One Lap of America

On Friday last week, I completed a ride I've always wanted to do, circling the United States. I spent the past week putting a ride report for bmwforums.net, and thought I'd share it here as well.

These aren't all the pics, just the highlights:


Getting ready to leave


Mt. Shasta


Mt. Shasta


The Pinnacles, Crater Lake, OR


Crater Lake

Roy, from the CMA, nice guy, rides a GS. There is a story about how I got hooked up with the CMA.


Mt. Hood


Mt. St. Helens


Mt. Rainier


Lewis & Clark Trail

BMW Dealer. It was Monday & they were closed, but I had to get the neon sign.


Idaho, along 12. There was a sign that read something like, "Winding road, next 70 miles"


This is how they make an open faced chili cheese burger in Montana


This is where I got it


Entering Yellowstone

Wildlife in Yellowstone


More wildlife


Old Faithfull


Old Faithfull


Old Faithfull


Old Faithfull

Grand Teton


I yielded the right of way to this guy.


Another Buffalo


Northwest Wyoming leaving Yellowstone's east entrance was beautiful


Long, lonely road in Wyoming


At least I had someone to ride with, but he was quick. No matter how fast I went, I couldn't pass him.

Next morning, entering Big Horn Mountains


Big horn Mountains


Great road, no one was out there


Big horn mountains


I arrived at this waterfall at about the perfect time of the morning for this pic.

I ran into Jody & Elliot, both riding BMWs. We rode to Devil's Tower together.


Devil's Tower. Can you believe Richard Dreyfuss climbed this thing???


Mt. Rushmore

After Mount Rushmore, I prepared for the grind that would be the Midwest. Wanting to get to the east coast, I headed for I90 & spent the next 2 days on it. Hence, not many photos. However:


I stopped at a Burger King & this guy pulled in on a GS. He sat down at the opposite side of the restaurant, and I left him alone. He parked his bike next to mine in the parking lot, and on the way out, I noticed this sticker and thought, "Huh, I just saw that guy inside." So, I went inside and asked him if he was returning from 'round the world trip. He said he was preparing to do it and was heading home from Alaska. I've checked out his website, and its a forum where he's been documenting his trips. Doesn't seem like it gets a whole lot of participation though... Maybe a candidate for a board invasion???


Here's his bike.


I wanted to make it to Rochester, Minnesota that night, but got stopped by bad thunderstorms. I turned a corner on I90 and suddenly saw a wall of evil blackness ahead. I stopped at the first gas station, in Austin, Minnesota and was informed that they were under a tornado watch, tornados had been sited earlier in Blue Earth (about 15 miles behind me), and earlier in the day a thunderstorm in South Dakota spawned a tornado 1/4 mile wide. So, I went straight to a hotel & called it a day. Sure enough a line of powerful storms came through. I was afraid the bike would get knocked over by the wind, so I snuck it in a back door & waited with it until 11:30 when I was satisfied that the worst of the storm blew through.


The next morning it was apparent that I was going to start riding in rain, and my tires were looking bad, so I had them replaced. Had to ride up toward Minneapolis, a little out of the way, but better safe than sorry.


First view of the Mississippi River. The was clear in the area, so I got the pic. It actually didn't rain much that day until I got to Wisconsin.


After spending most of my afternoon in the rain, I started to get out from under the clouds. Checking my mirrors I saw the sun was casting a beautiful view of the clouds behind me. I pulled over & took a pic. This is about 50 miles from Milwaukee.

The next morning, waiting for the ferry from Milwaukee to Muskegon. (Thanks for the suggestion, F.O.G., it went great) Interestingly, the two Harleys to the right of my bike were ridden by a German couple, heading home from Sturgis. We thought it was funny, American guy on the German bike, and German couple on the American bikes.


There was a group driving Model A Fords waiting for the ferry.


This was the cleanest of the group.


The bike, strapped down and ready to go, with a Goldwing looking like its ready to crush it should we hit the right wave. Actually it went great, and the Goldwing's owner was a good guy. We sat together on the boat & kept each other company. He was heading home to Buffalo, and called his bike a Buffalowing.

In Muskegon. Believe it or not, this was home for the night, the U.S.S. Silversides, a WWII era submarine. It was only $25 a night, and after seeing the condition they keep it in, I donated a bit more. They get no money aside from donations, tour & camping fees to keep it up. It seemed worthwhile to contribute a modest donation toward its maintenance.


Forward torpedo room


My assigned quarters, the Captain's quarters. It's little more than a bunk, and enough floor space to stash my important stuff. The hard bags stayed locked on the bike over night. There was little privacy. No door to close, just a curtain. They had two groups of cub scouts that night, so it was a full boat, but still a good time.


The control room (bridge?)


Same room, different angle.

Mess


Bunks


Toilet


Engine room


Engine room

Art


Apparently, this is the first computer utilized in military warfare. It had something to do with the torpedoes. I think you plugged in your speed and the the speed & trajectory to a target and it calculated the pressure to put in the torpedo tubes.


Sonar panel


Conning tower


Engine room, below main deck


Panel of dials


Same panel


Engine room below main deck

Aft torpedo room


On deck


Big gun.


Plaque to the one man who died in service on this boat. Apparently this was pretty remarkable, that only one man died. During the tour, the guide reported that the WWII sub crews had an 80% casulty rate.


On deck.


Emergency hatch

Niagra Falls






I wasn't satisfied with the view on the American side, and didn't want to deal with going to Canada, so I took the boat ride. The wind was impressive.




We went right into the semi-circular part of the falls. It was like being in a powerful storm. There was so much water you couldn't see, it was loud, and very windy.


Here you can see that the wind is blowing around my parka.

Heading into New Jersey, it poured. The amount of rain was ridiculous.


But I did get to meet up with Flatbutt, another R1100S rider on bmwforums.net


He's got bigger balls than I do. I was only riding in these storms because I had to. He was because he chose to. I was surprised to see him on his S rather than in his truck.


FB's dog.


And he was a hospitable host...


Yes, most hospitable. It was a pleasure to sit down and enjoy a meal with Tom.


Later in the day, getting ready to head to N.Y. We went out during the day, went to breakfast and to a couple bike shops looking for gloves. I wish I took my camera with me. Meeting Tom was great. I had a wonderful time.


Our bikes, ready to go.


Sitting in front of FB's house.

We met up with Alex & highlander179, also from bmwforums.net at highlander's office.


And headed to The Ear, the local hangout.


What a great time. Highlander invited some outher S riders, and it great meeting Martin, Alex, Chris, George & Tom (good burger too). These guys really helped me out, riding through NY with the comfort level, getting strafed by taxis.


The lineup of the bikes that came out.

We went to ground zero. There isn't much to take pictures of, but I thought I should take something while I was there. 9-11 had a profound affect on me, and seeing the site had me remembering some of the things that went on in my mind that day. I walked around a little with Chris, and we talked about the day.


We crossed the Brooklyn Bridge for a view of the city. I was very impressed with the size of the city.


We called it a night, and I followed highlander179 home, who generously offered me a place to stay. He has a cool home. Old, very old. It's a mish mash, where he explained that it was originally two structures that wrere basically set together. Lots of character.


The next morning highlander & I went out to breakfast with his son, Jacob. But first we stoped by an overlook with this view of N.Y.


Unfortunately, I had a screw in my tire. Fortunately, highlander noticed it. After showing me the way to the local Yamaha dealer, which didn't have a tire in the correct size, he led me to the local BMW dealer, which must have been about 1/2 hour away. This, and he had to get his son ready for his first day of school. What a guy. Most people would probably give me directions and set me loose. Highlander stayed with me until he knew I was somewhere where I'd be taken care of.

While at the dealer, Cross Country BMW, the technician came over and asked, "Are you aware your final drive has started leaking?" DOH!!! I wasn't. I figured it would be 1) a reliability issue and 2) a safety issue to leave it, so I told them I'd wait there as long as it took for them to repair it, even if I had to stay in town the next day or two. Knowing that I was on a big trip and had a schedule to try & keep, they got right to work and got me on my way at 3:30. Losing the day, I had to blow off D.C. & didn't meet Gigantic, another bmwforums member, on account of this, which sucked. Tropical storm Ernesto was moving north up the east coast, so I blasted down the New Jersey turnpike, headed through Philadelphia, Baltimore, & Washington D.C. and ended my day at 10:00 in Front Royal, Virginia, at the north end of Shenandoah National Park.


The next day Ernesto passed over. I opted to stay in at the hotel because, 1) I was sick of riding in rain and 2) the storm was pretty powerfull.


At least I was able to get some decent food.

The next morning the remnants of the storm were in the area, but for the most part it was to the North, so I got myself together and headed to Skyline Drive to ride through Shenandoah National Park, in the rain.

I got to the park gate, where the Ranger gave me a weird look and tried to caution me from going in. He said there were downed trees and leaves all over the road. I told him that I rode from Sacramento planning to ride this road, if I didn't ride it that day I wouldn't, and so what's the entrance fee? He took my money and let me pass. Conditions were crappy and so I didn't get any photos while in the park. It rained through most of the park, there were leaves littering the road, and sure enough, the occasional downed branches. As a result of my caution, it took four hours to go 100 miles.


But, I did get out of the bad weather by noon on the BRP, and was treated to a beautiful sky. Earlier while visiting Tom, I had stated that I was thinking I might not get to North Carolina on account of the storm. He told me to expect to loose a day, but afterward the weather would be gorgeous. He was right.


I stopped here both for the view and to take my waterproofs off.


There was an unmarked tree in the road, and no crew was out to clean it up. Cars were turning around, but I was able to get through on the left (right in the photo) on my bike.

Excellent weather & beautiful views.




Later in the day, thunderstorms started building, but I was fortunate enough not to cross their paths.






Entering North Carolina, one of the trip's highlights. In North Carolina I got to meet Trrider, ride the Dragon, and last meet JAS, KK & worm, also all from bmwforums.

Trrider.

We met up on Mt. Mitchell & rode together to Cherokee.


Photo op.


Tim with the FZ1. Sweet bike. He has a BMW anamolly, an unreliable R1150RT. It was in the shop, having suffered stripped input shaft splines for the 3rd time. This time, BMW's taking care of him, but that's another story.




One of the people in the group who took this photo asked if we were father & son. Funny. There's actually a believable resemblance.