Road Trip Tales – Email your stories to webmaster@aucklandhog.org.nz sharing your on the road tales (anything from a lunch ride to a multi week journey in some foreign land)

Part 4. Well, I’m home in NZ now and trying to cope with reality, and no bike, while I wait for mine to come home. I must apologise as I started out writing this “blog” full of good intentions but computers became difficult to find and I was focused on other thing for the remainder of the trip. Never the less, I’ll attempt to pick up from Sturgis and give an over view of the rest of the trip…..

We headed out of Sturgis on a Monday morning after cleaning up the house and having the owner inspect it so we could get our “bond” back. This all went smoothly and Kim, the owner of the house said we would be welcome back any time which is was nice.

Out of Sturgis, south on the freeway through Black Hawk ( J ) and Rapid City and onto the infamous Wall Drug Store for a look around. Then onto the “Badlands National Park” which was petty cool – it must have looked quite intimidating to the early pioneers of the west. Our plan was to head onto Souix Falls that afternoon but a spectacular storm appeared on our horizon and after stopping and putting on the wets we rode through it for around 30minutes and then decided to call it quits and stay in a small town called Kimball.

The next day dawned clear and we continued our journey southwest towards Knoxville through Kansas City and St Louis with stops at Paducha, Land between the lakes and the Jim Beam Factory in Kentucky. The main reason for heading to Knoxville was to “ride the Dragon”, a famous stretch of road on Highway 129 (11 miles long with over 300 bends). We ended up staying 2 nights, which worked out well as we spent Friday night in a great little bar with some fantastic local people and a live band and all day Saturday exploring the area and “taming the Dragon”. Bikes everywhere and lot of guys Trailer them in just to ride the dragon.

We left the Knoxville area on a Sunday and rode over the Smokey Mountains and started to head north up the “Blue Ridge Parkway”, a beautiful piece or road the winds it’s way up the Appalachian Mountain Range. Unfortunately the speed limit is very slow and there was a lot of traffic on the road so we only rode around 160ks before having to opt for the freeways to get us to our destination for the night.

The next morning we split up a bit with one group wanting to head up towards New York City and myself with 2 others heading due East across North Carolina towards “Kitty Hawk”, a place I really wanted to visit as I’ve always been fascinated with the Wright Brothers story. We hit the east coast that night and were all feeling pretty proud of ourselves having completed the coast to coast.

The Wright Brothers National Memorial was awesome to me with replicas of the plane, the original engine casing damaged in the 4th flight of that famous day, big rocks marking the flight path and distances and anexcellent monument and brass sculpture of the “moment” it all happened in December 1903 (good year that one).

We then headed North along the coast towards Virginia  and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel which is a 17 mile long bridge with 2 mile long tunnels under the water that allows the US Naval fleet along with other shipping, in and out of the bay.

We made it into Washington DC late that night and after finding a hotel (that’s another story) I decided I needed to get the bike serviced the next day as I’d done 9000ks. So the next morning we took the bikes to Washington HD to see if they could squeeze mine in. “Yep, no problem, swing it round the back” -  so I climbed back on, turned the switch and I had no power? So I pushed it round the back only to have to explain my electrics had all blown. Any way, we took off into the city to see the sights for the day – an amazing city Washington and one I’d like to spend more time in. That afternoon, I collected the bike after they explained it could have been this or could have been that but a definitive cause wasn’t found but they’d tested it and it seemed fine. OK, so we pulled out and headed North, York, Pennsylvania was our destination for the afternoon, only about 200ks away.

After battling our way around the ring road freeway, we found the highway we needed and headed north, it turned into a lovely rural road with nice homes and little villages all the way. After about an hour, I pulled over for a break only to find the electrics blew again as I tried to restart! A quick call to the Dealer in York to see if they could help and I got a number for HOG roadside assist.  They jacked up a tow truck to come and collect me. We waited over 2 hours for the truck, which was fine, but what did disappoint me was the number of bikes that went past and no one stopped to see if we were OK?

We finally arrived in York around midnight and lucky for me, the HD dealer was right next door so Bob’s Towing arrived at 8am as arranged I and pushed my bike in the 2nd HD service department in two days! I left it there and went off to visit the York HD factory which was great and while I was gone the team at Laugermans found a cable between my battery and starter relay had chaffed through and was causing the master fuse to blow – problem solved but I bought a spare fuse anway!

From York we carried on North through Pennsylvania and New York State to the southern shores of Lake Ontario, which we then traveled west along towards Niagara.
It’s hard to appreciate the scale of the Great lakes, they’re certainly the first lakes I’ve ever seen where you can’t see the opposite shore.

We spent the weekend in Niagara enjoying the falls, on the Maid of the Mist and the tunnels behind them, before heading west through Ontario towards the Sarnia/Port Huron border crossing. Along the way we chanced upon a Canadian Air Force Museum and after walking in, we were greeted but the sounds of an Avril Lancaster Bomber starting up. It then Taxied out and took off which was an absolute treat as there are only 2 of these still flying. As we exited the museum after a good look around, we were treated to a low level fly over by the Lancaster!More to come……..Woody 17 September 08

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Part 3. Salt lake City seems like a life time ago now. We ran into Dudley as we left the city and headed up to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, A beautiful ski resort area and very "western" little town. I arrived into the town ahead of the rest and had the ice and coke ready for the bourbon to arrive but by the time it finally did, the ice had melted and I'd already been out and explored the town, including the big arches in the square made from deer antlers. The whole place was crawling with bikes and Wozza and I had a big night out in the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar" hassling a number of Aussies and South Africans who were also on their way to Sturgis.

The next day we meandered around Yellowstone, stopping off to observe old faithful erupt - a couple of the boys were quite convinced a park ranger just turned on a tap somewhere. As we left the park heading east to Cody we were caught by a fire that had been buring for a week and destroyed some 26000 acres. It was burning right beside the road and the fire crews were guiding people through. I could feel the heat as we rode past.

Clearly we were on the same path as many others as Cody was also packed with bikes. The next day's destination was Buffalo and Wozza and I wanted to ride "Beartooth Pass" which meant a 300k loop out of and back into Cody. Well worth the ride though as we climed 10000ft and stood in snow at the top. The scenery was stunning! As has been the norm all trip, we stopped at the "Harley Shop" in Red Lodge at the base of Beartooth and met some lovely young local ladies, one of whom was sporting a raging hangover. For the next few days we suggested to everyone we met who was going that way to stop by and ask how Mellisa's hangover was! We left Buffalo for Stugis the next morning with great anticipation of what lay ahead.

We hit the I 90 east and arrived into "biker heaven" around 11.30, managed to find the house we'd rented for the week and met the owner, got the key and briefing and unloaded our bikes. I don't really know how to describe our last week as I write this. Those of you who have been here will know what I mean. Great riding, great partying and amazing sights. I've seen Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Custer State Park, more flesh and tattoos than I can put into words and so many amazing bikes. It's funny, in Auckland you'd spend 10 minutes looking at an amazing bike but here they don't warrant a second glance as there are so many. In true kiwi tradition we all walked down to the supermarket one night and pushed out goods home in the trolley - our house now looks like any kiwi flat in the UK!

We head out of Sturgis tomorrow morning after we've all been to the post office to send the surplus T shirts and gear home! We're using our trolley to do this :-) Next stop Souix Falls.....Woody 11 August 08
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Well it was a cold and windy day on Auckland when my Folks kindly took me to the Airport to begin the great adventure, but I was sure warmer times lay a mere 16 hours ahead in San Francisco. It was hardening saying goodbye to the kids, they're still so young but I know they had a great adventure planned while I'm away so that helped divert the focus off dad.

Lyndsay and I traveled together on the same flights but at different ends of each plane and when we finally reached San Francisco, it was no bloody warmer than home! I was blissfully unaware of how cold it gets there, even in summer! We all caught up later that night and organised the departure time to collect the bikes the next morning. Stu, Wozza and I got up at 5.30am and walked to the local hardware shop to buy some drills for unpacking and when we got back everyone was ready to go and looking pretty excited!

Our Shippers couldn't have been more helpful - the whole thing went down amazingly and within 90 minutes we were all done and off down the road to fuel up and visit our first American HD dealer.
What a shop - we all spent way too much (something that is still happening 3 dealers later!) and headed back to the motel with full saddle bags! The rest of the day was spent exploring San Fran with the compulsory lunch at a Hooters restaurant! Still too bloody cold though - although that was beneficial for Wozza and I :-). I managed to get us lost again (2nd time that day) on the way home - with an embarrassing circle through the air port! Not a place many Harleys go by the looks on the face's of the security people?

The next day we headed north out of San Fran, across the still fogged in Golden Gate Bridge, and onto Sacremento where it was finally warm! Met our first Aussie's on the way (they are off to Sturgis). We then carried on to South Lake Tahoe on some awesome mountain roads that our bikes are just built for! You couldn't get the grin of anyone’s faces. By this time I had decided my full face had to be retired and the dealer in Tahoe had no helmets but directed us to Carson City and said we should make it before closing!  We did with time to spare and I now have a very cool HD half helmet with orange flames on it! Ironically very similar to the one I left in NZ, only dearer at US$150!The guys filled the last gaps in their bags with the latest acquisitions and then we rode to Fallon, NV for the night. Wozz, Stu and I had one or seven to many Jim Beams and slept brilliantly (still with a silly grin).

Then next day we rode route 50 to Ely, America's loneliest highway. And they're not wrong either.
Fallon seemed a busy little town but 10 minutes out and there is no-one or nothing to see! Straight roads that carry on to the mountains in the distance and I found I could get 190kph out of the old girl and I'm sure I had more but got a bit nervous. We gassed up at a couple of small towns, with America’s unfriendliest service station attendants, along the way. Around 8 we finally arrived at Ely only to see our first Kiwi group (from the nacki) in the local casino. There were plenty of other bikes in town also, with many of them heading to Sturgis.

The next day, today, we left Ely heading for Wendover to catch up with a couple of Wozza's mates who live in and drive a truck around the county. Breakfast there and then onto the salt flats at Bonneville - what a sight that was. I'm writing this from the Library in Salt Lake City, our first "no helmet" state and I have to confess, I had to try it. I don't want any comeback from our safety officer but I've ridden here from the motel in shorts, a singlet and no helmet...........more to come Woody 1 August 08
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

I never really knew I had much of a travelling bug as a teenager but a number of close friends took off for the traditional “Big OE” when I was 19 and as I left the airport after seeing them off, I couldn’t help but ask myself why I wasn’t going too – so 3 months later I was there too.

While in the UK and Europe, I worked for a company who installed cladding  and windows on commercial buildings. The boss was a Kiwi, and a Harley fan and he imported a Lowrider from the USA while I was there. This was my first encounter with a Harley Davidson and I was sold – Kevin had it delivered directly to the building site when it arrived and days later, took me for my first (and last) ride as a passenger. It was only weeks later I bought an Easyrider magazine and discovered “Sturgis” and decided then, I needed to get there one day.

Unfortunately my first plan of buying one on the way home from the UK, riding from New York to LA (with a week in Sturgis of course), never quite panned out! It wasn’t until 17 years later that I finally found myself in a position to own a Harley. 2 months later I was an Auckland HOG member and at my first National HOG rally having a great time. It was there I started talking to people about riding in the USA and made my mind up that 2008 was the year and along with Sturgis, the 105th birthday of Harley Davidson was a “must do” stop.

So here I am 18 months later and only 6 sleeps away from flying up to San Francisco and living my dream with some awesome fellow Auckland HOG members! I packed my bag last night  and I’m like a little kid on Christmas eve right now.  Ironically, I was looking through some old photos from my UK trip all those years ago and found one of me sitting on my old boss’s Lowrider! More to come........Richard July 08 Membership Officer
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

The wife and I had been talking about going down to Wellington to see a display at the museum. So it was decided that we go down on the new Ultra.

We left Auckland at 6 o'clock in the morning to miss the traffic on the motorway, those who live in Auckland will know that Friday traffic for some reason is by far worse than any other day during the week.

The run down the motorway went well with little traffic and we made the top of the Bombays with out any trouble. Over the top and drop down into the Waikato, and we weren’t the only thing going down. The temperature seamed to drop twenty degrees, into the fog and the road disappeared. The speed came down as I tried to follow the fog line along the side of the road. We travelled do State Highway One until we reached Rangiriri, across the Waikato River and of down thru the back of Huntly and on to Ngaruawahia. Buy the time we arrived at Ngaruawahia the misses suggested a coffee to warm up as the fog was still around and it was cold. So we stopped at the BP station for a warm drink and toilet stop. The misses had her fag break as well. Once we had finished we carried on down towards Whatawhata and Pirongia. The fog had cleared by now and the temperature was getting better. I don't know if it is the cold ,old age or the coffee, by the time we got to Pirongia the bladder was full again, so a stop there for another pit stop and fag for the missus.

We followed State Highway 31 to Otorohanga. At Otorohanga we joined State Highway 2 and headed to Te Kuiti for something to eat and a leg stretch. The next stop was Taumarunui for fuel and another pit stop. 298 km and 16.8 litres. Leaving Taumarunui we headed for National Park and at Tohunga Junction we stayed on State Highway 4 into the Parapara's. 53 km of winding and twisty roads, ending in Wanganui. Time for a fag break so we stopped at the Raukara Falls. We carried on thru Wanganui to Bulls and Sanson.
Stopping at Sanson for lunch. We carried on down to Wellington only to ride into drizzly weather just south of Levin. This carried on until we got over the hill at Pukerua Bay where the weather cleared up for the run into Wellington CBD. Booked into the Hotel and freshened up and changed and then off for a walk around the CBD and find some dinner.

10 Hours from when we left home and 666 km's with 36.5 litres of fuel. We filled up on the Sunday before heading back home with 19.7 litres after 368 km's. The trip computer was saying that we had 55 km's remaining. That would have given a tank distance of 423 km's. (Yet to find that out)

Saturday was spent wandering around Wellington CBD. The rain was continual all day. Went to Wellington Motorcycles to look around their shop. Great bunch of friendly people, willing to chat and they shot out the back and made us both coffee. We also sussed out where our hotel for the HOG Rally is for next year.

Come Sunday the weather had not eased up. You get some weird looks standing in the hotel lobby in full wet weather gear. Booked out and found a gas station, filled up and headed for the motorway out of Wellington. Once again Pukerua Bay seamed to be where the weather changed, got to the coast and the rain cleared and the road were dry. Stopped at Sanson for Breakfast and to remove the wet weather gear.

From Sanson we turned right at Bulls and headed straight up State Highway 1 to Waiouru where we stopped for fuel and the fag break. 14.3 litres and 269 km's. From Waiouru up the Desert Road to Turangi and turning left onto State Highway 41 and up over the hills. There are a couple of nice lookouts for a stop where you can look out over Lake Taupo.
We then turned right on to State Highway 32, the Western Access Road that brought us out at Whakamaru, when a coffee stop was made. Heading on across the Waikato River over the Whakamaru Dam, and on to Tokoroa. Onwards to Cambridge for another fag and fuel stop. 250 km's and 15 litres. The ride the rest of the way was straight forward and getting home around five, just in time to meet the guys at the pub.

Filled up the next day 165 km's and 9.32 litres of fuel. 1352 km's and 75 litres of fuel.

Great weekend away riding a great Motor Bike Divot July 08