Part 1 – The Trans America Trail
Way back in 2005 I did a Trans US trip and heard about the Trans America Trail which runs East West USA on dirt. Well, 90% is dirt and it takes in some real old school US area’s which visitors don’t normally get to. The trail details are at www.transamtrail.com. I’m a big fan of US travel and love going there so wanted to see the real America before it disappears under the weight of McDonalds and Starbucks!
The trail is a great test of the bike, map reading skills, bravery and self belief! Sam from TAT supplies you with a roll maps and maps which you have to follow to the letter.
I also wanted to do a road trip with my cousin James who lives in San Francisco so thought I’d combine both. The aim was to do the trail to Salida, Colorado then meet cousin James in Yellowstone on 6th September where we would head to Canada via Glacier Nat Park.
I prepped my 97 1100 to what I thought would be the standard required and she definitely looked the part.
Loaded it onto the trailer and shipped it out to Baltimore on the East Coast of the USA. Really easy to do and would advise anyone to do it if you in the US for more than a few weeks. Worst part is leaving it at Liverpool Docks with the scouse dockers parting words “it’ll be alright mate, I’m a friend of Kenny”
Thanks to all on here who helped and contributed to the bike prep especially Vern who let me use his workshop and tools! Insurance for me and the bike was from David Grist at www.hctravel.com who is one of the most helpful guys around.
Trip started well and was upgraded to 1st class on Air Canada for the outward trip via Toronto. Fully deserved IMHO . Managed to catch an A380 taking off as we taxied. Feck that thing is big...... Flew in via Toronto and caught a glimpse of Niagara Falls as I connected to Baltimore. Where’s the feckin camera when you need it?
Got down to the Dundalk Marine Terminal in Baltimore the following morning via the worst public transport I’ve been on to be greeted by the folk at ACL with "Oh, you’ve come for the English bike and to inspect the damage "
After I hauled myself of the floor I found out that the guy taking it of the ship dropped it at 35mph on the dock. He was hospitalised for 4 days and the bike had a lot of cosmetic damage. Feckin Harley riding muppet . Anyway, the guys at ACL were more than helpful and admitted full liability and to file a claim.
Luckily, thanks to proper preparation and the right engine guards, panniers etc I managed to zip tie and duct tape the old girl back together. Had to rebuild the front end in a motel car park but all was OK`ish. The guys at the port couldn’t believe that I rode it out of the dock area! After a quick conversion to Left Hand Drive and to be on the safe side, I took the bike to a fantastic BMW shop in Fredericksburg, Virginia for a complete check and to do an estimate for the repair. The guys checked the bike out, gave it the thumbs up and did and estimate. The whole process took about 3 hours and the total cost for the service was........zip, nada, eff all!! The shop was just pleased to help so I bought a few goodies. UK dealers could learn a bit about customer service from Morton BMW, Virginia USA!!
No picks I’m afraid because I had other issues to thing about! Bike was as good as we could get it so time to head west
All the fun of the first couple of days had made me thirsty. Called a friend of my cousins who lives in Staunton, Virginia and was invited round for beer and steaks! One of the great things about travel in the US is the real friendliness of the locals!! Went round to Honda 1800 shadow riding Bill and Dee Dee`s and enjoyed some proper US hospitality and copious quantities of Miller High Life which I’m assured is the Champagne of beers . Had to have plenty to check on that but wasn’t convinced but helped wash the rib eye down.
Bleary eyed start the following morning and decided to take in some of the Blue Ridge Parkway which I hadn’t ridden before. This must be one of the most stunning rides anywhere and is miles and miles of brilliant views and corners.
As always, I always bump into the characters and came across a few guys who were bear baiting. They aren’t allowed to kill them but they had fox hounds to chase them. The trucks have scanners on to follow the dogs and they chat over the CB. I’d long forgotten the CB chat and was brilliant to hear folk saying "10-4 good buddy c’mon". Wasn’t just on records after all.....
Check out those bends on the road
Met a bunch of Harley riders and had a coffee. They had never seen a GS before and couldn’t believe what I was doing. Nice bunch though but strangely, they didn’t know Muttley or Sycomoto but had heard that there were 2 new potential Road Captains being trained in the UK
Brilliant ride of around 400 miles with bends, interstates and mountains and ended up in Jellicoe, Tennessee at the trail head. Didn’t get a wink of sleep thinking about the trail ahead........
Up early and double checked everything on the bike. Checked all the maps, roll charts etc and set off from Jellico ........and got lost within 2 miles!! The TAT roll chart is based on your odometer mileage and pretty soon worked out that my odometer was slightly out but managed to work out a good way of following it. A kind of 3 way hotch potch of the roll chart, map and GPS seemed to do the trick!
Followed the trail down through Kentucky on some great tracks and small tarmac roads so I’m thinking this is going to be fantastic but the bike didn’t feel right. As soon as I hit and dirt tracks, the back end was sliding about all over the place. Soon figured it was probably the front end being light because the bike was loaded. This put a few doubts in my mind about doing this trail on a big GS! Struggled on manfully and got hopelessly lost.......twice!!
Managed to sort my position out and get my very tired and hot butt down to Sparta, TN to the hotel. Spent an hour checking the bike and stiffened up the rear shock which should help the off road issues. Time for cold beer.........DOH, Sparta is a dry town! Common problem over here! Sparta felt like it should have been in Hazard County but couldn’t find Daisy. Plenty of them Duke Boys though.......
Woke to pouring rain and decided the trail would be a little too dangerous as I was told it can get very muddy so I skipped a couple of sections.
I didn’t want to miss sections but soon realised it wasn’t a race and I didn’t need to do it if I was at all worried! Most people tackle this thing on proper trail bikes like DRZ and KTM`s and I was realising why! Checked the map out and found I was only a few miles from the Jack Daniels distillery!! Well, I wasn’t going to miss that so I rode 100 miles or so in the rain to Lynchburg. Great tour of the factory but couldn’t get any because yes, you’ve guessed it, it was a dry county and they couldn’t sell any......!!
Still, good morning and the tour guide was the spitting image of Dolly Parton. Nice road ride in sun and rain across to Selmer MS and ready for the next days trail. You may see a pattern here of not too much trail but the wet weather did make it dangerous in my opinion and I’m no hero. I actually started the trail most days and would decide during the day whether to continue based on the weather and my head!!
Straight onto the trail today and Mississippi really is a lovely state. The trail takes you away from most civilisation and you end up running through scenes from a Mark Twain book.
At one point, I rode through a settlement in the ass end of nowhere and was watched by a bunch of black guys who obviously had no money or jobs. They were dressed in proper denim bibs and I’m sure they had no shoes on. I didn’t stop for photos because although I’m sure there wouldn’t be a problem, I couldn’t be sure. The trail here is pretty slippery and muddy so going is fairly slow. I’m guessing the max I could do safely was around 40mph. Came across a couple of broken bridges but managed to navigate them. One was difficult and I soon realised that the GS was way too big and heavy and I was struggling like hell to keep it upright and make sensible progress.
Great day and the temp was heating up to what I expected. It was approaching 100 degrees and was humid as hell. Tough riding and then the fuel light came on......bugger, I’d forgot I was using the odometer for map reading and the bike hasn’t got a fuel gauge so I had to come off the trail to find gas. Found a small gas station attached to a shop and café so fuelled and had a very cold drink. In the café, I listened to a few old guys just talking, or shooting the shit as they say. They were talking about what they’d eaten and I can tell you it included Racoon, squirrel and loads of things I’d never heard of but didn’t sound great. I was asked the question which I’ll remember forever “you ever eaten coon boy?”. I had to say I hadn’t.....!!
Didn’t go back on the trail and headed toward Helena and the hotel. All going well until the tail end of Hurricane Fay intervened and I rode 50 miles in the most unbelievable rain. Saw it coming but couldn’t avoid it.
Eventually I got the motel which turned out to be a casino!! Nice and cheap with good food and I didn’t lose my shirt........result.
Had breakfast with a friendly local Harley rider and his Canadian girlfriend which was cool. One thing about bikers stateside is an almost complete lack of bike snobbery!! Over the Mississippi on a beautiful morning, hot and sunny and into Arkansas. Due to the rain yesterday, I decided to miss some of the trail due to river crossings and mud which would have been too much. Never liked fording anyway but riding through the swollen Delta would have been ridiculous! Managed to find internet access in a really small town called Les Arcs. You can only get internet access at public libraries which is bizarre given they got men on the moon in 1969. Anyway, ended up chatting to loads of people who had the usual question “what the hell you doing here”. Managed to find a good town name on this sign!!
Decided to stay on tarmac and had a lovely day riding up to a great town called Heper Springs. Lovely lake here so parked up and had a cooling swim which was fantastic. Bit like an inland beach!
Rode through some beautiful country to a small town call Clinton and to the worst effing motel I’ve ever been to. A lot of motels are run by Asians and some are better than others. This was in the lower category! Clinton is very typical of a lot of mid west towns. These once thriving towns are very run down because all the farming is now done by machinery and there is no other work around. Have great stores like this Gun and Pawn store:
Still, it does have a McShite and Starbucks but managed to find a great local restaurant who served a classis Chicken Fried Steak, mashed potatoes and country gravy which is the greatest meal on this earth!!
Got up early to get back on the trail and had brekkie at the gas station. As always, I end up chatting to a local for a frickin` hour but that’s all part of the adventure. He was telling me they had discovered huge amounts of natural gas in the area so the economy should pick up. This is probably the day I’d most been looking forward to because I’d been through the Ozarks before but on road. The trail here is just stunning with good, solid dirt roads.
Tough riding but fun.
Apart from the odd very slippery river crossing. Quite what the attraction of fording is, is way beyond me!
Also get some decent sized bugs flying around
Gassed up in a small town called Hector and the locals were amazed at what I was doing and the bike I was on. The GS`s are very rare here and some people don’t even know BMW make bikes!! Met a great old guy in his truck filling up with gas. He was 81 and still hauling logs. The truck was an early 70`s beast with a big petrol engine!!! He’d had it from new and reckoned he would die in it!!
Wherever you go in the mid west, everyone is really friendly and chatty. The Americans get really bad press which is definitely not warranted in my book. Back on the trail and got hopelessly lost trying to navigate through a small town. It was in the 90`s and I was tired so decided to hit the road to a place called Vitalia, Oklahoma. I rode into town late and booked into a motel right opposite a rodeo!! What a great night and these guys are nuts. It’s real mid Americana where they play the Star Spangled banner and everyone to a man (and woman) stand up......brilliant stuff and makes me slightly jealous that we’ve almost lost our national pride. Lots of Cowboy hat and boots and local folk dressed to the nines in their finery. It was a bit surreal sitting there amongst these really nice folk with a bud light and a burger. These moments are why I travel!!
Up early and had 80 miles on the road before the next part of the trail because I’d missed some sections. Joined it to the west of Bartlesville and was greeted to miles and miles of dead straight and flat gravel roads. Could travel at 70mph on these roads and they are basically the A roads through Oklahoma.
Got too confident and didn’t realise until it was too late that they fill in the holes with soft sand. Soft sand, heavy GS and TKC’s make for a rapid rider/dirt interface!!
Really hot and windy and I was dog tired at lunchtime. Gassed up in a one horse town and it was then I realised I was pretty dehydrated. Sat in a cool gas station and drank water until I nearly drowned. Back on the trail and it was very hard work in the afternoon heat. There are lots of abandoned ranches out here and given they are 50 miles from anywhere, I’m not surprised. You occasionally come across a bridge or a slippery crossing just as a way of a change and to keep your concentration up!
On this section of over 200 miles on dirt, I don’t actually recall seeing anyone at all....!!
It’s just as empty when you check the mirrors!
After the 3rd off I was ready to stop and took it easy to Alva and a great little motel. Checked in for a very modest $45 to be told by Don the owner that is was 104.8 degrees in the shade! No wonder I didn’t feel too good so I took a long cold shower and sat by the pool to recover.
Didn’t sleep at all well and felt dreadful. Decided to take a day off and chill out. Went down the local pharmacy where the pharmacist concluded I was suffering from heat exhaustion and the thing to do was rest, drink as much Gatorade as I could stand and eat salty pretzels to get myself rehydrated. This guy rode in the desert and gave me some great tips on riding in extreme heat: wear a layer next to the skin, close all vents in the twat jacket to stop the sweat being dried, wear a soaking wet buff round your neck and drink little and often. Before you start the day, drink at least a litre of water and hour before you start as this hydrates the body and NO coffee!! Anyway, day spend by the pool and catching up with laundry and stuff. Ate a Reds BBQ and had some fantastic BBQ pork and a couple of beers.....good day!
More of the same long sections until I got to New Mexico.
Every time you go into another state, everything changes. It’s really weird but the scenery and feel of the states are all different. Was feeling good because I’d followed the pharmacist’s advice to the letter but boy did I need a coffee. New Mexico is fantastic scenery and very green. The trail is long and fast and you expect the Lone Ranger to come wandering across the prairie at any minute. Absolutely gorgeous country and a joy to ride.
Dropped down into a valley and I could see the road winding into the distance in a classic off road motorcycle scene.
Through the valley and saw the only sign for the trail I’d seen in the trip and I guess some guy who had got hopelessly lost had nailed it to a post to help the rest of us.
Good job it was there because I would have missed the brilliant track back up the side of the valley.
Fantastic view from the top and the altitude was around 6000ft, on the plateau at the top I saw a lovely track heading west. On the track and through a puddle and the bike stopped almost dead.....!! I was in about 4” of thick mud which was like clay.
God knows how I didn’t drop it! There was no way I was riding out of this and ended up walking alongside the bike whilst revving it in 1st gear. Took me 20 minutes to get out of that and I was fecked. Had this for 6 miles but managed to stay out of the worst of it. Only company up there was the cattle and you could see where they had crossed the track because their hoof prints were deep.
They were good warning for the bad bits because it all looked OK at first sight!! I eventually got to the end of the track and it looked just as bad looking back!
Crossed into Colorado where it all changed again!! Border crossing was an abandoned ranch. Can’t believe anyone could live up there and I guess they headed for town long ago!
Long fast dirt roads, big mountains and strong winds!! Eventually rode into Trinidad, Colorado to a motel and was totally mentally and physically destroyed. Only one more day on the trail though.......
Sunday morning and had another bad nights sleep despite being knackered. Got on the bike and down to the gas station for fuel and coffee! Weather was cloudy and looked like showers. As I sat there with a good latte, I had a choice. I was exhausted and wasn’t sure whether I could, or actually wanted to do that last section to Salida. It wasn’t a race or competition and I’d already missed a few days on the trail. I’ve got friends down in Albuquerque who had invited me down there which was tempting so I decided the following: I’ll call Terri and Pat and if they answer, I’ll go down there . If they don’t, I’ll head back on the trail. Anyway, Terri answered and insisted I went to ABQ. I was absolutely delighted about that and celebrated with another coffee and doughnut with a guy who claimed to be the richest guy in town!!
Although I didn’t complete all I wanted on the Trans America Trail, I was very happy with what I’d accomplished given the bad start to the trip and really didn’t have the energy for another day. The trail is not really suitable for a solo loaded GS and I guess I was stupid to think I could do it on my own! This section isn’t really dangerous or technically hard but it is very physically and mentally challenging and being literally tens of miles from anyone makes you think what would happen if I had binned it and been stuck underneath or broken a leg!! These findings were born out when I took my bike into Denver BMW but more of that later!!
Anyway, after 2 hard weeks, I’d done what I could on the trail and the decision was made and time to head on the long road south to Albuquerque, straight into the tail of another Hurricane................
Way back in 2005 I did a Trans US trip and heard about the Trans America Trail which runs East West USA on dirt. Well, 90% is dirt and it takes in some real old school US area’s which visitors don’t normally get to. The trail details are at www.transamtrail.com. I’m a big fan of US travel and love going there so wanted to see the real America before it disappears under the weight of McDonalds and Starbucks!
The trail is a great test of the bike, map reading skills, bravery and self belief! Sam from TAT supplies you with a roll maps and maps which you have to follow to the letter.
I also wanted to do a road trip with my cousin James who lives in San Francisco so thought I’d combine both. The aim was to do the trail to Salida, Colorado then meet cousin James in Yellowstone on 6th September where we would head to Canada via Glacier Nat Park.
I prepped my 97 1100 to what I thought would be the standard required and she definitely looked the part.
Loaded it onto the trailer and shipped it out to Baltimore on the East Coast of the USA. Really easy to do and would advise anyone to do it if you in the US for more than a few weeks. Worst part is leaving it at Liverpool Docks with the scouse dockers parting words “it’ll be alright mate, I’m a friend of Kenny”
Thanks to all on here who helped and contributed to the bike prep especially Vern who let me use his workshop and tools! Insurance for me and the bike was from David Grist at www.hctravel.com who is one of the most helpful guys around.
Trip started well and was upgraded to 1st class on Air Canada for the outward trip via Toronto. Fully deserved IMHO . Managed to catch an A380 taking off as we taxied. Feck that thing is big...... Flew in via Toronto and caught a glimpse of Niagara Falls as I connected to Baltimore. Where’s the feckin camera when you need it?
Got down to the Dundalk Marine Terminal in Baltimore the following morning via the worst public transport I’ve been on to be greeted by the folk at ACL with "Oh, you’ve come for the English bike and to inspect the damage "
After I hauled myself of the floor I found out that the guy taking it of the ship dropped it at 35mph on the dock. He was hospitalised for 4 days and the bike had a lot of cosmetic damage. Feckin Harley riding muppet . Anyway, the guys at ACL were more than helpful and admitted full liability and to file a claim.
Luckily, thanks to proper preparation and the right engine guards, panniers etc I managed to zip tie and duct tape the old girl back together. Had to rebuild the front end in a motel car park but all was OK`ish. The guys at the port couldn’t believe that I rode it out of the dock area! After a quick conversion to Left Hand Drive and to be on the safe side, I took the bike to a fantastic BMW shop in Fredericksburg, Virginia for a complete check and to do an estimate for the repair. The guys checked the bike out, gave it the thumbs up and did and estimate. The whole process took about 3 hours and the total cost for the service was........zip, nada, eff all!! The shop was just pleased to help so I bought a few goodies. UK dealers could learn a bit about customer service from Morton BMW, Virginia USA!!
No picks I’m afraid because I had other issues to thing about! Bike was as good as we could get it so time to head west
All the fun of the first couple of days had made me thirsty. Called a friend of my cousins who lives in Staunton, Virginia and was invited round for beer and steaks! One of the great things about travel in the US is the real friendliness of the locals!! Went round to Honda 1800 shadow riding Bill and Dee Dee`s and enjoyed some proper US hospitality and copious quantities of Miller High Life which I’m assured is the Champagne of beers . Had to have plenty to check on that but wasn’t convinced but helped wash the rib eye down.
Bleary eyed start the following morning and decided to take in some of the Blue Ridge Parkway which I hadn’t ridden before. This must be one of the most stunning rides anywhere and is miles and miles of brilliant views and corners.
As always, I always bump into the characters and came across a few guys who were bear baiting. They aren’t allowed to kill them but they had fox hounds to chase them. The trucks have scanners on to follow the dogs and they chat over the CB. I’d long forgotten the CB chat and was brilliant to hear folk saying "10-4 good buddy c’mon". Wasn’t just on records after all.....
Check out those bends on the road
Met a bunch of Harley riders and had a coffee. They had never seen a GS before and couldn’t believe what I was doing. Nice bunch though but strangely, they didn’t know Muttley or Sycomoto but had heard that there were 2 new potential Road Captains being trained in the UK
Brilliant ride of around 400 miles with bends, interstates and mountains and ended up in Jellicoe, Tennessee at the trail head. Didn’t get a wink of sleep thinking about the trail ahead........
Up early and double checked everything on the bike. Checked all the maps, roll charts etc and set off from Jellico ........and got lost within 2 miles!! The TAT roll chart is based on your odometer mileage and pretty soon worked out that my odometer was slightly out but managed to work out a good way of following it. A kind of 3 way hotch potch of the roll chart, map and GPS seemed to do the trick!
Followed the trail down through Kentucky on some great tracks and small tarmac roads so I’m thinking this is going to be fantastic but the bike didn’t feel right. As soon as I hit and dirt tracks, the back end was sliding about all over the place. Soon figured it was probably the front end being light because the bike was loaded. This put a few doubts in my mind about doing this trail on a big GS! Struggled on manfully and got hopelessly lost.......twice!!
Managed to sort my position out and get my very tired and hot butt down to Sparta, TN to the hotel. Spent an hour checking the bike and stiffened up the rear shock which should help the off road issues. Time for cold beer.........DOH, Sparta is a dry town! Common problem over here! Sparta felt like it should have been in Hazard County but couldn’t find Daisy. Plenty of them Duke Boys though.......
Woke to pouring rain and decided the trail would be a little too dangerous as I was told it can get very muddy so I skipped a couple of sections.
I didn’t want to miss sections but soon realised it wasn’t a race and I didn’t need to do it if I was at all worried! Most people tackle this thing on proper trail bikes like DRZ and KTM`s and I was realising why! Checked the map out and found I was only a few miles from the Jack Daniels distillery!! Well, I wasn’t going to miss that so I rode 100 miles or so in the rain to Lynchburg. Great tour of the factory but couldn’t get any because yes, you’ve guessed it, it was a dry county and they couldn’t sell any......!!
Still, good morning and the tour guide was the spitting image of Dolly Parton. Nice road ride in sun and rain across to Selmer MS and ready for the next days trail. You may see a pattern here of not too much trail but the wet weather did make it dangerous in my opinion and I’m no hero. I actually started the trail most days and would decide during the day whether to continue based on the weather and my head!!
Straight onto the trail today and Mississippi really is a lovely state. The trail takes you away from most civilisation and you end up running through scenes from a Mark Twain book.
At one point, I rode through a settlement in the ass end of nowhere and was watched by a bunch of black guys who obviously had no money or jobs. They were dressed in proper denim bibs and I’m sure they had no shoes on. I didn’t stop for photos because although I’m sure there wouldn’t be a problem, I couldn’t be sure. The trail here is pretty slippery and muddy so going is fairly slow. I’m guessing the max I could do safely was around 40mph. Came across a couple of broken bridges but managed to navigate them. One was difficult and I soon realised that the GS was way too big and heavy and I was struggling like hell to keep it upright and make sensible progress.
Great day and the temp was heating up to what I expected. It was approaching 100 degrees and was humid as hell. Tough riding and then the fuel light came on......bugger, I’d forgot I was using the odometer for map reading and the bike hasn’t got a fuel gauge so I had to come off the trail to find gas. Found a small gas station attached to a shop and café so fuelled and had a very cold drink. In the café, I listened to a few old guys just talking, or shooting the shit as they say. They were talking about what they’d eaten and I can tell you it included Racoon, squirrel and loads of things I’d never heard of but didn’t sound great. I was asked the question which I’ll remember forever “you ever eaten coon boy?”. I had to say I hadn’t.....!!
Didn’t go back on the trail and headed toward Helena and the hotel. All going well until the tail end of Hurricane Fay intervened and I rode 50 miles in the most unbelievable rain. Saw it coming but couldn’t avoid it.
Eventually I got the motel which turned out to be a casino!! Nice and cheap with good food and I didn’t lose my shirt........result.
Had breakfast with a friendly local Harley rider and his Canadian girlfriend which was cool. One thing about bikers stateside is an almost complete lack of bike snobbery!! Over the Mississippi on a beautiful morning, hot and sunny and into Arkansas. Due to the rain yesterday, I decided to miss some of the trail due to river crossings and mud which would have been too much. Never liked fording anyway but riding through the swollen Delta would have been ridiculous! Managed to find internet access in a really small town called Les Arcs. You can only get internet access at public libraries which is bizarre given they got men on the moon in 1969. Anyway, ended up chatting to loads of people who had the usual question “what the hell you doing here”. Managed to find a good town name on this sign!!
Decided to stay on tarmac and had a lovely day riding up to a great town called Heper Springs. Lovely lake here so parked up and had a cooling swim which was fantastic. Bit like an inland beach!
Rode through some beautiful country to a small town call Clinton and to the worst effing motel I’ve ever been to. A lot of motels are run by Asians and some are better than others. This was in the lower category! Clinton is very typical of a lot of mid west towns. These once thriving towns are very run down because all the farming is now done by machinery and there is no other work around. Have great stores like this Gun and Pawn store:
Still, it does have a McShite and Starbucks but managed to find a great local restaurant who served a classis Chicken Fried Steak, mashed potatoes and country gravy which is the greatest meal on this earth!!
Got up early to get back on the trail and had brekkie at the gas station. As always, I end up chatting to a local for a frickin` hour but that’s all part of the adventure. He was telling me they had discovered huge amounts of natural gas in the area so the economy should pick up. This is probably the day I’d most been looking forward to because I’d been through the Ozarks before but on road. The trail here is just stunning with good, solid dirt roads.
Tough riding but fun.
Apart from the odd very slippery river crossing. Quite what the attraction of fording is, is way beyond me!
Also get some decent sized bugs flying around
Gassed up in a small town called Hector and the locals were amazed at what I was doing and the bike I was on. The GS`s are very rare here and some people don’t even know BMW make bikes!! Met a great old guy in his truck filling up with gas. He was 81 and still hauling logs. The truck was an early 70`s beast with a big petrol engine!!! He’d had it from new and reckoned he would die in it!!
Wherever you go in the mid west, everyone is really friendly and chatty. The Americans get really bad press which is definitely not warranted in my book. Back on the trail and got hopelessly lost trying to navigate through a small town. It was in the 90`s and I was tired so decided to hit the road to a place called Vitalia, Oklahoma. I rode into town late and booked into a motel right opposite a rodeo!! What a great night and these guys are nuts. It’s real mid Americana where they play the Star Spangled banner and everyone to a man (and woman) stand up......brilliant stuff and makes me slightly jealous that we’ve almost lost our national pride. Lots of Cowboy hat and boots and local folk dressed to the nines in their finery. It was a bit surreal sitting there amongst these really nice folk with a bud light and a burger. These moments are why I travel!!
Up early and had 80 miles on the road before the next part of the trail because I’d missed some sections. Joined it to the west of Bartlesville and was greeted to miles and miles of dead straight and flat gravel roads. Could travel at 70mph on these roads and they are basically the A roads through Oklahoma.
Got too confident and didn’t realise until it was too late that they fill in the holes with soft sand. Soft sand, heavy GS and TKC’s make for a rapid rider/dirt interface!!
Really hot and windy and I was dog tired at lunchtime. Gassed up in a one horse town and it was then I realised I was pretty dehydrated. Sat in a cool gas station and drank water until I nearly drowned. Back on the trail and it was very hard work in the afternoon heat. There are lots of abandoned ranches out here and given they are 50 miles from anywhere, I’m not surprised. You occasionally come across a bridge or a slippery crossing just as a way of a change and to keep your concentration up!
On this section of over 200 miles on dirt, I don’t actually recall seeing anyone at all....!!
It’s just as empty when you check the mirrors!
After the 3rd off I was ready to stop and took it easy to Alva and a great little motel. Checked in for a very modest $45 to be told by Don the owner that is was 104.8 degrees in the shade! No wonder I didn’t feel too good so I took a long cold shower and sat by the pool to recover.
Didn’t sleep at all well and felt dreadful. Decided to take a day off and chill out. Went down the local pharmacy where the pharmacist concluded I was suffering from heat exhaustion and the thing to do was rest, drink as much Gatorade as I could stand and eat salty pretzels to get myself rehydrated. This guy rode in the desert and gave me some great tips on riding in extreme heat: wear a layer next to the skin, close all vents in the twat jacket to stop the sweat being dried, wear a soaking wet buff round your neck and drink little and often. Before you start the day, drink at least a litre of water and hour before you start as this hydrates the body and NO coffee!! Anyway, day spend by the pool and catching up with laundry and stuff. Ate a Reds BBQ and had some fantastic BBQ pork and a couple of beers.....good day!
More of the same long sections until I got to New Mexico.
Every time you go into another state, everything changes. It’s really weird but the scenery and feel of the states are all different. Was feeling good because I’d followed the pharmacist’s advice to the letter but boy did I need a coffee. New Mexico is fantastic scenery and very green. The trail is long and fast and you expect the Lone Ranger to come wandering across the prairie at any minute. Absolutely gorgeous country and a joy to ride.
Dropped down into a valley and I could see the road winding into the distance in a classic off road motorcycle scene.
Through the valley and saw the only sign for the trail I’d seen in the trip and I guess some guy who had got hopelessly lost had nailed it to a post to help the rest of us.
Good job it was there because I would have missed the brilliant track back up the side of the valley.
Fantastic view from the top and the altitude was around 6000ft, on the plateau at the top I saw a lovely track heading west. On the track and through a puddle and the bike stopped almost dead.....!! I was in about 4” of thick mud which was like clay.
God knows how I didn’t drop it! There was no way I was riding out of this and ended up walking alongside the bike whilst revving it in 1st gear. Took me 20 minutes to get out of that and I was fecked. Had this for 6 miles but managed to stay out of the worst of it. Only company up there was the cattle and you could see where they had crossed the track because their hoof prints were deep.
They were good warning for the bad bits because it all looked OK at first sight!! I eventually got to the end of the track and it looked just as bad looking back!
Crossed into Colorado where it all changed again!! Border crossing was an abandoned ranch. Can’t believe anyone could live up there and I guess they headed for town long ago!
Long fast dirt roads, big mountains and strong winds!! Eventually rode into Trinidad, Colorado to a motel and was totally mentally and physically destroyed. Only one more day on the trail though.......
Sunday morning and had another bad nights sleep despite being knackered. Got on the bike and down to the gas station for fuel and coffee! Weather was cloudy and looked like showers. As I sat there with a good latte, I had a choice. I was exhausted and wasn’t sure whether I could, or actually wanted to do that last section to Salida. It wasn’t a race or competition and I’d already missed a few days on the trail. I’ve got friends down in Albuquerque who had invited me down there which was tempting so I decided the following: I’ll call Terri and Pat and if they answer, I’ll go down there . If they don’t, I’ll head back on the trail. Anyway, Terri answered and insisted I went to ABQ. I was absolutely delighted about that and celebrated with another coffee and doughnut with a guy who claimed to be the richest guy in town!!
Although I didn’t complete all I wanted on the Trans America Trail, I was very happy with what I’d accomplished given the bad start to the trip and really didn’t have the energy for another day. The trail is not really suitable for a solo loaded GS and I guess I was stupid to think I could do it on my own! This section isn’t really dangerous or technically hard but it is very physically and mentally challenging and being literally tens of miles from anyone makes you think what would happen if I had binned it and been stuck underneath or broken a leg!! These findings were born out when I took my bike into Denver BMW but more of that later!!
Anyway, after 2 hard weeks, I’d done what I could on the trail and the decision was made and time to head on the long road south to Albuquerque, straight into the tail of another Hurricane................
