. Pauls, The Ely Cathedral, The Taj Mahal and The Golden Gate Bridge are a few that have this effect on me. Mount Rushmore is right up there with all of these. It is difficult to comprehend that someone came up with an idea to carve a “mountain”!

You come around a corner and in front of you, towering in the sky, are the faces of four Presidents. I had picked a perfect day. Some clouds in the sky framing the mountain and the panorama combined to take my breath away. It is awe inspiring and a must see.

Arrival at memorial

The Mountain

Leading up to the memorial are the flags of all the states mounted in a marble stone with the date of their incorporation into the Union. It was of interest to me to see that the last states were incorporated as late as 1959. The four presidents chosen were, George Washington as he was the founder of the Nation, Andrew Jefferson as the framer of the constitution, Abraham Lincoln for his role through the civil war in merging the North and South and Teddy Roosevelt for his role in the preservation of the National Parks and in creating a firm foothold for the economy through the building of the Panama Canal and breaking up many of the Monopolies of that era.

I have included some photos of each of these Presidents most famous sayings. I am particularly drawn to that of Teddy Roosevelt – ” The first requisite of a good citizen in this Republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his weight – That he should not be a mere passenger”

Roosevelt

Abraham Lincoln

Thomas Jefferson

George Washington

How true and how incisive. If there is any one issue which highlights why the world is in such a mess, it is because of the number of passengers! Nowhere is this more true than in Europe, the UK and Africa!

Originally I planned a quick look see. eventually I spent more than two hours there. Rather than me giving you the whole story here is the Wikipedia link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Rushmore

Eventually after a quick lunch I set off again. This time via Custer, Hill City and then because I had run out of time back to Rapid City. This is perfect riding country and it was shown by the huge number of bikers, even the first BMW’s I have seen. They were here from Colorado. Interesting to note that their riders were also fully dressed unlike the Harley riders. Says something about both sets of riders.

A mere 103 miles today. Now 1247 miles from home. Tomorrow Billings Montana.

Injun Country

At first I thought I was in Johannesburg in summer as I woke up to thunder and lighting. I looked out of the window to see torrential rain bucketing down. This was not a morning for motorcycling.

Then I realized I was in Watertown South Dakota and this rain was the reason there was so much water everywhere and where the name of the town came from. 3 ½ inches overnight! So back into bed with fallback plans rolling through my head. Should I stay for an extra night? I was tired so this option was appealing.

Two more hours of sleep won the day.

On the second go things had improved remarkably. The rain had moved on and the day was improving. For me this also meant cooler conditions.

Packed everything up, had a quick bite and then the first interesting event. I decided  to move my bike closer to the hotel entrance to load my gear. Started it up and moved off slowly. Fortunately!

Suddenly everything came to a grinding halt. The bike stopped in its tracks and over it fell. I just walked off it, but it was now lying on its side in the parking lot.  I immediately realised that I had not removed the wheel lock, which is a security padlock on the disk brake. It did its job.

The old flying adage came into my head. Always do a preflight inspection even before taxing. Part of my pre ride routine is to do this as well. A quick walk around before starting off. But in this instance I had neglected to do so because I was only moving the bike a few feet. Another lesson reinforced. Always do the preflight walk around.

The issue facing me was that the bike still had its panniers on and these were fully loaded making it was too heavy for me to pick up, which meant, either taking all the panniers etc. off or getting help.

So help was acquired in the form of the garbage truck driver. Thank you Mr. Garbage Truck driver. Together we picked up the bike with no damage to it. I removed the lock and the bike was moved and packed.

Off from Watertown later than planned and a big day ahead, the GPS telling me it was 365 miles to Rapid City South Dakota.

Immediately I realised that this was going to be a great day for motorcycling. The road was clean and clear. I thought someone had turned on the air-conditioning. Unlike the previous three days, it was cool and the post rain visibility was forever.

The topography was also changing. The corn and wheat fields of Wisconsin and Minnesota were becoming rolling hills and grazing. More and more cattle. It struck me that this was the country of the mighty Cheyenne, Sioux, Seneca, Navajo and Iroquois. This was the country of Custer and his last stand. This was where Sitting Bull once held sway. Where herds of bison roamed free. This was where the west was won!

This was Injun Country!

Here I was, all this way from my roots on a motorbike. The 21^st century equivalent of my horse.  Given my roots going back to my father’s cattle farms in Koster I felt immediately at home as herd after herd of Black Angus cattle slid past. Small town after small town. All in great shape. None of the decay so prevalent in rural SA.

Agriculture is on a high in the US and it is boom time rural America and it shows. Tractor and implement dealers are stocked to the hilt. John Deere is the name of the game in town. The big Green is everywhere. Occasionally a Case dealer, but gone are the Massey Fergusons, International Harvesters and Fords of my days.

If you have ever wondered why the tractors and harvesters are so big, it is because the areas they have to work on are huge. Even by the standards of the Golden Triangle in SA (Viljoesnkroon, Klerksdorp and Bethal), these areas are enormous. Millions of acres under cultivation. Corn, Wheat, Oats and Soya. New infrastructure going up everywhere. Silo’s ethanol plants, rail depots.  This is not an economy in recession.

So on the I 212 West – Henry, Clark, Raymond, Dolan, Redfield. Then South on the 281 to the 14 and West again. Stopped for lunch at “The Virginian” in Miller. Parked and a local rushed out to warn me that parking there would for sure end up in a ticket as the local sheriff had his office around the corner and my bike was on his route to lunch. Moved it. Lunch was simple but delicious. All of $ 7.95 for soup, a huge main of beef and a jug of Coke (Just for you Dane).

Then back on the 212 West. Highmore, Harold and to Pierre which is on the Missouri River. So this is my second great American River. These are the rivers that the US Army Corps of Engineers tamed and made navigable and stopped the devastating flooding and in so doing added to the economic might of this country.

I stopped briefly in a dump called Midland to get some water. This is as close to the anus of the USA as it gets. The skies were changing. Rain was on the way and big rain. Stay or go? I went. 20 miles on the road I was stopped for road works. On went the wet weather kit but it was looking more like hail. My weather read out on the GPS was saying so as well.

Nowhere to hide. Closer it came. Eventually I asked the woman who was holding the signs whether I could shelter in her car if it arrived, to which she agreed. But then, it just slid past us and only a few big drops hit us.

So on to Wall SD. For over 50 miles there had been signs advertising Wall Drug Store, so it had to be a quick stop off. This is a Drugstore like no other in America and only in America can a place like this exist! Look at the website. www.walldrug.com

Wall Drug Store

It is close to summer holiday time in the US and this means road trip time. So the big RV’s are on the road and many are towing their cars behind them. These are full size sedans. It is also motorcycle time and in the US that means Harley time!

Its what you see and hear all the time. The distinctive roar of a Harley. In every shape and form. Three wheeler conversions and sometimes even towing a trailer. More than 50% have their woman with them and often ladies are riding their own bikes. I would have loved to have had my woman behind me.

Most of the riders do not wear crash helmets and ride in T Shirts and Jeans. In the heat I was envious as I am fully kitted and they look at me as if I am mad. But I know what one slide on the tar with no protective clothing means. They have such self belief that it never even occurs to them that they might fall or come off. But then they also ride much more slowly.

America is on the summer move. I am just ahead of it so bookings and tables are relatively easy to come by. Having said that most of the hotels are full and everything else is busy. The spirit in these parts is good. The farms are doing very well and everything that goes around them is benefitting. There might be a continuation of the Great Recession in the cities. Civil servants might be losing their perks and jobs, but not here in rural America.

Wall Main Street

This is also not Obama country but the vote is so small that I am sure he does not care. This is not where the battle for the heart and soul of the US is being fought. That is happening in the Madison’s, the Ann Arbor’s and the Washington’s.

I arrived at Rapid City around 17h00. More than 1000 miles under the belt now, in four days. Every day has brought with it very different riding conditions. My riding fitness is starting to improve. I am however staying in Rapid City for two nights to give myself a chance to regroup and rest. My body is tired. Very tired.

All my initial good plans are also not happening.

I packed running shoes in the hope of having a short run every morning. The motor biking gives the upper body and the back a great workout but no cardio. However the first four days have shown me that there is no way I can get up and run in the mornings. I do not know what I was thinking!

There were also plans for lots of reading. The Kindle hits my chest as almost immediately I get into bed in the evenings! All of 3 pages so far. Haven’t turned the TV on once. It is sleep that is needed. Eight hours seems inadequate.

So I walked into the Hampton Inn in Rapid City and was greeted by a lady with name “Nozi”. Turns out she is a young South African who grew up in the Cape Flats, went to Cape Tech and did a tourism diploma. Worked on a cruise ship for three years and is now here for a year on a J 9 visa. She was delighted to hear a South African accent and just talk. It is a small world.

So I am taking an easy day. Did my washing this morning at Target. Yes Target. I have been throwing out my Tshirts as they are being used. Bought 7 new ones (6 and one for free) for $13.95!

Later on I will ride to Mount Rushmore. This is one of my Big Things to do. It is situated in the beautiful Black Hills area. After looking at the mountain and faces I will ride in the area to Custer, Hill City, Mystic, Deadwood and Sturgis. This is all meant to be gorgeous and Sturgis is home to the world’s largest motorcycle rally, which I am fortunately missing. It also has one of the largest motorcycle museums in the world.

Tomorrow I head up to Montana. Big Sky Country.

Overnight in Billings and then on to the Glacier National Park where I will camp for two nights.

I left Fountain City WI with my new strategy hot off the press. Stick to the big highways to cover ground fast. The issue in the US is that the distances are vast. Much bigger than even us Africans are used to. We tend to think of the miles as Kilometers whereas in fact each mile is 1.6 kms. So for every two miles you are in for over 3 kms.

Then in the US the non highway interstate roads have a speed limit of 55 mph which everyone sticks to religiously. This is a very god fearing country! Then as you go through each little town the limit drops to 35 mph and in some places 25 mph. And once again everyone slows down and trundles along. This is all well and good if you are in your Ford F150 with air conditioning, a soda in the drinks holder and a Big Mac in your right hand with Sirius FM on your sound system and all day to waste.

But when you are on a bike trying to get to Alaska, 4000 miles away. The outside temperature is 95 and humidity is over 90%, it is a bit trying. You go nowhere fast in this country at an average speed of 30 mph. On the other hand the big highways are nauseating as a motor biker because of all the traffic and in particular the big trucks “rigs as they are known here” So the trade off is small but interesting roads v highways. To get to Alaska and back in this decade it is going to have to be more of the highways, unfortunately.

The other thing I have realised very quickly is that there is no time to stop and look at every interesting thing that comes up along the way. There is so much of interest and each town and state tries as hard as possible to sell itself and their attractions. So everything is marked and aimed at pulling you in.

So my plan is only to have a few “big things” to see and do along the way.

So the principal aim of the trip is to get to Alaska to take part in an organised 10 day ride around Alaska and then back to Michigan – safely and in one piece. I have to be in Anchorage on 25 July to have my bike serviced and tires changed before the tour which starts on 28 July. You can see the details of this tour at http://www.motoquesttours.com

The tour finishes on 8 August and then I will head back for our house in Michigan. About 3800 miles. This will be about 14  days of riding but I figure at that point I will be Ultra Bike Fit. If not, the fall back is to have my bike shipped from Anchorage when I finish the tour and for me to call Inge to book a ticket for me to get back from Anchorage to Michigan.However I always prefer to finish off what I start so hopefully it will be ride back to Michigan!

So my “big things” are

• Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. This happens tomorrow and I have booked into a decent hotel for two nights as I have 350 miles to get there and I want to be able to spend some time in the park on Thursday and then just regroup with some “off”time.
• Visiting Randy and Lynn Norris in Oregon for a few days.
• Vancouver for some wine business and seeing Eveanne’s cousin.
• A visit to Red Rooster winery in Penticton BC.
• On the way back  from Alaska visiting Regina in Saskatchewan, also for wine business as Canada is an increasingly important market for Moreson and not too many wine salesmen from South Africa arrive on motorbikes!!
• The Alaska Highway

In any event I set off this morning knowing that there was a step up in the daily distance Today was a 340 mile day v the 250 and 200 miles of the previous two days.  I would be traveling in three states, including all the way across Minnesota.

Early on my strategy went out the door. Starting off on the I 35 up the east side of the Mississippi the road was perfect. A great surface, magnificent scenery and almost no traffic. Cool and no wind. The right hand could not help but twist the throttle more than in previous days. Hoping that no elected official (aka The Sheriff) was trying to supplement his budget, I was thoroughly enjoying what this bike does best on road, high speed touring. Of course by SA standards it was not high speed as we are used to riding at 130 to 140 kph which translates to about 80 mph. So I was doing between 75 and 80 mph but here that is fast. The odd buck lying on the side of the road was also a reminder that Sheriffs are not the only thing to be looking out for.

But most importantly the miles were ticking by quickly and enjoyably. I stopped in Minneapolis for lunch and to visit a Barnes and Noble for some maps, Google map and GPS’s are great but you need to look at the real thing to get a real feel of where you are and where you are going to.

So I continued to stick to the smaller I roads and it worked perfectly. Great roads. Little traffic. Towns more widespread and less than in Michigan and Wisconsin. So my average speed was considerably higher and the riding much more enjoyable.

From Minneapolis I headed due east on the I 212 through some of the most beautiful farm land I have ever seen. The scale of agriculture in this country blows my mind away. More about this and other thoughts on Thursday when I have a bit of time on my hands.I will also download more of my photos.

Today I rode really well and was disciplined – stopping every 60 -70 miles to rehydrate and stretch out etc.. This worked well and I was quite strong when I arrived in Watertown, South Dakota. It is not a place you are likely to have heard of or will get to. Like the rest of Michigan, Minnesota and South Dakota, there is water everywhere and it has its name for a reason. They tell me there is lots to see and do here but I will leave that for another day. My destination is Rapid City SD near Mount Rushmore. My plan is to get up earlier than the past few days and ride in the cooler weather. My bike is full of gas. I will pack everything up tonight. Stop writing and get into bed.

So expect lots more and pictures on Thursday evenings update. I leave you with one thought. Today I went though the Lutefisk capital of the USA. Yes it is spelt correctly – lutefisk. It is another Madison, this time in Minnesota. Look it up!

Night all from Watertown South Dakota.

Follow this link to see the map of my trip

http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=1635980

This will be a relatively short update as i am trying to get to bed a bit earlier than last night when I was fiddling with the blog, my GPS’s and software to show my trip route to all. That should be up and running in the next few days.

Today was hard riding. 250 miles across the breadth of Wisconsin. From the shores of Lake Michigan to the banks of the mighty Mississippi. Hot. Very hot. Over 90 degrees F all the way with humidity. A strong quartering cross wind to make it a real grind. Harold, like that day you and I rode the 1000 km’s from Ficksburg to Oudtshoorn via Aberdeen and Willowmore, The bike leaning at an angle and every time you pass a big rig, you have make the instant adjustment as the wind stops and then returns to try and blow you off the road. Today was reminder that the trip will not be easy all the way.

Made a detour to Madison for lunch. This was for two of my friends, The first being the De Villiers family as their eldest daughter is named Madison. The second is Cary Wilson. As he went to undergrad school at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and always talked about it. It is an Ann Arbor on steroids situated on a huge lake. The university is enormous physically occupying about four times the area of Wits or Cambridge. Another reminder of why America is what it is

After a welcome lunch at a cool Whole Foods it was back on the road to La Crosse and Winona (Yes this is where the actress gets her name from. On the Mississippi, it has three universities and is home to Fast n All, a billion $ fastner business). Wisconsin is also the home of dairy farming in the US and cows and corn are everywhere. As is the delightful smell of farm fresh manure. Jean you would have been at home here as you would have been with bottle of water on the back of the bike when I stopped. Frozen when I bought it, It had been boiled just for you. So I have two new tricks. The first is to air dry my washing which was till wet when I left this morning and I tied it to one of the retaining straps. Bone dry in minutes, The second is to heat water, Just slip the bottle under one of the straps to defrost. 20 Mins later the 95 degree air had it cooking.

On the way I went past the Frank Lloyd Wright memorial. Born and raised in the middle of Wisconsin, one of the US’s greatest architects. another tribute to the benefits of a great education system. Wisconsin roads are in great shape and the last part of the trip was through magnificent hilly countryside leading up to the river.

Last night it was a five star bikers hotel in Milwaukee. Tonight it is the real bike road trip deal. The Fountain City Motel in Fountain City WI. Spotlessly clean it is a better $50 than the $250 of last night. The owners could not have been friendlier or more helpful. Drove me into town to a diner so that I could have a beer with dinner rather than taking my bike in. Called and they fetched me.

I am going to end off now as sleep is needed. Have not yet decided where to tomorrow. I have to change my strategy as I may have mentioned. Riding across America on the secondary roads is just too slow. Average speed limit is 50 mph and through the towns this drops down to 25 mph in places plus traffic. I have to have a few days of 300 miles plus. A win today was that Randy Norris, who I will be staying with in Oregon, has asked me not to get tot hem before 29 June which gives me a few extra days.

So the day has arrived. I have been dreaming about riding a motorbike across America and on up to Alaska for over 20 years. Now I am finally on the road!

A hot, humid day in Northville. Closed up the Condo, it will be nearly three months before I walk in the door again.

The bike is packed and full. No matter how hard I tried to cut down the load, 11 weeks on the road through different climatic zones has certain requirements.

Getting onto the bike is also a challenge. If you look at the photos you will see that there is only a small gap on the saddle between the Tank Bag and the bag on the passengers seat. No passenger, so this area is utilized for some of my luggage as the aim is to keep the center of gravity on a bike as low as possible at all times.

Simple physics. The higher the center of Gravity, the more difficult it is to control the bike, because of the effect of the extended moment of your weight. This is why vehicles with loads on their roof racks overturn so often. This also why when you ride a motorbike off-road, you stand on the pedals. By so doing you transfer your weight to the pedals which are much lower than the seat.
So if in doubt on a motorbike stand and look up.

The other great truth on a motorbike is look where you want to go, so:

Look Down = Fall Down

Look Up = Get out of trouble.

There is so much about motor biking that has life lessons in it!

Stand up and look up and life has a better hue to it. Hang you head and the view is neither great nor is it likely to  going to improve.

Having managed to get on without tearing any muscles it was on towards Ann Arbor  and then northwest with about 160 miles to Muskegon where I planned to catch the ferry across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee. The alternative was to ride around the south side of the lake via Chicago. Somehow the thought of being able to enjoy a two hour ferry ride was preferable to an extra 200 miles on the bike. I will have more than enough time and miles on it over the next 11 weeks.

The additional weight made no difference to the bike. It handles like it was on rails. Rock solid and tracking exactly where I wanted it to go – where I was looking. But then it is a BMW!

Not long after I set off I got a weather warning on my GPS. The joys of technology. My Garmin GPS has Sirius XM Satellite radio and weather on it. So it taps into the US national weather radar system and you can see the weather in real time on the GPS. What it was telling me was that I was heading straight for heavy rain.

Now heavy rain on a motorbike is not for the feint of heart. I knew there was a risk of this as early as last night when I watched TV. Should I delay the start. But I had the kit and like being instrument rated as a pilot and then not flying because it is overcast, I have ridden in the rain many times and I have the bike and the gear, so off I went.

Firstly I tried to out run the rain by going on a more northerly route than originally planned. As I have found out on so many occasion when flying, it is virtually impossible to out run the weather. So I stopped at a rest area, got the bad weather waterproof out, put them on and headed out again.

The mind was starting to work. Started thinking about a Captain in SAA whom was around when I was a young co-pilot. “Blip” Burger. Known as such because as soon as he saw a blip on the radar he would fly miles around the potential weather. Obviously he had an “experience”. Me too. As a young pilot flying Cessna 150’s from Cape Town to Johannesburg. These small 2 seat aircraft were shipped from the US to SA in containers and assembled at DF Malan and then flown up to Johannesburg by keen young pilots such as myself, who were looking to build up hours or earn money or both. (9 hours of flying  bouncing around above the hot Karoo was not for experienced pilots).

Near De Aar I flew under a huge CB (Cumulus Nimbus) cloud which had what I thought was rain shadow under it. What it was, was hail, and the small Cessna 150 was never the same again, nor was my ferry pilot career. I managed to get the aircraft to Bloemfontein where I landed. The aircraft remained there and I was dispatched back to the Cape on SAA never to be asked to ferry another aircraft. Little did I know at the time but I was lucky to have survived to tell the tail.

Cursing myself for not starting earlier, another life lesson. It always pays to start early in the day. The shit always takes place later in the day. You virtually never get up and find shit waiting for you. Even the dogs sleeping inn the bedroom generally wake up and then go outside to do their doings. It’s a very bad day when you step into it directly on getting out of bed. So the plan should be to get up early, ride early and be finished by early afternoon, unless one is riding into the rising sun.

Then the revised routing started putting me under a bit of time pressure. Another good lesson early in the trip, if you need to get somewhere to meet a deadline as I had to for the ferry booking, then stick to the highways irrespective of the weather. The previous day I had decided against filling up before leaving. Another bad call as this too meant a short delay. always start the day with a full tank, be this petrol or a breakfast.

In any event I made it to Muskegon with time to spare and onto the Lake Express ferry to Milwaukee with the Harley boys who had been doing an around Lake Michigan 4 day ride. Everyone very friendly especially when 2 of them were unable to tie there bikes down on the ferry and I helped them out. What amazes me is that the majority of these people ride bikes without helmets. It is not a legal requirement in many of these states and so they just ride on in T Shirts and sunshades! They look at me in amazement with all my gear on and ask “man aren’t you hot?”

Across the lake is 80 miles – A sea!. The ferry is a high-speed catamaran which takes just over two hours in good weather. It was an excellent day with reasonably smooth waters. This is a sea. Beaches and boats everywhere. No need to go to the coast if you live in this area. Fresh water and so much of it that beachfront property is the norm. Families on boats everywhere.

I arrived in Milwaukee at 1820 Central Time. One hour behind Michigan and east coast time. I am staying at the Iron Horse Hotel. Milwaukee is home of Harley Davidson and this hotel is an upmarket “biker friendly” hotel. Very nice, a restored factory which is highly rated, no 11 on Trip Advisor in the US in 2011.

It is next to the Harley museum, so I might have to commit heresy for a BMW lover and visit it. Puke! But this is US road trip.

So all in all a very good start. Rode well. Exposed to some trying conditions. 200 miles under the belt. Body a bit stiff and sore in the back. Always happens at the start of a big bike trip. Hands also a bit tender especially the left hand which works the clutch lever.

On the ferry, not my bike though

Tomorrow I head towards Minnesota and then up to North Dakota on Weds or Thursday. A warm front is on the way bringing very hot and humid conditions followed by a cold front with rain. Nowhere to hide

More to follow as I regain my writing skills, which seem to have been buried since my Harvard days.

Originally this was the day it should have all started. I had given myself two days after arriving at out place in Northville for preparations, however my sister Sue and her son Justin arrived and have spent the past two days with me.

This also meant some work. A joint Moreson and Le Quartier Francais presentation to a group clients. The Premium Chardonnay flew out of the ice buckets. The Magia was as always a huge hit and Mata Mata and Pinotage rounded off the evening.

So today the preparations started in earnest. Firstly all my household chores to get out of the way such as bill payment and tax filings etc.

Then on to the bike where I did a whole lot of upgrades. Nothing nicer than getting into the mechanics. Had the tools out and loved it.

• Firstly the battery replaced. One thing I have learnt from my aircraft is that the battery always fails at the most inopportune moment. Therefore replace them regularly and when they are still working.
• Tires Checked
• An iPhone charger connected directly to the new battery
• A Garmin Montana GPS added.
• Camping Pannier packed and ready
• Emergency kit almost done.
• Tomorrow the clothes and toiletries.

I am pretty well ready to pack tomorrow and then should be on the way on Sunday.