Some re-thinking going on

Yesterday was my birthday, 49 btw, So now just a year away from "the trip". I spent the day painting the rendered outside walls on my house, and woke up this morning to see just how patchy they now look. Worse than when I started - gutted!

However, spending all day doing that mind numbing task gave me plenty of time to think about things, and enevitably my thoughts turned next year's trip. In the end, I started to rethink the whole thing quite radically. Now, I'm not sure if my new thoughts have legs, or will come to anything, so I'm going to take some more time to mull them over before I post them here. If they do stand up to scrutiny, then expect some big changes to my plans......watch this space.

Spring has sprung......

..... the grass is ris; I should really be getting the bike out now.

Yes, it looks like the last of the salt has been washed from the roads (let's hope no more cold snaps), so I figured it's safe to get the bike out of hibernation.

It was booked in for its MOT today (For anyone not in the UK, the MOT is an annual safety check-up that all motor vehicles more than 3 years old must have to be legally usable on the road), so it came out of the garage yesterday for a good clean and check over. Thanks to the Optimate trickle charger that it's been plugged in to all winter, it started up first time. A quick polish and clean up and it was looking good and ready for the test. An oil change/service will be done once it's passed.

I was excited this morning as I donned my gear for the first time this year, jumped on board, and roared off to Armstrong Engineering, where it was booked in. An hour later I was happliy holding the MOT Certificate which proves that it's good to ride for another year! I did notice that the rear tyre is getting down a bit, so will need to be replaced in the next few hundred miles. Next stop the Post Office for a tax disc, and I'm back on the road and leagal again!

Trouble is, doing all this has made me wonder about I'm doing the right thing in renting a bike for the trip? It would be so much more of an adventure taking my own bike. Will have to watch the £/$ exchange rate and see if it becomes a viable option

A Harley in Summer

Re-reading my last post about renting an Electraglide reminded me that we (SWMBO & I) have rented one before.

It was a few years ago in the middle of August when we were visiting Las Vegas. We rented the Electraglide for a couple of days during a trip there, from EagleRider I think? Whatever.

Now, when riding in the UK, even on the hottest day there has ever been, you know that once you get moving, with a bit of a breeze in the face, you will be comfortably cool. That's not the case in Vegas in August.

We turned up to pick the bike up, and being ATGATT (all the gear all the time) type riders, we asked about borrowing leather jackets. Well the guy at the rental place looked at us like we were from another planet (which in a sense we were, I guess), and pointed to the rack of gear, which was so full it was clear none of his other punters that day had availed themselves of that service. He muttered something about it being far too hot for jackets, but, if we wanted.......

He was right of course. Even the obligatory crash helmets proved to be almost too much, and soon after we set off we were in t-shirts & jeans, with nothing more than sun-screen for protection. Not much good for gravel rash, I wouldn't think - thankfully we never had to find out.

So we picked up the bike, along with another guy who was from NYC, and asked about a good route that we could take. The guy in the shop advised use to travel out of Vegas, and head for the Hoover Dam, over that into Arizona, and carry on until we got to mile marker 14. "Once there, look for a small road on your right", he said. "That will take you down to the [Colorado] river. When you get there, take off you helmets, watches and shoes and jump right in."

The 3 of us set off, went over the dam, and sure enough, found this small twisty road at mile marker 14 that took us down to the river. It is technically a river at that point, but it is so wide it looks more like a lake! And we did just as he said (except I left my trainers on - you never know what's on a river bed to stick in your foot!). It was bliss. We cooled of in that river, must have been for 30 minutes, and didn't want to get out.

Eventually we decided it was time to get out, and we got back on the bike dripping wet, and set off back the way we had come. I can say, with no word of a lie, that by the time we reached the Hoover Dam again, 14 miles later, we were bone dry, it was that hot. Going over the dam, the traffic was slow, it was the middle of the day, and so, so hot. SWMBO was starting to overheat, I was scared that she was getting heat stroke (I've never seen a redder face!), so we stopped at a place called Boulder City, where the guy from NYC bought her a root beer (yuk!), and then carried on his own way. Instead we found a nice air-conditioned cafe and had a couple cold, cold Buds, before heading back to Vegas.

We went back out on the bike later that evening and cruised up and down the Strip, and went to the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and posed there for a bit. But I had learnt my lesson - August is not the time to be riding through the desert on a bike - which is why I'm going in May!

Thoughts on the bike

Recently Gillian (aka SWMBO), and I were talking about the sort of bike I should use for this trip. I mentioned earlier that, ideally, I'd like to take my own over, but  it won't be cost effective for a 3 week trip. So I am going to rent.

Given the above, for this trip it seems to me that a Harley is ideally suited. I've owned a couple in the past; a 1200 Sportster, and a Dynaglide Convertable (FXDSCONV for the Harley buffs amongst you). But I'm not in the market to own another right now. However, the thought of renting one for a few weeks riding through the USA seems right to me.

So, as I was saying Gillian and I were looking at EagleRider's website the other day looking at what's available. There is plenty of choice there, and suprisingly, all of them are the same price to rent, except the 883 Sporty, so cost is not a factor.

Gillian's always liked the looks of a Heritage Softail - all leather and studs and tassles.

I agree they look good in a retro kind of way, and would be great for posing on. But am less convinced of their touring pedigree - those panniers look less than water-tight, and probably don't hold much stuff either. And as for the Softail suspension, well, I'm not convinced.

No, I'm going touring, and whatever I choose has to transport me, and whatever I decide to take with me, over 3000 miles and 3 weeks. It's got to have plenty of luggage space, provide a good comfy ride and protection from wind and rain. In the Harley range, there is only one choice as far as I can see. It's got to be an ElectraGlide.

Its fairings and screen will provide protection against the elements (well OK, not the Sun, granted). Its big comfy seat and soft suspension will give a pleasant ride, and with the large hard-shelled panniers and top-box (oops, sorry, Tourpack, in Harley speak), there should be plenty of room for everything I need to have with me. So yes, decision made, a Harley Davidson Electraglide will be the bike I take across America.

3 weeks pass, and nothing happens.

Having spent a week off at half term looking after Nathan, you'd think that I'd have spent it working on the planning for this trip, wouldn't you? Well actually, that's not the case - I did some work around the house, some surfing and played a lot of on-line poker. But not much more in the way of trip planning. Well, it's still a year away and I'm thinking that there's plenty of time to get down to the real nitty-gritty, now that I have the outline plan set up. I suppose it would be good to have a target departure date though, so, at the moment I think that Departure-Day will be Saturday 30th April, 2011.

Only 14 pay days to go.

So, here it is....

..... the route. I've done a bit of research and stuff on t'internet and found a few places that suggest routes. WikiTravel has a good one that takes about 9 days. This is a bit too quick for me, as it averages about 300 miles a day. Eventually I've settled on the route below that is based on an itinerary from a company called Riding Route 66. It takes about 14 days, and includes side trips to The Grand Canyon and Las Vegas, where I might spend a couple of days, meaning this part of the trip could actually take me 16 days. So here it is in more detail:

Day 1: Pick up bike in Chicago, fairly short ride to Springfield IL.
Day 2: Springfield, IL to St Louis, MI
Day 3: St Louis, MI to Springfield, Missouri
Day 4: Then on to Tulsa, Oklahoma (202 miles), cutting the corner of Kansas for about 20 miles
Day 5: Tulsa, OK to Clinton, OK (217miles)
Day 6: Is this the way to Amarillo? I sure hope so, as that's tonight's stop
Day 7: Amarillo TX to Las Vegas New Mexico, passing through the half way point on this route
Day 8: Las Vegas, NM to Grants, NM/AZ, about 239 miles
Day 9: Grants to Holbrook, AZ
Day 10: Then a side trip up to the Grand Canyon
Day 11: Back on track, and stop for the night in Needles
Day 12: A short ride for the 2nd side trip up to Las Vegas, Nevada
Day 13 (& maybe 14): Stay in Vegas and clean up on the poker tables
Day 15: Back onto Route 66 to Bartsow, CA
Day 16: Arrive at the end of Route 66 at Santa Monica Pier
Day 17 - 21: meander up to San Fransisco and give the bike back :-(

 Of course, this is the first cut. I might find something interesting on the way and spend longer in one place, and then make up time elsewhere. I'm not planning to book any accomodation more that a day or 2 in advance, so there will not be a strict schedule that I have to keep to.

Getting exciting now!! Can I go this year instead?

The Route - more detail

Having now decided on a timeframe, I have been able to think about the route I can do in that time.

Theoretically, it is possible to ride many thousands of miles in 3 weeks, but that's not the point of this - it's not an endurance challenge. I want to takle my time, and immerse myself in the experience. therefore I'm going to try to avoid Interstates wherever possible, and try to average only about 200 miles per day. This will give me plenty to time to stop and look around as much as possible. So there we have it - the 2400 miles of Route 66 will take about 12 days at that rate, plus a day to pick up the bike and another to return it, leaves about a week to fill.

I've already decided to have a side trip to Las Vegas, to play a bit of poker, so allow a couple of days for that, a day for another side trip to the Grand Canyon, leaves about 4 days, which I will use to ride the Pacific Coast Highway from LA to San Fransisco.

So, the outline plan is taking shape. Is it too soon to start some more detailed planning? I don't think so, a day by day itinerary will be worked on over the next couple of days; watch this space.

One year later - aftermath of the recession

I can't believe that almost a year has gone since I last updated this blog - where does the time go?

Anyway the time has passed, and the adventure trip of a lifetime has been hit by the global recession, like many things over the past year, and has had to be scaled back some.

However, the trip is still going ahead - it maybe not the 3 month grand adventure I'd originally envisioned, it's now more a fantastic holiday, which is much more marriage friendly!

So, the limiting factor is now money, not time (although of course, the two are very much linked), and it's looking likely that it will be a 3 week trip in May of next year. For three weeks, renting is a more cost effective option, than shipping my bike out: disappointing, as I would have liked to have my bike out there, but one has to be pragmatic.

So, at the moment I'm looking at renting a bike from EagleRider, pick up in Chicago, drop off 3 weeks later in San Fransisco. This year, in May, that will cost about $3500, the best price I have so far. Am budgeting for a slightly higher cost for same time next year.

So, we have a framework to start filling in the days. The next level of planning has begun.

ONLY 15 PAY DAYS TO GO!!

The Bike Dilema

Obviously, if I'm going to do this trip on a bike, I'm going to need to decide what bike I use.

When I first thought a bout doing a big trip I was very keen on a big overlander type trip - Prudhoe Bay in Alaska, down to Tierra del Fuego, as far south as you can go in S.America was top of my list. For this, a big adventure bike like Ewan and Charlie's big BMWs would be called for, fully equiped and loaded with all the latest Touratech gear. Or more likely on my budget, a bike with off-road capabilities, and a couple of panniers!

I've long since abandoned that particular idea (although I'd still love to do it), and the sort of trip I'm planning here could be done on pretty much any sorth of road bike - although some are more suitable than others, I guess, so it would best be a bike with touring potential.

So given that I can use pretty much most kinds of bike, here are the options, as far as I can tell (if you can think of any others, please let me know):

1. Ship my bike over('04 Suzuki DL1000 - more than capable for this job), and back again afterwards;
2. Rent a bike when I get there;
3. Buy a bike when I get there, and sell it at the end;
4. Order a new Harley Davidson before I go, pick it from the factory in Milwaukee, ride it and then have HD ship it back.

All these options have pros and cons:

1. Pros - I know just what I'm gonna have when I get there, the bike will be preped and ready to go; I'd like to do it on my bike; provides a talking point when people see the UK plates.
   Cons - Cost; time without the bike before and after the trip, whilst it's in transit; hassle of crating it up before and after the trip.
   
2. Pros: Easy to arrange - just turn up and ride.
   Cons: Cost and availability of long term and one way rentals. Can't do anything to the bike to tailor it to suit me
   
3. Pros: Could be a low cost option, but risky
   Cons: Hassle - need to find a bike to buy, insurance, registering, license plates, selling it after the trip.
   
4. Pros: Easy and zero transportation costs.
   Cons: I don't want a Harley; must be a round trip from Milwaukee - one way not possible.

A few weeks ago I had lunch with a good friend and experienced rider in the US, Dave for some tips and advice. Following that I've pretty much ruled out options 3 and 4.

So, ship my bike, or rent out there? That decision comes back to the main question - How Long?

Doing the sums, it becomes clear that for a trip of more than 3 weeks, it's better to take your bike with you. Less than 3 weeks - then rent. About 3 weeks - six and two threes. Having said that, I worked that out when the exchange rate was closer to 2, might be different now.

Anyway back to that old thorny issue - How Long Am I Going For? This determines the bike I'll use, so needs to be sorted asap.

How long is long enough?

The longer the better, seems to be the consensus, but this is a bike trip I'm talking about, so there's bound to be a limit - only question is, what is that limit?

I've decided that time will be the limiting parameter for this trip (well, after the money side of things, of course) as it will ultimately determine the route, the bike (mine or rented?), and whether I come back to a wife who's missed me, or one who's started divorce proceedings citing abandonment.

So how long is long enough? Chicken and egg sort of question - it depends what I want to do really. What I want to do, depends on how long I've got.

Well clearly a week isn't; although technically it would be possible to cover the 2000 odd miles of Route 66 in a week, it would be pushing it, with no time to take it all in.

OK, so longer than a week then. What about a year? Nah - too long. People go round the world in a lot less than that. And that's on foot.

So, I'm narrowing it down - somewhere between a week and a year. 6 months still feels too long, and 2 weeks too short. Between 3 weeks and 5 months then.

I decide to be pragmatic and start with a bargaining position of 3 months. That would be plenty of time to do everything I could want to do, before getting bored, so this is the time period I started planning to.

More of that later.......