a wilddog members take on Riding across the USA on a Harley part 2

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mother

Race Dog
Joined
Aug 3, 2009
Messages
3,231
Reaction score
108
Location
Cape Town
Bike
Harley Davidson (all models)
New Orleans to Fort Worth Dallas

Original plan was to go inland via Dallas but the info people recommended Fort Worth being a little cowboy town and being in Texas that was what we wanted to see...

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I remember passing Dallas at around 5pm the traffic was hectic but we made it to FW with no issues..


In FW we stayed in an old hotel previously a brothel in the old days and the decor was just like I imagined it to be from what I had seen in the movies...creaky wooden bed with head board to bang against the wall...walls had reddish wall paper and ancient pics hanging and the bath on pedestals...it was like a trip back in time...place was called Miss Molly’s

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We spent the evening in a real Saloon listening to live country music with locals each having a turn at jamming a tune.....I will never forget the old county singer looked about 80 giving it his best ....it was something to see and when he was done he came up to the audience and shook our hands for taking the time to see him play

Our bar lady there Katelyn helped me to get FB loaded on my new I phone so I could communicate with folks back home...she was really friendly and nice...like most people we met in America


Fort Worth to Amarillo

We headed north west to Amarillo next day stopping in Wichita Falls at the Harley dealer to shop and put air in the rear shock....
Seems not too many people cross the States on a Harley or maybe we didn’t look the type but they sure looked surprised at the Red River dealership hearing about our journey
In Amarillo at a garage I met a nice guy (ex Marine) who recommended the Big Texan as a place to stay and eat so that was where we headed and it was very nice to experience the Texas hospitality....but the first thing we did was jump into the pool it was so hot(110F)....this was the home of the 72oz steak and the halfway mark of route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles...we started to see other bikers who had come to do the famous route 66...mostly European foreigners in tour groups....

Big Texan
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Amarillo to Holbrook Route 66

Long ride for the day 537 miles and another time change and so far we had done about 2300miles
When we reached Albuquerque the landscape started to change drastically ...more hills and bends we where definitely on our way to California and now over half way already.
The ride took us through Texas/New Mexico and we stayed over at the Ramada Inn in Holbrook Arizona $55 per night with an indoor pool which we utilized

The prices for hotels/motels in the country ranged from $55 to $65 and in the popular places or cities from $100 to $150 per night
Petrol prices ranged from $2.90 to $2.99 per gallon and California being the most expensive at $3.20 a gallon

When filling up at petrol stations you need to know the amount of fuel you will need i.e. $10 then you go and pay inside with the tenant and quote petrol pump number amount you want and there u have it...u pour yourself

I found the route 66 a bit overrated ....first of all it no longer exists ...it is now the Interstate 40 or I40 and the towns along the route are busy dying in my view, as many travellers just pass on by on a double highway ...so to ride route 66 you turn into the little towns and you can briefly ride parts or sections of the old road....woo pee doo....lucky for me we didn’t come to do this exclusively....we came to ride from one side of America to the other and experience the people and places we found ourselves in

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Holbrook to Las Vegas

391miles this day .we stopped over in Flagstaff to check out the little town, the roads where scenic and mountains reminded me of Eastern Mpumalanga area with the pine trees

Flagstaff
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By the late afternoon we where cooking again at 110F (I bought a brand new Harley jacket in Orlando but hardly wore it on the trip it was so hot)
At Kingman we turned off to Vegas via Hoover dam and I remember thinking it was surreal that we where this close to LV it was like living in a dream or in a movie...it was weird in a nice way though.
Hoover dam was busy with lots of tourists coming to look and of course there where road works....we crawled across the dam wall in the Nevada heat...

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I must say I was blown away with the Americans engineering feats....Dams/bridges/roads/flyovers etc...I got it how they had flown to the moon so many years ago and built things like the Empire state building during the great depression many years back

Riding into Las Vegas just took my breath away....I remember driving down the “strip” and seeing a Pyramid, the Sphinx, a replica of the Eiffel tower and a portion of New York with a rollercoaster running through it, a 3 story high coke bottle and a half a Harley the size of a town house coming out the side of a building......it was big and busy and major kitsch....picture Sun City times a 100 on steroids!!!

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In the heat the robots took forever to change and the cops where riding plain pickups with tinted windows and only once a violation occurred did u notice the blue lights

In general I noticed police presence everywhere in the USA blue and whites and sheriff cars just like u see in the movies...to me it was a good thing and I observed most people followed the law.......man how I miss that place already

We found a really nice luxury apartment close to the centre of things for just $89 a day, was probably the best place we stayed in on our whole trip...Carriage House it’s called- highly recommended

Vegas at night is impressive and there are a million things to do...that night we tried to fit in as many things as we could and it was great just walking around in awe of all the man made kitschy stuff

We had included LV on our trip for a reason...and that was to get married in LV in an Elvis Chapel..... one has to do at least one seriously weird fun thing in your life so Saturday 18th of September 2010 Leonie and took the big step. It was the craziest fun time ever
Another unforgettable experience....

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.
The rest of the trip became our Honeymoon...We went up the Stratosphere tower and caught a Vegas show called the Jubilee with 40 odd semi naked Can Can girls and just had a absolute blast till the early hours

Sunday we woke up late and I got the urge to go visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.....mmmmm no planning we left from Vegas at 12noon......265miles later and at around 5.30pm we arrived at the Canyon....a few quick pics and after taking in some of the magnificent view we headed back to the hotel.....another 265 miles

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We rode 4 hrs in the dark crossing from Arizona to Utah to Nevada with a three qtr moon, the desert was stunning. Eventually seeing LV in the distance with its golden lights coming out of the black desert is something that will stay with me for a long long time...We arrived back at our hotel at 10.30pm.
848km from l2noon not bad for the day

Las Vegas to Los Angeles

The morning we discovered that the left pannier (saddle bag in America) had nearly fallen off during the night .
Luckily we nursed it to the Vegas dealer and they kindly fixed it for us before we headed off in the heat of the Nevada desert to LA

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Picture a two by 4 lane highway running through Namibia and you can get a picture of what our ride was like through the desert to LA.It was very very hot again until we got closer to the Californian coast. The ride was scenic from desert to mountains to sea, from two lanes to five to six around LA
Seeing the Hollywood sign on the hill was so cool yet felt so surreal at the same time.
I couldn’t believe we were actually there

We headed for Hollywood suburb as this was where we wanted to base ourselves and eventually found a Days Inn that was Ok, although expensive versus our previous places ,it was also nowhere near as nice as Vegas, but we decided we were there to see stuff and as long as it was clean we were Ok with it

That night we went to see the new Ben Affleck movie The Town in one off the Hollywood theatres it was a nice experience and when the movie finished the people all clapped to share their approval

Next day we got a Metro rail pass and headed off to do the Universal Studio tourist thing. We spent the whole day there doing the Studio Tour...saw Wisteria lane where Desperate Housewives live and a few sets like War of the Worlds, it was amazing to see. We also did as many rides and shows as we could fit in. King Kong/Water World etc

After the day at the studio we went to Hollywood boulevard and Sunset boulevard to see the Chinese theatre where the stars hand prints are laid in the paving as well as the stars walk of fame...it was very vibey and we had supper at the Hard Rock Cafe ...everything we could fit into the day we did...it was great

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Wednesday saw us take the bike out again to explore LA and surrounds.
We went to get a closer view of the Hollywood sign, took a ride through Beverly Hills’ and Bel air, and took a picture outside Nicolas Cages house, rode down Sunset blvrd went to Malibu beach and Venice beach where I got an $85 parking fine.....mmmm

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Malibu
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Venice beach
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It was a nice cool day to ride the bike and I got to wear my new jacket for a change

Hollywood the suburb itself looks tired to me...lots of palms although the upmarket area of Bel air and Beverly hills’ looks stunning...strangely Malibu looked tired as well. We however enjoyed riding and walking around Venice beach

Wednesday night we caught up with my old school mate who lives in America
John sells electric sports cars to the rich and famous. It was wonderful to see him after many years and we had a ball that evening in Santa Monica.



John and the Teslar Electric sports car
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LA to San Francisco

We headed out to SF on the Interstate 101 and did parts of the A1 before arriving at our final destination in SF .Was a nice scenic ride next to the Pacific and through the valley.
We made a brief stop in Santa Barbara for breakfast.
The 470miles to SF felt long this day and when we arrived at our hotel we didn’t go anywhere we were so tired.
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express as it was half a block away from Dudley Perkins Harley where I had to drop the bike on Saturday and within a shuttle ride to the airport once we were heading home on Sunday

We spent Friday checking out Dudley Perkins Harley shop. (bought my wife lots of nice new kit for good behaviour on our honeymoon hahahaha)
Harley shops in America  are massive by comparison to here and variety enough to make you drool .
Afterwards we went to see the famous Golden Gate bridge and I personally wanted to ride the bike around all the Massive bridges in the SF district...it was an epic final ride on the rented Harley. I was captivated by the beautiful city and its bridges and the views where to die for...In my view it has to be the most beautiful city in the world.

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Later the afternoon we caught up with my mate John again and he showed us more sights of SF. For our last evening together we visited at a few pubs till the late hrs before retiring for the night.


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Saturday saw us drop off the bike at DP Harley, get it signed off with a clean bill of health,  it felt kind of sad parting company after 4030miles or 6448km.


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Memories of her will stay with me for a long time for taking me and my wife safely across America

Later we went into SF for a last shopping spree before we headed home the next day.


Flying 5hrs to Atlanta and then 15hrs back to Johannesburg







This trip has to be the most incredible holiday/experience I have ever had .
I also feel that a part of me stayed behind there....
We met wonderful people and saw amazing things’ and I was in awe of the engineering talents of the Americans

It was certainly a TRIP OF A LIFETIME one I will never forget in a hurry; in fact I can’t wait to go back again


Some facts of our trip

Rented the bike for 16 days at R1100.00 per day insurance included
Distance covered 6448km fuel cost total R2700.00
Meals per day averaged R420.00 for two people
Accommodation prices average per day for two was R930.00
Above converted at exchange rate of R7.50 for $1.00





 
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