Santa Fe

I decided to visit Santa Fe, it would be a shame to miss this city I had heard so much about. It is a place with funky adobe buildings and a large arts community. The morning was sunny with a slight breeze and I prepared for a nice ride with my summer gloves, t-shirt and jacket. I wasn’t prepared for the cold that was to come, but fortunately I decided to try out my electric vest if I needed it.

And need it I did. My temp gauge told me 17C when I started but soon plummeted to nine! I headed north on the freeway and a strong cold wind started blowing from the west. I lifted my eyes and could see snow-capped mountains in the distance where I was heading. Already feeling the cold, I switched on the electric vest. Hmmm so nice. Like sitting in the sun on a warm Queensland day, the warmth hugged my front and back.

The wind became stronger and parts of the trip I was leaning to the left just to stay upright in the lane. I switched on my heated handgrips and as the thermometer continued a downward curve towards five Celsius, I was becoming more uncomfortable with the strange sensation of warm body and hands but cold arms where the wind swept up my jacket sleeves above my gloves.

As I arrived in Santa Fe an hour later, the temperature settled for a chilly 4.5C so I pulled into a vegan restaurant, and always happy to fill up on good vego food I stopped and had a hearty soup. It was a lovely restaurant and very reasonably priced, with a nice log fire burning at the end of the room.

Back on the bike, I rode the last couple of kilometres to the centre of downtown where I went for a walk around. Ill-equipped for the visit, I walked a couple of streets and marvelled at the architecture, but I was getting so cold that I couldn’t stay long to enjoy this lovely little city. 

This church has a staircase that is 400 years old and engineers are still trying to work out how it supports itself...apparently.

Without a beanie or proper warm clothing I stayed only a short time then headed out of town and took the scenic route known as the Turquoise Trail through some smaller towns that wound through the mountains, yet it was never as cold as it had been in Santa Fe. That said I was chilled when I finally arrived back at the motel in Albuquerque and ran a long hot shower to warm my head and arms.

Albuquerque - Easier said than written

It wasn’t a long ride to Albuquerque from Gallup, a couple of hours, and my priority was to get to the BMW motorcycle shop to have a brake light problem checked out. While riding with Glen and Leanne, Glen noticed that my brake light was on constantly and he wasn’t able to tell when I was braking. I remember being told that once before and in Cairns last year I had a blown tail light, so it seems this had been a problem for a while.

 John, the Service Manager at Sandia BMW Motorcycles, was waiting for me after my phone message that I was arriving today with a problem to be looked at. He climbed on the bike and immediately I had confidence in his knowledge and ability as he checked, fiddled, checked again; asked me questions, explained what was normal and basically was very thorough.

 He didn’t find the issue immediately but eventually the dash indicator behaved erratically and he could see there was a problem. They whisked the bike into the workshop and put it on the diagnostic computer. Shortly after, John advised that I had a switch that was sticking intermittently, they had one in stock and they could fit it immediately. Yes please!

*Note to self - take more photos of people!*

I was ogling over some older GS motorcycles that were on display on the mezzanine floor.

I was approached by another John, an ex army officer who had his 2014 1200GS Adventure in getting tyres fitted. He wanted to know all about my trip and planning and we talked for an hour. Once his bike was ready he offered me a ride to try it out. I jumped at the opportunity.

The bike was a brand new current model with all the gear. The first thing I did was over-rev it as I started, my throttle hand used to the millimetres of play on my 2006 model, but this was responsive from the first touch. I was a bit tentative finding the clutch engagement point, and with a new wet clutch in this model it felt different. Once moving though, the power was effortless, the brakes, clutch and handling were feather-light, and I immediately felt comfortable on the bike. 

On my return I had a Cheshire grin, it was a beautiful bike to ride. But I had my trusty Ziggy who had proven herself over and over again, and I was happy to be on her for my world trip. Ziggy was ready when I arrived back, switch replaced and tested, and as I rode off with a few new Facebook friends, Ziggy felt like a bike with eight year old technology. I couldn’t be happier!

I found a nice but cheap hotel at the top end of Central Avenue, part of the ‘Historic Route 66’ again and decided to spend a couple of days here due to riding for the last six days without a decent break. 

 I enjoy exploring a city on foot and particularly like the old part of a city to get a sense of the history through the buildings. Albuquerque was no exception with the Old Town precinct displaying a collection of mud adobe buildings around a couple of squares and numerous alleyways. The shops were bursting with goods mostly of Indian Navajo origin, also a range of Mexican and Central American items, with a theme of green and red chilies apparent by thousands of colorful porcelain bunches hanging from the ceilings. Indian women lined the verandahs of some old buildings selling handmade jewelry, while shop after shop displayed a new range of pottery, artwork and clothing.

 The Rattlesnake Museum was excellent with the owner Bob a passionate herpetologist with a stunning collection of venomous rattlesnakes from all over the Americas. As with all snake and reptile enthusiasts, Australia is somewhat of a mecca due to the high number of reptiles from crocodiles to geckos, and more than a fair share of venomous species. We chatted for some time about Steve Irwin, The Crocodile Hunter, who Bob was a big fan of and he had a moving display to Steve’s amazing work with venomous and deadly reptiles.

I stopped for a late lunch at a cute little cafe that had great food

I like Albuquerque. It's a small city, very friendly and lots of things to see and do.

Two Weeks in the USA

18 FEBRUARY 2014  

Map

Time is a funny thing when travelling. In two weeks I feel like I have seen so much, travelled so far, met so many great people, yet it is only the beginning of my bigger journey. So what are the highlights?

LA. Big city, fast, noisy, touristy in places, yet very friendly and fun. Four nights wasn’t enough time to really check it all out, especially with jetlag, but for the purposes of my journey…there is a purpose to my journey?...it was long enough.

I rode the crazy highways out of LA heading east, with my sights set on Joshua Tree National Park, where I camped for a night and tested my gear against the cold. Well for this Aussie who has lived mostly in the tropics for the last few years, anything even approaching 0 Celsius (32 Farenheit) is unbelievably cold and extreme. What a softie! It was a cold night, my gear held up well but I could use another layer if I was to get into anything colder! I wore all of my winter gear to bed and still needed the riding jacket over me in the wee hours.

Joshua Tree was amazing and well worth the visit.

I rode straight through to Phoenix and arrived just on dusk, so grabbed the first hotel I came to. It was part of a cheaper chain of hotels, so I was a bit surprised that it cost me over $90 for the night. This was quickly made up by the next couple of nights. Thanks to Horizons Unlimited networks, I was introduced to Bevan and Clare, a couple of Aussies living in Phoenix who open their house to motorcycle travellers.

I spent two days and two nights there talking and playing with a range of bikes and met some other adventure travellers. Craig from Brisbane has just finished fourteen mths across Canada and the USA on his KTM 990 and is about to fly back and resume a normal life. Ouch! Glen and Leanne also from Brisbane have bought a Triumph Tiger 800 that they are prepping for their US/Canada/Alaska journey. My first night, Al Jesse from Jesse Luggage came over for dinner and some great story telling ensued amongst this group of people.

Many thanks to Clare and Bevan for your amazing hospitality, welcome and information. It was really, really appreciated and put me into the right mindset to start travelling.

What started as an overnight trip to the Grand Canyon turned into a journey in itself. I motelled at a town called Williams on the famed Route 66 

and the following day travelled to the south rim of the GC and did all the tourist sightseeing bit. It is a truly amazing large hole in the ground. It was around 20C all day with snow banked up along much of the road from two weeks earlier. Good timing!

I camped at Tuba city that night and met an American couple in their elaborate fifth wheeler RV. Blaine and Jennifer had a V-Rod Harley that parked in the back of the RV, a jet ski, two pushbikes, two cars, a truck, five dogs (plus three newborn pups). They were an animated couple who invited me over for breakfast and talked about their lives, family and travels.

I rode to see Monument Valley and was distracted by a Navajo Nation site, 

then was blown sideways and sand blasted on the way to and from the monuments. It’s not rocket science to figure out how these amazing structures are formed in this wind-swept valley.

Exhausted after dry desert riding and high winds, I motelled at Kayenta. The cheapest was $80. Hmmm these motels are adding up and not cheap. Time to get smarter and shop around a bit more. They are more around the $40 a night range in New Mexico, so I made the decision to continue travelling east rather than heading back to Phoenix. It was cold in the morning.

The next day I rode through some beautiful country with the highlights being the Canyon de Chelly and frozen Lake Navajo.

I stayed at Gallup, a couple of hours west of Albequerque. The weather has been dry and mild in the day and chilly at night, approaching freezing. Ziggy is going well but I have a bit of a brake light issue that I need to get checked. Also my tank bag zipper has fallen apart, so looks like I’m in the market for a new bag!

Over the next week I’ll make my way to Austin, Texas!

Los Angeles.

The Journey, the dream, has begun. Of course no-one would expect a trip around the world to get off to a good start – remember Charley Boorman dropping his bike at the start line?

Ziggy has an odometer reading of 47,200kms. With brand new tyres, new fluids, new brake discs and pads, new tail pipe and spark plugs. Valves have been adjusted, alternator belt replaced, fuel actuator and fuel pump cover (two known weaknesses) have been replaced/repaired. A superb BMW eye has looked at the final drive, clutch and everything else in general. Thanks Tor and Donna from Tor Motors!!

If you are a Beemer owner and anywhere near the Sunshine Coast, see if Tor can fit you into his busy schedule and feel your BMW running as it is meant to!! http://www.tormotors.com.au

This is how I relayed my flight from Brisbane to LA on Facebook.

‘Hey hey hey, I'm in LA...and so is Ziggy!! Quite simple really. Travel nineteen hours including five in Nadi airport, Fiji (almost large). Breezed through US customs etc in under an hour, was directed to the wrong place by a taxi driver who put me on a bus. Walked 2 miles...yes MILES...to Qantas Freight. They had the bike...Yay!! I still had to clear customs in an office past where I caught the bus.

One SUPER helpful Qantas guy drove me in the company van to customs, filled out my paperwork, talked the jargon, and in 20 mins it was cleared. Then his bosses didn't want me to work in the workshop because of safety issues. After a few tears (not really) but I told them I had to leave the bike there forever because I don't have a truck. My helper argued for me!

They finally let me uncrate the bike in the warehouse, did I mention it was 14 degrees and raining? All the guy's eyes popped when they saw Ziggy crammed into the box and watched with wonder as she emerged almost total...still have to fit the windscreen.

Excellent! Still have to get to the hotel. Rode out into the now dark streets, pouring with rain, and took the wrong road and it threw me into a huge overpass, over the top of where my hotel was, and towards Long Beach. Through the rain I took the first exit, and after several petrol station stops for directions, pulled up soaked at the hotel.

I had left Brisbane at 11am and was in my LA hotel room at 7pm the same day. Easy, eight hours you may say!! Well thanks to my new found time travel ability it was more around 28 hours. I'm off to bed!!’

There were some more details to that story but I will save that long story for the book!
Crating the bike in Brisbane

I decided to spend four nights in LA to let the jetlag settle and catch up with a fellow HU Hubber, Vincenzo from the LA Community and check out a few of the tourist hotspots.

Three days with jetlag is hardly fair to make an assessment of a place. Although I was brought up in a big city and I can find my way through and around them without much trouble, I’m not really a big city person. I love the buzz of the café strips, the shops and malls, bars and buildings, milling people. But only for a short time.

I have no idea when I’m likely to be here again so I checked out the Hollywood sign, Hollywood Boulevard, Sunset Boulevard, several of the beaches and lots of the highways. I quickly tired of the highways. They are multi-lane and all concrete with very inconvenient joins that cross the lane and cause the front wheel to sometimes grab and pull and jump. The traffic is fast! I had no idea of the speed limit because it was rarely posted but I found myself doing 120km/h and vehicles were zooming past me.

Often it is like playing a video game with my iPhone doubling as a sat nav. There will be three choices and by the time you work out which is the correct one to veer right onto, the split is upon you and many times it’s a split second decision and hope you get it right.

So four nights is really long enough for me in LA. I’m looking forward to getting out into the desert country and up to Joshua Tree. I have considered the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas, but it’s bitterly cold up north at the moment and Vegas has never appealed. So I will head off to Phoenix to catch up with an old friend then continue to Austin, Texas to meet up with even older friends…their not actually older, but I’ve known them for longer if you know what I mean!