Thank you again, Tiffany for letting us host you. We both enjoyed having you in our home and wanted to reiterate that you are always welcome here. Angelica looking longingly and enviously at Thelma... Having met the woman, knowing she has gone throughout most of the world on this particular bike is no longer as surprising but even more amazing. Tiffany gets to see Cedar Bridge. Part of the movie, "Bridges of Madison County" was shot here and in the surrounding countryside/town of Winterset. Caught her in the act... Again, what an amazing and wonderful person.
In! I can't seem to find the places you will be speaking. Anybody know? Let me know if you need anything near Atlanta GA.
Stop and visit with Tiffany at BMW/Husqvarna of Countryside this Thursday evening with food and refreshments. We look forward to having you visit our dealership!
That's right guys, I've made it across from Phoenix, all 1,962 miles of road and I'm still in one piece though I've got a sore back side- mine is definitely NOT an iron butt! Thanks for all your good wishes and also the helpful hints with my tent- I'll get the pictures of it in Kansas posted up, a bit of an improvement, though I'll still be looking out for REI to replace the broken pole. It's been a good journey, not a spot of rain anywhere, although for the first time ever in America I got pulled over by the police, in fact he was a sheriff. I talked him round, and n,o I was not speeding at the time:huh I had to rush to get here from Arizona so I took mostly interstate roads. I'll be at the Autobarn, Countryside, Illinois this evening from 5.00pm onwards. I hope to meet a few of you later, I'll be talking about my travels, showing pictures and sharing stories; come and take a look at Thelma who has now clocked up over 180,000 miles, she's enjoying Walter's TLC in the workshop.
Looking forward to meeting you tonight and hearing some tales from your travels. Also there is an REI store very close, tell Mike or Carey to give you a loner bike or a ride there! Link to Map
Hey Tiffany Welcome back to the colonies. We met here in Lafayette a few years ago when you came and spoke at our monthly off-road club meeting. It was at the pizza joint and you were there with Bob and Phyllis C. Perhaps you'll be around again?
Hi there the list was posted up in my previous RR- here's the list of what is supposed to be happening, I'm going to be mainly in the West over the next three months, I'll also be fitting in visits to my Secret Santas. Things that are definitely happening... I fly into Phoenix and collect Thelma, my bike 19th April after some servicing and getting new tyres on her I'll be heading north, quite quickly 26th April - BMW Motorcycles, Chicago www.bmwmotorcyclesofcountryside.com/ 17th-20th May - Overland Expo, Flagstaff, Arizona www.overlandexpo.com/ 25th-27th May - Adventure Summit Event, Tooele near Salt Lake City, Utah http://www.advsummits.com/ 7th June - Happy Trail, Boise, Idaho www.happy-trail.com/motorcycle-adventure-theatre-with-tiffany-coates.aspx 22nd-24th June - Tynda Burning MotoMan, Eugene, Oregon ridedualsport.com/forum/index.php 27th June - Alt Rider, Seattle http://www.altrider.com/ 7th July - Horsepower Farm, Austin, Texas http://www.horsepower-farm.com/ 12th July - Pack and Paddle, Lafayette, Louisiana packpaddle.com/events-and-trips/ 19th-22nd July - BMW Owners' Rally, Sedalia, Missouri www.bmwmoa.org/rally12 and home out of New York 30th July
So you might be passing through WA east to west on the way to Seattle. Plenty of inmates can provide interesting route suggestions and put a roof over your head. Send a PM when you head this way and have fun in the meantime.
Just to backtrack a bit to the beginning of the journey now that I've got time and I'm not dashing across country. Going back a couple of weeks, it was almost like a bad dream as I found myself heading off on a trans-continental journey that will last several months and I looked down to find myself perched on a Honda 125cc scooter with a bulky bag containing my possessions strapped on the rear seat. What on earth was I doing that I had it so wrong? How do you ride with these little wheels? And, most importantly where's my bloody Beemer? I looked round to see another one was following Was it some sort of nightmare or anxiety dream? Nope, just a rather unorthodox (for me anyway) start to my trip. I'd been hosting a couple of unusual bike travellers, meet Tipi and Chae (with my friend Annie) Tipi and Chae are from South Korea and had ridden to England on their Honda scooters- yep, folks 125cc automatic ones with those tiny wheels across 12,000 miles including the wastelands of Siberia, They're my heroes and really nice people to boot. They arrived in time for Christmas and joined 16 of us at my parents' three bedroom house for the festivities. I don't know what they made of their time with my somewhat eccentric family, what I do know is that they blogged six pages about it on their website but as it's all in Korean I don't understand a word of it - they might well be describing the fact that their accommodation was a tent inside a barn during December ...but when they saw where the rest of us were sleeping, they said they had the best deal.:eek1 In the run up to my departure, they had come back down to Cornwall. The morning arrived that I was setting off, they offered to help me get to the train station. Their suggestion was that we ride in convoy on their scooters, they would be two up while I had my bag and then they would ride both scooters back to my house. It worked like a dream, once I was used to being on such a different bike. I made it safely down to the train station, my shoulder was aching a bit, but then it has been a bit painful for a while. I injured it six weeks ago snowboarding when I had a fall whilst going a bit fast and heard my shoulder go crunch. I carried on boarding but somehow my shoulder didn't feel right and gradually became increasingly painful. When I got to the doctor, this was how the x-ray looked. Torn ligaments had resulted in my shoulder being a bit odd looking- that's the space showing between the bones. Damn - no more snowboarding for the final two days of the holiday followed by weeks of inactivity. I headed to the nearest bar to drown my sorrows, wearing a sling that was closely related to a strait-jacket Six weeks later after some intensive and painful physio, I was back on two wheels and heading off to America, my shoulder had healed just in time, this, believe it or not is the healed shoulder- it still looks a bit odd in real life too, but the doctors were pleased. I was ready to hit America- the question was... would America be ready for me?
After a tiring journey that included a pleasant interlude at the Piano Bar in O'Hare Airport. I got to Phoenix, sweltered a bit in my bike gear until I reached my friend's house. The next morning my bike turned up from Tucson, Thelma, my R80GS who has been in exile for quite a while. In the shade of the garage, I got straight down to work, servicing and doing the usual checks. Everything spick and span, within 48 hours I was out on the road and not before time too Yep folks, it was 100 degrees as I pulled out of town, the words "Mad dogs and Englishmen" ran through my head as I turned Thelma northwards and towards the promised cool of the hills. Payson was my first stop for fuel and a bit of shade. The Harley riders looked at me a bit oddly, but I'm used to that, this time mainly due to my full bike gear, gloves and helmet. Naturally they were in T-shirts, bare-headed and looking cool. I got them to talk to me, turned out they were from Chicago, when I mentioned I was on my way there they did a double-take. They then confessed their bikes were being trucked back up there, leaving tomorrow. As I stood there sweating in the heat, I must confess to hearing a little voice in my head saying "Take Thelma, take Thelma", ahead I had almost 2000 miles to ride in the next four days and I had no idea when it was going to get cooler. It took a strong dose of self-control to cheerily say "see you on the road", and ride out of the petrol station. I headed towards New Mexico, it got cooler, at Low Show or was it Show Low, either name could have applied around here from what I'd seen having already been past the Wild Women Saloon, I slowed down to get a look, but thought it would be best not to stop at a saloon, I've sen enough westerns in my time. On to Show Low where the staff in the petrol station enjoyed the sight of me searching through the fridge for something to eat, finally selecting something and then removing the chicken part out of a chicken cheeseburger and giving it to a dog before heating the rest of it in a microwave and eating it. I guess vegetarianism has yet to reach this neck of the woods. Time was passing, as I reached the Narrows in New Mexico having regretfully realised I'd passed the only sign to Pie Town without stopping to take a photo of it...when will I learn? I ask myself. here's some hills. I'm heading towards Albuquerque, keen to get there before dark. Someone stood by the side of the road and pointed at the ground as I went past. OK for all the Yanks out there...what the hell does that mean??????
OK for all the Yanks out there...what the hell does that mean?????? They are just giving the "Hey I see you ride too" sign. Kind of like a version of a peace sign. Harmless unless there is junk on the road and they were pointing it out and you didn't notice. Travel fast and safe. Look forward to saying hello at the Overland Rally in Flagstaff.
hiya! glad you and Thelma are at last reunited. have fun in the USofA.....not too sure of your planned route - or even if you have one - but let us know and we will make sure to hook you up with some of the great guys we met during our time there. ride safe
Will be following along for trip, wish u luck, have told a couple friend about ur trips, we are going to try qnd make it up to sedalia Missouri when ur there.
Thanks for that GraniteOne (come over and say hello at the Overland Rally in Flagstaff) and Gwing, you know that is what I kind of thought. The first time over here and other riders kept pointing down so I was constantly checking the road to see where the problem was until I realised that it was just a type of greeting. In England it's a bit more reserved, a slight nod or inclination of the head as you see another biker or an occasional hand raised as a hello. so back to me passing someone who was standing by a pick up truck doing that, at first I assumed he was pointing out something on the road, so I checked, no snakes or holes, nothing there, not even a dead one of these Then I thought he is probably just a biker himself and greeting me so I relaxed again. But my brain was still thinking about it, and finally, I suddenly thought, is my light working? I stopped the bike and checked, whoops, no headlight, the sun was setting rapidly and the light had quickly faded. Damn, usually not too much of a problem, as I'm generally looking to stop riding and put up my tent at this point. But I had an invite and a destination tonight. Albuquerque was awaiting me. First day on the road and to be honest, my panniers are in a state of disarray (somewhat like my life) and I am really not sure where my spare bulbs are. I'm used to automatically carrying some because in some European countries it's compulsory to have them on or in every vehicle. I started unloading with a sigh. I was lucky, in the first pannier, there they were and even more lucky as there was a headlight bulb in the set, I had no idea if I might have used it up previously. Not forgetting, Thelma and my gear have been in storage for quite a while. The headlight is a bit tricky to replace, I put my hand in to get the old one out, fiddled around a bit, found a loose wire and "hey presto" the lights came on, it was just the connector and not the bulb. Quickly reload my case and get back on. By the time I reached the main highway (interstate) it was dark and not a pleasant ride with the trucks roaring past and all sorts of debris on the road. I arrived in time for dinner at 9.00pm except...it wasn't 9.00pm it was 10.00pm, I felt bad, I had no idea their clocks were different from Arizona and they had waited on dinner for me. Alon and his wife Ann made me very welcome as did their labradoodle - that dog is crazy! Time for a chat and a catch up, I first met Alon when he was travelling on his Honda TransAlp and was in Ecuador, we also met up in Bolivia and crossed the Salar de Uyuni together, a lot of fun. The next morning we set off, Alon was "escorting me off the premises" and setting me on the road out of town.
And trust me...Tiffany and her bike are definitely the sort that need to be "escorted off"... Apparently, she has a certain "dodgy" look about her. But I will let her tell the story when she has some time to breath. Got more pics of Tiffany's second visit to Iowa. Guess she can't get enough of the straight flat roads we have around here.
a less common signal these days is when you meet a motorcyclist approaching in the other lane and he points at his helmet or head, it doesn't mean he thinks you're crazy.... ..usually. Older police cars had a single red rotating light on top, resembling a bubble gum machine so he is telling you that in your very near future there will be a friendly law enforcement officer, probably with a radar gun. Since a helmet resembles a bubble, etc. Don't see it used much any more. Have fun out there, stephen