To America We Go

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We've been back home a few days now and trying to adjust back to our normal routines. Besides the jet-lag, it's been a battle for both of us to shake the feeling that we are on the road and today is going to be another adventure. Everyone was well when we got back so this trip has been a 100% success.

Our decision to do the trip in two parts was one of the best decisions we made. The cross-country would have been an achievement but would have involved many hours of interstate riding and we wouldn't have seen as much as we did. It was also great to be able to offload things we had collected into our suitcase at the half-way point and leave them in New York and start with a freshly-packed load.

In total we rode about 3,500 miles (5,600 km), 2,000 miles on the west coast and 1,500 miles on the east coast. Below are the GPS tracks for the trip courtesy of GPS Visualizer.

Equipment: Laptop

Having a laptop turned out to be brilliant. Every hotel we stayed at had free wi-fi so we could update the blog, research the area for interesting places, check bank accounts, book accommodation and send e-mail. Also updating the GPS for the next day was far easier than doing it on the device and I could back up the tracks before the log became full. I ended up not buying a SIM card for the laptop or phone because it just wasn't necessary.

Equipment: Riding Gear

The equipment we took was perfect: BMW airflow jackets, airflow riding pants, rain suits and gloves. We both just wore hiking boots which doubled as daily footwear. There was only one day that we felt a bit chilly and most of the time we were too hot. When staying more than one night in a hotel we often left the jackets at home while exploring, which I know is bad, but it was just too hot. Especially in Washington. Not taking helmets saved a lot of hassle and the rentals were perfect. We only got to use the rain suits on the last day but I would take them next time too.

Equipment: GPS

The Zumo performed really well. Occasionally it set its mind to go a particular route, other times it couldn't calculate quickly enough when I missed a turn so missed the next one too, but overall it really did a great job. I can't imaging having navigated as well as we did with just a map. We do feel a bit guilty for having used it so much instead of just exploring. Next time we may try to cover less area and enjoy the quieter roads more.

Equipment: Camera

The Canon SX120 is really a great little camera. Battery life was quite poor and I bought a battery charger in Las Vegas after which we had no problems. I must have changed the batteries 20 times during the trip. Each evening I moved the day's photos off the camera onto the laptop and backed them up.

Equipment: Helmet Cam

The ContourHD performed perfectly. I took some double-sided tape and just attached the mount to the helmet and we were good to go. In total I have 140Gb of 720/60fps footage. Not sure if I'll ever get around to making a short movie from it all, but already it is fun to watch and bring back the memories. It was nice to be able to take frames from the day's footage (although quite a mission) otherwise there wouldn't have been much to post on riding days.

Blog

It was quite an effort to keep the blog maintained, but well worth it. We now have a detailed story of our trip which would have been impossible to create at the end. Initially on the west coast, while we were still severely jet-lagged, I'd be up at 4am creating the previous day's entry, but as we got our routines a bit better I'd do it before going to sleep each night. We were very interested who was following us and every day we'd check the analytics stats (not sure how accurately they can be interpreted for users behind a proxy) and see if there were any comments. I now know that the comments form was a bit broken and very difficult to get published (my fault for not testing it thoroughly before leaving), but I think I've got it right now so if you followed us please say hi. Thanks to everyone who did.



I would have liked to include more data with each day's entry (tracks, distances, mpg, etc.) so next time will be a bit better prepared for what's involved.


U.S.A.: Roads

The road infrastructure is quite amazing: built to handle large volumes of rapidly-moving traffic. Even with the GPS it was a bit difficult to navigate. The roads can sometimes be quite bumpy as there are sections of repeatedly-repaired surface, and there are road-works everywhere, but there was never a hole so big that it was dangerous and there were many newly-surfaced stretches that were a pleasure to ride. The road markings everywhere are also superb and there were never any surprises that were dangerous.

Probably the greatest annoyance I had was the amount of traffic. I think more than half of the riding was done behind the bumper of a car. Inescapable, perpetual traffic. On the single-lane, scenic roads it wasn't even feasible to dangerously pass the slow car in front as there would just be another one around the next corner. I sometimes would pull over and wait for a decent gap and then was able to enjoy riding for a short while. The interstates/parkways/expressways/etc. are busy 24 hours a day.

U.S.A.: Food

One of the things that exceeded our expectations was the food we enjoyed. It obviously made a difference that we could afford to eat in any restaurant we chose. The variety was amazing and almost every day we were agreeing that we were having the best meal of the trip. Service was fast and efficient everywhere we ate and often the waiter/waitress would take special care of us because of our unusual accents. Prices at the fancier restaurants were about the same same as we are used to paying here for a high-end meal so were were thankful for the weak Rand. Drinking was much more expensive and it could easily cost over R100 for a round of drinks.

U.S.A.: People

The image of Americans as loud, obnoxious people was not at all realised. The people we were in contact with were gracious, friendly and helpful without exception. We felt totally welcome and at ease and very comfortable in the society.

What we also enjoyed was the camaraderie that we experienced with other motorcyclists (yes, even, no, especially, the Harley riders). I would say that 90% of the bikes we passed (which was a lot) waved the peace sign and Cathy would be our official greeter when I had my eyes on the road.

BMW R1200RT Motorcycle

What a great choice this was for our trip. Powerful and manoeuvrable we enjoyed every minute on this bike. It ate up the miles and was fun in the corners. Besides the things specific about this model that I mentioned in a earlier post, I think the gear ratio is just perfect: I always knew exactly which gear I was in without looking which I can't say for the GS. The luggage system is convenient too: we would just detach the panniers and top box and carry them to our room. We also rented a tank bag from Dubbelju but Jupiters didn't have them available and I really missed it on the east coast.

I wish I knew what went wrong in Yosemite.

And a last mention of the motorcycle rental companies: Dubbelju on the west coast with their superior customer experience and Jupiters on the east who we wish every success in establishing themselves. We would not hesitate to book and rent a motorcycle from these companies again.

I was disappointed that I didn't see more BMWs. The only few I saw where when we were in Yosemite and Death Valley. And then more RTs than GSs.


Finally

We really had a good time doing this trip and are already talking about saving for the next one to America.

When we opened the hotel door in the morning it was pouring with rain. We went back upstairs and put our road-visibility rainsuits on and when we got back out onto the streets it had stopped raining and we looked like a pair of neon snowmen. Back upstairs to drop them off and we bought an umbrella at a nearby store. Then on to breakfast at Andrew's.

We just wandered the streets for a couple of hours going into any shops that took our fancy.


Later we hailed a cab and got out at the south side of the island: Wall Street/Ground Zero. We took a nice walk around Battery Park.


After a supper in a Irish pub we took another cab back to the hotel.

Off to the airport now to begin our journey home...

It had rained a lot during the night and the weather was warm and very humid when we set off. Even though the roads were wet and slippery the riding was initially comfortable on the parkway back to New York.

Then the heavens opened up and before we could find a place to stop and put our rain suits on we were completely soaked. The picture below doesn't do justice to the 50m visibility that we endured for most of the ride.


Eventually we reached New York, even though we couldn't actually see it, and it was a mission to ride, wipe the rain from the GPS so that I could see it and negotiate the traffic.


We pulled up in Brooklyn at Jupiters thoroughly soaked, toes squishing in soggy boots and hands that looked like they had spent the afternoon in the bathtub.


Jupiters was closed but after a phone call to Chris he was there in 5 minutes. We got out of our wet clothes, re-packed our suitcases and bade farewell to Chris. We'd definitely use Jupiters again if we rent a bike in New York.

We took a car into Manhattan and checked into our hotel and had a short nap before hitting the streets. We stopped at a nearby restaurant where we had great ribs and tilapia washed down with Californian wine and mojitos (my drink discovery for this trip :).


A few block later we were in Times Square and the magnificent of a billion watts of neon and a crowd watching opera on giants screens in the rain.


We found a nearby bar that was having a karaoke evening and enjoyed a couple of hours enjoying the bustle around the square before heading back to our hotel.

Tomorrow we have lots of exploring to do in the city.

We got up late after a late night. The weather was much cooler and overcast, and when we got on the bike it was spitting rain. We cruised up and down the road bordering the major hotels to try to find access onto the boardwalk and eventually stopped at the very end, but the rain soon made us move on.

We crossed over town to the marina district and went into the Borgata hotel which is really stunning. After a nice brunch we settled in a tequila bar (four pages of different tequilas and tequila cocktails on the menu) in the hotel and enjoyed a fresh strawberry and fresh pineapple margarita.

The rain had mostly stopped after we came out in the evening and headed back to the Taj Mahal. After freshening up we followed a big corridor in our hotel which we had been wondering where it led to and found the boardwalk I had been looking for.


The rain started to pour down again so we went into the nearby Hard Rock Cafe for supper and then called it a night.

This is our last night with the wheels. Tomorrow we head back into New York, drop off the bike and spend two more nights in Manhattan.

We had one of the nicest rides that we've had on the east coast today: not many miles to do; the temperature had dropped (not very much); we could plot a route that avoided interstates and highways.

We headed south from Pennsville through rural countryside and through the swamp areas near Delaware Bay. Cruising slowly we took in the sights of semi-rural life in the USA: houses without fences, often decorated with an interesting personal arrangement of statues, flowers and flags; decorations in preparation for Halloween; people maintaining their yards; small farmers with their fresh vegetables for sale on wagons; school sports events; weekend fishermen fishing for crabs in the swamps.

We emerged from this countryside onto the New Jersey shoreline: 100 miles of beachfront property. There are a number of towns along this coast, often curiously named "city"; e.g. Ocean City, Sea Isle City, Ventnor City.


Eventually we could see the big one, Atlantic City, across the water.


Because the big casinos in Atlantic City want to attract customers, they offer low room rates like Las Vegas, so we treated ourselves to a two-night stay at the Trump Taj Mahal in the Chairman Tower. Not quite as nice as the Palazzo, but a close second.


Tomorrow we'll explore Atlantic City further.

It was hot when we started out in the morning, and just got hotter. Checking the temp on the bike at 11am showed 98°F (37°C) and it was humid so sweating didn't help much. With our full protective suits we were roasting like potatoes. I told the GPS to avoid interstates, so me made our way north through the minor roads.


Even though it was hot the ride was interesting as we skirted Baltimore through the rougher areas.


After Baltimore the roads quietened and we were riding in peaceful farming country.


As we approached Philadelphia, we stopped for a break at a gas station (the food section had a really interesting self-order touchscreen system: I created myself a BLT with cheddar and mustard by picking options on the screen and minutes later my creation was handed over the counter without a word being spoken) and I suggested to Cathy that we didn't really need to head into another city, but should instead head for the coast. She agreed and with the netbook and MapSource I plotted a new route to the Atlantic.

This course put us back on the interstates/toll roads for a while and the traffic was horrendous. After crossing the Delaware we turned for the coast.




After getting off the interstate we stopped for a break, and because it was after 5pm and we were still cooking, we decided to find a hotel nearby and stop for the day. We found a fantastic Comfort Inn suite hotel with a large room near Pennsville for $109 (about the average price we have paid for a nice room) and after cooling down in the air-conditioning went to the nearby town where we had a great meal at the Applebee's franchise outlet. The staff were intrigued by their strange visitors and treated us really well.

The weather forecasters say there is a cold front approaching from the west and that the weekend will be cooler, with a possibility of rain on Monday. We'll be taking a slow, scenic ride to Atlantic City tomorrow.

The sky was cloudless and very hot again today; over 30°C and very humid. The weather forecasters are predicting record highs for tomorrow.

We made our way back to the National Mall after a Starbucks breakfast and located and rode around the White House before finding parking. In the beginning of this trip we were afraid to park anywhere except 100% legal parking spaces, but as we've gone along I've learnt what you can get away with when parking a motorcycle and now just slot the bike between cars close to where we want to be.

Our next stop was to be the Lincoln Memorial, but after riding around a huge block three times I was unable to find anywhere close to stop the bike. The roads are all one-way in the area, and a circuit around the monument means riding over a bridge to Arlington Cemetery, round a circle, then back past the monument all the way back to the Washington Monument. After the third attempt I gave up and we headed west along the Potomac river for a scenic ride.

An hour later we were back in the mall area and stopped near the Washington Monument to visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The museum documents the state of affairs that led to the rise of the Nazi Party, the displacement of the people deemed undesirable, the "final solution" and the trials at the end of the war. There were quite a few people moving though the exhibits and it was eerie to be in a museum with such a sombre atmosphere; few talked, and those that did, in whispers. The exhibits of the personal possessions confiscated from the death camp victims, artifacts from the camps and videos screens with graphic footage left us feeling very sad. We weren't allowed to take any pictures in the actual exhibit halls.

We set off to find the centre of Washington under clear, blue skies. I know the Garmin tagline is "You'd be lost without it", sometimes I'm lost with it. After going through the same tunnel three times as the GPS was insisting that I took a particular route and by the time the "off-route, recalculating..." process was ready I'd missed the next turn. I can't emphasise enough that the highways in this country are many and complicated and busy, so it is quite a challenge to ride the bike, watch the GPS and navigate through the traffic. Eventually I switched it off and headed for the Capitol dome which I occasionally got a glimpse of on the skyline.

The National Mall is a long, open, grassy stretch from the Capitol to the Washington Monument, around which you will find many of the sights that Washington is famous for. We found a parking and set off on foot to explore the area.

Foremost on my list of things to do was to visit as much of the Smithsonian Institution as possible. The Smithsonian is a complex of 19 museums and numerous research facilities. Some are in New York, but the administration offices located in "The Castle" and many of the museums are centred around the mall. Admission to all the museums is free.


We explored the castle which contained many fascinating items of American History and then moved on to, my favourite, the National Air and Space Museum. This is a feast for techies as it documents, with many of the original items, the great achievements that have been made during man's quest to fly and reach the stars.


At lunch time we headed to the National Museum of the American Indian where they have a canteen that serves native fare from North and South America.


We the crossed over to the other side of the mall and entered the National Museum of Natural History. As the nation's largest research museum, it is a treasure trove of more than 126 million natural and cultural objects.


Then we moved to the next building: the National Museum of American History. This is filled with exhibits that explore America's social, cultural, scientific and technological history.




Did you know that there were 23 million cars in the USA in 1930? No wonder the roads here are developed in such a mind-blowing way.

We had just finished one wing on one floor when it was after 5:30pm and the museum was closing. We'll probably go back and continue tomorrow, see the White House, the holocaust museum, and possibly also try to find the Air and Space Museum's expansion near the airport that is said to contain many more aircraft exhibits.