Volume 2 Rev B 2xA5 - QTG · born again bikers or just reliving our youth or the youth we wanted. Whatever you think when you read it, what we can tell you is that it was a fantastic

~ America Dream Challenge 2007 ~ ~ America Dream Challenge 2007 ~

Index Foreward ……………………………………………..……….. 2 The Challenge and The Dream Team .……………….. 3 Who Are We ………………………………………….…………… 4 The Dream .…………………...………………………………... 6 Planning ……………………………………………………… 6 Final Stages ……………………………………………………… 8 22 Days to Go - Headline news ……………………………….. 10 The Bikes ……………………………………………………… 11 10 Days to Go - Last Ride Out ………………..…………….... 12 8 Days To Go - Count Down has Begun …. ……………. 13 2 Days to Go - Nearly Time To Leave ………………... 14 Time to Leave the Green Pastures of England ………………… 15 Hello from America ………………………………………. 17 Collecting the Helmets & Bikes ……………………………….. 18 Day 1 Starting the ride out to Niagara Falls ………………… 19 Day 2 Sunday ………………………………………………. 21 Day 3 Marathon Run ……………………………………….. 26 Day 4 Long & Bumpy Road ……………………………….. 28 Day 5 Sioux Falls & Beyond ……………………………….. 32 Day 6 A Long and Very Windy Road ………………………… 38 Day 7 Rocky & Roll ……………………………………….. 42 Day 8 Waffle on Buddy ……………………………………….. 48 Day 9 A Grand Adventure ……………………………………….. 56 Day 10 Life is a Gamble ……………………………………….. 62 Day 11 Strong arm of the Law CHiPs ………………………… 68 Day 12 Panoramic views to ride for ………………………… 72 Day 13 Almost at an end … but not quite ………………… 78 Day 14 A Day off ………………………………………………. 81 Journey Home …………………………………………….. 83 Packing List ……………………………………………. Appendix 1 Finance .…………………………………………… Appendix 2 Route .…………………………………………… Appendix 3 Contacts / Points of Interest …………………….. Appendix 4 Readers’ Comments …………………………….. Appendix 5 Sponsors .…………………………………………… Appendix 6 DVD …………………………………………………… Appendix 7

Page 1


Foreward This book and the whole American Dream Challenge is about a journey, not just a bike trip. When you read it you may say it’s about a mid life crisis or born again bikers or just reliving our youth or the youth we wanted. Whatever you think when you read it, what we can tell you is that it was a fantastic ad-venture, with highs and lows, dramatic scenery and some of the worst weather you could experience in 2 weeks. The start of any adventure is about taking the first step and in this case it was a step over the threshold of a Harley Davidson dealer in Chesterfield and that was when the dream of riding across America began………… the look, the leather and the roar of a Harley Davidson Motorcycle was all it took.

Joth & Mark at HarleyWorld The smiles that come to cover your face every time you see the initials USA or an American programme on TV as you jump from your chair, looking at the skyline desperately looking for something that you recognise and then see one of the many memories remembered of the trip. As you do, the words “I’ve been there”, flow from your lips, almost as easily as “yes dear” and for any of you married people out there you will know what that means. So lets get on with the trip as we can waffle on for England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, So sit back and relax and experience over 4,000 miles, travelling through 16 states and visiting 15 sites across the most beautiful and amazing places ever seen to date ……. by us anyway. So let the journey begin……..again

The Challenge and Dream Team The America Dream Challenge is a Motorcycle adventure from the East coast to the West coast of America motorcycling for 14 days, visiting 15 points of interest and riding through 16 states, which will see us clocking up about 4200 miles.

Page 2 Page 3

15 Points Of Interest

Washington DC Niagara Falls

Great Lakes (Lake Erie) Chicago

Mount Rushmore Rocky Mountains

Navajo Nation Indian Reserve Grand Canyon

Route 66 Hoover Dam Las Vegas

Death Valley Pacific Ocean (Route 1)

Alcatraz Island Golden Gate Bridge

16 States

Virginia Pennsylvania

New York Ohio

Indiana Illinois Iowa

Wisconsin Minnesota

South Dakota Wyoming Colorado

Utah Arizona Nevada

California


There will be three of us on the America Dream Challenge Adam, Joth & Beth. Adam is Joth’s younger brother and Beth is Joth’s wife. The trip has been planned to take two weeks starting on the 12th October 2007. This date is a little late in the year as October in America can deliver winter weather, where snow might be a problem but, due to work and other family commit-ments, it was the only time we all could get the same two weeks free. The challenge for Joth was to ride across America and complete 10,000 miles to qualify for the HOG (Harley Owners Group) Mileage Patch & Pin and ob-tain the HOG ABC’s of touring Patch & pin and of course have the adventure of a life time. The mileage and ABC’s part of the challenge is going well with 7,697 miles completed in the UK and visits to 32 Places for the ABC’s of Touring contest which leaves only 2303 miles and at least 5 photos to achieve in America. So, without further delay, let’s introduce you to all the people who rode the America Dream Challenge 2007 and let you into the planning, route and sights we saw on the way. So who are we? Adam I am the more experienced rider with nearly 15 years of riding and I had been to America a few months before so knew a little about the land, the roads and the American way. I have been riding bikes for over 14 years. I have two at present (when writing this book) a Kawasaki ZZR600 and my pride and joy a BMW R1150RT fully loaded. I have been through a great number of bikes, from trailies to sports bikes, but as the years move on I find I am built more for comfort than speed.

Jonathan (Joth) I have been riding since October 2006, Yes that's right, by the time we go to America I will have been riding 1 year. This trip was my incentive to learn to ride and once we had made the decision to do it I booked myself on the CBT and a direct access course and the rest as they say is history. My first and only bike which I purchased from HarleyWorld in Chesterfield is a Harley David-son, Ultra Classic Electra Glide - (FLHTCUI) and has a custom paint job. The furthest I have ever ridden is about 300 miles in a day, but on the challenge we will be doing this kind mileage every day. Shortly after purchasing my motorbike I joined HOG and Peak Riders in Ches-terfield where I attended quite a few of their daily and weekend ride outs and Rallies. The Peak Riders Chapter also organise social evenings and activities such as trips to concerts, dog racing, tug of war contests etc. etc. and I attended as many of these as I could with Beth. Beth Beth has been on the back of Joth’s bike for most of the miles he has done, but not always totally awake,! However Beth thoroughly enjoys biking and when even she hears the Harley start she is there in her biker gear ready to jump on the back of the bike to see where they end up.

Page 4 Page 5


Then the Dream We mentioned a little earlier that this dream started when Joth walked into a Harley Davidson dealer in Chesterfield. The question is, why did he go in? no one will ever know, it will always remain one of life’s Mysteries, like why does toast always fall butter side down and which did come first the chicken or the egg? It was shortly after this visit that the start of the dream began with a phone call, to Adam and Simon ( Simon is the eldest of the brothers and he had his midlife crisis about 5 or six years ago and became a biker). In our family we have those brotherly phone calls which I am sure most people have, you know every few months one of us rings up the others with some sort of mad scheme shall we have a coat of arms??? There is an island for sale???? Shall we buy a holi-day home??? And then there was the day Joth rang and said, “If I take my bike test do you fancy riding across America?” I am sure you can guess the sort of conversation that followed… And that’s when the planning began as well as the creeping, the flowers, the presents etc…….. as somehow Adam, had to convince his wife this was a good idea! Planning The start October 2006 to Sunday, September 9, 2007 In December 2006 Adam, Joth & Beth met up and set the date for the Chal-lenge, which would be the 12th to the 28th of October 2007. We also had a pre-liminary look at the mileage, booked the flights on Virgin Atlantic and hired the bikes from Eagle Rider in Washington DC. There is no going back now! A quick calculation shows us we have 10 months in which to organise and final-ise all the trip requirements such as the Route, Points of Interest, Gas Stops, Equipment, Passports, Currency & Insurance in between family and work commitments, No pressure then! The only other difficulty is that we live about 100 miles from each other, so it’s not like we can just nip over for a quick planning session. We obtained a copy of the Map Source road planning software that was com-patible with Joth’s Garmin Zumo 550 as we planned to take it with us to help with finding our way. Adam also approached a number of companies for help with kit and equipment, so we will see what happens there. The next step is to

start telling everyone we are going and see if we can get some press coverage and raise some money for Charity.

Joth & Adam Planning the Trip We have been asked about the bike and how there does not appear to be much room for luggage, and the big question is - what are we taking with us? Well all will be made clear a little closer to the start of the challenge, but needless to say we will not have sufficient clothing to change everyday, every other day or even every 4 days. We will leave the rest to your imagination. We just hope that we can find a shower before we return home !!! By the 9th September 2007 Adam is updating and building the web site and planning for the trip is going well and we have one final preparation meeting this week to ensure we have everything covered on the packing list. We have also arranged with my older brother Simon to meet and have a ride out in the Lake District to see how the radios & equipment perform.

Page 6 Page 7


Final Stages Wednesday, Sep 12, 2007 We had a final planning meeting yesterday and checked off all the electrics, Sat Nav radios etc. and went through the route one final time. Just over 4 weeks to go now and the reality is starting to hit home. We have contacted a number of bike companies to see if anyone can help us with some kit and the links for the charities have been fully established on the web site, the next step is promoting the site, which will start tomorrow, when we start contacting all the newspapers and radio stations etc. As we planned to pick up the bikes in Washington DC and finish the ride in San Francisco we could not take suitcases. There was very little space on the bike and certainly no space for a suitcase. The other problem was even if we took luggage and threw the cases away, we could not get everything on the bike, so we decided to pack as much as we could into the Pannier liner, wear our motorcycling clothes and purchase helmets in Washington DC. So in an-swer to the earlier question of what are we taking with us? The answer is very little, this will be a challenge in more ways than one!!

Kit / Equipment for 1 pannier Liner (Liner Pictured top centre)

The fact we have very little luggage should also help with a speedy arrival at Washington DC as we would not have to wait for our bags, (well so we thought anyway). The one and only worry that we had, was that we were wearing our armoured motorcycling clothes carrying radios, batteries, Sat Nav, cameras, cable ties & tape etc. which would be enough to hi jack the plane. So we would have to wait and see what happens at the security checks at Heathrow, If we hear the words “assume the position”, then it will be time to really worry. Although we have enough electronics tucked away in our bags to rewire NASA, we had followed the rigorous packing protocol and placed our tooth paste in a 20cm x 20cm clear bag as described in the anti-terrorism literature, so we should be alright! In preparing for the trip, sponsorship and in supporting us with kit etc. we would like to thank all those people and companies below:

Page 8 Page 9


22 Days to Go - Headline news Wednesday, Sep 19, 2007 It would appear from the visits to the website and the number of e-mails we have had, that a large number of people are now following the America Dream Challenge so it is the plan to try and keep our blog and web site updated a little more often so followers can start to see the panic set in as the days slip away on the lead up to the trip. We would like to extend a great big thank you to everyone who has sponsored us so far raising money for the two charities. We are also looking into how we can get a paper sponsor form for those people who do not like paying over the internet, this may be the twentyfirst century, but don’t we just love the feel of a paper sponsor form! We have also made it to the front cover of the Stafford Express and Star and in the Stafford Chronicle, which, on the number of e-mails, has proved very useful in raising awareness of what we are doing.

Stafford Express & Star Stafford Chronicle In terms of preparation, we have one more ride out the week after next which is a 2 day trip to the Lake District where we hope to clock up a few hundred miles. We will be leaving Stafford, up through Chesterfield, onto the York-shire Moors then over to the lakes to Ullswater and onto Windermere and any of the other great sites we can find. On route finding a local hotel to rest for the night and maybe enjoy a bottle of something (or two), then a similar trip back.

The Bikes We have hired the bikes from Eagle Rider in Washington DC and we need to drop them off at their branch in San Francisco 12 days later. This date has to be met as there is a $25 (£12.50) per hour charge if the bikes are not returned on time so it would be an additional $600 (£300)per day per bike and also we would not catch our flights back home to England. The bikes also need returning back to Eagle Rider in the same condition as we rented them so we hopefully will get a picture of Adam cleaning a Harley be-fore the adventure is finished (the one thing he said he would never do). So back to the bikes, They will be Harley Davidson Electra Glide Classic which are similar to Joth’s Bike but does not have, Intercoms, Cruise Control, heated grips, foot pegs, back rest (in other words a very basic bike with no creature comforts). Beth however has one backrest (so she does not fall off when she is napping) and of course all Joth’s additional chrome fixtures & fittings which make riding more comfortable and the bike so very shiny.

Harley Davidson Electra glide Classic Length: 97.5 in., Weight: 820.0 lbs, Fuel Capacity 5.0 gals. Miles per Gallon 45.0 hwy / 32.5 city Engine Air-cooled, Twin Cam 96™, Displacement 96.0 in.³

Page 10 Page 11


Fuel System Electronic Sequential Port Fuel Injection (ESPFI) 10 Days to Go - Last Ride Out Monday, October 1, 2007 This weekend we had our last ride before we go to America. Adam and Julie left Stafford, and met up with Joth and Beth and then up through Derbyshire into North Yorkshire and met up with Simon and Harriet in Skipton. After a quick meal, petrol stop, we went West over to the lakes - a fast ride round the lakes and a stop over at the bottom of Lake Windermere. After we had checked in and had a good meal and a little light fluid intake, (well not that light but it slipped down easily by all concerned), we retired for a good nights sleep in the hotel, perhaps a little different than we can expect in America. The next morning we had a swim in the leisure pool and in good English tradi-tion a Full English breakfast, (although no black pudding so not a full English after all) and later a trip on the steam boat around lake Windermere. We took a fantastic scenic tour back over the Yorkshire Dales to Harrogate parted from Simon & Harriet, then back through Derbyshire to Mansfield and then Adam & Julie made their last leg of the trip back to Stafford. All in all we covered just over 500 miles and had a fantastic time.

Brothers & Wives Joth, Beth, Simon, Harriet, Julie & Adam On the kit front we have now ordered our helmets which should arrive in America on the Saturday morning, (just in time management) as Adams credit card company stopped payment as they couldn't understand how he could be using his card in the UK while also spending money in America, and they say its a global economy! So the countdown is on - it’s the first of October so after talking about months before we go, the actual month is here and in 10 days the real journey begins.

8 Days To Go – Count Down has Begun Wednesday, October 3, 2007 In just over a week we will be driving down to London to start the journey, It's amazing what a journey we have had already just getting to this stage. We have gone through about 30 different routes, spent at least 45 hours research-ing America. We must have had tips and suggestions from almost everyone in Stafford, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire (Peak Riders Chapter & HarleyWorld Dealer), the American Embassy and old Uncle Tom Cobley, for which we are very grateful, as they have helped shape the final route. Most of the stores in America have replied and helped in some way (our local stores and shops, however, not very supportive at all) and a big thank you to all who have sponsored us, the totals for both charities are growing fantastic-ally well. We are very, very grateful and I am sure the charities will be as they receive the money. So far we have currently collected about £450 for the chari-ties. Well we have got our dollars at $1.97 for each pound, which was a great rate as today it is back down to $1.93 and we have already bought our lip block, sun cream, medical kit, although we are struggling to find a 20cm x 20cm clear re-sealable bag for the flight (however we finally got some bags from the su-permarket). We have been given some rechargeable batteries and some memory for the cameras from Mansfield Computers & Electronics so we will now be able to take over 4000 pictures and about 7 hours of video, Hopefully that should be enough to remember the trip. Adam has ordered some new armoured jeans from Hood Jeans (a British company, which make armoured jeans with Ara-mid & Armour protection) and as it was last minute (that just in time manage-ment again) they are rushing the order through, so he can look as good as Joth & Beth in their jeans as well as being safe on the bike. We just need to finish packing, (which we will finish at the weekend and will not take long), into our one piece of hand luggage. For all those who have asked, again!!, use your imagination on what we are wearing underneath the jeans, as we can't fit an entire wardrobe on the bike and, yes, you really do only need two pairs, one pair on and one pair for an emergency. As there was interest in what we were taking we have included the packing list at the back of the book.

Page 12 Page 13


2 Days to Go - Nearly Time To Leave Wednesday, October 10, 2007 Well it is Wednesday night and Adam has purchased his last few items, a belt to go with his new bike jeans and some insect repellent (just in case). We have made contact with a Harley dealership where we are going to exchange a tshirt, which is a thing Harley owners do, and as Joth is a Harley owner, he has been sponsored by HarleyWorld Chesterfield to take some t-shirts and swap them. So we at least know one place where we can expect a warm welcome. We are just waiting to hear that our helmets have arrived in the store in Wash-ington, or we could start the journey with a bit of a problem, as no helmets, no journey, well until we can get some anyway. We are sure all will be fine (however we are keeping our fingers crossed so tight we have cramp). Adam has not finished packing his hand luggage yet although it will not take long to gather a few bits together and go. Adam has had his hair cut, with an extra close trim, nnnnnn nineteen…. (it was from an 80’s song for those of you old enough to remember), which as always was done by the barbers in Stafford next to where Guitar and Son used to be for all those that live in Stafford. If you don’t live in Stafford and you find yourself there the barber is always worth a visit for a good hair cut.

Joth has been up to HarleyWorld to have a last look around the dealership and to collect the “T” shirts that Patrick at HarleyWorld has had printed for us. He also gave us some Dip Dots (a metal disc which sticks to the oil depth gauge on a Harley!) to exchange while we were in America.

Joth in the HarleyWorld America Dream Challenge 2007 “T” Shirts

Time to Leave the Green Pastures of England Friday, October 12, 2007 The American Dream Challenge has begun, Joth & Beth set off at 9:00am to pick up Adam in Stafford Upon arriving the Sat Nav informed us that we only had a minute of spare time. Five minutes after Joth & Beth picked up Adam in Stafford fuel was needed for the car as Joth did not get round to filling up the night before (and he says Adam is good at just in time management). On reaching the garage we found the first pump didn't work, so Joth drove to the next pump, which also didn't work and finally third time lucky, we were suc-cessful. This took a few more minutes so we were running late for the airport and hoping the roads would be clear and we could make up the time. After filling up and purchasing water and chocolate (a Biker essential) we headed towards Heathrow. The journey was effortless and we made it to the airport with 2 minutes to spare, (now that really is just in time management) to rendezvous with the meet and greet parking company at Departures so that they could take the car and park it securely till we hopefully return! This is a very convenient and inexpensive service and saved a lot of time and hassle. Once the car was collected we went into departures and smelling the cooking of bacon headed straight for the restaurant to have a hearty full breakfast, Beth however had other ideas, settling for a Chicken Korma. After breakfast it was then time to Check in with the new Virgin Computerised System and on insert-ing our ticket it promptly malfunctioned so the check in assistant allowed us to join the quick check in queue, An hour later we were through! It was now time to see if we could get by the security checks. As you may re-call from earlier, we were fully armoured and have enough electronics with us to rewire NASA control or take over the plane. Adam went through first, (yes let the youngest take the fall first) no problems, Beth went through next smil-ing at the Officers, again no problem. Then Joth’s turn, one step towards the detector and we thought we were in Las Vegas, the metal detector alarms went off, lights flashing and a rather attractive female security guard asked him to step to one side. As Joth was taken to one side to be frisked down, (at which point he was looking quite happy) a male guard then stepped in, not quite what Joth had in mind. The guard frisked Joth and did not even seem to ask why he had big, very big lumps in his clothing (Armour I’m referring to…tut…tut...tut), and Joth was

Page 14 Page 15


just asked to move on so we collected our hand luggage went and purchased some magazines and drinks until the gate opened. Shortly after starting our magazines, boarding began and we boarded the Vir-gin Atlantic Aeroplane (Aircraft Type A340-300), named Diana, and quickly found our seats. There was plenty of leg room and it was fully kitted out with your own per-sonal multimedia centre where we played space invaders, pac man and watched films. To top it all off there were free drinks throughout the flight, and free food, so we were quite happy, if not a little tipsy. We left the UK at 5.30pm on Virgin flight VS055 which was only part full as it was the last flight of the year on a Friday, as tourist season was coming to an end. Adam was asked if he would sit by the emergency exit in case of any problems, they obviously recognised his leadership and organisational skills, but the stewardess really just said Adam looked big enough to carry her off if we crashed.

The information system on the plane informed us that the Flight Path of the plane from England to America was 3700 miles and the distance we are Biking was 4200 miles so this brings it home to us actually how far we are going to be riding.

Hello from America Friday, October 12, 2007 After arriving in America at Dulles International Airport in Washington DC we had to queue at immigration as there were only a few Home Security offi-cials (all tooled up with hand guns) checking us into the country, Upon reach-ing an official we all had our finger print and photograph taken and the green part of our I-94W form stapled to our passport. To enter into America you have to have a machine-readable passport which has the data / chevrons at the bottom of the page.

Our entry into America went without a problem and when we had found the exit to the shuttle bus we had to wait a few minutes for the bus to arrive. The free bus shuttle took about 10 minutes to get to the hotel where we settled into our rooms and after putting our hand luggage in the corner of the wardrobe and exploring the various channels on the TV set (a prerequisite of any stay in a hotel), we settled down for a little rest. After an hour or so we went into the hotel bar and tasted the local beer and arranged for a taxi to pick us up in the morning to collect our helmets and take us to Eagle Rider, the home of the rented Harley to get the bikes. Last thing before bed we went for a walk around Chantilly to stretch our legs. Most of the shops were shut as it was getting very late, but the Fast Food places were still open. The one thing that strikes you about America is the pride they take in their country, Everywhere you go there are massive American flags flying and every one was so nice to us, although it was only the first day.

Page 16 Page 17


Day 1 Starting the ride out to Niagara Falls Saturday Oct 13, 2007 Once we had signed on the dotted line, for every possible insurance, damage, waiver, theft etc etc etc….. that we could purchase we were let loose to start the actual ride of the American Dream Challenge. We did a couple of laps of the car park to get used to the feel of the bikes as Adam had never ridden a Harley Davidson Motorcycle before and then we started on the journey. There were a couple of hiccups, the lock on one of Joth’s panniers would not lock and the bikes should be full of gas (fuel) but they were only half full, so we had to make a quick stop to fill up in Washing-ton DC before riding north towards Niagara Falls.

Silver Bike Adams, Joth & Beth at the side of their Black bike. While all this was happening in America, 4000 miles away back in England our sons and daughter (2 each Joth and Beth’s – Aaron and Oliver and Adam’s – Scott and Nina) are keeping track of our progress and researching interesting facts for this story. They have a map and internet access to track our route and progress and Grandad, Grandma and Adam’s wife Julie to help.

Page 18 Page 19

Collecting the Helmets & Bikes Saturday October 13, 2007 We started the day at 8am, with a full American style breakfast, which in-cluded, pancakes, eggs, crispy bacon, sausage, toast, and as much tea and cof-fee as you can drink. By 9am we had eaten, packed and we were in the lounge waiting for the taxi. A Limo driver arrived and a lively chap called Alex Sedan greeted us and helped us with our small luggage, one holdall each. We set off and as we travelled to Coleman Powersports to collect our helmets, we dis-cussed politics, presidents past and present, regeneration, war, holidays, home security (alarms, cameras, computers, etc. not the secret service, we discussed that later), to mention only a few of the topics, so limo and taxi drivers are the same the world over. With all the answers and solutions they have, it begs the question “why aren’t more taxi drivers running for president?” I guess we will never know. Once we had discussed the route of how to get to Powersports, we decided that Joth needed to get his Sat Nav out, as Alex wasn't quite sure where we were going. On arrival at Powersports the lids (helmets) were waiting for us, 2 silver and one white for Adam, which we nicknamed storm trooper, as Adam’s white helmet looks like the headgear from the Star Wars movies. Beth, Joth & Alex (Adam with his Storm Trooper Helmet on) We unpacked and checked the helmets and disposed of the packaging and it was then back to get the bikes from Eagle Rider where we were greeted by the very friendly staff. We had a chat and swapped information with other riders who were also about to take one of the other 45 bikes which were going out that morning from Eagle Rider.


During the first part of the ride we stopped for fuel in Pennsylvania and met a nice man Michael who is part of Bikers for Christ. We had a good chat about bikes and our route and we can definitely say :

“Where ever you take your Harley there’s always a friend”. We took a fantastic trip through the first stage of the route and in almost every garden there were huge Halloween statues, figures, trimmings, sound systems etc., it was similar to those Christmas gardens you see when driving around during the festive season in the UK with all the lights, figures, house lights etc and then put the same effect onto almost every house but with a Halloween theme and that’s what it’s like here at the moment. Well Saturday was a very eventful day as we decided to press on and get some miles in to set a good start to the challenge. By 8.30pm we decided to call in at the first hotel, but found it was full. We travelled on to the next one, full! and the next one and the next one, In fact by the time we found a hotel it was 12.30am which added a further 80 miles to our trip and not necessarily in the right direction. Upon enquiring why hotels were so busy we were informed that the Pumpkin Convention was on that weekend so all the hotels were booked. We finally found a small hotel, Microtel, which was comfy and by the time we hit the pillow it was a matter of minutes before we fell asleep.

Day 2 Sunday Sunday October 14, 2007 We started day two knowing we were only 40 miles from Niagara, which is about an hours ride but before we could even think about riding we needed breakfast. Breakfast was a poor selection of bread and cereal, so we decided we would press on and find somewhere on route to eat. As we left the hotel Beth was attracted to an advert on the wall in the hotel reception, advertising the Ponderosa, a restaurant which Adam had visited the last time he was in America. A quick discussion and directions obtained from the receptionist and within 10 minutes we were at the door and being shown to our seats, the smell of freshly cooked waffles and bacon filling the air. We settled down to a fan-tastic breakfast which only cost $6 (£3) for as much as we could eat…… and wow did we eat. Once we had stripped the dining area of all the food we could eat (similar to a plague of locusts), we then visited the local Wallmart store (basically think of ASDA on steroids) for some supplies. We had spotted the Wallmart last night while visiting every hotel in a radius of about 60 miles, and knowing that the temperatures at night can fall to around 2 degrees C and the weather channel informing us that we can expect to meet freezing temperatures and possibly snow, we decided some sort of thermal underwear may be in order. As you can see from the last comment, the weather had taken a bit of a turn in central USA, from cold to even colder to freezing. After spending a few dollars (as dollars go a long way at the moment), we are now kitted up with some really sexy grey thermals (well grey anyway) and Adam has also invested in a razor and foam although with the cold weather a decision has been made that a beard is best for at least the next few days, In fact both Joth and Adam are now sport-ing a good growth of beard which itches like mad when we have pressed on into the journey and had the helmets on for a fair while (for bikers out there, you know how good it feels to take your lid off and have a good scratch).

Page 20 Page 21

Summary Day : 01 Stage : Washington to Niagra Daily Distance: 400 Miles Time Travelling 10 Hours Average Speed: 40 mph States : Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York Weather : Day: Dry, Sunny Night: Dry, Cold


By 11am we started our journey in the knowledge we will be warm or at least warmer than we were last night. We had a great quick journey to Niagara, crossing some amazing bridges, spanning big rivers and riding along the edge of the lakes. On arrival at Niagara Falls, we parked both bikes in one bay so Joth negotiated a car park fee for only one car park space for both bikes so we saved a few dollars, Lets face it, we are British, so if we can save a few dollars we will !!

Joth locking the Bikes We locked the bikes and made our way over to the visitors centre and shop before travelling to the base of the Falls to get on the Maid of the Mist Boat. The Niagara Falls are made up of 3 waterfalls the Victoria, Bridal Veil and Horse Shoe Falls for those who want to know the actual names. Before boarding the boat trip we were given blue plastic macs to keep us dry from the spray coming off the falls and as they do not take up much room, we kept the macs, as you never know when they might come in useful later in our journey.

Falls Facts 180 Feet High 2.5 billion gallons water/hour 2.5 billion gallons water has been diverted to the power station. Falls move North East 4 ft per year due to erosion Boat trip is called “Maid of the Mist”

Victoria Falls on the Left, Bridal Veil Middle & Horseshoe Falls Right The falls were amazing and impressive, the memory of the falls will stay with us forever. The best way to describe the view is imagine the water pouring like its falling off the end of the world, at such speed it looks like something that would be created using the latest computer aided graphics on the latest block-buster with the mist from the water billowing light grey smoke, like out of the cooling towers at a power station lifting high overhead, making a sheet of fine rain, fresh, cold and pure, like a sea fret without the smell and taste of sea-weed. After the boat trip we made our way up the walk-ways and footpaths overlook-ing the Falls, The view was breathtaking to see these giant waterfalls and to look over at Canada and waving to those on the other side, while standing in America. We took what seemed like hundreds of pictures and then as usual, a tea stop before heading onwards to Lake Erie.

Page 22 Page 23


After departing Niagara Falls car park we saw the one and only roundabout of the whole trip, The Americans approach these with terror as they only nor-mally have junctions. The roads took us through grape plantations, crops and cattle country, (they were obviously by the side of the road, we didn’t actually go through them, after all we are on Harley’s not BMW’s), arriving at Lake Erie at 5pm as the sun was setting. If you get a chance to look on a map, it is huge, (Lake Erie not the sun, although the sun is big also....) Anyway, we found an area where the locals had built a beach (no really, a large beach) and a jetty. The view was stunning, and you could see the curvature of the water following the earths curvature it is that big. The water lapped against the beach, as though the tide was coming in and the view of the sun setting, the sky a wonderful burnt orange, amber, red and grey, intertwined with pockets of fading blue as the night began to fall.

Lake Erie (Sun Starting to Set) Lake Erie is the fourth largest of the five Great Lakes of North America, and forms the boundary between Canada (Ontario) to the north and the United States (Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York) to the West, South, and East. After taking in the view we returned to the bikes and travelled onwards for another few hundred miles until we found a Days Inn, which was deserted, and in fact other than the two other people staying there the other 108 rooms were empty. After checking in we headed into Connaught, the local village, for some food, only to find that this once thriving rail road town is now turning into a ghost town. We toured the streets for about 20 minutes and found only two Pizza shops open. After a quick discussion we decided we would have

Pizza. While in the Pizza place, we chatted to a local Mr Hall, He didn’t tell us his name, but I remember the girl behind the counter saying Mr Hall and as I thought she said Mr Hill, I went to collect the Pizza only to find out we had a little longer to wait. Mr Hall was very knowledgeable about the area, and had lived there for a very long time and seen how the town has changed. He explained all about the vil-lage and how the population had gone from a family orientated village to one with over 90% of the people being over 60, from a busy shopping centre to only a few shops ( and pizza restaurants…. although restaurant is over selling it). Once the rail-road stopped coming through, and the maintenance depot closed down, the trains just passed straight through this once vibrant area. He also told us about how he had been to Europe and his wife loved Lady Diana, then our dinner arrived and we were quickly tucking into 2 large Pizzas which were actually 15", free chicken wings and 12" garlic pizza, only stop-ping to ask who wants the last bit of Pizza……. Beth…………. It was then back to the hotel, to the busy car park, with one car and an old trailer truck. Why is it that when you ride into a near deserted car park, you spend at least 5 minutes going from bay to bay, as though you are getting ready for a quick get away by being in pole position, only to find as always when you leave the car park is still empty………. Or is that just us???? Any-way, Beth went to sleep and we tried to update the blog using the hotels WI-FI connection and Joth’s PDA/Phone, but the connection kept dropping out so by 11.30pm we gave up and decided to plan the next day’s stage instead. Summary Day : 02 Stage : Washington to Niagra to Erie Daily Distance: 300 Miles Time Travelling 10 Hours Average Speed 30 mph States: New York, Pennsylvania Weather : Day: Dry, Sunny Night: Dry, Cold

Page 24 Page 25


Day 3 Marathon Run MondayOct 15, 2007 Today we decided to be up early as none of us could sleep past 5/6am as the time difference between the UK and USA hadn’t really affected us apart from we found we couldn’t sleep past about 6am, except Beth, who had mastered the art of sleep, very early on in the trip. We had some breakfast, consisting of muffins, cereal, orange juice and several cups of tea and we were on the bikes by 8.30am. We decided to see if we could do two days riding in one day to make some time later to see some more sights, This meant about 580 miles, which at road speeds of between 45 and 70 miles an hour would take us about 10 hours, then add a couple of hours for sightseeing, water, food and toilet stops, so about 12 to 13 hours in total.

We started out in wonderful sunshine and blue sky. The route today will take us through Cleveland, Gary and Chicago finally ending in Janesville in the state of Wisconsin. The most memorable part of this trip was Chicago, As we approached we could just see the pointy tops of the buildings, as we rode closer the buildings grew out of the ground as though some sort of giant was pushing them up from underneath until the Chicago skyline as everyone knows it from books, magazines and the TV unfolded in front of us, truly amazing. As we got to the outskirts our route took us over the Skyway Bridge and the skyline was amazing, just looks like the pizza boxes, But then the nightmare began. The traffic at rush hour is terrible, in fact just getting through Chicago took nearly an hour at speeds reaching 5 miles an hour although it did allow us to see the sights in close and personal detail and in the USA they don’t like you filtering, unless you want a ticket from the armed and very serious Sher-iff’s.

Chicago Sky Line

We had communication problems today with one radio becoming faulty, It appeared to have a broken cable or connection, so every time we tried to speak to one another nothing was happening, so for the rest of the day we were using

hand signals, and you will be amazed at the things you can say and conversa-tions you can have just using your hands, it would make a great Christmas party game. We made it through Chicago and stopped at another Wallmart (which are everywhere), and Wallmart is in fact part of the same company as ASDA, or at least ASDA is part of Wallmart, (check the ASDA lorries next time you see one, it has the Wallmart logo on it,) We digress again!, We have gone to Wallmart to see if we can buy some bits to fix the radios, but they had everything we didn’t need and nothing we did need, we will have to make do with two intercoms and one that only receives.

Well back on the road again and a little tip if you ever visit America bring plenty of change as, so far, we have gone through about 15 tolls and that’s just today. One even took Adam’s money twice and still wouldn't let him go through so he drove round the barrier checking the Sheriff was nowhere to be seen. The tolls were only a few Cents and it was more bother than anything else especially on a motorcycle.

We are continuing to update the blog and web site when we can, whenever we can keep our eyes open late at night and find internet access and in between having a few beers, (purely for the water content to stop dehydration (yes I know alcohol dehydrates you……. but it tastes great while it does so). We thought updating the blog would be easy as it is the land of Microsoft, how can the land which brought us XP, Word, Vista etc. be so far behind in terms of internet access and the speed of the connection ?

So far the American Dream is living up to all expectations the people, scenery, roads and facilities are second to none. This is becoming a truly magical ad-venture.

Page 26 Page 27

Summary Day : 03 Stage : Erie to Mount Rush-more Daily Distance 300 Miles Time Travelling 10 Hours Average Speed 30 mph States: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin Weather : Day: Dry, Sunny Night: Dry, Cold


Day 4 Long and Bumpy Road Tuesday October 16, 2007 After a wet finish last night we looked forward to a warm bed, only to find the beds were red hot (well the room was anyway), There was no way of turning down the heating, so a restless night followed, although Beth slept well as she loves the heat, anything above the tropics is fine with Beth, but at least the clothes got dry. Due to the heat Adam got up at 5am, watched a bit of TV and had a wander before updating the Blog and sorting out the emails. E.Mail Home 16th Oct, 2007 (am) Hello from the USA. We are well and enjoying the trip. The weather has turned on us and so we are now riding in the rain, but it is warm during the day, but very cold at night.

We are ahead by almost a day and if we can push on a bit today and cover an extra 50 miles we will be a day ahead of ourselves. We are struggling to find internet access with a computer so keep the e-mails coming and we will pick them up the next time we find a hotel with an internet connection. The internet is very slow over here so we will read e-mails and update the blog and then respond to e-mails, but may be short as it takes ages. Hope Aaron and Oliver are having a nice time and keep sticking the flags in, we are currently at Janes-ville, Wisconsin.

We will keep in touch. Adam, Joth and Beth We are staying at a Best Western Hotel, which has the rooms at the side of the pool (no really right at the side of the pool) and you open your door directly onto the walkway around the pool. This only added to the heat problem.

Best Western (Rooms at the side of the Pool

We all went for breakfast at 8.30am and enjoyed porridge, pancakes, fruit in a dish and Joth went for that very traditional American breakfast of a bacon sandwich and after numerous cups of tea, we decided it was time to hit the road. On the way out we met a nice couple who advised us on some places to visit and we have amended our itinerary which will now include an Old Americano type place called Wall Drug if we can find it and the Black Hills and Badlands, so we will tell you more when we have been. On route we stopped for fuel at Kwick Trip, Onalaska, and met 2 Harley Rid-ers Ken "Keystone" Delano and Rick, who told us about some alternative routes and roads and the weather we could expect over the next few days. Thanks Ken and Rick and if ever you make it to the UK let us know and the important role you do for the Patriot Guard is I'm sure well received under the circumstances (www.mnpatriotguard.org).

Ken and Rick with one of their bikes with a Eight Foot Flag Pole The journey was mixed weather today, sun, rain, fog, cloud and by the end very cold. We saw some amazing sights, rivers (Mississippi), fantastic pano-

Page 28 Page 29


ramic views, and a wind farm, not to mention acres and acres of farmland. The crops here stretch for miles and each field is well over one mile long and as wide as the eye can see, unlike our fields back in the UK which are in nice little blocks.

Minnnesota, (over the Mississippi River), from I90. We finally landed at the Travel Lodge at 6.45pm cold and damp from the last rain shower so a quick shower, changed from our riding clothes into our other riding clothes and put on our boots which have to be tied up at night as they have a strange odour that I just can't explain! (In case you are reading this while eating, I will not describe the odour any further as I guarantee it will put even those with the strongest constitution, off their food). Then off to Stephanie’s, a little bar/restaurant where we enjoyed steaks and burgers, which is something of a staple diet on our road trip, a few beers later

and a glass or two of wine for Beth, which ended the day well, then just enough time to fill in the blog and check emails from back home before bed. E.Mail 17th Oct, 2007 (pm) Hi all, The beards are growing nicely, however , Adam has removed part of his and he has just have a goatee, as the cheeks of his helmet were making him itch. We have had a good run today and made a further half day through pressing on and putting a few extra hours in. We are 40 miles away from Sioux Falls, at Worthington and we have had a nice meal and a few drinks to warm us up as its getting very cold once the sun goes down it. The weather will get worse before it gets better when we finally get into hopefully sunny California. Off to the Harley Dealer tomorrow to swap some t-shirts and see if Adam can get some winter gloves (Adam in Harley gloves!). Joth thinks the gloves will be the first step to me getting a Harley, but I think I am a long way from that, The comfort and extras of my BMW have not gone from my mind as yet. Keep checking the blog. See you all soon Adam, Joth and Beth

Page 30 Page 31

Summary Day : 04 Stage : Erie to Mt Rushmore Daily Distance 480 Miles Time Travelling 10 Hours Average Speed 48 mph States: Wisconsin, Minnesota Weather : Day: Wet, Dull Night: Wet, Very Cold


Day 5 Sioux Falls and beyond Wednesday Oct 17, 2007 A 7.30am alarm call this morning, ready for a good run as we also have a stop at J and L Harley Davidson. What a great start to the day! We started as usual with pancakes, syrup and several cups of tea. During the first few days we had collected a range of voucher booklets at the various truck stops and garages and so by using these vouchers we managed to have a full breakfast without having to pay a penny. The waitress, although efficient, had only 2 speeds, slow and stop and our main worry was the fact of whether she would be with us long enough to finish breakfast, as she was not only getting on in years, but I think she was recount-ing a tale of when she helped Noah build the ark. We had managed to get four vouchers so we tried our luck at getting one more, (to take away), but when we presented the four vouchers, Edna (not her real name, but she did look like an Edna) asked who the fourth was for as only three of us sat at the table, foiled at the first hurdle, so we had to make do with just one breakfast each, before ven-turing outside into the wet weather one more time. We made good, but wet, progress and got to J and L Harley Davidson by 10.00 am and met Holly, one of the staff who exchanged the tshirt with Joth, it’s a Harley Thing, Harley riders like their t-shirts.

Joth and Holly Swapping tshirts

Joth purchased a Flames Derby cover as a memento (any of your hardened Harley Bikers will know what that is, and for anyone else it’s a shiny silver bit that fits on the bike………). Adam got his Harley Davidson gloves and we got a few lanyards for the kids. While at the Harley dealer we met Carol and Wayne Drayer, who were visiting their family near Sioux Falls and also doing a bit of pheasant shooting, you could say killing two birds with one stone. Wayne collects dip dots (again if you are a Harley owner you know what these are if not then they are circular badges that stick on the top of your oil dip stick with the name of Harley deal-ers on top), so Joth gave him a dip dot from Chesterfield HarleyWorld for his collection, hopefully he will visit Chesterfield one day.

Carol. Joth, Beth & Wayne at J&L Harley Davidson We again discussed the route with them and they gave us some suggestions of places to visit, so we are trying to build these into the route. One of which is Wall Drug, where we have decided to stay tonight. We left J and L and the weather started to turn even worse, We travelled for a few hours before stopping at the Triple H truck stop at Murdo, where we were served by Rachael. Rachael was very friendly, no not in that way!, and we asked about where we can stay overnight within the next 90 miles or so, She was very hazy on details and we later found out why towards the end of the cherry pie, as in fact, she lives locally and has never been out of the local area. We also found out she is 26, was married but is no longer married and has 4 children, 8, 6, 4 and 3, all by the same father she quickly told us, yes that’s right if you do the maths she had her first child at 18!. Any way she has her

Page 32 Page 33


life planned and intends to retire at 55 and travel the world. Good luck Rachael. After the cherry pie we again hit the road, not actually! and made our way to the Badlands and Black Hills, which is apt as I think I am still regarded as the Black Sheep of the family for taking up biking in the first place and then get-ting my brothers into it, hey mum !. The last gas (petrol) stop of the day was at a fantastic out of the way little sta-tion called A-Z Corner, with tumbleweed rolling past as we filled up. This old style fill up station offered a discount for cash of 8c per gallon, that’s about 4p, but the gas was 8c per gallon dearer than we have been paying elsewhere, I’ll let you do the maths !

A-Z Corner (Adam & Beth) Before leaving the garage Joth noticed that a bolt had dropped off the Pannier Rails, so a quick repair with insulation tape that we had brought with us will hopefully hold until we get to Vegas and get a replacement.

The scenery would have been magnificent except for the thick fog, rain and grey cloud, which we think was grey as we could hardly see it through the rain. The raindrops were the size of footballs, well perhaps not footballs but they were big, like everything else in America, they are super sized. Our waterproofs generally did their job, but with the amount of rain, we didn’t stay fully dry. A design fault with motorbikes and people is that when it rains the water runs down the tank onto the seat, which is then dammed up by your legs and leaves a pool of water just where you don't want a pool of water, (I think you get the picture). The rain never stopped until we approached Wall Drug, a glimmer of blue sky could be seen in the distance just before the sun went down and darkness fell.

Wall Drug (Photo Taken in the Morning) We found a Best Western Hotel, parked, locked the bikes and checked in, only to find out that our rooms were right at the other end of the building. You may think this would be because they were full but you would be wrong, Along with the other 5 guests the total number has swelled to 8 with us, and yes we are all at the top of the hotel ! We had a great evening meal at the Cactus Cafe and a few beers as we didn't understand the local dialect so just said yes and ended up with 2 beers, when we just wanted water or freshly squeezed orange…… honest……

Page 34 Page 35


Cactus Café (where we had Dinner) Beth has gone to bed (about 10.40pm) as on occasion (normally between 12:00 and 1:00pm) she nods off on the back of the bike and head butts the back of Joth’s helmet, so thought an earlier night might help. Joth’s DOT logo on the back of his helmet has now worn off through Beth playing “conkers” with the helmets as she nods off. Tomorrow we start the really cold section of the journey so Adam is glad he managed to get a fantastic deal on a pair of Harley Davidson gloves and Bala-clava. Yes we know its hard to believe Adam a BMW rider, wearing Harley gear, how will he hold his head up the next time he goes to the BMW dealer!. Oh well another night comes and goes and tomorrow the next stage of the American Dream Challenge will unfold. A few Facts and figures so far on the journey: Thursday Oct 18, 2007, and we are officially half way through the original route of the challenge, With the 370 miles today we are at an amazing 1,900 miles in 5 days. We were originally riding 3800 miles but with additional stops

at interesting places we have been told about it will be 4200 miles when we finish. We have filled up with fuel 13 times at an average cost of about $20 per fill up, (£10) in total for both bikes. E. Mail 18th Oct. 2007 (pm) Hi everyone, Thanks for the e-mail, we have travelled another 360 miles today from Janes-ville to Wall Drug an Americano town, with old style properties etc. We have had another good run, but this is in preparation for the next stage which will be slow and cold. Today we started in light rain and as the day went on it got heavier and heavier until it was coming in buckets. Our waterproof gear and boots let water in as it came that much. We visited J and L Harley Davidson and did a tshirt swap and some dip dots and I bought a pair of winter Harley gloves and a balaclava, everything is about half the price of that in the UK. We have been out for a nice meal and just about to update the Blog. Glad to hear all is well at home. Adam, Joth and Beth

Page 36 Page 37

Summary Day : 05 Stage : Erie to Mt Rushmore Daily Distance 370 Miles Time Travelling 7 Hours Average Speed 52 mph States: South Dakota Weather : Day: , Foggy, Wet, Dull Night: Wet, Very Cold


Day 6 A long and very windy road Thursday Oct 18, 2007 From the number of hits we are getting on the web site, (no not abuse, its an IT term for people visiting the site) a lot of new people have been looking at the web site, so firstly thanks for looking and watching our progress. Well we are typing the blog on a borrowed Laptop from a great couple, Jim and Linda, who are visiting Jim's sister. We met in the reception here at the Best Western, yes I know another Best Western, but they appear to be in abundance all across America. Jim overheard our discussion with the lady on reception about need-ing internet access and kindly offered his laptop. Joth being a bit of an IT guru clicked some boxes, typed something similar to Arabic into some boxes and click through some screens saying things like “ah yes”, “need to change that”, that’s not right” and then as if by magic the computer springs to life connect-ing to the Wi-Fi and then the updating of the blog began. Joth went to their room to get a picture, which we will upload when we can find somewhere that sells a card reader. So day 6 already, We checked the weather last night and it said rain and wind, we checked this morning just after looking out the window to find it pouring with rain and wind in the region of 50 - 60 miles per hour, On checking the weather it was giving out severe weather warnings for very strong winds, just what you need when riding a motorbike! As Adam’s feet got wet through yesterday, he decided to put a plastic bag on each foot to keep them dry, a great plan except, you do not want to be in the room with him or even down wind when he takes of his boots ! We started the day with a breakfast of waffles, cereal and several cups of tea, in fact we are looking for some sort of flask as it would be easier for Beth to have her own flask as one, two, three and even four cups is never enough, As she says, “You can’t start the day before you have had a cup of tea or four”. So the journey - as we got to Wall Drug late last night we rode down to the town and had a look around. Most places opened at 10.30am so we looked at the stores and post office, which was also an art gallery. The post office has little boxes which you have to collect your mail from your-self, no morning delivery to your house here.

Jane the Post Lady & Adam (Inset the post boxes) After a look round this very old town it was time to hit the road and make our way to Mt Rushmore and meet the Presidents, The journey was probably one of the worst Adam have ever encountered in all his years of riding, The winds of around 60 to 70 miles an hour, linked with the driving rain, streams and large puddles of water on the roads, made the journey slow and treacherous, so we stopped after about 70 miles for fuel and a drink as Joth and I were both feeling it in our arms, and my fingers had gone numb I was holding on that tight. We were not able to get a picture but if we had you would have seen us leaning into the wind at about 45 degrees to stay moving forward in something like a straight line. One of the interesting things we came across were little concrete bridges about 5m long to let water flow under the road which had 1m high concrete sides so as we approached the bridge the bike was banked over to allow for the wind and as soon as you entered the bridge the wind stopped so the bike violently went off course requiring a very quick response to get the bike in a straight line again. On coming out of the bridge the opposite applied as we hit the 60mph side wind again.

Page 38 Page 39


We eventually reached Mt Rushmore, by which time we were wet, cold and tired, but the sun was now shining and the sky was a magnificent clear blue, it was just the cold, the extreme cold. Joth & Beth kept their helmets on and even when admiring the distant view of Mt Rushmore, the very strong winds were relentless. As we approached Mt Rushmore the first sight of the faces was amazing, the size of them and the setting was fantastic. We parked the bikes and walked up to the viewing area. It was truly amazing and worth the difficult journey.

Mount Rushmore (Inset Adam, Joth & Beth) We visited both the gift shop and surprise, surprise, at Beth’s request, the res-taurant and after a couple of hours at Mt Rushmore we set off for the Grand Canyon. We were about 800 miles away from the Grand Canyon, The ride was again overwhelming, the unspoilt countryside, the landscape and autumnal colours were truly breathtaking and as we got closer to Wheatland, where we had decided to stay for the night, the sun began to set and we experienced an-other side of America, the colours of the sunset were amazing: purples, orange, blue, crimson lit the sky like merging strokes of paint on a painters canvas, (I think you get the picture), set against some of the most stunning outcrops of rock, mountains and hillsides I think I have ever seen.

As darkness fell, the stars shone and lit up the sky and the tiny wisps of cloud shone silver from the moon, This really was a fantastic ride, the surprise of the open space and animal kingdom, enabled us to see, racoons, chipmunk, deer, buffalo, sheep, cows, bears and at Mt Rushmore we came face to face with a wild goat at the side of the road.

We also saw a bear and as I pulled my revolver from my holster…….., no not really, but we did see bears, however they were behind a fence in a zoo, on the road to Mt Rushmore.

No Mum we have not got a gun either, So calm down!

We finished the day’s ride and booked in at the hotel had a shower which we needed most days and then went out for dinner (Evening Meal) and Joth was looking forward to another steak as he has only had 6 so far and a seventh never hurts, thanks again Jim for the use of the Laptop.

Page 40 Page 41

Black Bear Racoon Chip Munk Buffalo Goat

Summary

Day : 06 Stage : Mt Rushmore to Gand Canyon Daily Distance 300 Miles Time Travelling 7 Hours Average Speed 43 mph States: Wyoming Colorado

Weather :

Day: , Windy, Wet, Dull Night: Windy, Wet, Very Cold


Day 7 Rocky and Roll Friday, Oct 19, 2007 Well let me start with last night first, as I think I said we were just going to go for a steak, However on the walk over, which was all of 1 minute from the hotel, the girl quickly made it to the door and locked it, then when we got there she said “We are closed”, We can't imagine Adams feet were that bad, so we ended up going for a Pizza and a few beers, which was very nice and very large as usual. Before bed as usual we checked the 2 main weather channels, which is always interesting as they never agree with each other, but the consensus was that it was going to be ! light winds and showers, fading out as the day goes on, Well how wrong can you be, Gale force winds, weather warnings and a sky so grey you would think the world had gone to black and white. We decided to have a hearty breakfast, again over at the restaurant that was not over welcoming the night before so we collected our 10% discount voucher as issued by the hotel and with Beth saying "I need a cup of tea" something of a recurring saying, Joth pulled at the door to find it locked, We went to the other door where on the door it said CLOSED until Sunday! So plan B, back to the hotel for a sugar bread thing, I am sure it has some fancy name on the box and a cinnamon whirl bread thing (same rules apply). We sat with Jim and Linda and dis-cussed everything from tax, children, politics, presidents and weather in fact it would be easier to tell you what we didn't discuss, If you are reading this Jim and Linda thanks again, it was a pleasure meeting you and if ever you find yourself in England drop us a line. Linda and Jim So by 9am it was time to brave the storm and again put our muscles to the test, and yes we really have found muscles that we did not even know we had, with this wind we are feeling every one of them at the end of the day. As we headed towards Rapid City, through Keystone, Hot Springs, Buffalo (that’s a place not road kill), Cheyenne, Denver, Rocky Mountains, Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction, finally ending up for the night in Fruita.

We had a quick drink in Genesse, Colorado, in a Coffee and Mercantile cafe called "Buffalo Moon". They had over 30 different types of coffee and had I had the time I would have loved to have tried everyone of them, but I settled for Snowy Mountain, which was apt considering what we experienced a little later.

Buffalo Moon Café (Insert Coffee Bean Dispensers) Suitably refreshed and full, we headed for the Rocky mountains, We had cov-ered a couple of hundred miles and the sun was shining, beautiful blue sky and scenery to die for. As we approached the Rockies the view was spectacular, mountains unlike no others, snow topped, glistening from the sun with shadows highlighting the contours of the jagged outcrops of rocks standing magnificently against a backdrop of lush green countryside and a crystal blue sky.

Page 42 Page 43


This only got better as we went higher into the mountains, By now the air was crisp and clean, the roads to each side slowly went from greeny brown to white covered in crisp white fresh snow, water ponds frozen like little ice rinks be-tween tall and perfect pine trees towering into the blue sky.

Rocky Mountains The strangest thing of all was looking to the side and seeing people skiing, yes really skiing along side you….. only in America!!! The roads are almost empty as we twist and turn round the rocky roads, the air hitting your face like little needles as Adam lifted his visor to experience the cold. Adams only wish is that you could have experienced this yourself to really appreciate it. This is the real America, this is what everyone should see, yes the cities are alive, Mount Rushmore was impressive, so was Niagara, but this natural world is nothing short of amazing and magnificent and it is only found and appreciated if you take a road trip as it is off the usual tourist tracks. If you ever come to America, make sure you visit this section of our route es-pecially in the Fall, The trees are autumnal, with lovely yellow, red and green leaves, you can see for hundreds of miles and not a single thing to spoil the view. We decided to take some video footage through the day and lots of photos, which got some strange looks as we were travelling about with one hand on the handle bars and one gripping the cameras, with Adams left arm over his right shoulder taking a picture of the scene behind which was now lit with red sunlight as night started to fall, the shadows extending the contours of the rocks, and making every overhang look deep and menacing.

We have reached our last petrol stop to fill up before we travel the last 100 miles and retire for the evening, As we start to fill up we hear the growl and thumping of a motorbike, As it got closer it became deafening, on pull-ing up and seeing us the rider came straight over to introduce himself, “Alan Tho-mas,” he said, “what you boys up to?” in a sort of deep southern accent. He then insisted we inspect his bike, which was a 1980 Iron Head, Harley David-son, with custom paint job, sprayed by a local chap he knew.

Joth with Alan Thomas Joth then talked chrome and shiny bits etc. as only a Harley owner can, obvi-ously me being the practical, hard riding BMW owner, I filled the bikes up and then took the picture of Joth sat on this bike, As we were about to leave Alan asked where we were going from here and after talking him through our plan, he then offered to escort us from the garage to the interstate, as he knew a bet-ter route to avoid what is now the rush hour of about 200 cars, which I must admit is probably the most cars we have seen since leaving Chicago. So with-out a second look we were crossing roads, taking corners at warp speed, us with our helmets, biking gear, armoured trousers and this guy in just a shirt and trousers, it really is a different world out here, but thanks Alan, you saved us a good 30 minutes. Then as fast as the Rockies arrived they were a distant dot in the mirror as we headed on towards the Grand Canyon which is still about 500 miles away, so we needed to cover 400 miles today to ensure we got

Page 44 Page 45


further south and hopefully miss the snow, which was close on our heels. We actually did 440, minus 4 miles as we had to double back from the garage where we filled up with gas (petrol - premium unleaded 91 octane or higher for those petrol heads out there) as we found that the next town that had some sort of hotel or motel was 100 miles away and it was getting very cold and late, so we went back to Fruita to the Comfort Inn. Cherish, (great name) the hotel receptionist took pity on us as we looked tired and cold and gave us a special rate of $69.99 which is about £35 for each room, all the rooms we have stayed in have 2 double beds, coffee machine, microwave, shower and wireless internet connection (although never seemed to be reliable) so they are really good value.

Beth & Adam outside the Comfort Inn We asked Cherish where the best place to eat the local food was and she gave us directions to various restaurants and a menu or two. I will give you three guesses where we ATE, 1 Wrong - 2 Wrong - 3 Wrong It was a Chinese, yes an American Chinese, Don't ask! Anyway once we had established that this was nothing like the Chinese we have at home or even in China, we played it safe with rice, some sort of chicken dish, a noodle dish and crispy duck, which wasn't crispy and I was almost going to question if it was duck, little pancakes, which are at an extra charge, which turned out to be about 10 inches wide and don't get me started on prawn crackers, no really don’t get me started. We had a discussion with the waiter for about 10 minutes trying to explain what prawn crackers are, remembering that chips in the US are crisps, except

in American Chinese restaurants which are fries and crisps are something made of bread deep fried, as I said earlier, don’t get me started on this……. If you have a minute try explaining to someone what a prawn cracker is, It’s not as easy as you think, In the end we stuck by that English tradition if at first you don't succeed GIVE UP. To top it off they never came back to ask if we wanted another drink of anything else, but we got the feeling that they wanted to close, something to do with switching the lights off and stacking the chairs on the tables. So in the end we paid up, (no tip) and went to the local garage for a four pack of beer, which both Joth and Adam enjoyed, while Beth went to bed and we updated the blog. 1300 miles to go, we cant believe how fast it has gone, so we are going to add in a section of route 66 via Seligman, so it really will be the all America Dream Challenge 2007 Road Trip. E. Mail 19th Oct, 2007 Hi everyone, The internet link here is very slow and the photo you sent us will take 41 min-utes to download the picture, so will have to do it another day. Today has been fantastic, with some fantastic scenery, we went through the Rocky mountains covered in snow, with the sun shining. The rocks, mountains and snow were just stunning. We are going to add an extra bit to the route and travel on Route 66 or what was route 66 some years ago. We are all well, just had an American Chinese for tea (that’s a meal not a person) and we are now about to update the BLOG. Adam, Joth and Beth

Page 46 Page 47

Summary

Day : 07 Stage : Mt Rushmore to Gand Canyon Daily Distance 390 Miles Time Travelling 9 Hours Average Speed 43 mph States: Utah, Arizona Weather : Day: Windy, Cloud/Sun, Cold Night: Windy, Very Cold


Day 8 Waffle on Buddy MondayOct 22, 2007 What a sight! As we open the curtains we see blue sky, no wind and glorious sunshine, someone is obviously looking down on us today. We went for break-fast as usual, continental style, which usually means cold food but what was this? Home made waffles! Oh yes, home made waffles. The batter mix was in little cups and a machine that looked like some sort of torture device, you just add the mixture to the machine, close the top, twist the handle, the timer starts and hey presto, 2 minutes and 50 seconds later a perfect waffle. Once that was ready just add a good helping of maple syrup and you have the perfect waffle. To everyone reading this, it may appear very unimportant, but after 8 days away from home a waffle, A HOME MADE WAFFLE, is a wonderful thing. Beth as usual is on her 7th cup of tea and yet to start on solids, not really but I think it was her fourth cup. Anyway back to the challenge, We set off on our route heading towards the Grand Canyon, We went our usual 140 or so miles before needing to fill up with gas and by now you should know what Gas is (if not its petrol), It was a very, very small town, Adam went in to pay while Joth filled the bikes, he was met by a larger than average lady, with what can only be described as a night dress, emblazoned with "I am Fawned of you" all over it with pictures of little deer, although some of the deer where a little out of shape. Using my best American accent I said "Hi" and being polite, as I have always been brought up to be polite, I asked if she was alright. She replied, "Yes we have Ice", Puz-zled I looked back, took a breath and said, “Sorry no I meant are you all right ?” She then looks puzzled and paused and said, “Yes I was right wasn't I!” At this point I cut my losses and went to the fridge for water, Stay with it... On returning to the counter she asked me "What was it I was right about” By this point I just wanted to pay and leave, but I thought I should try and explain, “No I was just asking after your well being, ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?” Oh she said and smiled with one of those puzzled smiles We both laughed and I paid, knowing she still doesn't understand, and left with 2 bottles of water, a bottle of orange juice, a Snickers bar and 2 packets of Milk Duds, (chocolate covered Caramel) this was a regular order every time we filled up. Anyway, just before we left Joth asked me where we were as I was leading this part of the trip, The town (well all 5 houses, a bank and a store, oh and this garage) was not on the Sat Nav so I looked at the store, took a deep breath and went in again to ask, she said it was “Blanding” I asked how is that spelt B for

Buffalo, L for lion.... a...n...d..i.n.g I guess she ran out of animals. I left feeling that I had done my bit for Anglo American relations, and after a 20-minute rest we set off once again and decided we would go all out and get to the Canyon so we could enjoy the day there on Sunday.

Adam with the Water & Milk Duds (the staple road diet of the America Dream Challenge) The scenes as we travelled were magnificent, the conditions were great except by early afternoon, the wind had picked up and was reaching somewhere around 30 - 40 miles an hour, with gusts of what must have been up to 70 miles an hour. The landscape was arid as they were currently in a drought and as we reached Arizona the full force of the wind was with us and we suffered terrible sand-storms for about 140 miles. The visibility was seriously reduced and we were covered from head to toe in sand, the sand and dust got everywhere, our visors had a mist of orange dust all over them and for anyone like me wearing contact lenses this proved especially difficult and at times painful.

Page 48 Page 49


Joth & Beth (Arid Backdrop of Arizona) We continued on to Tuba and after a coffee and a snack, decided that the sand storm was not letting up and we might as well keep going, as it couldn't get any worse. On getting back on the bike we were approached by a native In-dian, who was trying to get money from people under an excuse of trying to get home. On asking a few more questions, his story kept changing so we left without parting with any dollars. As earlier noted, Beth has invented a new game, “conkers” This is usually played around lunch time and involves a bike ride usually at speed, Beth rests her eyes as her helmet drops forward and hits the back of Joth’s helmet, with her rest promptly being disturbed only by the force of the impact, A few min-utes later the game is repeated. This game has now been played so often that the transfers on the back of Joth’s helmet have worn away. We are going to put it forward as a new Olympic sport ! By 7pm it was almost dark. As we rode on, the sun began to set, the clouds were lit up like red hot embers stretched across the sky, the colours of red, blues, greys, magenta, gold and crimson filled every inch of the sky, The mountains, silhouetted against the beautiful sky, left an outline commanding and overpowering the landscape. We stopped to take photos and watched the sunset over the fantastic landscape.

Sun Set (Road to the Grand Canyon) Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset, (I feel a song coming on) we see it every morning and every night and what a view. The skies are vibrant at night but there are hidden dangers. Night can be especially dangerous and you are al-ways looking to the sides of the road and just watching and waiting, just to see what will run out. The deer and antelope are very active at dusk and can spring out into the road at any time, Only a few nights ago, one such incident occurred. A car had been towed into the car park where we were staying. It had hit a deer and received major damage to the front end (hood in America) and windscreen (windshield), thankfully no one was hurt. Once the sun had set, the colours faded to darkness, the sky was now a shim-mering mass of beautiful diamonds, sparkling and full, as if a huge firework had been set off and filled the sky with sparks, never moving or falling, frozen in time. We had never seen so many. In the UK the sky has so much light pol-lution that we only tend to see the main stars, Here it was so dark even the tiniest stars could be seen. What an amazing sight.

Page 50 Page 51


We continued on to the Canyon with our way lit by stars and a fantastic white moon. We arrived at the Grand Canyon and rode around the roads trying to find somewhere to stay. We found out on arrival at each hotel that this is still the main tourist season and it is still in full flow so rooms were at a premium, if indeed you can find one at all. We found a small complex with a very posh hotel, Adam proceeded into the hotel to find people in suits and gowns but not being put off his mission to find a room asked “Is there room at the Inn,” only to be told “There was no room at the inn,” On returning to the bike, he found Beth, strolling purposefully into the dark garden area as she had spotted some baby deer grazing. I know its October but it had the feeling of Christmas. As there were no rooms in the Grand Canyon village we went to fill up with fuel as the next stop would be a 25 mile trip to the next town, which was where we had just come from, when out of the blue (well actually it was out of the garage) a couple came over and with a perfect English accent advised us that they tried to get a room a couple of nights ago and found one at the Best West-ern a few miles outside the village. The couple were Jackie and Simon, Thanks Jackie and Simon and hope you get chance to read this. It turned out when we did get a room they were in the next block and we met up with them the next morning, We'll tell you about that a little later.

Jackie and Simon thanks for the good advice.

The only thing was that the only ROOM available and I stress ROOM not Rooms, meant that we all needed to share one room. Now we are a close fam-ily, but no not that close. The last time I shared a room with my brother was when I lived at home some 20-25 years ago, and to the best of my knowledge I have never slept in the same room as his wife. As we were all a little tired, we booked in, Beth claimed the bed she wanted, with Joth I hasten to add, and we then went off for a meal in the hotel where we were staying. The entrance to the hotel had a massive eagle outside which Beth really liked.

Beth with the Bronze Eagle We all enjoyed another large steak (one each that is), Beth went off to bed and Joth and Adam did our bit for the local economy and stayed up putting the world to rights over a few beers, updating the Blog and checking the emails as we have been without communication for 48 hours as we were out in the mid-dle of nowhere in Arizona. It’s a good job we made contact with everyone at home as 48 hours was the point at which, if they had not heard anything from us, they were to start mak-ing enquiries to our location. We have today done the grand total of 440 miles in some inhospitable conditions and all of us are feeling it today in our shoul-ders, backs and wrists, (and for Joth the back of his head due to regular games of Conkers). Tomorrow should be a bit of an easier day.

Page 52 Page 53


Now just let me enlighten you all about filling up with fuel, Upon arriving at the gas (petrol) station the gas pumps do not work. First you have to guess how much fuel you require, go into the Kiosk and pay for the fuel, go back outside fill up and then return to the kiosk and get the change. When you have to do this 30-40 times over 14 days it gets a bit wearing. One other problem we had was that in California the pumps will not allow fuel out unless the nozzle is put fully into the tank and a limit switch is pressed. On a bike the nozzle would not fit fully in the small tanks, so, you have to pull back the sleeving over the noz-zle with one hand while holding the trigger with the other, it took some time to figure this out and was a little tricky.

Joth Fuelling the Bikes, Adam is inside Paying & waiting for the change. (Beth Supervising) The garages were a welcome sight in some cases as we had the opportunity to get out of the weather for a while as some of the garages have sitting rooms with big American sofas, TVs and drinks machines, You can also pick up cop-ies of hotel coupon guides which give you an idea of where the hotels are and discount coupons for free breakfasts or money off the rooms. At every stop we managed to buy the supply of Milk Duds, Snickers for Beth and bottles of wa-

ter and orange juice, but before setting off you have to remove the tumble weed that has been picked up along the route.

Tumble Weed on Adams Bike

Page 54 Page 55

Summary

Day : 08 Stage : Mt Rushmore to Gand Canyon Daily Distance: 444 Miles Time Travelling: 11 Hours Average Speed 40 mph States: Utah, Arizona Weather :

Day: Windy, Sun Night: Windy, Very Cold


Day 9 A Grand Adventure Monday October 22, 2007 We have now found a number of sayings that each of us use regularly and are now our trademarks....

Beth "Can we have a tea at this stop?"

Joth "If you like, I don't mind."

Adam "Lets press on." (that means keep going...) Well, after a rested night, was it Joth or Beth snoring, or Adams boots trying to run off after the plastic bags had been removed ? We were up and out by 9am and caught up with Jackie and Simon the good Samaritans from last night, and had a good chat and found out Jackie’s Dad was one of the founder members of the London Harley Club and in 1950 trav-elled all around America on a Harley Davidson Pan Head, with his wife and notched up a 100,000 miles. So after a photograph we were off to the Grand Canyon, only a few miles away. On arrival we were met at the kiosk by a very Jobs Worth park ranger called Sandra. We pulled up together at the kiosk and Sandra was most put out that we wanted to pay for both bikes at the one kiosk. After a few tuts, sighs and disapproving looks she took our money, Joth moved up to the second ki-osk to inform the second park ranger that I was paying, when all hell broke out. My park ranger went mad as Joth didn't have his ticket, the second park ranger was shouting to my park ranger to check that what Joth was saying was right, then my park ranger wanted Joth to come back as she had not given him his ticket. I said “I would take both tickets and let him have his when we parked,” She said, “ No that's not how it works he has to have his own ticket !” I was now losing the will to live and asked ‘Will we be stopped by someone later in the park to show the tickets?” to which she replied “No”, so the point of all this is, absolutely no idea!, but customer care training may help or just common sense, either way it would be more helpful for the customer and in this case us.

Joth, Beth and Adam (Grand Canyon Entrance) So we finally entered the park and I had both tickets, not that any one wanted to see them anyway, naa naa nee naa naa…..how very mature, and in Joth’s words “We are off to see a Big Hole.” Joth is probably not the most common of tourists in this way, he likes to travel, over thousands and thousands of miles, briefly see the sight and leave, anything involving interpretation boards, leaflets or information that has to be read, just not his thing. A big hole you can look at, oh yes! He is right up there, you just can’t hold him back and you can’t make him stay there for long either.

Adam, Beth & Joth (Don't do it..... don’t jump..... Grand Canyon)

Page 56 Page 57


And what a hole it was, the scale, size and depth is just something you can't explain, it is huge and the wind chill factor is sub zero. If you look deep into the canyon you can see the Colorado River and bearing in mind this Canyon is 10 miles wide and 1 mile deep, yes just think about that for a minute, no a whole minute, it really is huge. We did the tourist bit, Visitors Centre... exhibition... (yes even Joth) and then explored the village and surprise, surprise.... we had a drink and some pieces of chicken, which were extremely dry and took some swallowing.

Visitors Centre (Grand Canyon) In the Centre Joth asked whether they had a 1 Cents coin impression machine, You know the thing, in the UK you put a penny in and usually two 50ps turn a big handle and it rolls a press over the penny and becomes a keepsake. The chap said the closest is probably at the Conoco garage or failing that go onto Valley where you can see the Flintstones, yes the cartoon Wilma and Fred. We headed off to Valley, via the Conoco Garage for the coin to add to Beth’s col-lection. Later and a few miles out of the Grand Canyon National Park we came into Valley and stopped to visit the Flintstones. The Flintstones in this case is a small theme park type attraction with a wonderful little cafe and native Indian type shop where we were greeted and served by Deb, who was a very lively character who must cover hundreds of miles a week going to and from the kitchen and bringing out orders, which she appeared to do single handed. On taking our order, Beth had an ice-cream, the size of which could feed a small third world country, Adam had a Blueberry Muffin, which Deb suggested should be buttered and then grilled which was actually fantastic, so try this at

home and Joth, well Joth as only Joth can, asked for Cheese on Toast, you know that good old favourite American dish! well here the next challenge be-gan, We spent a good five minutes trying to explain to Deb what Joth wanted, we appeared to confuse each other about whether the cheese goes under or on the grill as the American way is on the Grill and we put it under the grill. In the end, Deb, who was an absolute star, said she would sort it out and in a mat-ter of minutes Joth received cheese on toast using American Cheese, that he promptly demolished in less than 1 minute, so fast in fact that Beth never actu-ally saw what it looked like.

Adam, Deb & liz (Yaba dab a dooooooooooo) We purchased a few gifts from the Indian shop and then it was off on the road, after a quick photo shoot with Adam, Deb, Beth and Wilma Flintstone (a wooden character cut out, Wilma that is not us). The next part of the route took in one of the most historic routes in the American motoring history, ROUTE 66. We travelled just over 80 miles from Seligman to Kingman, through Peach Springs and Valentine, with some of the most fantastic, twists and turns and amazing countryside, which must be on every bikers to do list. Originally Route 66 went from Chicago to Los Angeles covering 2488 miles.

Page 58 Page 59


Route 66 every true bikers dream route..... (Inset Joth & Beth on Route 66) We eventually ended up at Kingman and went out to Denny's for a meal. We were served by Jojo, a very keen waitress who, when we ordered the beers, asked Adam for photo ID as she could not believe he was over 30, in fact she thought he was only 25, Adam 25!! Adam had shaved off his beard about an hour ago, which Adams daughter did say his beard makes him look old, but even after removing the beard, 25 she must have thought he was a good tipper, and when Joth asked if she needed to see his ID, she was quite frank and said with that much grey in your beard I know your over 30.

Jojo Adam’s hero, 25 doesn't she know I'm only 21 again and again......

After a hearty 13oz steak, a few beers and an additional photo shoot, as anyone who asks Adam for photo ID is worthy of having their picture taken, Joth said that Adam needed to set off first in the morning heading east, which if you don't know is the opposite way to the direction we need to go!. I guess he was just jealous of Adam’s boyish good looks, and Jojo’s comments, needless to say Adam did keep pointing this out at every opportunity……

Adam updating the Blog and answering emails We have done a record in terms of miles today as we have only managed 170 miles although today was more about sightseeing than travelling. It's now 11.05 pm, we have spent the last hour catching up with the blog, so its either off to the bar or off to bed. You will have to wait and see which we do tomor-row. Catch up with you all in Vegas, so long as we manage to get over the Hoover Dam.

Page 60 Page 61

Summary

Day : 09 Stage : Gand Canyon to Vegas Daily Distance: 170 Miles Time Travelling: 4 Hours Average Speed 43 mph States: Arizona

Weather : Day: Sunny Night: Cold


Day 10 Life is a gamble MondayOct 22, 2007 A later and welcome start to the day, 9.45 am, after a few beers last night, (I bet you all guessed we would go to the bar). We had the usual continental break-fast of muffins, coffee and orange juice, then took a short trip of 80 miles, (well short in comparison to previous days, travelling) along some amazing scenery, with mountains, which appear to spring from nowhere and then stand proud governing the landscape. We were starting to feel the pace this morning with a few aches and pains in our shoulders so a more relaxing day was just the ticket. A few miles before the Hoover Dam we were greeted by a team of security guards checking vehicles. This check point was literally in the middle of nowhere but upon arriving at a check booth we just got waved on while all the cars and lorries got checked, We were fast approaching the Hoover Dam, and what a Dam it is too…..Dam Good !

Joth, Beth & Adam at the Hoover Dam...... Big but not as big as we thought it was going to be....

Although the dam is not quite as big as we thought it would be, the surround-ings and the dam itself was very impressive, We parked on the east side of the dam and looked over the water to the white walls of the dam, The water was a green, very clear colour and the walls of the dam amazingly clean and there was a clear water line around the rocks which was a lot higher than the water, so there must be a bit of a drought, in fact a lot of a drought. We then walked down towards the dam to get the best view, the good thing about a bike is you can park it in very tight spaces and get the best views. As you approach the dam a new bypass road is being built, so in the next 2 years this will reduce the number of cars over the bridge making it quicker for the tourist and better for those who live here. Luckily the dam was not very busy so we were able to have a nice steady ride over it and into Nevada. As we entered Nevada Joth needed to stop to get a picture for the ABC’s of Touring, it’s a Harley thing you have to have your photo taken next to a place sign with your bike and a copy of HOG Tales (Harley magazine) to get 1 point, if you get 37 points in the year you get a free Patch & pin from H.O.G.

Joth getting 1 point for the ABC’s of Touring After the photo shoot there was only a short trip to Las Vegas, We travelled for about an hour, through arid, dusty and hot barren areas of open space with the

Page 62 Page 63


odd tree or bush, but nonetheless the hills, mountains and size of the open space were impressive. The amazing thing is that Vegas just appears, as if by magic, just desert and then there it is, an oasis in the middle of this barren land. You suddenly find you are at the outskirts, looking back there is nothing look-ing forward this city just keeps growing, getting bigger, bigger and even bigger the closer you get. One of the most impressive things about the road trip is you get to see sights and views that you just wouldn’t see if you had hopped on a plane and landed at the Airport and then stayed around the tourist areas.

Las Vegas....... Very impressive at night There is absolutely nothing around Las Vegas other than open space and then there, in the middle of an almost desert like place, is this thriving, neon clad, world. We arrived during the afternoon at what was really just another town, visited the local Harley dealer and Joth purchased a Flame detailed Petrol Cap cover as I am told, you just can’t have too much chrome on a Harley. Then off to the other Harley dealer for the other bit of chrome (I will not bore you with the details) Joth wants, actually I will bore you with the details…..which is a bolt and collar off the Pannier rails that had dropped off a thousand miles ear-lier was only available at the other store. So off we went to circumnavigate Vegas, First an interesting ride down Sahara to find the road junction of Sahara and Rainbow, taking our lives in our hands through this fast moving, heavily populated and large city. We made it to the Harley dealer ……. only to find it closed for stock taking! I guess it will be a trip to the dealer in San Fran, as the

locals call it, San Francisco for those of you out there that don’t know, but in the meantime a bit more tape should keep her together.

Chrome won’t get you home but Insulation tape will. We found the Travel Lodge hotel, which was hidden on the strip, no this is not a seedy club called the Strip, this is what the main street is called in Vegas. The hotel was about half way down and in a prime location for hitting the Ca-sinos. The entrance did involve mounting the pavement and just as Joth did, who should be waiting to cross but a Police Officer, Joth just kept his head down and rode on and never looked back. We parked the bikes up at the Travel Lodge and checked in. It only cost $65 per room (£32.50). Joth could not believe his eyes, not only was the Travel Lodge right in the middle of the strip but also right next door to the Harley Davidson Café where we will have to have a meal and a few beers, not neces-sarily in that order. A little note about biking and hotels the Travel Lodge was not as grand as the big hotels but the rooms were clean, tidy and well maintained but what makes these places special is that you don't have to park up the bike and try and carry your Helmet, gloves, bags etc. etc. to a reception, then manhandle your belong-ings into a lift (if you’re rich that’s what your porter would be doing anyway, so what do you care) go up lifts and along corridors and do the same in reverse in the morning. No, in these hotels all you have to do is park the bike outside your room, walk 2 steps, unlock the door and put your helmet and bags in the room and after a few days on the road this makes life a lot easier and enjoy-able.

Page 64 Page 65


Travel Lodge Las Vegas (Located next door to the Harley Davidson Café) A quick change and off to hit the casino’s, although first a beer and a quick bite in the Harley Davidson café. The service and food were second to non and the memorabilia was quite interesting to look at even to Joth who is more in-terested in Exploring, Riding & Adventures than reading. One thing to note is that around the Café there are motorbikes suspended from the ceiling and they travel around the room, on what can only be described as massive, bike chains, you have to see it to believe it.

Harley Davidson Cafe, Las Vegas As darkness fell, you can see the attraction of the Strip, the lights, neon and other billboards, in fact the whole atmosphere came alive and we were part of

it, The strip is made up of different themes such as, Paris with the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and New York with its Statue of Liberty etc. We did the main Casinos and played blackjack, which was our most successful game, well when I say we, actually Adam just lost money, but Joth came away with big winnings, Oh yes, he said “it will not change him” and after getting the winnings voucher from the machine, he promptly went to the cash desk to collect his winnings, $1.25 oh yes…. $1.25 about 62p, he is still deciding how to spend it as we don't think it is enough for more chrome!

Joth & Beth playing Black Jack After a few beers it was time to turn in for the night as tomorrow we are back to big figures in terms of miles for our last stage of the Adventure through California to San Francisco.

Page 66 Page 67

Summary

Day : 10 Stage : Hoover Dam to Las Vegas Daily Distance: 120 Miles Time Travelling: 3 Hours Average Speed: 40 mph States: Arizona & Nevada

Weather :

Day: Sunny, Warm Night: Cold


Day 11 Strong arm of the law CHIPS Tuesday October 23, 2007 After a night in Vegas, it was an early start, a quick coffee, danish, muffin and orange juice and Beth had her usual 2 or 3 cups of tea and we were off. We had to achieve over 400 miles to keep on target to fit in Alcatraz and a bit of shopping, (oh no not shopping!!!!) in San Francisco. It was a hard ride, not difficult, just had to clock up the miles and with the tem-perature rising well into the 70’s and by mid afternoon was breaking into the 80’s with very little air circulating around us, we were starting to get hot. So imagine, all suited up, in 80 degree heat, may I just suggest that anyone who meets us stays down wind! The first 280 miles went very quickly and at about 3pm we stopped for lunch at I-Hop in Bakersfield. After a drink and a steak sandwich, no onion and extra mushrooms, we were about to leave when officer Shane Kensey, of the Cali-fornia Highway Patrol (CHIPS for those old enough to remember the TV show) came in and came straight over to quiz us on our bikes and about a speeding offence, only joking Mum!! He just came in for lunch, We got chat-ting and he was saying that he had come down from the North as there have been (and still are) some large fires in South California, not near us, thank-fully, and a lot of extra officers had come from various areas to help and where we were having lunch is the main meeting office, no not the I-hop, there were some police offices nearby.

Joth, Shane Kensey California Highway Patrol Officer, Adam & Beth

While talking to Shane, he said the main headquarters were just down the road and we could probably get a photo of a police bike if we went down to the station, so off we went. Upon arrival we took some photos outside the build-ing, then went inside to be greeted by a friendly chap Greg Williams, the Pub-lic Affairs Officer, who deals with all the enquiries, His opening welcome was “You can’t get there from here,” which told me we will get on well. We ex-plained what we were doing and without a second thought we were outside, with a police Motorbike, Highway Patrol Officer Scott Whittaker and Second mechanic, (second means he’s good and does all the work), Steve Jacobson, who as a point of interest has Scottish ancestry and is a McKenzie, which led to a discussion about children and bagpipes. Those who know Adam know he has an interest in bagpipes.

Joth, Beth & Adam with CHiP Officer (on BMW oh yes) Scott Whittaker They were all fantastic and made us feel very welcome. They gave us some decals, transfer badges for the bikes, and a map, no, we were not lost, honest we weren’t, but they suggested an alternative way taking in Route 1 which would take us along the coast of California and the edge of the Pacific. So we will now be taking Route 99 then onto 46 which will take us finally to route 1 and all the way up the coast to San Francisco. We set off and the scen-

Page 68 Page 69


ery through California was breath taking. We came across some things we expected like Orange Tree plantations and some things that we didn’t expect, like Nodding Donkeys for extracting oil from the ground, the roads stretched on forever with twists and turns through valleys and over hills.

Orange Tree Plantation Nodding Donkeys in the Oil Fields.

Wind Farms Open Winding Roads We were now heading for San Simeon which is on route 1 where we are now planning to spend the night, We had a few fuel stops and at the last one, I went in to pay and Adam fuelled the bikes only to find that our $20 this time did not fill up the bikes, I put another $5 down which still did not fill the bikes, yet another $5 which finally did the trick and wondered why, we noticed that the gas had massively gone up in price in the little town we stopped in, still $30 (£15) to fill up two Harleys still did not seem too painful. We finally arrived at the Hotel which was about 100 yards from the coast of the pacific, checked in, had a meal and a few beers and updated the blog for

the last time, as tomorrow we would reach San Francisco and hopefully some decent internet cafés with fast internet access so we could email and blog in comfort.

San Simeon Lodge (At the side of the Pacific Coast) When you are on the road this time of the night just felt perfect, after a hard days riding, nice meal and a few beers, nice weather, clear star filled skies you can retire to bed and as you drop off you can hear the waves of the Pacific crashing on the rugged rocky shore line, heaven ……...

Page 70 Page 71

Summary Day : 11 Stage : Las Vegas to San Francisco Daily Distance: 290 Miles Time Travelling 6 Hours Average Speed 48 mph States: California Weather : Day: Sunny & Hot


Day 12 Panoramic views to ride for Thursday, Oct 25, 2007 Just picture this, it is 9am, a brilliant blue sky, you can hear the Pacific Ocean crashing onto the beach, the smell of salt and seaweed in the air and as we open the door to the room, you can see miles of beautiful blue sea, with a slight haze and wisps of cloud above, “Lets paddle” says Beth almost breaking into a run to get to the sea. So, with one boot on and one boot off we each stick one foot into the water, the icy cold water washed right up to our shin, so much for staying dry, but in this heat 10 minutes later we were dry. Joth, however, not wishing to break tradition stood on a rock, and put his hand in, the closest he will ever get to paddling.

Joth's version of paddling So after a hearty breakfast we were off on the final leg of the adventure, we following route 1 along the coast, Please close your eyes and picture this, actu-ally best read this first then close your eyes or it will be hard for you to picture this as you can't see the text to know what you are picturing………. anyway, as we look to our left, we can see for miles, crystal blue waters, with wild horses of foam crashing as the sea meets the beach and rocks, the rocks a grey-ish red, with small green trees and seaweed laying upon them as though sun-ning themselves, Ahead twisty, tight roads, with corners allowing the bike to ebb and flow side to side as we twist and turn, to our right, mountains and hill-

sides, the bare rock, forming a base colour with autumnal greens, yellows, oranges and reds of the shrubs, a pocket of green every now and again as trees push their way to reach the sun, the mountains, standing proud over this col-ourful land, dominating the landscape, sheep, cows and horses, dotted around exploring the countryside, free to roam without care or worry. Route 66 is his-toric and beautiful, this is the road every biker needs to travel at least once in their life, it is a biker’s paradise. The bridges we cross are amazing. Their light grey structures spanning the Ocean as the white horses from the breaking waves wash underneath us. A look down from the side of the bridge and you can see a drop of around 400ft. The roads get closer and closer to the air as the left of the road disappears to sharp drops, thankfully we drive on the right although Adam has been known to use the whole road (his BMW seems to corner differently) and in the UK he has paid his road tax, so he is using whichever side of the road he prefers! However we don't know if the USA have a road tax, so he still took a the lib-erty anyway.

Route 1 Inset Joth, Beth & Adam

Page 72 Page 73


We meandered our way through the twists and turns stopping every few miles to take a photograph or two, or three, In fact I think at this point we have around 800 photos between us, and don't get me started on video, we must have about 6 or 7 hours worth, you lucky lot, you will have the opportunity to look through every minute of it! And that’s a promise……… We eventually reached the city limit of San Francisco and what a view of this town, The top arms of the Golden Gate Bridge stood proud in the distance, and could be seen for miles, a distinctive red colour. It says golden orange in all the information, but it really is red, (but lets say its reddy / orange). As we approached the city we hit the traffic and made steady progress towards the Bridge.

San Francisco (Golden Gate Bridge in the distance) As we turned the corner we had the toll in our sights, (yes another toll, how many tolls can one county have ???? rhetorical question……) but on arrival we found it was free, yes, north bound was free, we entered through the toll without having to stop and find a few cents to pay the toll, and WOW the bridge just grew the closer we got, the images and scenes around the bridge, with Bay Bridge over the other side, Alcatraz and the San Francisco skyline were impressive and a memory none of us will ever forget.

Golden Gate Bridge San Francisco We stopped at the other side at the visitors’ view point and took another 20 or 30 pictures, We were about to leave when we were approached by Tracy, a local who had a friend over, Sarah, (tell you a bit more in a minute about Sarah), who came over and asked "Could you take a picture of the three of us" Adam said the three of us, meaning Tracy, Sarah and Adam) [Joke] “wouldn't you like the other chap in" sorry other chap they didn't tell us your name. It took a second but they saw the funny side. I took their picture and then they took one of us and then we took more pictures for them with various back-drops and then they took some of us, lets just say I think everyone had a pic-ture of everyone and everything by the time we had finished.

Beth & the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Sky Line & Alcatraz Island

Page 74 Page 75


So I said I would tell you about Sarah. Sarah is from Ireland, Limerick to be exact and has moved out to Florida where she works at Cape Canaveral and her parents came from County Durham in the UK, so wherever we seem to go, we find a Brit or at least a Brit link. So we then headed back over the bridge into San Francisco or as Beth calls it "Cisco" and found a Travel Lodge in the centre. The couple who are running it were fantastic as they were fully booked, but a cancellation came in while we were there and they let us have that, but we needed to change to other rooms the following day but at least we could get our heads down for the night. We changed and then hit the “Streets of San Francisco” (that could be a TV programme) and went on a street car (tram to you and me). We found our way into the night life to find everything shuts at 9pm. After exploring San Fran-cisco we travelled back on a street car or so we thought…….. but although we can find our way across 4,200 miles of the USA, we ended up at the wrong side of San Francisco, before we realised that we needed to be on the other street car going the other way. Oh what an adventure, the good news though is we now know pretty much where everything is and we must have walked a few miles, which is a strange concept compared with the last 2 weeks.

Adam Beth Joth Street Car We managed to find a Walgreen’s store and 3 of the staff helped us transfer all our pictures on to CD and they also told us where to search for suitcases for the journey home. Before we left we purchased a few souvenirs and had a print made of the 3 of us at the Grand Canyon to put in the Harley Davidson frame we bought for our parents as a little reminder of the help they gave us in looking after our chil-dren. Veronica, Michael and Nathan, were really helpful and if you ever find your-self in Walgreen’s near Fourth, then please ask for them.

Veronica, Michael and Nathan and two very dodgy looking characters in the background...... So when we finally got back to the room, we managed to get Joth’s PDA working with Wireless connection and read the e-mails but it was too slow to respond and after a further couple of beers from a purchase made a few thou-sand miles earlier in the journey, (Beth had gone to bed a while ago;) Joth and I rang home, just to let them know we were still alive, fit and well. The day came to an end, tomorrow was the final day with the bikes, as we were returning them to Eagle Rider after a last ride tomorrow morning.

Page 76 Page 77

Summary Day : 12 Stage : Las Vegas to San Francisco Daily Distance: 385 Miles Time Travelling 10 Hours Average Speed 39 mph States: California Weather : Day: Sunny & Hot Night: Cool


Day 13 Almost at an end..... but not quite Thursday October 25, 2007 Well a late start as we only need to clean the bikes and get them emptied and sorted for their safe return to Eagle Rider. there is a charge if the bikes are not returned in a reasonable clean state and after 4200 miles of rain, sand storms and finally heat in California to bake it on to the paint work and chrome, the bikes really needed a clean. Joth has waited 4200 miles for this moment, Adam cleaning his Harley, from top to bottom!!!!

Adam Cleaning his Harley First, as usual, a stop at a Harley Dealer, Dudley Perkins this time, and we must say a big thank you as they have been great in helping us. They let us have access to the internet so I can update the blog, we just need to sort out the uploading of pictures later. After we talked to the owner, Tom Perkins, who has kindly let us use his of-fice, computer and computer wizard Jessica, who has copied all our pictures to CD. We can now try and upload them in the internet café in San Francisco. What is amazing is that the USA is the Home of Microsoft and we can't get access to card readers or the internet without a laptop or when we do its soooooo slow, like dial up…..most of the time anyway ... truly amazing!!!!

Picture of Christopher, Jessica and Tom (owner) Joth managed to get yet more pieces of chrome for his bike, flame foot rests, the missing bolt and an allen key to fasten the new bolt on to the bike, We will need an additional suitcase to carry the Harley parts back to the UK. After a few cups of tea for Beth and bottles of water for Joth & Adam courtesy of the dealer, the next stop was Eagle Rider to drop the bikes off. When we drop the bikes off that will be the end of the American Dream Chal-lenge 2007 Trip, but not quite the end of adventure as we still have 1 day left to explore San Francisco. At 12.30 with our helmets on we got on the bikes and set off to Eagle Rider and after 4200 miles we decided to go to Eagle Rider the long way round to see the streets of San Francisco and to get the last ride before the end of the road trip, as you just have to go up and down the hills in San Francisco just like you see in the movies of the 80’s.

Page 78 Page 79


Eagle Rider San Francisco & Beth bottom right After completing the paperwork we handed over the keys and after a final in-spection of the bikes by the staff we were back off to the City Centre. It was strange a sense of relief that we had finished and arrived safe and well, and at the same time, a sense of disappointment that it was over, that the road trip had reached the end of the road. Eagle Rider had arranged for a taxi to get us back to the hotel, a quick change then out to hit the streets of San Fran to get a few bits and bobs, especially suitcases, and enjoy the hospitality of this lively city, well until 9:00pm anyway. We are now sat in a bar with live music enjoying a couple of beers and Beth enjoying a nice chilled glass of Chardonnay, while updating the Blog and chilling out looking back over the last 2 weeks.

Day 14 A Day off Thursday October 26, 2007 So the bikes have gone and we have completed the challenge and clocked up 4200 miles, in 13 days, pretty impressive if we do say so ourselves. Now its time to have a day off and enjoy San Francisco. Our final aim is to purchase some luggage as we just came with one piece of hand luggage and we need some extra room for the helmets and Joth’s chrome bits, and then the rest of the day is ours to see the sights and streets of San Francisco. We decided we would catch the street cars (Tram) as they are known here, which are something like the trams from the 50's and in fact many of them were, as they had been in service elsewhere before being brought here to be used. Each street car has a name and its colours are representative of how they would have looked when they were made and put into service. A little story on the information strip inside each car told you about their history and the rea-sons for their colours. So we got on after paying our $1.50 (75p) and receiving our ticket which lasts for 90 minutes, quite how you can tell it lasts for 90 minutes is beyond me, but I am assured it does. We waited about 5 minutes before the driver stood up and said, “Sorry, a problem further up the line means we can't move, some sort of accident”, it was like being on the train in the UK, “Every body off” so off we got and made our way to the underground. This was no UK underground, this was clean, tidy and efficient not the type of underground we are used to and after a short trip we reached Fisherman’s Wharf to see if we could get to Alca-traz. Alcatraz has been inundated with calls and e-mails asking them, that if we make it over there any chance of keeping us!! Charming!!, in fact the amount offered well exceeded the sponsorship total so it may be worth us staying for a short while if we make it over the water. Well we waited patiently in line, to find that the next boat off to the island was Sunday, the day after we leave to get back to the UK. As the next best thing we stood at the side of the pier and looked at Alcatraz and as Joth is not inter-ested in reading visitor information, a view of Alcatraz was quite sufficient for him. We wandered back into town to buy a few bits and bobs and see what the retail quarter had to offer, We had a few beers in an Irish theme pub, enjoyed a Chi-

Page 80 Page 81

Summary Day : 13 Stage : San Francisco Daily Distance: 40 Miles Time Travelling 2 Hours Average Speed 20 mph States: California Weather : Day: Sunny & Hot Night: Cool


nese style meal just off of Union Square and visited everything from clothes shops to electronic shops, and a walk through China town seeing all the fresh produce. Beth did ask when we were in the middle of China Town, “How do we know this is China town ?”, I guess the fact everything, and I mean every-thing, was in Chinese, all the shops’ facia boards were in Chinese and almost every person other than us and a few other tourists were Chinese, I said “I did-n't know it was just a guess!”.

Shopping, a old tram (not a street car) & View of the Steep Streets We visited a number of little shops to get Joth a patch to sew on his leather jacket as he has bought one from all the places visited and we finished the day with a fantastic meal at a posh Italian restaurant and with no expense spared we had the works. Then in traditional fashion, Beth went off to bed and Joth and Adam again hit the town. We walked for about 30 minutes into a new area of the town, We caught up with some street wardens and had a chat about the night life and taking their advice we ended up on Castro Street which runs from the bottom of Market Street North to San Francisco bay, which is a big area of water. A few beers and a few more beers and not that we were counting but a few more beers (after all we didn’t have a bike to ride the next day), we decided that it was time to move onto the shorts (that’s the drink not the summer beach wear) and found a Whisky Bar and enjoyed the hospitality of the range of whiskeys on offer. We finally ended the night or should I say morning, with a drink at the Ace Café (San Francisco branch not London) and then back to the hotel at about 1 ish (emphasis on the ish) after all it was our last night in America as tomorrow was the flight home.

Journey Home Thursday Oct 27, 2007 We left the Travel Lodge in the morning and arrived at the airport in plenty of time for a few last cups of tea and a snack before boarding the plane back to the UK.

Adam, Joth with their bags & Beth with all her suitcases !!! The journey has been an incredible experience, we have travelled for 12 days with 2 days in San Francisco, covered over 4200 miles and ridden the motor-bikes for 108 hours, during which we have seen some amazing sights, sampled the different weather America can throw at us, met a wide variety of interest-ing people, had a wonderful adventure and raised about £800 for charity. Joth completed enough miles for the HOG mileage programme and took enough pictures to complete the HOG ABC’s of touring. We all hope you have enjoyed reading about the adventure and we look for-ward to reading your comments at the back of this story when the book returns to us. Oh by the way, this is just the first of many motorcycle adventures (Sorry Mum), We are probably going to keep writing about different road trips that can be done in 2 weeks, Anyway we will keep you updated with any fu-ture adventures that we are planning on the website www.qtg.co.uk/motorbike/

Take care and ride safe ………………. Adam, Joth & Beth

Page 82 Page 83


Appendix 1-1 Appendix 1-2

Packing List Packing List Continued ... Joth Beth

Passport Passport Driving License Driving License Currency Currency Credit Cards Credit Cards Documents (Carpark Eagle Rider Virgin)

Map / Route Emergency Phone Numbers Medication Medication Sun Cream Glasses / Contact lenses Glasses / Contact lenses Sun Glasses Sun Glasses Tooth Brush / Tooth Paste Tooth Brush / Tooth Paste Summer & Winter Gloves Summer Gloves Waterproofs Waterproofs Buff neck / Face Draft Excluder Buff neck / Face Draft Excluder Ear plugs Mobile Phone & Charger Radio c/w Leads & Batteries Radio c/w Leads & Batteries MP3 Player Charger c/w 2x Leads & Travel Adaptor

Garmin Sat Nav Garmin Bracket Garmin Power & Audio leads Digital Camera & Memory Cards Video Camera Tapes, Batteries & Charger

Video Camera Bracket Peak Riders Chapter Flag Insulation tape Pen /Paper Cable Ties

Socks, Pants, Tee Shirts (2 of Each) Socks, Pants, Tee Shirts (2 of Each)

Adam Passport Driving License Currency Credit Cards WEB Access Codes for Blog Emergency Phone Numbers Medication First Aid Kit Insect Repellant Glasses / Contact lenses Sun Glasses Tooth Brush / Tooth Paste Gloves Waterproofs Buff neck / Face Draft Excluder Mobile Phone & Charger Radio c/w Leads & Batteries MP3 Player

Digital Camera & Memory Cards

Video Camera Tapes, Batteries & Charger

Pen /Paper

Socks, Pants, Tee Shirts (2 of Each)



Date Description Adam $ Joth & beth $ Adam £ Joth & beth £

19-Oct-07 Friday Comfort Inn $77.00 $77.00 £38.50 £38.50

Lunch $12.67 $25.33 £6.33 £12.67 Chineese (Evening Meal) $20.00 $40.00 £10.00 £20.00 Fuel $20.06 $26.59 £10.03 £13.30

20-Oct-07 Saturday Hotel Rooms $72.50 $72.50 £36.25 £36.25

Evening Meal $16.67 $33.33 £8.33 £16.67 Fuel Joth Paid For $40.85 $54.15 £20.43 £27.08

21-Oct-07 Sunday Hotel Room (1nr) $51.00 $51.00 £25.50 £25.50

Food $25.33 $50.67 £12.67 £25.33 Grand Canyon Entry $12.00 $24.00 £6.00 £12.00 Fuel $13.76 $18.24 £6.88 £9.12

22-Oct-07 Monday Hotel Rooms $66.00 $66.00 £33.00 £33.00

Food Harley Café $20.33 $40.67 £10.17 £20.33 Drinks at Diablos $6.33 $12.67 £3.17 £6.33 Fuel $13.12 $17.39 £6.56 £8.69

23-Oct-07 Tuesday San Simeon Lodge $84.13 $84.13 £42.07 £42.07

San Simeon Evening Meal $19.91 $39.81 £9.95 £19.91 Food $9.35 $18.69 £4.67 £9.35 Fuel $27.00 $35.80 £13.50 £17.90

24-Oct-07 Wednesday Hotel Rooms $74.95 $74.95 £37.48 £37.48

Parking $5.52 $5.52 £2.76 £2.76 Shuttle to Airport Deposit $7.00 $14.00 £3.50 £7.00 Shuttle to Airport Balance $8.00 $16.00 £4.00 £8.00 Food $6.00 $12.00 £3.00 £6.00 Fuel $7.31 $9.69 £3.66 £4.85

25-Oct-07 Thursday Travel Lodge $135.66 $135.66 £67.83 £67.83

Food $9.00 $18.00 £4.50 £9.00 Clothes for Joth & beth $256.19 £128.10

26-Oct-07 Friday Travel Lodge $135.66 $135.66 £67.83 £67.83

Sausage Bagles $8.33 $16.67 £4.17 £8.33 DoughNuts / Drinks $2.00 $4.00 £1.00 £2.00 Internet Café $5.00 $10.00 £2.50 £5.00 Evening meal (Italian) $40.00 $80.00 £20.00 £40.00 $6,039.11 $8,155.72 £3,019.55 £4,077.86

Date Description Adam $ Joth & beth $ Adam £ Joth & beth £

Purchased Before Leaving Flights $929.40 $1,858.80 £464.70 £929.40

Radios & Head Sets $168.00 $228.00 £84.00 £114.00 Car Park $105.00 $105.00 £52.50 £52.50 Helmets $409.07 $818.15 £204.54 £409.07

12-Oct-07 Friday Food Heathrow $13.93 $27.87 £6.97 £13.93

Holiday In Select $106.46 $106.46 £53.23 £53.23

13-Oct-07 Saturday Taxi to Eagle Rider $43.04 $86.08 £21.52 £43.04

Eagle Rider Deposit $147.78 $147.78 £73.89 £73.89 Eagle Rider (Bike Hire) $2,338.38 $2,338.38 £1,169.19 £1,169.19

Microtel Hotel $90.21 $90.21 £45.11 £45.11 Maid of The Mist Tour $11.82 $23.65 £5.91 £11.82

Food $12.46 $16.52 £6.23 £8.26 Fuel $11.05 $14.64 £5.52 £7.32

14-Oct-07 Sunday Hotel $64.04 $64.04 £32.02 £32.02

Breakfast Ponderosa $7.99 $15.99 £4.00 £7.99 Fuel Joth Paid For $12.46 $16.52 £6.23 £8.26 Fuel Adam Paid For $29.89 $39.62 £14.94 £19.81

15-Oct-07 Monday Best Western Hotel $110.40 $110.40 £55.20 £55.20

Breakfast $6.67 $13.33 £3.33 £6.67 Fuel Joth Paid For $16.95 $22.46 £8.47 £11.23 Fuel Adam Paid For $8.60 $11.40 £4.30 £5.70 Mc Donalds (Tea) $4.00 $8.00 £2.00 £4.00

16-Oct-07 Tuesday Travel Lodge Hotel $64.26 $64.26 £32.13 £32.13

Travel lodge Meal (Evening) $17.67 $35.33 £8.83 £17.67

Fuel $27.29 $36.17 £13.64 £18.09

17-Oct-07 Wednesday Best Western Hotel $70.95 $70.95 £35.48 £35.48

Meal Cactus Café $18.00 $36.00 £9.00 £18.00 Fuel $28.35 $37.58 £14.17 £18.79

18-Oct-07 Thursday Best Western Hotel $75.56 $75.56 £37.78 £37.78

Pizza (Evening meal) $16.67 $33.33 £8.33 £16.67 Fuel $20.32 $26.94 £10.16 £13.47

Financial Financial Continued ...



Route

Washington to Niagara Falls Approx Mileage 409 miles US15, I70 I99/US220, US322W, I80 Hwy 255, US219, I90, I190

Niagara Falls to Mt Rushmore Approx Mileage 1500 miles I190, I90

Route Continued …

Mt Rushmore to Grand Canyon Approx Mileage 1063 miles Hwy 244, US16 US385, Hwy 89, US18, I25, I76W, I70W, US191, US160, US89, Hwy 64

Grand Canyon San Francisco Approx Mileage 1228 miles I40, Route 66, I40, US93, I515, I15S, Hwy58, I5N, Hwy 46, Hwy 1, Hwy156 Hwy101



Points of Interest Niagara Falls http://www.niagarafallstourism.com/

Wall Drug http://www.walldrug.com/

Lake Erie http://www.great-lakes.net/lakes/erie.html

Mount Rushmore http://www.nps.gov/moru/

Grand Canyon http://www.nps.gov/grca/

Route 66 http://www.historic66.com/

Las Vegas http://www.lasvegas.com/

Navajo Indian Reserve http://www.nps.gov/nava/

Hoover Dam http://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/

Rocky Mountains http://www.nps.gov/romo/

Death Valley http://www.nps.gov/deva/

Car Park Meet & Greet (Heathrow) APH http://www.aph.com

Motorcycle Hire Eagle Rider http://www.eaglerider.com

Flights Virgin Atlantic http://www.virgin-atlantic.com

Washington DC Accommodation Holiday Inn Select http://www.hiselect.com/chantillyexpo

Helmets Coleman Powersports http://www.wherethepoweris.com/

Harley Davidson Dealer (Sioux Falls) J&L Harley Davidson http://www.jl-harley.com/

Harley Davidson Dealer Las Vegas Harley Davidson http://www.lasvegasharleydavidson.com/

Harley Davidson Dealer (San Francisco) Dudley Perkins Harley Davidson http://www.dpchd.com/

Accommodation Best Western http://www.bestwestern.com/

Accommodation Travel Lodge http://www.travelodge.com

Tee Shirts HarleyWorld http://www.wherethepoweris.com/

Contacts



Readers Comments Continued ...

Name Date Comment

Name Date Comment

Readers Comments


Appendix 6-1 (Sponsors / Support) Appendix 7-1 (DVD)

DVD MAIN MENU VIDEO America Dream Challenge 2007 PICTURE AV’s Day 1 ~ 3 Planning Niagara, Lake Erie & Chicago

Day 4 ~ 5 J&L Harley Davidson

Day 6 Wall Drug & Mount Rushmore

Day 7 Rocky Mountains

Day 8 Colorado, Utah The Road to Grand Canyon

Day 9 Grand Canyon, Flintstones & Route 66

Day 10 Hoover Dam & Las Vegas

Day 11 California & CHiPs

Day 12 ~ 14 Route 1 (Pacific) & San Francisco EXTRA Planning Heathrow

-R

Produced by

Berry Hill Studios Nottinghamshire England

www.qtg.co.uk

SPONSORS / SUPPORT