After a great couple of weeks the morning has finally come to say goodbye to Dave, Soni and Trev.  I get up early at 5:30 am and sneak around the house so as not to wake them up while I pack Stan.  Outside there is thick fog which is a joke as every other day has been near perfect weather.

I get Stan ready to go and make myself breakfast – I should not have worried too much about waking anyone up as there is NO movement.  I decide to get them going by getting YouTube up on their tv and blasting out AC/DC’s thunderstruck full bore.  It has the desired effect and gets everyone out to see what the racket is.

We say our goodbyes and its sad to leave given how much fun we have had together.  I set off in the fog (the photo looks like I am saying my prayers!);

The fog gets even thicker as I ride through town which made me wonder whether I should have delayed my start.  Amazingly it is totally clear as I pass the city limit sign and I have a wonderful ride in perfect conditions;

My first stop is at Gallup to refuel and a McDonalds to grab a coffee – the restaurant is so busy that they have one of the staff acting as a carpark attendant directing traffic.  I get on the road again and soon cross over into Arizona;

Arizona is another great state to ride a motorcycle in and I really enjoy the scenery;

The afternoon gradually gets warmer and by the time I pull up at my Motel in Kingman its in the low 30’s.  I unpack Stan and get myself sorted.  

Next morning I turn on the tv and find that there has been a lot of snow around the country – lucky for me I am not riding in it!  I head around to the Motel foyer and enjoy the complimentary ‘continental’ breakfast – I limit my breakfast to a banana and a coffee as the toasting bread was as old as me.  I head off on Stan in perfect conditions;

I stop at a real one horse town called Ludlow to refuel – fuel stops on this particular stretch of road are rare and everyone has the same idea.  The Service Station is overrun with vehicles and even has portable rest rooms set up next door.

The next section of road takes me over the mountains and the wind gusts blow me all over the road.  Makes for interesting riding when you throw in dealing with heavy truck traffic as well;

I manage to survive the last section of road and swing by my old mate Mary-Ellen’s place in Apple Valley.  I stayed with Mary-Ellen right at the start of the road trip and given that I was riding right past her again I thought I would surprise her.

Lucky for me Mary-Ellen was home and she did get a surprise as she thought I was still in Los Lunas.  We have a laugh and later end up going for a drive up in the mountains to Black Bear Lake.  The township is hugely popular with tourists/locals and is only an hour away.  We have dinner at Murray’s Saloon which has the reputation as the best eatery around even though the place itself looks like a throwback to the 50’s – I could not believe how good my salmon steak was and it only cost $13.  I shout Mary-Ellen a rib eye steak to thank her for everything.  I get ‘my’ old room back at Mary-Ellen’s and stay the night – certainly better than a cheap motel!

Next morning I say farewell (I assure Mary-Ellen no more surprise visits) and head off on Stan to LA to drop him off at the freight handlers.  The ride is only 150klms but it turns out to be rough going due to extreme wind gusts through the mountains.  The traffic coming into LA was also just plain crazy so I was quite relieved when I pulled up at the freighters;

I check Stan’s mileage and work out that in the 3 months of touring I had completed 22,418 klms (13,930 mls) which is not bad going.  The best thing though was that I had done the trip without incident and Stan was in one piece (as well as me for that matter!).

I go and sort out the paperwork for Stan’s boat ride home and end up spending the majority of the time talking to Chuck (mate who actually does the packing) about my trip.   Eventually everything gets sorted and after giving Stan a big hug I order an Uber.

My ride turns up in no time and it takes about 25 mins before I am dropped off at my next place at Los Alamitos (south of LA and next to Long Beach).  Again I have been very fortunate as my mate Soni had organised for me to stay with her relatives until I fly home.

I grab my bag and meet Chad who has a day off from work and has been hanging around waiting for me to turn up.  His parents (Gwen/Bob) are on a cruise in Alaska but are due home on the same day I fly out – I should still be able to meet them before I leave.   Chad gets me settled and we hang out for the rest of the day.

Chad has a Traeger smoker and has cooked up 3 massive chunks of Tri Tip beef and tells me that it is my responsibility to eat at ‘least’ one.  I certainly do my best and attack it like a rabid dog.

Over the next couple of days I get shown around the local area which did a lot to restore my faith in LA.  Seal Beach in particular is a great funky area and nowhere near the tourist traffic of Venice Beach. 

Sunday finally comes around and I am due to fly out later in the afternoon.  Gwen & Bob arrive home and tell me about the great time they had.  I have never done a cruise but I must admit the though of having a cabin and being waited on is getting more attractive as I get older!

I get picked up after lunch by Ken (another family member) who has been given the job of dropping me to the Airport.  The traffic is only light and we make good time.  I get dropped off outside Terminal 7 and have a straight forward check in.  I did see if I could get an earlier flight to San Francisco but had no luck.

I kill a few hours and board my domestic flight to San Francisco.  I have an aisle seat and a spare next to me so the one hour flight is enjoyable.  I arrive in San Francisco and its only a short walk around to the International Departure gate where I make myself comfortable with a coffee.  I even have time to get some duty free perfume to keep myself sweet with Helen!

Boarding commences and the flight is full as there is a standby list on the monitor.  Again I have an aisle seat and right up to the point we are nearly taking off I think I have fluked getting a spare seat next to me.  Imagine my horror when a giant obese guy waddles up to me and points to the middle seat!  Ahhhhhh.  He takes 10 minutes to get in and then has to get a seat belt extension from the hostess as he can’t do up the standard one.  I sit back down and half of my space is taken up by him.  The poor lady in the window seat was nearly pushed out through it.

Soon I am up in the skies and the Captain announces that we have a favourable tail wind and will arrive in Sydney an hour earlier.  Apart from the lack of space the flight to Sydney is uneventful and takes 12.5 hours.

On arrival in Sydney I sail through Immigration/Customs.  My bag was one of the first on the conveyor belt which was great given its always a worry whether or not you will see it at the other end.  I make my way to the Qantas transfer (International to Domestic) and do my bag drop.  I then catch the Qantas bus to the Domestic Terminal.  I have a couple of hours before my flight to Adelaide so I go and have breakfast.

Thankfully my next flight was not full and I had a spare seat next to me.  The 2 hour flight to Adelaide seemed quite quick and I had a smile on my face as we flew over the city;

The plane lands and it is a very happy reunion with Helen who is there waiting for me.  I can’t believe that I have been away from home for a total of 134 days.  The next few days takes me a while to get into groove as I am pretty well jet lagged which is no surprise as it was 30.5 hours from the time I left for the Airport in Los Angeles to the time I walked in my back door at home.

So after 22,418 klms (13,930miles), 2 Countries, 25 States, 90 Patches / 6 coins, 3,221 photos, 105 videos – its time to wrap this adventure up;

What worked well?

• Stan – having the extra horsepower and shaft drive just made the trip so much easier
• Slowing down and staying with friends who I met in 2017 
• Arrow pointing right on Stan’s windscreen – saved me 
• Helmet – my Nexx xd1.  
• Senna communications system
• Diary – made doing the blog far quicker
• The blog 
• Lenovo travel laptop 
• Skype/facebook – easy cheap way of keeping in contact
• Uber – finally got it sorted
• Mobile phone with US sim card
• Having no real plan – no other way of touring!

What didn’t?

• Garmin Zumo GPS – for some reason it had constant minor tech issues.  Good news is that I have been able to trade it in with Garmin and the upgraded model only cost me $215.
• Camping gear – really only used it a handful of times 

Best Experience?

• Staying with and developing my friendships with locals 
• Every single day being an Adventure and not knowing what the hell I was doing or where I would end up
• Taking a wild punt and crossing into Canada

Lessons learnt?

• Need to really pay attention to weather conditions in Canada which can become treacherous in a blink of an eye 
• Motel 6 is cheap but often nasty
• Globes are called bulbs
• How much I love riding in the wide open spaces

What would I do differently?

• Nothing significant 

What next?

Already planning on another big ‘bucket list’ item.  Crossing the Australian Simpson Desert by motorbike in 2020 – apart from always wanting to do it I want to show my American mates just how spectacular the outback is – stay tuned for a surprise guest from the US who I hope will ride with me.

Which Bike then?

Stan and Fred are too heavy for me to ride in the Simpson as it is 400 klms of monster sand dunes.  Lucky for me I have Blue in the shed who is ready to go!

Final Word

I have been so blessed with just how this trip unfolded and the wonderful people that have supported me along the way.  I must thank my wife who has been my biggest fan and has gone to work every day while I have been following my dream.

thanks to everyone and;

“To travel is to live.”
Hans Christian Andersen

Bring on the Simpson……

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