Gremlin's Tall Stories

You're going to have to see the attached pictures to figure out how that magic in the title happened

Last weekend was crating time. After some rather frantic work to get the bike ready (see previous blog), with tyres, service and electrical issues, I knocked off work on Friday a little earlier around 7pm. The evening was consumed with planning what gear I would be taking to the USA, and therefore, what needed to travel with the bike now, and what I would take in July, via plane.

The trick was, I need to make sure my luggage is not too much to put on the bike when I'm there, but also I can carry it all, either via crate or backpack on plane. When on plane, I wear jeans etc, but when in USA I will wear the bike gear and carry the rest (bike gear is in the crate). Long story short, lots of planning.

Shortly after midnight, I had everything sorted. Time to get ready for Wellington, as I had to be there by 9.30am the following morning. A quick shower and some food, and I geared up.

Departing Auckland just after 2am the weather was calm and traffic light. A quick stop in Takanini for gas, hoping I would be able to make Wellington on the single tank. Off SH1 onto SH2, then down the back way through SH27 a nice consistent just-legal pace was set, just over 100kph. Hitting SH27 I ran into the infamous Waikato fog, but this was the thickest I have ever seen it. Visibility went down to 20m ish at times, and even slowing to 70-80kph the lack of visibility was nerve wracking.

Oncoming trucks were coming out of the gloom, their headlights only showing up 30 odd metres away. Luckily traffic was still very light, but a couple of sets of red lights that looked like they were far in the distance were suddenly a whole lot closer when the tail of a truck became visible just 10-15m away. He was doing about 80kph, which felt plenty fast enough, and there was no way I could pass him anyway. After a short while when 15km out from Tirau he went a different away, so I resumed varying pace, based on how far I could see.

The dotted lines defining the middle of the road were only visible 3 at a time, but the screen of the GS was brilliant. It was keeping the beads of fog off my visor, as that can often be a large part of the problem of visibility. The fog was also keeping the temperature down, often below 3 degrees, and hitting a low of 1.5 degrees.

Back onto the main drag at Tirau I continued south to Tokoroa. My non-GN following pace was burning up the gas, and the GS gets increasingly uneconomical as you go over 100kph. The square boxes attached to the side and huge frontal area probably don't help much either. I've put an extra spoiler on the top of the screen that has removed the buffeting of the top of the helmet on long distance rides, so that's been much more comfortable. Approaching Tokoroa, I did some maths, and knew I wasn't going to make Wellington on the single tank, and when crated, the bike should be reasonably empty of gas, so stopping at the Mobil I topped her up again. A whopping 6.6L/100km says it wasn't a very economical run.

The fog was still hanging around, but back on the bike and down to Turangi. The run around the lake was nice, with few cars. Despite it being SH1, it's actually quite a nice stretch with lots of corners. It was only when I arrived at the truck stop in Turangi that I realised how cold I was. The temperature hadn't been above 5 degrees for hours, and the Revit gear just wasn't in the same league as the Rukka. Fortunately, the truck stop is a handy place, open 24/7 and having some very nice food at extremely reasonable prices. A big bowl of pumpkin soup for $6 (with some toast) and a milkshake was the order, and I gave the fire some company while the food came.

Desert Rd next called for some extra gear, so out came the rain jacket to add some wind proofness, despite the guy in the truck stop saying it would probably be warmer now. The fog was now gradually lifting, daylight was on it's way and I departed Turangi around 6am. The run through Desert Rd was very quiet, and I hit a low of 0.5 degrees. I was wishing for my Rukka, but since the USA will have temperatures in excess of 40 degrees, the gear isn't going to be suitable Mt Ruapehu was stunning in the dawn light, but I figured I could photograph some other time.

Waiouru and Taihape came and went. The turn off for Vinegar Hill called for me, and I really wanted to go get lost down the back roads, but another day A stretch of the legs and a re-focus at Hunterville, I was making sure to keep alert, stopping if necessary, and wary of the lack of sleep and boredom of the roads, having been awake for almost 24 hours already. Another stop in Sanson for a toilet break, at least the rain jacket was keeping me warm. The boring Foxton straights had one eye on my speedo, the other on the road, leap frogging the slower cars as traffic started increasing.

The slow drag into Wellington, with all the towns and their traffic lights was annoying, such as Te Horo, Otaki and Paraparaumu. Occasionally I wanted to split past the dawdlers, but being a metre wide, this wasn't the smartest option. Paekakariki also called to me, gosh I wanted to be up and over there, but time was marching on, and after the stop in Sanson, I was behind schedule, and all the traffic lights weren't helping the situation. From SH1 I jumped onto SH2 and headed back out of Wellington and around to Seaview, where the bikes were being crated at Owens Logistics (part of Mainfreight). It was a relief rolling into Owens, finding a way into the warehouse, but also a bit sad, as I wouldn't be riding her for another 8 weeks.

All but one of the rest of the bikes (11 in all) had already arrived and were well under way getting them crated. I have never seen so many tractors so close together. I jest, they're farm implements aren't they? I should probably brush up on my biker talk before I'm with them for 6 weeks constantly, otherwise I'll leave the States in a body bag I leant a hand wherever needed, strapping the bikes onto crates, and then a crate was assigned to me (I'll take the biggest widest crate thanks ). Somehow most of the others already knew me, asking if I was the nutter that rode down from Auckland that morning?

The GS wheelbase was actually a touch short for the harley crate, not quite able to settle properly into both wheel ruts, rocking slightly on the cross members. Unfortunately the crate wasn't quite tall enough to make things easy, so removal of the screen and mirrors was needed. I had all the tools (deliberately packed quite a few for the trip) but the screen is annoying to remove, so a bit of fiddling, and I could *just* get it low enough to not require removal. The panniers could also *just* stay on the bike, and some bubble wrap was used on them to stop the uprights scratching the panniers. Top box was removed and put in the bottom, some gear put into a gear bag and also thrown into the crate. Tools couldn't be carry-on on the plane, so everything was packed into the bikes luggage. Once the bike was strapped down, gear packed away, it was time to turn her into a Harley Davidson (albeit a rather adventurous one), and as the pictures show, the cardboard had Harley all over it.

Most of the others left, but a few were sticking around to watch the bikes getting packed into the container, so since my flight didn't leave until 7pm (I thought best to be on the late side), I hung around.

Once packed, I ended up being given a tour around Wellington by some friendly (Harley) blokes, a couple of bars, and we even went and annoyed Crasherfromwayback at Wellington Motorcycles. He even remembered me from a previous trip. Coffee was offered but of course declined

My gracious hosts then dropped me off at the airport, Jetstar was actually easy to book into, some tie downs in the bottom of my carry-on didn't warrant any attention (I found some rules that even banned zip ties!?) and the flight ... well, basic. No tea, coffee, food, unless you paid, but hey, it's slightly quicker than walking right? Chatted to an American lady briefly, who offered some advice about the States, heard a brief call to stewards to prepare for landing, and I was being woken by the landing

Into bed in the wee hours of Sunday morning, awake for about 40 hours, and I slept for 12-13 hours