My UK & USA Trip After leaving KOA In Winthrop, it was my intention to head down Highway 20, after packing up at the camp site and getting the bike packed the last thing I wanted to do was program the GPS, switching on I punched in the security code and it was wrong, I had forgotten the correct code, the day before when at Dave’s place I had done the same thing and the only code I could remember was the wrong one. Trying for several minutes with all different combinations I realized it was pointless, so I sent Dave a quick mail and told him what had happened and asked for the correct code, but by now I was ready to leave and had not done any map type preparation, so asking my neighbor in the camp site with whom I had now become friends, I got a general direction and set off. Needless to say the absolute inevitable happened and even though I had received instructions, I went sailing past the turn off and eventually got totally lost, eventually having to turn around and backtrack some 70 odd miles. After a lot of riding and stopping I found myself in a little town called Twisp, which was exactly where I wanted to be, but it had taken me all morning and a whole tank of petrol (Gas) to get there. After refueling the bike I decided that this was ridiculous and that I would stay in Twisp until I got the code for the GPS no matter what it took. There was a pretty young girl with very shiny turquoise blue type color braces sitting on a bench and eating an ice-cream at the gas station, so I decided to ask her where I could find Wi Fi in the town, only place is the diner across the rode she told me. So I rode across, parked the GS and unpacked the computer and stough and made my way into the diner, full of people it was, all eating Sunday lunch, feeling rather conspicuous I made my way to an open table and set up, it felt like the whole room was staring at my back, and feeling even more conspicuous I decided I had better order something so I ambled over to the bar and asked the bar lady for a coke, no coke she replied, only got Pepsi, I really do not like Pepsi I told her, what else can you recommend, we got very nice Root Beer she said. Ah wonderful I thought, have never tried that before in my life so I asked for one. She went into the back and came back with a really big glass of a black drink, we make it ourselves right here she told me. After paying and making my way back to the table I took a big sip, it tasted a bit like a medicine my Mom used to force me to take when I was bunking school by pretending to be sick, but was not that bad but I could see why it was not the biggest seller in the world. By now I had found that the signal for the Wi-Fi was good but there was a problem with the connection, a black haired thin gangly waiter told me that it was off. Oh well, back to the maps I decided and made my way back to the hot sun and the GS outside, standing there beside the bike and trying to make some sense of the map when this huge Harley Rider strides over, the diner had been full of really big cross looking bikers, and he asks, hey fellow, where is you a going, I point at the map and indicate my route, and say to him, I want to follow route 20 but when I came into town I could not see any signposting and could not find the route out. His head whips up and he looks me directly in the eye, steel blue grey eyes piercing through me, where you from he asks. I come from South Africa I tell him. Whaal now, what’s your take on this here Mandela fellow he asks me, thinking quickly and having absolutely no idea where this is going I try to find the most neutral reply I can, well he is really old now I reply. What bout 30 year or so ago he asks, thinking fast again and trying to judge where this is going I decide to go with my instincts and also a little of the truth, well 30 years ago I thought he was a terrorist I reply. Suddenly he relaxes his forward stance and bursts into a huge big grin and says, Whaal fellow you and me is going to get on just fine, and that was that we were mates, the rest of the riders standing around relax as well and start putting on their gear and head for their bikes and my new friend tells them, he gonna ride the 20, and then he proceeded to give me directions and soon I was on my way again. I met up again with them early on Monday morning at a gas station in Kettle Falls, he gave me a weather forecast for the day and then the rest of the week which included a prediction for rain in the afternoon, and sure enough it did rain. They all came from Detroit and I got the feeling they were as tough as nails, also heading for Sturgis and taking the scenic route. Since starting on the trip I have seen hundreds of bikes on the road, sometimes riding in groups of four or five, they always greet when you pass going in the opposite direction and I have become so used to having this exchange, I also now just automatically raise my hand when I see a bike coming. The greeting is to drop the hand from the handle bar and hold it out at the 5 o’clock position (this works if you are on a Harley with your feet way out front and lying low, not so natural on a GS). Late yesterday afternoon I stopped at a gas station to buy a map because I had traveled from Washington State, through Idaho and was now riding in Montana and the map I had bought on Saturday was no longer any use. Happily I have got the code from Dave for the GPS and am no longer lost, but I have found that the best method is to program the GPS in short trip stages as it automatically takes the fastest route and I often want to go to places which look interesting and so the only way is to re-program after reaching each destination. This is exactly the reason why I was so very fond of my GPSmap, C 60 CSX, which according to Garmin has now become obsolete, a fact which I can still not believe and I still think that they should be legally obliged to support their product for a time longer than the five years which they claim is the life span of a device. I spent weeks fighting with them before coming on this trip and Garmin have been the single biggest disappointment I have experienced in the entire planning, I also found that they have a really poor attitude and despite many requests to talk to a manager or the MD of the organization, they would never talk to me or reply, the Americans were far more helpful but in the end as they said, the purchase of on-line maps and ordering of software had to be done through the SA office. I think Garmin SA are totally incompetent. Anyhow I could really get all riled up over Garmin and go on for hours, so at the garage a group of Harley riders pull in for fuel and I asked them where they were heading, one of them replied, its summer and so we ride. And from what I have seen they do tours much like we do, but there is a lot of socializing and they have a lot of fun. They are all very friendly and seem to be very happy, which I guess is to be expected because the roads are perfect, the weather is perfect and they live in a really wonderful place from what I have seen. Almost as soon as I had turned off Interstate 5 I had a deer run across the road just ahead of my bike, I got a fright and realized that the warning I had received from Dave and Linnea had been very real and that this was surely a big danger, since stating my trip and the first sighting I have seen many many deer, sometimes standing and grazing on the side of the road, lots of dead ones lying on the side of the road and also late yesterday afternoon I was riding behind a big long slap Ford of some description when A deer came flying out from the right hand side brush and I honestly I thought he was a goner, but the driver climbed all over the brakes and somehow the animal was able to make it across the road, it was obvious that the deer had also had a hectic fright and it looked to me as though its hoofs were slipping on the tar as it frantically tried to get across the road. At the next gas stop the driver came over and apologized saying, man I did not mean to get all over the brakes like that but I nearly shit myself. I just love the expressions they come up with and the descriptive way they have. I also spoke to a fellow who had pulled in for gas at the same time with one of their trucks, and he was filling up with diesel, so I said, man I am sure glad I do not have to pay to fill that thing up, how much does it take. He broke into a huge grin and said, dunno, never have had it full, just put $100 in every time, that is the equivalent of more than a R1000,00 at a time and the tank is not full, glad it is not mine I thought. He told me it had a 6.5 Liter Cummings engine. I told him we normally drove Toyota and vehicles like that, what he said, that itty bitty little thing. Last night I was driving along about 20 Km from Kalispell when I saw this Motel sign, and there were a group of fellows standing in the front with drinks and it looked really nice, so I made a U-turn enquired regarding availability of rooms and cost, $ 60 I was told and they had one room free, so I checked in, it was already past 8 pm and I really felt like a shower because the night before I had slept at a lake and there had been only long drop toilets available and a water pump. There was also a bar as part of the Motel and I had a shower and made my way over for a bite to eat and a nice cold beer, actually it turned out to be more than one and I met a fellow called Tim and another couple of his friends and when the whiskey shooters started to line up on the bar I quickly made my way back to the room, it was exactly those same little glasses they always have in the westerns and I felt somehow that I was living the life, they also had two fellows on guitar and singing all country songs and I could have happily stayed there all night, it was really excellent.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 18:54:38 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015