Monday, July 30, 2007

30 July Topeka Kansas

This morning we took it easy again. We split up into three groups, the film crew to get some gear, Craig and Macca went somewhere else to get some gear as well and Lards and myself went to get Lards some camping gear. We ended up at the Kansas Speedway to find out if we could get a NASCAR or Indycar racing day going. Unfortunately we later found out (Craig had made the same stop earlier ;) that they won’t re-open till 3 August.

After all the shopping we made our way towards Topeka via the beautiful back roads of Kansas. Amongst others we rode through Lawrence KS and had some very nice ice cream (Cold Slab Creamery) and coffee (Starbucks) as breakie ;)

Lards and I did ride through Topeka and had a good look at the Capitol building in the centre, very nice.

The search for motels ended up in a minor split in the group this time, we only lost the camera crew. They eventually found the motel although they reckoned that Craigs directions weren’t the best in the world ;) Later that day Christophe said something similar, also after Craig tried to guide him to the motel ;) ! Yes, Christophe and Annie finally joined the group. They left Houston on Saturday and went almost straight North to meet us here. In the next days we will hear more details of their trip.

Before Christophe and Annie arrived we finally got a chance to do the interviews. The boys interviewed each of us to find out what we thought of the various bits of the tour sofar. By the sound of it they were very happy with the result ;).

Upon the question whether I thought the filming has a negative effect on the trip, I had to admit the waiting for set up of the camera in the heat can be annoying but the positive effects are better. It “forces” me to see more of the surroundings and think about what we are doing then I would normally do on a trip.

I am also doing the interviews in Dutch, in case the documentary ever makes it to the Netherlands ;).

When we returned from the interviews, a State Trooper : Greg Escobar was working in the parking lot, checking trucks. We got talking to him and it ended up being a long “interview” with him that was filmed as well. He was very nice, very focussed, polite, smart, well trained and sharp as a knife.

The evening was concluded with dinner at Hooters ;)

29 July 2007 Sedalia and Kansas City






The day started relatively uneventful as we set of towards Kansas City MO (Missouri). The landscape is slowly turning into the archetypical flat Midwest USA. The weather is warm and dry with little wind. We first went to the river just outside Steelville to film riding across the old 1930 bridge. After that Craig and Lards tried to play choo choo train with the Harleys, a not so successful venture ;).

On our way towards Kansas City we rode through a little town called Sedalia. Turning into Ohio Street to do some filming we found the most surreal scenery. About 90 percent of the old buildings were empty. It looked almost like a horror movie in which almost everyone died of some horrible disease or a nuclear bomb had made the town radioactive.

After filming we went to Starbucks for coffee upon which I decided to return to take some photos of the “deserted” town. Once done, after some 20/30 minutes, I returned to Starbucks to find the rest gone. As agreed I headed to the rendezvous point (riding fairly quickly) to find no one there either.

So I called the film crew and they gave me their location in Kansas City. Before I set of a friendly police woman stopped to check whether I had bike trouble and whether she could help. When she left, a ute almost crashed into her (she wasn’t looking to well) but the driver still had to pull over and got a talking to.

I headed of to meet the boys and on my way there I saw Macca race by, going in the wrong direction. When I got there, I found out the rest was still scattered all over town. Then Craig called, and he wasn’t a happy camper to say it lightly. He had been waiting for Macca for an hour and Macca never showed up. In the mean time I tried to talk Lards towards us, without success but he did leave his location with us. Once that was set in the Tom Tom we decided to pick him up when Macca finally showed up.

When he did we set of towards Lards and the 5 of us headed towards the motel that Craig had found just outside town. A lot of talking and emptying a margarita bottle helped in settling things ;) Plans for tomorrow are……………….tomorrow.

28 July 2007 The Ozarks

Leaving Kennet (the birthplace of Sheryl Crowe) was time consuming as usual but once on our way we made good time. Craig found an Eski/cooler yesterday and after filling it with ice we were ensured of cold drinks all day !! I also filled my “camelback” with ice and that gave me cold water all morning.

We continued our way along the 412 West towards the Ozarks. We agreed that we would turn off the 412 as soon as we saw the 63. When we did, Craig insisted on continuing along the 412 until we went onto the 63 North. Initially we convinced him to stick to the agreement but then things went pearshaped. Almost immediately after I found the perfect Ninja magnet (a beautiful sweeping righthander that was begging for a high speed lean to the right) he decided to return to prove his point. Again plenty of confusion of course and we ended up travelling in two groups for a bit.

After our stop (filmcrew, Macca and myself) in Imboden (Immodium ?;) at the Confederate Trade Post where we stocked up on some confederate flag items and did some filming we set off again. Not too much later, Craig and Lards caught up with us and we kept moving North.

After a very expensive lunch at the State Line restaurant (border of Arkansas and Missouri) we went into the Ozarks. Alas it started pouring with rain so no nice shots or high speed curves. When I caught up with Macca (who went ahead because he still sticks to the speed limits ;), the boys were hooning on the humpback road ;), the weather cleared up.

Then the riding really began and the full beauty of the Ozark road 19 came out. The Ninja was finally in its perfect environment, long sweeping road, dry, good viz and ready to go. I just had a blast letting her slide through the curves using countersteering. I took it fairly easy and that made it soooooooo nice.

Lards and Craig were following me and they scraped the pegs like nobody’s business while the Ninja pegs stayed miles from the surface. Just sweeping her around the curves was biker heaven.

We ended our trip in Steelville doing some more filming, amongst others in the West End Tavern. There we were told that Hillary (Clinton) is going to be the new President and we confirmed that there are really kangaroos in Australia. No they are not there for the movies only. And yes Australia has deserts and camels as well. Very big deserts actually, how amazing ;).

We then went to the rafting co. campground just outside town and are heading for Kansas City (we ain’t in Kansas yet Toto). We are going to use our tried and tested way of finding the route, just turn when anyone feels like it. It has gotten us this far so it will serve us well for the rest of the trip I reckon ;)

27 July 2007 From Lynchburg to Kennet

Another glorious day in Tennessee, the weather looks a bit cloudy but soon clears up. It did take some time to get hold of Lards and Macca as they had a good night out. Looking a bit “fuzzy” Lards was the last to show up. Unfortunately poor J.D. (James David) “Punkin” Porter and his mate George were waiting for us at the BP station near Punkins house.

We set of in three groups, the camera crew going ahead to film meeting Punkin and George, Macca and myself, closely followed by Craig and Lards. Only Macca and myself made it there in one go, based on the directions Craig gave us. The others (including Crackles) managed to get themselves lost AGAIN ;) Note, I did NOT use the GPS (it was still in my bag ;)

Anyway, meeting Punkin and George was nice and we bumped in to some interesting people at the gas station. One guy claimed his grandfather was a local minister of church that got the financing of the Mount Rushmore monument going !!! Nice story and lots of advice on where to go and where not to go!

Once we finally got onto the road it turned out to be an awesome trip, the East Tennessee country side is beautiful with its green rolling hills and curvy roads. A few little detours for the camera (Punkin is a very good guide, so we didn’t get lost once ;) and we kept progressing well.

Temperature wise it was another sweltering hot day but also incredibly beautiful. Crossing the Tennessee river was a beautiful sight, followed by a nice lunch in a small roadside fish restaurant with the largest catfish (meervallen) I have ever seen. They were basking in the sun in a shallow, tiny little pond. They didn’t seem to be to bothered with the size of their dwelling ;)

Once back on the road we continued going northwest and finally had to say goodbye to Punkin and George. While they headed back towards Nashville, we continued riding towards Missouri. Crossing the Mississippi river into Missouri was a beautiful sight.

We’re now in the flat flat flat Missouri fields (almost feels like being in Holland ;) and staying the night in Kennet. Tomorrow we will go into the Ozarks, I’m looking forward to that as it has lots and lots of curves.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

26 July 2007 Jack Daniels and Nashville








What a glorious day again in the beautiful little town Lynchburg Tennessee. We got up “late” as we only needed to ride for 2 minutes to get to the Jack Daniels Distillery by 9 for our tour. Craig had arranged for a tour for just us to allow for plenty of time and opportunity for filming. The Jack Daniels people were only too happy to oblige and thankfully so.

William, our tour guide, did an excellent job in guiding us through the distillery. I have never found a tour guide that had an answer to any question we could think of and the answers were delivered with a beautiful Tennessee accent (sorry guys, I know you thought we were the ones with the accent ;). Great sense of humour as well, thanks mate !!

The tour itself is too elaborate to describe and worth every minute of it, I definitely recommend it, even for teetotallers ;)

After that we headed for Nashville through the beautiful countryside. Craig, again, did his best to confuse us by changing direction several times but we made it. On the way we met up with Punkin Potter, a very nice guy Craig met on an earlier trip. Punkin took us to and into Nashville and proved an excellent tour guide as well !

After a short stop at the Harley dealer, Craigs bike needed a service, we went into town to listen to some live country music in Tootsie. The band was great and the scenery very “interesting”;) Since Craig decided to “have a few” I was handed the keys to his most priced possession, the Redneck II, to take it back to the hotel. It was a different experience I have to say, not entirely unpleasant, especially if you like sitting on a BIG vibrator (ladies you will love it ;). I still prefer the Ninja, as they say, each to his own ;)

25 July 2007 heading for Jack D

I got up around 8 and got my gear ready, got gas and went to the freeway entrance at a good viewing point so I could see the boys. I called them to explain where I was and it work fairly well. Lards was the first to arrive but he shot off to go and get an Eski (or cooler) while the film crew came and did some more filming. Finally Craig and Macca arrived after which Macca set of to gain some headstart.

Macca is taking it easy with his older bike and does around 65 miles per hour, while we (like the rest of the traffic) do 80 and sometimes 90 miles per hour. Every now and then I have to open up to 100/110 mph (160/170 km/h) to catch up after getting caught in traffic.

It is pretty busy on the roads here but traffic is not as bad as in Houston. Traffic has gotten a lot more aggressive and dangerous compared to when I came to the US for the first time, 20 years ago. People are not as polite as they were and most dangerous are the women on the phone while driving. They are soo distracted that they drive through red lights, don’t indicate, don’t yield or wait in front of green traffic lights……. And EVERYONE seems to be on the bloody phone here.

Today we did a lot of riding, some 440 miles to Lynchburg Tennessee. We also had the first rain on the ride and the temperature has dropped a bit. Lards and myself rode through a 30 second shower that caused a car to spin off the road right in front of Lards. I couldn’t even see it because of the spray !!! And after 30 secs everything was dryzabone……… Very strange.

The last half hour of my trip (we got separated again) I had some rain and had to put the rain gear on, after which it dried up of course ;). Later I found out the guys stopped at the rocket factory in Huntsville. Since I didn’t know about those plans, I continued and my Tom Tom again did its work perfectly, getting me into Lynchburg around 5. This allowed me to secure the last rooms in the Country Inn, the only motel here. After a refreshing shower, I kicked back and waited for the guys to arrive. A Subway dinner and diary update. Unfortunately still no internet in the motel so no chance to look at emails or update the blog ;)

24 July 2007 New Orleans






After a quick breakie at IHOP we were on the road again, on our way to New Orleans. Temperatures were still very high and the sun was out all day. Entering Louisiana the road surface improved vastly compared to Texas !! So much nicer to ride on and soo much safer as well.

The I10 route is not the most interesting one but the few 30/40 meter high bridges offer awesome views of the wetlands. Also the elevated roads, 3 meter above waterlevel are a beautiful site. Just think of the work required to install all those piles !!

I decided to speed up a bit doing speeds of around 140 km/h, the bike just zooms along like it is nothing. Soo smooth, soo powerful and soooooo nice to ride. I arrived in New Orleans just a little after noon and after some riding around I decided to go to Bourbon Street and wait for the rest. Very interesting time there seeing life go by such as the poor drunk black guy that made a nuisance of himself and got arrested. A long talk with one of the shop owners about US/world politics ;)

Finally the guys arrived and made for a great entrance into Bourbon Street, after which we did another few rounds around the block for the film crew. Then we moved to the French Market area and I took some nice pics of the church and park while we were waiting for the film crew finding their way through the twisty New Orleans streets ;)

After New Orleans, we went for a Harley dealer in Slidell. Craig knew exactly where it was and we only needed to follow him. After taking the wrong turn twice in 100 meters, we ended up needing to go through the dirt ;) Well that is good and well for Harleys but not for my beautiful lady in blue. So I shot up the freeway and turned at the next exit to return in no time.

After filming us passing the Mississippi sign, we got split up because I needed a new charger. So to save time I opened the throttle a bit further (150 km/h in seconds ;) and shot of to the shopping centre area. After checking various stores (no luck) I started looking for the other. Alas, a change of plans I wasn’t informed of and dead comms of our big boss meant that I had to go look for the boys.

Assuming they decided to head further north as originally agreed I set of to see if I could catch up. Doing 160 km/h I was hoping to catch up soon but after some 100 km it was getting dark and I decided to go off the freeway and find a motel (I tried every motel in the 100 km already but they weren’t there). I finally got hold of them, remember there was no calling, to find out they were in a motel near where I did my shopping. Macca had been put on the lookout for me but never saw me (light speed Kawa ??).

Anyway, this proves that retirement has done its damaging work on Craig ;) Procedure change without informing all team members (most importantly the engineer ;), no comms (due to dead battery) and no use of the other available comms and putting a spotter at the wrong location !!!! Brett, this boy clearly needs some re-education by you mate, good luck on Kupe ;)

Anyway, I did have a nice and quiet night without any snoring J!!!

23 July 2007 The Start

Lots of stuff to do, Lard picked up his bike, the camera crew bought all the goodies they needed while I got the temporary rego sorted. That was the most painless process I ever had with American bureaucrats !! The lady was extremely friendly and the process was done quickly (no waiting whatsoever) and for practically nothing (USD 25) I was all ready to go!

Petra took me to Starbucks (can live without my White Chocolate Mocha for too long J) and some very nice bagels. Then I got my gear on the bike to ride out to Christophes place for the start. Man was it hot, it is amazing how hot it feels out here. Of course I am wearing my full gear (MJK cool leathers does help !!) because these Houstonians are lousy, stupid, dangerous drivers mate ! They cut in left and right, tailgating like they are qualifying for the Indy 500, they don’t need the death penalty over here, they are killing themselves already!

Getting ready to go was an interesting procedure with a film crew around !! It was nice to get a few takes before we had to do the real stuff. We were sweating like crazy by that time though so getting more and more water in was vital! My little water backpack was doing a good job !

We finally went off to do some shots around downtown Houston and I bet they will be great as we had some awesome views of the city. Traffic was getting very heavy (evening rush hour was starting) so we decided to get going. A few close calls in the mad rush hour traffic, again shows it HOUSTONIANS can’t drive if their bloody life depends on it, they are actually trying to end it as fast as they can………

Once out on the road, the traffic thinned out and the weather cooled down as well. Going east on the I10 is not one of the prettiest roads in the world but some of the views were still awesome, especially crossing a bridge at 30 meters gives you a pretty cool view of the estuary ;)

Pulling into the parking lot at a motel 6 in Beaumont Texas, resulted in an interesting evening with a lot of interesting people J. Texans, Cajuns, an Ohio trucky and a dating lady made for interesting conversation. Then of to Hooters for dinner, we couldn’t let poor Lard in suspense for too long to see what it was like, we found his eyes rolling on the floor before someone stepped on it though J. After that, of to bed !!!

22 July 2007 Kick off day

Again sleeping in a bit (jet lag is almost completely gone) followed by a very nice pancake breakie (thanks Petra!) followed by some more tinkering with the bags and then we set of into town. We had a nice lunch followed by a visit to Ikea and found a desk chair, mission accomplished J . Sams boat was the next stop before they dropped me off at Christophe and Annies place. Macca was there as well and off we went for a little shopping trip : boots for Macca.

When we got back to the house, Crackles and Lard were there as well. So off to the restaurant via the motel to pick up Chris and Gavin, the camera crew. The Ragin Cajun won’t win any prices for interior design but the food was good and the whole crew got a chance to get to know each other for the first time.

21 July 2007 Meet the Beast

After a pretty good night without too much waking up, the morning came round with the most humid hot weather I ever experienced in Houston. Man was it hot out there. We went over to Dick and Merel to find Arend, Gerda and the kids there as well, inaugurating the new pool, a very nice one indeed !!

Dick had taken good care of the Kawa, it looked awesome. Absolutely in mint condition (thanks Kitty and Pete) all ready to go apart from the TomTom. So Dick helped me with installing the wiring (once I sorted out his soldering iron) and that was it. Job done, time for lunch. Very funny having a big group of Dutchies around the table in a hot backyard in Houston beside the beautiful new pool.

But then finally, I got to ride the beast. Dick had warmed her up for me and with my gear on, sweating like nobody’s business we set off back to Petra en Eriks place. The power of the bike is staggering but very controllable. It is so smooth and refined and still sounds like the deep roar of a tiger, ready to growl. It looks so menacing and ready to pounce it is almost scary.

Fitting the tankbag was a breeze, while fitting the saddle bags at the right location took quite a bit more work. Making sure the hardware underneath the seat doesn’t get damaged wasn’t easy but I finally managed to get it right.

Dinnertime came around quickly and we set of for Petra and Eriks favourite restaurant, a Thai place. Lucky me !!!! Lots of catching up to do as we hadn’t seen each other for 2 years and a LOT happened in that time.

20 July 2007 Travel day

Travel day
Getting up 4.50 in the morning is no fun at all !!! Luckily the taxi was right on time and we were all set to go. We tailgated our way to Schiphol under the beautiful skies of Holland. Chevonne got on the plane early and I got the much needed haircut done before meeting up with Sarah J. We whiled away the time in the restaurant in a most pleasant way (with lots of food !!).

My flight was slightly delayed and it got worse in Newark. About an hour too late I got to Houston and luckily so did Eric, wonderful thing the Internet ;) When we got home it was still 12.30 but hey, could have been worse, Chevonne had a 2 hour delay waiting on the tarmac in London. It did match with Tricia picking her up though so that worked out nicely.

The Crew




Macca, works for SWG (Craigs “old” company) and is the least experienced rider but still doing well. His 10 year old Harley is also the least comfortable of them all. Poor guy really struggles a bit when it comes to riding but in the pub he is the Lord and Master. Funny thing is, next morning he is as clear as a whistle ready for another ride. Experience I guess !

Lards, works for SWG as well and has a Ducati 999 at home. For the trip he rented a Harley Road King and has no problem hammering it ;) Doing 90 or 100 mph is no problem for him. He rides like a bat out of hell trying to get back into it. Hooning is his favourite sport, loosing saddle bags, shredding tyres or getting bogged down in the sand is peanuts for him. His luck in chasing the ladies has not been as good as you would expect from someone with an Aussie accent, as that is usually a thing that gets the ladies all hot and bothered. Maybe they are afraid he is one of those venomous snake lovers like the Bushman.

Craig or Crackles, has retired (sort of) and is the originator of the tour as well as the big driver behind it. He is riding a Harley Road King, the Aussie Redneck II. The Redneck I was parked in a marina in California for unknown reasons ;). On this trip he tried various things to "test" his bike angel and the poor thing has had the hardest time ever !

Me, Eugene or Genie, I am the odd one out, not just because I am Dutch but more importantly because I have decided to ride the most powerful production motorbike in the world, the Kawasaki ZX14. I bought it second hand with only 900 miles and a lot of power enhancing features, so I reckon 200+ hp is a fair number.

Christopher is our sounds engineer and does a lot of the driving of the pick up truck / ute. He is also the friendliest and easiest going person I have ever met. I love doing interviews with him, especially the ones in Dutch, he seems to understand every single word I say judging by his facial expressions !

Christophe is our American/Aussie/European rider (he is originally French) and rides a Fat Boy. Unfortunately he was not able to join from the beginning ro till the end due to lack of holidays. Annie, his partner, is riding pillion with Christophe.

Gavin is the camera man and is always looking for shots (visual ones that is). He tries almost anything to get a nice shot, and another one, and another one. He is mister Time Lapse himself.

The Trip

It started as a joke I believe and Craig turned it into a reality. The plan was to start riding bikes in Houston and take approximately 3 weeks to get to Los Angeles. This had to include the Sturgis Rally, the biggest Harley event of the year. The rest of the trip is very flexible, we make it up as we go along.