Limbimtimwim takes a mighty dump on the US of A [Archive]

limbimtimwim

27th May 2009, 17:53

I have being mucking around in San Francisco for the last 3 days. I have enjoyed it quite a bit. I took a lot of photos. But my primary reason for being in San Francisco was to purchase a moooww-terr-sickle.

I have now purchased a moooww-terr-sickle and intend of riding it from San Fran to Miami. Or somewhere close to it. Today I took delivery of my (new to me) GSXR600 Alstare replica with an amazing 980 Miles (yes miles) on the clock. I won't say "there isn't a scratch on her" because there are two scratches on it. But it rides like a new bike. Actually I suspect the suspension has being twiddled a little bit because the suspension is quite soft and it has felt like it has wallowed a couple of times on the trip down. That could be the massive preponderance of luggage and me on the bike.

Here is said bike:
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So today after faffing around until about 3:00 working out how to get those bags on I finally made my way out of San Francisco and over the Golden Gate bridge for a looksie. Damnit I didn't take the correct turn off and missed the good viewing spot, instead I came back and stopped at the lame one. Some kid asked for my photo on the 'cool bike'. Thanks kid. Looks like it's vomit coloured to me, but there you go.

Here is the view from the lame spot:
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Then I started down the pacific coast highway. Despite the clear blue skies, it's quite chilly and I stopped at a lighthouse place to put on some more clothes. It's a hostel now and it like a pretty cool one, but it was a bit too early stop yet.
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Tonight I am in a so-so hotel in a place to Capitola. Capitola is a really cool place I have never heard of. I will take pictures in the morning, though pictures in the evening would have being better, I neglected to take my camera with me to town where I found a chicken burrito that I quite liked.

More pictures tomorrow, I was pretty eager to get going so just went for it.

Str8 Jacket

27th May 2009, 17:59

I love the new "tourer" dude! We both had a good giggle at that... ;)

BTW, what happened to the ST?... hmmm? :p

limbimtimwim

27th May 2009, 18:07

I love the new "tourer" dude! We both had a good giggle at that... ;)

BTW, what happened to the ST?... hmmm? :pAn FJ1300 would be better. So would a Honda ST1300, or some BMW thing.

But how could I ever show my face again if I got one of those?!?

Actually it's pretty good. The seat/tank interface does attack ones special parts little, but the super fat front end keeps your legs sort of out of the wind. And it's so quiet I don't think I am going to bother with ear plugs.

ajturbo

27th May 2009, 18:13

hey matey..

great to see that you landed ok...

meet any sick pigs yet?....

but great photo's!!!

let me know when you reach Miami, i'll email my mate ( he is the one who owns the turbo)
to see if he could show you around eh....
he is into photograhy stuff too....

make sure that WHEN your talking to the cop, you have your hands in the air... OR they have their gun still in their holster..

Zapf

27th May 2009, 18:18

You bastard! :) Its one of my dream to ride around that place! Good luck with you trip and I look foward to keeping tabs on your cool trip!

limbimtimwim

27th May 2009, 18:20

I should put in a plug for SF Moto in San Francisco, they were great. Very helpful people. Nice shop, lots of scooters. Especially bigger ones, which we don't see too much of in NZ.

Noelle there helped me get some insurance and breakdown cover. I had being put onto some earlier but the silly person there wasn't very helpful and then went on holiday so I went elsewhere. Noelle coped with my endless "Oh yeah, that's right I also need.." while answering the phone and sorting everyone else out.

Mike sorted me with some Shift kevlar jeans, some MASSIVE fabric panniers and some knee armour to wear under the jeans for a nice price too.

Love you guys, well done!

http://www.sfmoto.com/

Drew

27th May 2009, 18:21

Stoked for ya bro, but this thread is nothing, without the photo you are meant to be getting for me.

SARGE

27th May 2009, 18:21

Couple places you really need to see.. If you get around san diego.. Make a stop close to the navel base. Lotta hot shit planes dicing over the ocean and huge ships .. Would get some great snaps there

shafty

27th May 2009, 18:32

Good on ya Matey - what an adventure!! WOW. Am lookin forward to following your travels!

I did something similair MANY years ago on a GL1500 with trailer, enjoying KOA hospitality along the way.

Have a blast and safe travels

Shafty :Punk:

James Deuce

27th May 2009, 18:48

Nice!! Crank the preload on the rear. It's designed for a 60kg Asian midget.

Wear ear plugs. The bike might be quiet, but the wind noise is still beyond safe industrial limits. When your hearing goes, it doesn't come back. This is my only remaining "safety" lecture. The rest have been discarded for the bullshit they are.

Watch out for big wildlife once you hit t the wilds. The big stuff is both bigger and more plentiful than it is here and some of it can eat you once it has knocked you off.

Let me know if you are going to Portland, I have a fiend there who would be happy (in a non-Pulp Fiction way) to help out if you need it.

merv

27th May 2009, 18:49

Have a great trip man and look out for :Police:.

SARGE

27th May 2009, 18:52

......., enjoying KOA hospitality along the way.
:

wow .. some of the best weekends i dont remember were spent at the KOA's

jrandom

27th May 2009, 19:20

Super awesome.

Moar photos plz.

Crasherfromwayback

27th May 2009, 19:26

The ride down the Pacific Coast is fucking gorgeous and awesome!

Hitcher

27th May 2009, 21:37

Ah. Serious nostalgia moment. There's nothing quite like riding one's own bike across the Golden Gate Bridge.

And California 1 north from San Fran rocks. Stop for lunch at Port Reynes Station.

Kendog

27th May 2009, 22:33

Good on ya for doing this.

Keep up the photos and reporting.

Fatjim

28th May 2009, 19:11

Glad to hear you landed safely. Did they anal probe you or couldn't you find the right box to tick for that?

PS, get rid of that front tyre, it'll spit you off without warning!

Crasherfromwayback

28th May 2009, 19:45

PS, get rid of that front tyre, it'll spit you off without warning!

Bullshit. You'll hear the sound of grinding metal and plastic as a warning sound 100th of a sec before you hit the deck. I know these things.

Fatjim

28th May 2009, 20:01

Bullshit. You'll hear the sound of grinding metal and plastic as a warning sound 100th of a sec before you hit the deck. I know these things.

I thought falsies were made of resin and wire.

Crasherfromwayback

28th May 2009, 20:06

I thought falsies were made of resin and wire.

Watch yaself mate. I'm 75kg's worth of bad attitude. And despite that...I've still got all of my own teeth.

Drew

28th May 2009, 20:12

Watch yaself mate. I'm 75kg's worth of bad attitude. And despite that...I've still got all of my own teeth.

Bullshit Pete, you couldn't weigh more than 60kg's.

Crasherfromwayback

28th May 2009, 20:16

Bullshit Pete, you couldn't weigh more than 60kg's.

You're correct. I do weight 60kgs. Add 15 for my balls and Pedro = 75

limbimtimwim

30th May 2009, 05:40

So I left Capitola for LA to travel along the California coastal highway. Unfortunately it was misty and cold (I was wishing for my leather pants damnit..) so photo ops were not really in abundance. There wasn't much to take photos of except the mist.\
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I also knew I was going to be pushed for time and couldn't mess around too much. It's 570km from Capitola to Santa Monica where I had booked for the night.

This is a bit of a shame, but the whole point of this trip for me is the travel, not so much the destination.

The coast road has lots of nice twists and turns, you go inland for awhile (Where the weather is better) and get to see some peaks up above you. The weather was really nice in a place called Big Sur. One place had set up deck chairs in the river.
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The road is mostly two lanes, sometimes lapsing into a four lane freeway, but mostly something you could see in NZ. One un-expected thing was seeing hundreds of people working in the fields. You could smell they were picking strawberries.

Eventually the road turns into minor freeway into massive freeway and it got dark. Six lanes plus in each direction was quite fantastic. I stuck to the middleish lanes and tried to concerntrate on counting down the exit numbers since that is how I knew where to get off. There were plenty of motels on the side of the freeway though with massive signs.

Then it was quite a crap hostel, but the people in the dorm room where cool. A French law student and a Russian girl who had just got off the plane from Samara.

ajturbo

30th May 2009, 06:42

keep it up matey.....

elle-f

30th May 2009, 07:01

I am enjoying reading these. Be safe young man.

Deano

30th May 2009, 07:14

I stuck to the middleish lanes and tried to concerntrate on counting down the exit numbers since that is how I knew where to get off.

Hey you've picked up a Merkin accent already.

Then it was quite a crap hostel, but the people in the dorm room where cool. A French law student and a Russian girl who had just got off the plane from Samara.

:love: Have fun Simon.

limbimtimwim

30th May 2009, 19:03

Okay, from LA my next stop was Las Vegas.

For some reason before I left I wanted to see the infamous Viper Room and Rodeo Drive. So I found the Viper room and took a photo. It looks like the sort of place you'd go to if you were a local and quite innocuous.
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Then Rodeo drive. I found a great angle where I could have got a photo the De Beers shop and a Rodeo Drive street sign, it would have been a perfect example of excess. However, where said photo could be taken from was marked as 'Clearway for a special event'. But I was cheeky and stopped anyway. But I didn't even manage to stop the engine before a police car came out of no where and made a loud noise at me. That's some effective policework.

Oh well, then to Venice Beach so I could make a point of going from coast to coast. Unfortunately the bastardages charge parking... So cheap person I am I went down the road a bit and found another way onto the beach with enough space to park the bike. And I took a photo.
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Then it was onto the freeway and out of LA. The freeway again just blew me away. There are thousands of people, all speeding going about their lives around you. I think people who live in LA must spend a lot of time in their cars. They are all on the phone or having a dispute with the person in the passenger seat. Did I mention they are all speeding? In their 3 tonne Dodge Ram trucks? On the phone? I kid you not; I had the speedometer reading 100mp/h and I was not the fastest guy there. Every bike I have seen on the freeway in LA cut up the traffic and went much faster than everyone else. So I do occasionally get some incredulous looks from people who are (I think) wondering why I am also not behaving the same. Either that or the fact I also the only guy wearing proper gear.

More on freeways: You may have wondered about the american obsession with big engined cars with soft suspension. I did until now. It's quite simple really; they are a response to a need. Firstly, the onramps onto the freeways are all too short and the traffic is going fast. So you really have to gun it to match the speed of the traffic. Secondly, that soft suspension is also useful; because well used freeways are really fucking lumpy. Endless low-frequency undulations would drive you crazy in a properly suspended vehicle.

Anyway, the road to LV is spectacular. Initially I was just in awe of how big LA is and how it seemed to never stop. And the endless low-rise shopping malls, one after the other with massive signs so they are visible from the freeway. And each mall had the same things in it; Subway, McShit, Taco Bell, <Insert big bank here>, over and over again. You could be forgiven for thinking there were no other companies in the US. I found it quite odd. Surreal. A massive difference from the Highway 1 type of landscape, which is dominated by scenery, this is dominated by humanity.
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When LA looked like it had finally run out I let out a few whoops of joy as the hot dry desert expanded in-front of me.. I even stopped and took a picture. But alas, it was not to be, because the stupid malls started up again. It also got very hot. 103/39.5 degrees in fact.
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At 80mp/h you'd expect that speed to take the heat out anything, but I was wrong. And there were no rest stops, except for these stupid malls. The scenery has spectacular rock formations. And massive valleys. When I saw a sign telling me that there was a rest stop 20 *miles* away I was a bit shocked. Not 200 metres, 20 MILES. Pretty good rest stop though, it had staff keeping it tidy and icey cold water from drinking fountains. Nice.
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It's quite a bit of road, I would encourage anyone who wants to visit LV take the road out from LA.

So eventually I get to LV and book myself into a hostel and go for a walk. It's exactly when I expected, a big cliche.

Twice I heard fat kids say "Look mom! Half off <diabetes inducing sugar drink>" and the parent reply in the affirmative.
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Don't get me wrong, the place has a certain charm.
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The scale of what they attempt here has to be appreciated. The hotels are massive, the big screens outside advertising their current shows would make a stadium feel jealous. The amount of coloured lights are insane. The blatant attempts to part you with your money are hilarious. Like the part of the casino which is by a pool and staffed only by attractive young woman in not-much clothes. Or the 'looser slots' billboard for the Hooters casino that of course features a hooters employee. Or the way you have to work your way past all the machines and tables to get a bite to eat.

I think if I spent more time in LV I could love it as long as I kept laughing...

Zapf

30th May 2009, 21:39

Hay LBTW,
Are you going into Utah? pass the salt lake and into the mountains? (http://www.speedace.info/bonneville_salt_flats.htm) I was flying into Utha 2 months ago and the mountains are unreal, I wished I had transport to explorer around that place. Plus you get to visit the HQ of the Mormon church in SLC. (they gave me a nice tour :P )

Zapf

chanceyy

30th May 2009, 21:46

Great reading S .. safe travels & will keep coming back to enjoy reading your exploits along the way :clap:

2_SL0

31st May 2009, 14:25

Great write up so far dude. Keep it coming.

ajturbo

31st May 2009, 17:33

love your tails man... keep them coming.....

James Deuce

31st May 2009, 20:03

See Simon? I TOLD you other people would work out you're an evolved Monkey eventually.

scracha

2nd June 2009, 19:20

You bastard I'm soooo jealous. My fookin uncle is an arse so couldn't arrange the Tedium 850 for you in blighty mate...sorry....but I did try.

"Hello 911, what is your emergency sir"
"och aye, there's a rider on a puke coloured gixxer600 with heroin up his arse"

Ellen says I've to tell you she turns 16 in July :-)

limbimtimwim

3rd June 2009, 08:37

Las Vegas NV to Kingman AZ.

Between Las Vegas and Kingman AZ there is the Hoover Dam. I was pretty excited about the Hoover dam, it looks so impressive in pictures and there is history behind it.
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The approach to the damn from the Nevada side is quite impressive, you wind the side of mountain made out of solid rock. Below you can catch glipses of a new bypass being constructed and up ahead you can see the towers of.. Something. I couldn't take a picture because there was nowhere safe to stop. A shame really, it was pretty cool. And of course the traffic was quite heavy, made worse by a security checkpoint that does little except keep some cops in work. They didn't inspect anything as far as I saw. As you wind down further you see that those towers you saw are the towers of a new bridge being built to by-pass the road over the deck of the dam. It will be quite an impressive bridge, the end result of dam and bridge is going to look extremely impressive when complete. I imagine it will reduce the traffic on the dam too, which was bumper to bumper.

So the dam itself, at least along the deck, isn't actually that big. Without paying for a tour, there is no way of going to the lower side of the dam. Which isn't really an option for me with my non-lockable luggage. So alas, I am resigned to the public car parks on the lake side to take a looksy.

So, somewhat let down, I moved on.
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Next stop was a place called Chloride. I stopped at Chloride because I needed a break. I needed a break because Chloride is on A VERY STRAIGHT BIT OF ROAD. Check it: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Las+Vegas&sll=36.6826,-116.87788&sspn=0.064978,0.126858&ie=UTF8&ll=35.439414,-114.312744&spn=0.528101,1.014862&t=h&z=10 Chloride turned out to be a silly little place. It was also very old, having an ancient jail house and half a street of real wild west era buildings.
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So from there on I stopped at a place called Kingman. I got the impression Kingman was a typical small American town. It had cheap half run down hotels, lots of gas stations and fast-food joints. It also had an older part of town which seemed a bit more genuine.
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I met some Germans who were riding around the USA on Harleys ("We would like our BMWs") and some war vets who had come to Kingman to volunteer at the local Veteran's Association hospital for awhile. And have a few drinks. They seeded pretty cool. I had a beer with them. I then went for a walk and took photos of the newer and crappier end of town.

limbimtimwim

3rd June 2009, 08:39

So after Kingman it was off to the Grand Canyon. Out from Kingman I stopped in a place called Seligman and had breakfast. For the first time in the US I wasn't appalled at the size or lard content of my meal. The lemonade was generous, but wasn't sweet and was mostly ice anyway. It was real good.
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Off up the road in the direction I was going I could see a thunderstorm brewing. I had already put on the rain covers for my bags but I had not put on my rain cover for myself. I thought I'd just miss it, but no, I rode right into it. The lightning was amazing, going between the clouds and the ground, it was quite spectacular. The rain was also stinging and cold. So dummy me I got cold and wet.

My misjudgement of the weather was not as bad as someone else's, further up the road I see a Jeep that rolled and is in the ditch upside down with it's lights on. I suspect they had tried to dodge one of the truck tyre carcasses that was near the accident. They litter highways here, they are a major hazard. It didn't look too bad, as long as the occupants were wearing their seatbelts I suppose they would have being okay. Others had already stopped so I kept going.

The road to the Grand Canyon was misty and raining slightly. Those who have travelled the Desert or National park roads in poor weather would have found the scene quite familiar. It was a bit uninspiring really. The park charges a car $25 to get in! Lucky a motorcycle counts as an individual and it cost 'only' $12. The pass is valid for a week however. There are two ends to the grand canyon that are set up for tourist access by vehicle. This end, the South, is quite commercial. Apparently the North is less so. There are gift shops, large car parks, lots of people, shuttle buses (Free), cafes, park police and even a proper sized train. And expensive coffee from a machine.

Pleasingly I came across another motorcyclist with a huge camera taking pictures of a tree. I thought he was nuts, but I looked again and he had in fact spotted a pair of large deer right next to the road doing what deer do.
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But of course, I came for the view. And it's pretty good.
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The GC is so deep it is hard to really judge where the bottom is. You can see things down there, but it kind of like being in a plane, it all looks like a toy and not real. I can imagine how the first people felt when they saw it. They probably said "SHIT! How the in the hell are we supposed to get past this?"
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At length, I left the GC and went towards Vermilion Cliffs so I could go north and find somewhere to sleep. After leaving the GC you see the first of many Navojo stalls selling stuff, mostly jewelery and horse hair pottery. The pottery is nice, but wouldn't fit on the bike.
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It was getting a bit dim and I was tired, so I stopped at a place called Lees Ferry for the night. It was a good choice, the food was good and so was the beer.
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It was also quiet, except for the English tourists who were there so they could start their drive into the GC at 3am to watch the sun rise.

But some good fortune I woke up early and decided to make an early start, so I packed my bags and went outside to take a picture of the sunrise. But the coolest thing happened on the cliffs behind me as they lit up and changed colour. Nice.
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I'm glad I stopped. Better than the grand canyon I reckon..

limbimtimwim

3rd June 2009, 08:40

I'm going to combine two days into one thingamy.

I left Lees Ferry and started up some hills. The hills climb up and overlook a plain that goes back to Vermilion Cliffs. The view was pretty cool.
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Down the other side there was, guess what, another plain with some cliffs. However these cliffs are a bit of a different colour, as you tend toward Utah they get a bit pinker and have more vegetation on them.
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At the same rest stop there was another Navajo stall selling stuff.
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By the time you get to Utah the vegetation is pretty lush, but then the irrigation is intense as well.
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So after a night in Salt Lake City I went West to take an alternate route to Boise to visit my good friend Miles. This goes via the ummm.. Salt Lake:
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and this route goes via the Bonneville Salt Flats. It's hard to imagine just how massive the salt flats are unless you see them. And the road keeps going and going forever. And it's dead straight. If you were going to make a speed record attempt, I guess this is a good spot.
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I had brunch at a diner in a very small place called Wells and turned North towards Boise. After that, well, it wasn't terribly interesting.

Boise is good. Val Kilmer lives here.
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And Miles and his wife Em. I had too much beer with Miles and Em and collapsed into bed.

limbimtimwim

3rd June 2009, 08:44

Scroll up: I've added photos to some of my older posts.

limbimtimwim

3rd June 2009, 08:47

You bastard I'm soooo jealous. My fookin uncle is an arse so couldn't arrange the Tedium 850 for you in blighty mate...sorry....but I did try.That's okay, I quite like the GSXR. I think I'll take it to Europe with me.

Ellen says I've to tell you she turns 16 in July :-)Well, what can I say to that? Say hello for me.:love:

scracha

3rd June 2009, 08:55

That's okay, I quite like the GSXR. I think I'll take it to Europe with me.
Well, what can I say to that?

Ummm... "Simon you're a nonce" ?

Leave the gixxer...bikes are cheap as chips in blighty (shame about the insurance tho') and it's a Suzuki so the puke paint will fall off before you get to Miami. Plus you'd have to get the headlight adjusted the correct way.

You've GOT to find a Captain America outfit/helmet/paint job.

vifferman

3rd June 2009, 09:20

So today after faffing around until about 3:00 working out how to get those bags on I finally made my way out of San Francisco and over the Golden Gate bridge for a looksie. Damnit I didn't take the correct turn off and missed the good viewing spot, instead I came back and stopped at the lame one.
Never mind; here's what it looks like from the 'non-lame spot' (taken in the first week of January this year).
Hope you continue to enjoy your trip and all goes well for you, Sir! :niceone:

Rob Taylor

4th June 2009, 17:45

THis is great following your trip.Keep it up and stay safe:niceone::niceone:

k14

4th June 2009, 18:32

Great report man. Very jealous.

Have you bought a gun yet? :eek:

limbimtimwim

5th June 2009, 02:02

Have you bought a gun yet? :eek:No. But you can buy them at Wal-Mart..

limbimtimwim

5th June 2009, 02:03

I left Miles' place and set off to experience the Sawtooth Mountains and head into Montana. I was not disappointed.

The road out of Boise was great, it slowly wound up past some dams and just kept climbing. The dam was spilling and it looked pretty cool as the water shot out of some big tubes. Like a super-hydroslide. Stupidly I'd set my camera to overexpose and the pictures ended up unviewable. D'oh! Oh well.

The road got pretty winding, it reminded me of the Rimutakas a bit, with it's hairpins and steep grades directly after only warmer, with less traffic, longer and a better surface. Check it: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=boise+id&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=3c4nSoDvHYKytgPng9Ef&ll=44.030531,-115.615311&spn=0.029127,0.063429&t=h&z=14
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So that road climbed down, but then of course it just climbed up again, high enough for snow to still be there, it was pretty cool. I stopped at the summit I went for a little walk in the snow and wished for someone to have a snowball fight with. It's 2195M or 7200 feet high there.
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So of course what comes up must come down, again, and I travelled along some plains to join the Salmon river, taking in the well named Sawtooth mountains off to the side.
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There are a few small towns along this road, but not much! Mostly 'RV Parks' and the occasional Bed and Breakfast. There was at least one warning sign about how far to the next petrol station. The road turns into running right next to the river, and some cliff tower above you, showing off their geological processes for everyone to see.
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So for the night I stopped in Salmon (The town). Salmon wasn't that cute, but it sure is quiet. There isn't much traffic. It's a tourist town, but I think it relies on it being the Ski Season, and this isn't it.
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Oh yeah, deer, in the middle of town, awesome.
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Trudes

5th June 2009, 07:48

Wicked Simon, really enjoying reading about your adventure!! And what!!... you didn't throw snow balls at yourself??;) Have fun mate, ride safe. :)

Deano

5th June 2009, 08:23

WOW. I'm jealous too. Great photos mate.

fergie

7th June 2009, 16:57

this would have to be the most enjoyable thread i have read in a huge/long time! well done.thanks.:first::niceone::clap:

limbimtimwim

8th June 2009, 02:37

Salmon to Anaconda

Salmon has a Sacajawea 'interpretation' site.
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The road going north out of Salmon is like a super-duper Kaimai range road. There are many very large hairpins going up a mountain. At the top of the mountain is the border to Montana. Thanks Jake the underground train driver from New York for taking my photo near the top. Irritatingly and what I have found is quite common so far is that there are not enough safe places to pull over and take a snap of what is quite a stunning view and an impressive feat of engineering.
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At the bottom of the hill there is some Montana farmland, which is very pretty.
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After Salmon I went to a place called Missoula to get some new tyres, since the original Dunlop D208 rear was down to the wear indicators and it was time for replacement. So I wasted a bit of time finding a shop, and then waiting for the tyre to be fitted. So I didn't get that far, I only made it to a place called Anaconda, which is about 5 miles off the freeway heading East from Missoula.

I went to Anaconda because I stopped at one of Montana's highway rest stops, which are far more frequent that California's and even better maintained, full of free information, warm, completely devoid of staff and are spotlessly clean. In Montana the signs lie and say "Next rest stop 60 miles" when there are is in fact one about 20 miles down the road. Perhaps the people in charge of rest stops have had a falling out with the people in charge of signs. Anyway, this rest stop had pictures of the buildings in Anaconda, and they looked a little quirky. So I went down the road to take a look.

Indeed Anaconda was full of slightly odd buildings. It also had a weird feel about it, like a town that was badly maintained or forgottern. I thought this was perhaps the freeway was built, and did not come by close enough for people to stop.
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I went into a bar and had a beer. I had sat down next to the right person. Turns out Anaconda once had a large copper smelter that at it's peak employed thousands, that's where the old dude at the bar used to work. So with the smelter came a railway. So with the railway and the smelter, there was a town of at least 12000 people. Now the town only has a couple of thousand people. The smelter gone and railyard gone, the town is equiped for many more than it needs to service, and and perhaps afford to look after. Projects are half done, roads are potholed. Pointlessly the two main streets are one way two lane streets, there is no way they need that with their current traffic load, this isn't San Francisco. Either the town policeman was watching me, or he drives aroud and around those main streets all day.. There are probably more bars per-capita than anywhere else in the world, which means there are lots of mostly empty bars. Apparently on Friday they close a street and have outdoor live music, shame I missed it. It'd also be really f*(^ing cold.

limbimtimwim

8th June 2009, 02:38

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Anyway, funny place Anaconda. I think it deserves to survive, but it probably won't.

limbimtimwim

8th June 2009, 02:53

Anaconda to Teton Village

I left Anaconda early enough so I could get to Yellowstone and have lots of time to take pictures.

It was warm in the sun, but cold in the shade. So when moving, I had to have my scarf on for the first time yet. Again, a great bit of road and scenery as you climb over a pass getting near Bozeman, but nowhere safe to stop and take a picture. This road kind of like the Bombay hills, but it rises higher and has more turns.

A bit further down the road, uh oh!! Highway patrol man hiding after a crest and Mr GPS says that I am speeding by 10MPH. But I am in the 'slow' right hand lane, and there is a red Ford F250 raised up high like they do serious off roading (I bet they don't) is in the left lane. After we pass, highway patrol man starts to move; I slow to the speed limit at the bottom of slope, the Highway Patrol man is gaining quickly, I start getting a little nervous, he passes me, disco lights lights come on and YUSSSSSSSS he pulls over the big red truck. A lucky escape I think maybe because I was in the slow lane or maybe because I slowed down at the bottom of the hill... I can hear the driver of the truck now "But the puke coloured bike was going just as fast as me!!".

Phew..

I pass through the town of Bozeman, which looks like a nice place. After Bozeman it's South to Yellowstone.

The road to Yellowstone is paved with money. There are a few nice looking places off to the side of the road that I am sure I could never afford.
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The road is very scenic, it winds along a river. It would be a nice 75mph road, but we are hobbled to something less fun.
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I stop at a turn off to a place called Big Sky and have a bite to eat at chapel on the side of the road.
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As I am about to leave I spot a plaque on the front of the chapel. It has my name on it.
<img src="http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v4551/188/104/696495759/n696495759_2711325_842745.jpg"> I find a real-estate agent up the road (At what I discover is the rich person chalet town of Big Sky) and ask them if they know anyone with my surname. Turns out she does. Bozeman's local royalty have the same surname as me. There is a castle and a street with my name in Bozeman. I knew it was a nice town :-)

I continue on through pine forest. There are warnings about large mammals on the road, like ya know, Bison. A large electronic sign proclaims '15 animal inpacts this year. SLOW DOWN'. Me vs. Bison would result in Bison win, Simon fail.
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Eventually I come to West Yellowstone, which is the last town in Montana before the entrance to the park. I am quite surprised to see it is a not a hellishly expensive resort town like Queenstown, but something more like Oakune. I am actually quite impressed by this and hope that the fee to Yellowstone isn't huge. But sadly it is, $20. Like GC, I consider turning around. But no, I don't, I keep going.

It was worth it.

After you pass through the gate there is some more pine forest, but soon you are following a river that winds through the forest where people are fishing happily in the cool air, it's all very picturesque.
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There are of course geo-thermal things to stop and take a look at, but it is starting to rain. Then it is starting to hail. Yay.
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I do stop and take the time to watch Old Faithful do it's show, which was okay. A lot of people were watching, but it did not fail and rose to the occasion.
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But Yellowstone had yet to type in the cheat codes. The road south from Old Faithful and to the Grand Teton National Park is the cheat code. Let down little by Old Faithful I was very impressed with what was to come. It was also very cold. Coldest ever on a bike for me.

limbimtimwim

8th June 2009, 02:54

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Brr. But you know, rivers, ponds, waterfalls and lakes surrounded by snow raised my spirits somewhat; but that was nearly dashed when I was speeding a little and a sheriff saw me and pulled over with his lights on... But he did not turn around... Phew... And then of course, there were the Grand Tetons themselves. Which devoid of cloud, soaked in sunshine and covered in snow are pretty damn awesome.
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I got the cheapest room in Teton Village (It's the so-off-it-is-almost-shut-down-season), some fine soup bread.
And then there was an epic lightning storm.
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After that i was freezing and went right to bed with the feeling just coming back into my toes..

T.I.E

8th June 2009, 04:15

I got to get my name out there somewhere, Would of had a place for ya between La and Vegas, sorry i wasn't up with the plan early enough.
Keep it safe and watch that road kill.

This Norfland boy lost in California

Hitcher

8th June 2009, 08:47

Lightning in the USA is magnificent. I now understand why the locals sit on their porches and watch.

phoenixgtr

8th June 2009, 09:28

Wow!! Good on ya mate. This is a fantastic journey

limbimtimwim

8th June 2009, 16:03

Teton Village to Lander

It was cold and rainy when I left.

I had a coffee at some place I asked about the weather. 'Oh... Cars were coming down the road earlier on with snow on them'. Nice.

So yeah, it was pretty going up the hill.
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Then it snowed.
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But it cleared up, and there were some funny hills near a place called Dubois. And a shifty looking Jackalope.
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And some funny cliffs.
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But then Wyoming got a a bit boring. This is the best it could manage.
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So yeah, not much interesting to report really.

For some reason today my thoughts were on the car industry here. American cars and trucks totally dominate the landscape. The Dodge Ram (In several different sizes) and Chevy Silverado (And it's twin GMC) are incredibly common. So how GM and Chrysler got themselves in economic trouble leaves me in wonder. How badly did they have mismanage their companies to put themselves in such a bad position? They had steady income from these trucks, but they couldn't manage it.

I wonder what Ford does differently? Perhaps they don't make cars that suck? Perhaps they have not gone crazy with wide product lines? Who knows?!

I hope the US government doesn't waste it's monetary input into these companies.

The place I stayed in called Lander. It's hosts, what a rather cynical person at the bar told me was a prestigious outdoor education centre for rich people, called the National Outdoor Leadership School. She explained to me there was sort of a divide in the town that wasn't an economic one between conservationists and hunters. There were lots of republicans in the bar still wearing their camo and a whole lot of people in t-shirts and with frequent facial hair singing along with the jukebox.

But they wern't talking to each other.

gijoe1313

8th June 2009, 16:11

:niceone: Golly! What a great trip and excellent write ups! :niceone: Keep 'em coming and remember to take those shots no one else will (the mundane and ordinary! hehe)

limbimtimwim

8th June 2009, 16:21

Lander to New Castle

It was, again, rainy and cold when I left Lander. The guy at the motel warned me about the weather. The people in the servo warned me about the weather. They say it is about to snow. Meh, stupid dork that I am, I kept on.

14 miles out of town I see another bike coming towards me, and he pulls over and stops, and so do I. He is nearly out of fuel. I tell him how far he has to go, and he is no longer worried. I ask him about the road ahead. He says no snow, just some rain.

So my highlight out of Lander to Colorado was some cowboys in the hills.
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Someone, who shall remain famous, told me that Southern Wyoming was "America's Toilet". The strong steady wind was frustrating (Throttle to the stop for awhile and couldn't get to 75mp/h without shifting down), the landscape boring, the towns far apart and shitty, all and all the Southern Wyoming is no fun.
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Got quite a bit better right after the 'Welcome to Colorful Colorado' sign however.
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The wind died down, the temperatute went up, the land got lumpier, the towns less shitty.
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I even haggled successfully with the person at the desk of a chain motel. Something that has eluded me so far.

Well done Colorado for saving my day! I shall be seeing more of you tomorrow..

scracha

8th June 2009, 20:39

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Dunno why but I just thought of that stupid game Road Rash. Anyhoo..

Fark Simon. It all looks awesome.

http://picasaweb.google.com/simonsApathy/SalmonToAnaconda#5344359430176764690

Testicle festival....wtf?

limbimtimwim

10th June 2009, 02:00

New Castle CO to Telluride CO

Ever heard of either of these places? No, me neither.

New Castle isn't much. The road to Aspen is quite frankly crap. It has lots of traffic lights and just takes forever. But the road out of Aspen is awesome. It climbs up a mountain and is thin and winding enough to discourage people in RVs and towing campers. There are signs warning you not to do that anyway. Someone has even bothered making a website about it: http://www.independence-pass.com/ . It is high 12,095 feet/3686M.
I just took a photo or two.
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Then it was another mountain pass, Monarch Pass. Which wasn't as photogenic, but it was a good fun road with sweeping bends. It's also high, 11,312 feet/3,448M according to Wikipedia.

After that, some hydro lakes, which felt a little bit like the road north of the Clyde dam.
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So after that I found myself heading towards Telluride, which I had never heard of, but my sister said was a nice place. The road in is great, you come through a pretty canyon
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and end up in the dead end, but incredibly rich town on Telluride. I can't describe how.. elite feeling.. Telluride is. Rich people sit in cosy expensive restaurants eating expensive food in their expensive clothes. Queenstown is just cheap pretender to this.

The free gondola is awesome, I agree is is "The Most Beautiful Commute in America" as the website says. http://www.telluride.com/telluride/the-gondola.html .
<img src="http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs101.snc1/4551_112602285759_696495759_2730912_6864940_n.jpg">.
Powered wind apparently. Perhaps all the hot air coming from the local moneyed up people.
The view from the top is great.
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Today I came to the conclusion that Americans do not understand waste very well. Everything comes in it's own packaging. Even when served soup I got come crackers, in individual packets. Salad dressing? Individual packet. Cup in hotel room? Polystyrene in an individual packet for each one.
Seems a little senseless. I guess the only sense is that there is no washing up, just throwing away...

usa-vtwin

10th June 2009, 07:47

Awesome thread and trip! I did this tour in a Corvette and seeing your photos and doco brings back great memories..It's inspired me to work hard this year and go back and do it on a bike. Ride safe and keep it coming. * lucky lucky lucky*

Quasi

10th June 2009, 07:55

What a amusing and inspiring thread. keep those words and pix coming. Something to brighten up these damm grey days we having here.

limbimtimwim

11th June 2009, 16:42

First off I partook in Telluride's other free entertainment: the end of the canyon.

At the end of the Canyon is Bridal Vail falls, which fall a long way. Some dude on the internet was quite interested in the old power station at the top: http://www.old-engine.com/telluride.htm . I like power stations a lot myself, but not enough to climb up there!
<img src="http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs103.snc1/4569_113013540759_696495759_2737960_217406_n.jpg">

Then it was South to Durango. (Dave, both my Tomtom and Google maps seem to think this is possible other ways, but one must go through Dolores to get out southwards from Telluride if you want to stay on roads with pavement). This was all a bit ho-hum (As far as Colorado's dramatic mountain scenery can be ho-hum). Indeed, when I go to Durango it all looked a lot like Hamilton to me.

I stopped at Bayfield out of Durango to have lunch. I had a grilled chicken salad accompanied by my new favorite drink, American lemonade. Which comes with bits of lemon in it. It's really really good and always is half ice and half lemonade. The sweetness varies, but it's usually quite tart. Outside the cafe (Which was incredibly busy, a local favourite it seems) there was a Redneck Enterprises shop. I thought this was quite funny.

And just when I was getting a bit bored, the scenery changed a little and I was going through some countryside that looked like this:
<img src="http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs083.snc1/4569_113013570759_696495759_2737964_2801681_n.jpg">
Which looks like this from above:
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(I was standing here: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Telluride,+CO&daddr=37.448697,-108.671265+to:leadville+co&hl=en&geocode=&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=8&via=1&sll=37.644685,-107.545166&sspn=2.052949,4.059448&ie=UTF8&ll=37.450132,-106.889001&spn=0.00201,0.003964&t=h&z=18 )

Then it was away stopping only at the very strange little town of Seguache. The way to Seguache is straight and flat, but for some reason I was not bored. It was very pretty.
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Seguache gave the signs of being alive, but really it was dead. There were people around, but this place is ghost town in the making. It looks like people had just up and walked away from some things.
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The local high school had an electronic sign going through the names of all it's graduates.
When I arrived in Leadville (I do kind of pick my destination by the place on the map, not by the reputation) I was pleasantly surprised to find a town that was falling down, but not brought down by it's falling-down-ness.
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(All that metal making up the stars and stripes is reinforcing stuff from the local brick buildings)
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People looked happy and out and about. Music blaring from a pub (With $2 micro brewery beer that was all excellent, forgotten all the names now...)
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A restaurant that only made filet mignon (On Tuesdays). A national mining hall of fame complete with a homo-erotic sculpture outside
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A chamber of commerce that was simultaneously spotlessly clean and in danger of falling down. And no town would be complete without a combination cinema and bail bonds office.

And I stayed in a cheap hostel that had a fire raging and only a few people there.

I like Leadville. I am told it was once just like Telluride, but they chose to go up-market awhile ago and became the (almost) charmless playground of the rich it is today. Indeed, there was a sign in Telluride saying un-licenced vehicles were banned from parking, whereas in Leadville there where wrecks everywhere. My kinda town :-)

limbimtimwim

12th June 2009, 16:08

Leadville to Cheyenne

One thing about hail is that it is not as wet as rain. Another thing about hail is that if you are in it, you know it's cold. I perfer cold over wet, so I'll take a bit of hail over a downpour anyday. So hail is what I got coming out of Leadville.
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So to Leadville it was up the road to Copper Mountain, which has a great view from and a stream running right by the petrol station.
And then onto the Interstate that heads towards Denver. Interstates are safe roads as long as you pay attention to what is happening, and I think most American's take driving on the interstates seriously and pay attention. Interstates also let you get somewhere quite quickly, with no waiting at traffic lights and more lanes than are really necessary most of the time (To fit those tanks..) speedy progress can be made. So for the first time on an interstate, I messed up, and missed the turn off to Keystone. Ever faithful Mr TomTom GPS told me that the next turn was in 26 miles so I could go back. I decided to give it a miss.

Bonus since I did not go to Keystone - The Eisenhower tunnel. Cool. And downhill! Right into the side of a mountain.
http://www.dot.state.co.us/eisenhower/description.asp
Homer Tunnel to Milford Sound still beats in my book though.

Next stop was the Rocky Mountain National Park. The name rang a bell, but to be honest I didn't know anything about it. I paid my $10 (I'm over debating it, I have not felt ripped off yet) and proceeded into the park. Off to the side of the road you will frequently see deer and elk just hanging about in fields, doing what they do. It's a very serene place and this park is far less busy than GC or Yellowstone. If you had some friends with you, the lowlands of this park would make an excellent place for a few days of easy camping. With the wildlife right by you, grassy fields, high snowy mountains and warm sunshine and not far from Denver I am very surprised at how un-crowded it was. Out-of-state-plates are more common than Colorado ones here. Maybe on the weekend it gets crowded.
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So with all the wildlife, I guessed this park was about the animals. Since GC was about the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone was about a guyser or two, this kind of made sense. NO WRONG. Maybe I should have taken a clue from it's name, Rocky Mountain National Park is about MOUNTAINS. BIG ONES. With a road going right to the top. So in case you are not bored of mountains (I don't really tire of them..) here are some more.
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These photos are from 12090 feet. After awhile up here the cold and the altitute did conspire to make me feel a little bit odd. Poor me, spent my whole life at sea-level. Walking around felt a little bit like hard work. Don't send me to Peru.
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Yes that is deer. Poor thing was a bit lost, it wanted to be on the other side of the road but was scared of the cars.
So then it was back down the mountain
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to some more beautiful fields, which seemed to be a bit busier than the ones on the other side.
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Indeed, at the exit from that park I took there was the town of Estes Park, which I guessed to be small. Nope! Surprise! Tourist trap! This one more like Wanaka, so it didn't feel over the top, but it sure was very busy. That explains the people on horse treks and the traffic jams near the wildlife, which on the otherside create less of a stir.
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Un-expected bonus of the day, the road out of Estes Park. About 25 miles of curve after curve and no traffic in my way. Wonderful.
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Check it: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=estes+park&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=Y9MxSrDIKMvBtwfJlcW4CQ&ll=40.394411,-105.419312&spn=0.061708,0.126858&t=h&z=13
Sadly, it all ended badly as I headed north to Wyoming again. Stupid Southern Wyoming, rained hard the moment I enterered the state. Then a shitty hotel with the trains going by all night sounding their horns. Arrgh. Not much sleep.

limbimtimwim

12th June 2009, 16:25

Cheyenne WY to Rapid City SD

Not much happened today. I woke up. Actually, I didn't really sleep because of stupid trains. I checked the weather. Crap everywhere. I booted up Mr TomTom and told him to take me to Rapid City the fastest way possible.
Here is boring ass interstate
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Here is a cool place you can live in.
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Here is the view from your front porch.
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I turned around to take this photo. Thank me.
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Here is Rapid City. It's pretty jumping.
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Tomorrow though, forecast is good and I'm going to loop around Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse and then East!

ajturbo

12th June 2009, 16:40

<img src="http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs107.snc1/4611_113800920759_696495759_2749189_136821_n.jpg">
!

where are the cheese cutters????

those lanes look too close to be safe.....:blank:

JayRacer37

12th June 2009, 19:45

I turned around to take this photo. Thank me.
<img src="http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs087.snc1/4611_113800935759_696495759_2749192_6696059_n.jpg">

Thanks Simon! This is awesome....and now I want to do the trip too!

:)

limbimtimwim

13th June 2009, 02:17

where are the cheese cutters????
those lanes look too close to be safe.....:blank:I did see my first CC yesterday. In South Dakota!

For shame!

limbimtimwim

13th June 2009, 02:18

Thanks Simon! This is awesome....and now I want to do the trip too!:)Do ittt.... On a proper bike.

Or a 2 stroke...

rosie631

13th June 2009, 07:06

What an awesome trip. I'm so jealous

scracha

13th June 2009, 08:47

very well. Everything comes in it's own packaging. Even when served soup I got come crackers, in individual packets. Salad dressing? Individual packet. Cup in hotel room?

Surprised you'd need salad dressing with come crackers

Number One

13th June 2009, 09:15

Awesome pics and reads like good times too! Continue to enjoy and be safe out there S.

Weird the shots of traffic in the right lane...how's that grabbing ya?

limbimtimwim

14th June 2009, 16:19

Today I went to the legendary (Amongst bikers) location of Sturgis.

What a shitheap.

How this place is so famous, I will never know. Every shop sold 'official' souvenirs/utter junk/gawdy t-shirts and the town lacked any personality at all. This is possibly the worst most useless place in America I have visited.

Even that time I stopped at a freeway on/off ramp in the middle of no-where Nevada (They have a lot of these, they have no roads coming off them. Future-proofing or something) and there was someone already there taking their dog for shit, that empty nameless place was still more useful than Sturgis.

I even had to wait in line at the bank for 10 minutes while some stupid large-in-the-arse weirdo talked about his Goldwing ( http://powersports.honda.com/2009/gold-wing.aspx ) with the poor kid who didn't give crap 'uh huh'd along.

I thought I'd give the Motorcycle Musuem and Hall of Fame a try, but impoverished Leadville's Mining Hall of Fame in comparison looked like Te Papa.

I didn't even waste my (Re-usuable, Ie. free) camera memory on it.

West I went to Spearfish, so I could head South down Spearfish Canyon road. I wanted coffee so I proceeded into Spearfish itself instead of heading down the canyon right away. I was rewarded with a small town full of smiling cyclists, and almost devoid of fatties missing teeth on Harleys or friendly but boring moustached men on Goldwings. The girl in the coffee shop didn't look at me like I was crazy when I asked for a long-black either. There was still a bit too much water (The American obsession with massive portions again..) but it was still pretty damn good.

And what a road it was, easily a 60mph/100kmh zone back home, but here a stupid 45. Which I broke most of the way through because it was fun.
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Check it: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=44.435251,-103.864059&spn=0.115709,0.253716&t=h&z=12
Then South down Highway 385 out into some Western South Dakota countryside.
<img src="http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs115.snc1/4701_114539575759_696495759_2760938_6581218_n.jpg">
Maybe a hydro lake or two.
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Then it was onto the Crazy Horse Sculpture, which I have being looking forward too for ages.
<img src="http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs095.snc1/4701_114539585759_696495759_2760940_1921523_n.jpg">
Well, that is is a close as I got.
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Still, it seems like and awesome project. I hope it is finished in my lifetime and I can go back and take a closer look. I walked around the visitors centre for about an hour. Not the most polished place ever, but then they do it with no government funding, so you have to respect it for what it is.

Then through Custer State Park, where there is an RV/Camper removing tunnel (YUSS!!) so one can enjoy the road in peace.
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Then Mt Rushmore. Which has a very pretty road to it.
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Bastards wanted $10 for parking! And there was nowhere else to park. So I didn't. I got a pretty good look from the side of the road.
Back to Rapid City. Which on second impression is a good small city. I liked all the bronze cast people from American history on and near Main Street.
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Madness

14th June 2009, 16:38

I'm quite suprised at how much snow there is around up there at this time of year.

Like many others Simon, I'm enjoying being your virtual pillion, keep it up.

Harvd

14th June 2009, 18:55

I'm quite suprised at how much snow there is around up there at this time of year.

Like many others Simon, I'm enjoying being your virtual pillion, keep it up.

I went around Cali. and Nevada etc and in one day we went from 45C in the desert to having a snowball fight at 10000ft. Very cool day!

Amazing sights as soon as theres no towns in sight huh. But weirdly soulless the second theres a town or city

Enjoy it, looks like you are!

Korea

14th June 2009, 19:14

Great stuff mate~ two enthusiastic thumbs up!

Looking forward to the next installment. :niceone:

limbimtimwim

15th June 2009, 01:52

Today was an Interstate drone.

I did take a detour off to the side through the Bandlands National Park, which had some funky rock formations.
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I also had a run in with a police man, 41 in a 35. He seemed nice enough, his name was Greg. Gotta watch out for the wildlife he told me. Let off on a warning.
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I have ended up in a town called Luverne Minnesota for the evening. It is very quiet here.

Hitcher

15th June 2009, 09:14

I wasn't prepared for South Dakota's Badlands and was completely blown away by them. Photos don't really do the scale of these justice.

And did that Trooper bust your sorry Kiwi arse?

pete376403

15th June 2009, 18:11

Wow, USA cops have discretion? Cool, wonder if they could send some of that over here.

limbimtimwim

16th June 2009, 02:46

No, policeman was cool.

Actually I think it might have being 51 in a 35. I didn't quite hear him right at that point, still had my 'plugs in.

He was a national park cop, not a 'state trooper' sheriff or city cop. In fact, I think I was the most exciting thing that happened all day. I think he'd spend most of his day helping people change tyres.

Gibbo13p

16th June 2009, 20:14

limbimtimwim

18th June 2009, 11:49

Like the Stig photo bud, very cool...:niceone:Looks like a great trip, you seem to be getting through it pretty fast though, are you wishing you were doing it with someone else? I skipped heaps of stuff while i was travelling by my self, its good to have an extra input sometimes eh to share the experiences for bringing up later.Yeah, I have skipped lots. I didn't even stop to take a photo of Chicago or Cleveland :( :(.

But it's okay, I know I'd love to come back one day with someone else. I'd know for sure then they'd like it.

limbimtimwim

22nd June 2009, 00:40

The other day I made it to Washington DC. I took zero photos on the way there. It's being just tollway and interstate slog. There wasn't much to see anyway, the rain soaked up all the sights. I'm just going to combine a whole lot of days into one entry. Don't get me wrong, it has being utterly beautiful, but it has mostly being very similar since I left the Badlands and headed East to get to the East coast with time to spare to take care of my bike.
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I stayed the night in Portage WI, which was a cool place.
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At one point I instructed my little GPS friend to avoid motorways so I could see the countryside up close.
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It was a very pleasant day, until I got the hostel I was aiming for only to discover it was full. Opps. So the next hostel was.... Well, who knows, but out of action for now. And the last hostel in Cleveland was simply gone. Nice. So today it was kind of rushed after that as I got out of Cleveland (And like in Chicago forgot to take a picture of the lake! Oh well, next time.)

In general, however, since Rapid City I have noticed a change. My path has gone Luverne Minnesota, Portage Wisconsin, Portage, Marion Illinois and Massilion Ohio. The streets are cleaner. The foothpaths/sidewalks are less smashed up, less pine trees and more variation. Cropping is the name of the game out here, livestock are not as common. And the flags. It's insane. There are flags on EVERYTHING here. Out off the freeway I am not surprised they have not pug flags on the horses. There is probably a horse with a flag out there somewhere painted on it's side.

Ohh yeah! I saw some Amish. First lot were in their buggy. Man and a woman. He was dressed in the way you would imagine, but I was quite surprised at the deep blue shawl she had on. Further down the road I saw some another couple working in a field. She leading the horse, him fighting with the hoe it was pulling. Yes they really do still do it like that. He again dressed not so surprisingly (And a beard like Lincoln) but her she wore an electric blue dress that looked pretty cool. How they kept their clothes so immaculately clean whiling toiling away is a mystery. A group of about 6 boys maybe 8 years old playing very happily in a field climbing the biggest fence and leaping down into some tall grass. Unsupervised as far as I could see too. Looked like heaps of fun. And I saw some more in a town further up the road. I even got a broad smile and a wave from a pair in a buggy coming the other way. Perhaps because I slowed down and moved the other way. A spooked horse, a buggy, a motorcycle and a minor highway would be a poor mix.

Then again, I am somewhat of a novelty myself in the USA. I have yet to see a single other person wearing a brightly coloured proper jacket, gloves and a full-face (Brightly coloured) helmet and boots at the same time. And I bet no one else is out there with the knee armour on under their kevlar jeans either. I know it's personal choice and all, but I can't help but think the locals are a bit stupid.

The Amish are one group of Americans that were all healthy and strong looking. Even the older guy driving the buggy waving at me would not be someone you'd pick a fight with. Each one had their heads up, shoulders back, faces either focused (very sternly) on the task at hand or smiling happily. Each with a purpose, a direction and a place. It was hard not to be impressed by them.

I've being trying to get the perfect shot of a red barn and a grain silo. I've seen a lot from the interstate, but it is illegal to stop there.

JayRacer37

22nd June 2009, 00:45

Good to hear from you again Simon! I was getting a bit worried after the extend gap from your last installment... :)

limbimtimwim

22nd June 2009, 00:56

Not much to write today. Went from Washington DC to a place called Quakertown in PA. The scenery is much the same, if a little greener.
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I saw some Amish again. They were not so incredibly dressed. They had a very fast bit of farm equipment however.
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And I stayed in a real cool little hostel
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And after Quakertown I am in Boston MA. I will go walkabout and take some photos today.