Gremlin's Tall Stories

Monday. It’s about time. We’ve only been counting down the days to see the bikes for about 2 months, and we’re all pretty keen.

I was up at 7am, into the shower then down to breakfast. Another 2 boxes of cereal, milk and yoghurt, and 2 of the others had already been at the cereal. We’ll do our best to deplete their stock, but I think they have far more than we have time. 5 different flavours available, so I had Raisin somethingorother.

We met down in the lobby at 9am and piled into the 2 vans. Most ladies weren’t coming, as 13 odd people were already going (and only 14 spaces available). 11 bikes to be collected, plus 2 drivers to bring vans back. It was only 17 miles or so to Mainfreight (or Kiwi Shipping as they are branded here) yet it managed to take about half an hour, if not a bit more.

After signing in, we were led through to the warehouse. The guys have been really awesome, as apparently, some warehouses would say things like “only 2 people at once”. They showed us the bikes, moved them around with the forklift and left it to us. As it was, it took 13 people 3 odd hours to uncrate all the bikes, with all the screws, re-assembling and tidying up the crates afterwards. Just rolling the bikes off the crate floor took 3-4 people, sometimes 5 (heavy Hardleys… I only need 3 people, including myself)

The temperature seemed to magically continue rising throughout our work, probably not helped by a gorgeous Russian/Ukraine chicky, who was dressed to the nines, with a body to die for. Lucky I didn’t have many tools in hand, otherwise someone would have been stabbed/pierced etc in the distraction. I think she must have enjoyed it, as she kept walking past!

Bike started up straight away, after putting it together, excellent, then I was told we were not to start in the warehouse… woopsy. As we started finishing, the other guys alerted me to some serious porn hidden amongst the usual goods being transported, and you’ll see them in the pics. Yes, they’re cars, and if you do complain, I really don’t care… they’re that gorgeous.

Some suitcases and gear were stowed with the crates, if it wasn’t needed during the trip. Eventually, job done, moved all the bikes outside, signed out and left. Managed to keep to the right and we headed down the road to the nearest gas station for more hilarity as we had crash courses on how the pumps worked. I found out when I got back to the hotel it was lucky I didn’t need gas. I’d left my wallet etc in my backpack, which was in the car.

With gas finally sorted, we went back to the hotel, pretty damn tired and hungry. I did a bit of re-arranging of my luggage and tidying up all the tie-downs and extra tools, as everything has a place so that everything fits (which is a rather good thing). It was shortly before 2pm, so I headed upstairs, changed and grabbed some lunch from across the road. This time it was Hawaiian BBQ, delicious BBQ chicken with rice, pasta salad and cabbage. They served it so fast I hadn’t even paid by the time it was ready. Including a drink, just under $10 at $9.66.

Pity the girls that arrived shortly after were too young… and curse them for wearing such short shorts, little tops etc. I love summer.

Back at the hotel, most of the group were in the foyer, few beers, relaxing etc. Bit of piss-taking about BMW and Harley, I offered if anyone was interested in going to Long Beach, but nup, lounging was the order of the day. I needed more oil (no, I hadn’t broken down) as I hadn’t carried any from NZ, as I didn’t think it would be allowed. The BMW uses oil, so the next scheduled stop is 7,000km away, so best to have oil and check every couple of days.

GPS’s are awesome. Plugged in the location, followed the instructions. Forgot I had ticked interstates under avoidances. Started wondering why I kept turning left and right as the GPS zig-zagged me to Long Beach (south east). Remembered I had it as an avoidance, unticked it. Restarted the routing and was lead to an Interstate.

They’ve been described as scary, but it wasn’t too bad. Don’t expect to see anything, it will have at least 4 lanes + 1 car pool lane each side, if not more. Lanes will come and go regularly, I even found myself in the 2nd fastest without trying, the lanes had changed that much. I was quite timid, keeping closer to the outside, which was a bit slower, focussing on keeping my distances from cars on all side. The abundance of large vehicles also makes it harder to keep an eye on all traffic. The drivers are quite professional, bar the few that don’t bother indicating. People give you room if you ask for it and people are generally courteous. Unless it was just the foreign plate and they were dead scared?

Found the dealer, got my oil and headed back. I thought about getting gas, as it seemed I was getting low, but figured it would be fine.

Back on the Interstate, I’m a bit more comfortable. Doing 110kph cars were zooming buy, so ended up doing about 70-75mph or 120-125kph, remembering the cabbie said go with the flow. The roads aren’t in awesome condition either. Most is OK, but some is very bumpy. I even went in the fast lane once or twice.

I was feeling quite chuffed with myself, staying right, getting intersections right and not getting lost. It was around that point I started fucking up, getting off the Interstate a hundred metres early and on the wrong ramp. I ended up in a ticki-tour of the airport instead and fucked up again, resulting in another ticki-tour of the airport. I started getting afraid I would never get out, and suddenly, these american roads were mocking me, and they weren’t that easy

This time, I got the exit right, and found myself on the desired road, and having done it a few times already on outings, it was a bit better.

Back at the Hotel, it appeared the guys were done lounging and were now getting stuck into the bikes, sorting some intercoms, bit of maintenance etc. Ken, the organiser had some silver transfers of NZ and a silver fern… I should actually get a shot of that. My panniers are silver, so that was no good, so onto the back of the helmet instead. Earlier, at the warehouse, I had put the NZ flag stickers onto the bike (one of the shots at the end has the flags, near the front of the bike).

Most of the guys had finished, I pulled out my compressor to check my tyre pressures, both were down. Had a few of the guys rather interested in what I had, and also pumped up the tyres of one of the Hogs. Nothing much more important than having your tyres at the right pressures.

Cleaned up, debated if I should go to dinner, but it was only just after 6pm, and I’d had dinner at 2pm. Instead I sat down, sorted some work and then wrote this up. I’ll head off for dinner shortly.

The day’s pics: https://photos.app.goo.gl/JWTzjGaaSieG7XvU7

Update: We'd had some issues with rooms during the weekend, and on this afternoon, we dropped in to see the Sales Manager. They told Ken I hadn't checked in A bit of investigation, I was told I was in a Mr Greg Hayes room... Funny, hadn't seen him or any bodies? Cleared it up with her, she said no problem, we won't charge for the room.

Fast forward, I went out for dinner after doing the blog. Came back, asked for the updated wireless password. Got rung back, Oh, we need you to come down and register for the room. "It's all sorted, spoke to Sales Manager earlier". "No, it's not, you need to come down".

On the way down, I bump into Ken, and explain. After speaking to reception, and the person on duty, in charge, he continues to say that I'm paying separately, and the Sales Manager told him that. I make it clear to him that he isn't being paid, he will not get a credit card, and it's already sorted with the Sales Manager. He says he can't believe me, so I get Ken in, and he repeats what I said... it's the blooming truth after all.

An agreement is reached, and I move into Murray's room (we were supposed to be in one anyway, but they stuffed up the rooms when we checked in, giving us separate rooms). 10-10.30pm at night, I'm moving all my gear between towers, even though we checked out the following morning. A gentleman I saw during the move had heard Ken and my conversation, said he'd also suddenly been locked out of his room (as had a few of our group).

Good value, but their communication isn't the best