The Native Iowan

You may have missed it… A bit of an “end” to a sad, telling, important story…

The remaining (in the hundreds) internees at the Austrian Immigration “processing centre” on MANUS ISLAND, PNG has been forcefully removed and relocated.

I feel this story is important in that it tells a story of refugees who are not refugees…

Today’s news is one of “triumph for the officials”, and complete loss for the would be refugees… http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/11/24/false-hope-duttons-scathing-attack-refugee-advocates-manus-centre-cleared

To understand this tale one must have a bit of an idea how the Australian Government approaches “immigration”. The answer is that The Australian have  a very hard/ harsh stance on immigration. I feel I can discuss with some authority this topic in that I have officially and legally immigrated to Australia. It was not easy.

This recent bit of verbiage pretty much explains the official position:

“You have compounded their problems by allowing them some message of false hope that somehow if they stayed in the regional processing centre in those conditions, it would twist the arm of the Australian government that we would change our policy and somehow the people would settle in Australia,” he said.

“That cruel hoax needs to come to an end. The Labor Party and the Greens and these advocates have been holding out this cruel hoax and providing this false promise to people in a very difficult situation.”

I am a dual passport carrier and have a fair amount of cash and assets. In order to legally immigrate (this means I am not a visitor in Aus, I am a resident under a conditional visa) I had to jump through many, many hoops. My wife and I both immigrated and it was doubly difficult. It took over 6 years.

The people at the Manus centre are not, I stress NOT, going to make it to Aus. As its stands they shall either choose to be returned to the homeland (and be paid a whack of cash) or settle in PNG.

The basics of the Manus centre are as follows: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manus_Regional_Processing_Centre

Now quickly note the centre is called a regional processing centre and has been operational for over 15 years. Some of the detainees have been there for the duration. Also, this is not the only such centre operated by Aus. Many people ahve been processed through the centre and into Australia. Hose remaining have not met the requirements. They have been offered alternatives but have chose to gamble that their acts would receive some level of leniency.

But why were they on Manus at all?

The idea is simple: Illegal immigrants arriving on Australian shores (by any means) shall not have their applications for refugee or immigrant status evaluated while they are on Australian soil.

This rule applies to all attempting to immigrate.

All would-be immigrants and would-be refugees must complete a mountain of paper work and be assessed/ vetted. I pointed out that my process took 6 years. And I have only been married once (still married to the same gal too), have never served in any military, nor been arrested or convicted of a crime. My case was technically an easy one… I had to list and explain my past 10 years of travel. Had to offer my current and past passport(s) and all residential addresses and education – ALL!.

If one is claiming refugee status they go into a different category. One is assessed as being a refugee. What is a refugee??? – a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster. –

If you claim refugee status and the officials decide you are not being truthful you are banned from applying for any Aus visas for a set period of time.

If you apply to immigrate and the officials decide you are not being truthful you are banned from applying for any Aus visas for a set period of time.

The remaining detainees have not met the requirements as either immigrants or refugees, and were removed from the now closed centre: http://www.news.com.au/national/manus-island-men-moved-by-force-as-police-storm-centre-again/news-story/64eee6f567b9bb696ea85d6498e055bd

Good? Bad?

The way it is?

But the rules are clear, the laws have been enforced. Fair or not, the outcome may have been predictable…

Especially when one is a Refugee that isn’t.

OK, I am lost in time and space. I can’t really recall my last post. I have been remiss. Absent. Lost in the ether. Living with a house of children.

2yr old terrors, Dawn E. and G.G., have been around for the past 11 months. Ok, its only been 10 days but it feels like 10 days…

And life is pretty OK…

Some shots of my time with “the babes”…

Golly, half way through October. Been busy. Been on the road a lot lately. Been playing with the teenagers a lot. And have not been hurt. We go do flying trapeze lessons tomorrow.

Where are we? Full moon past. Weather is turning. Migratory birds happening.

Plenty of Bluezz happening… A nondescript mass killer in Vegas. Korea sure as hell rattling their swords. Storms n floods n winds n more storms and floods and winds. NFL have principles only when it suits them? Fire in Napa valley… the price of wine will go up.

My favourite blues-worthy tid bit is the Harvey Weinstein mess.

The blatant hypocrisy of the west-coast-liberal-left is nothing new, but this Weinstein gig rings an hypocritical bell of some sort.

The fake horror and shock and rejection is, well, its fake. And the assault and desertion of sleazy Weinstein is like a fresh shit sandwich. Nobody wants it, nobody wants to taste it, but after the liberal BS of accepting the likes of Bill Clinton and his dalliances, well, having to now dance and sing and be indignant, after knowing all and everything forever, means you gotta take a bite of the big, fresh shit sandwich.

I hope it tastes good.

I may be a bit out of line slagging the liberal-left. Abuse happens all the time. It is not new. And is never acceptable.

Abuse of office, position, power, money… its nasty and unacceptable wherever it takes place. Left or right, up or down.

Hypocrisy as well has not a limit nor a bias.

But I am a bit pissed off by people I admire. I think of Meryl Streep. I don’t know why but I really like her. Like her movies. Disliked her during the Democratic Convention when she was acting stupid but I still liked her as a performer.

But her public words in regards to the matter are important… they are important because she is a respected female in the “business” and we / I want to know what she thinks… not just about Hillary and politics but about Weinstein too. I vicariously respect her enough to put weight in what she says.

First off she was quiet. Supposedly off-line. When she did speak out… “Streep, who in 2012 called Weinstein “God” in a Golden Globe acceptance speech and appeared in numerous films produced by him, said the “disgraceful news about Harvey Weinstein has appalled those of us whose work he championed”.

When she says she is “appalled” does she mean she is just now appalled or has been appalled, but has not spoken out? I know she stated she “did not know about the reported claims that he had undressed in front of actresses and assistants or asked young women to give him massages.”

Which is patent bullshit.

Guy like Weinstein don’t keep secrets. He is a bully and an abuser. He bullies and abuses compliance and cooperation. he is, as Ms Streep said “God”. People don’t tell god’s secrets.

You try to tell me Ms Streep didn’t know, even a little bit about decades of abuse.

Sorry, don’t buy it.

Hope it do taste good…

More later

Turns into v10.0… I started this a week ago and am now a month behind…

Damn!

I had started last week by saying:

Golly, day, date all elusive. I guess September is running towards its close. October soon to come. August is my favourite month…

Been back here in the land of Aus for a couple weeks. Been on my bikes n have had the 4wheelers out n about. The SunnyCoast is a good place.

What I was saying then still applies… So a week flashes past and here I am, again in weekend wunderings and kitchen bliss.

A huge part of my distraction/ aversion to time management is having the boys, Mendoza and Angelo, home from boarding school. Part is that Gracie flew off with a group of friends to Israel last week. Part of it is I decided to clean my shed.

Part off it is that I am a retired ol fart n love to procrastinate.

Today/ Monday is Queen’s Birthday here so public holiday. Boys should go back to school tomorrow. Don flies in from Solos in the afternoon so we’ll pick him up, have the eve, then up at 3am to make it to Toowoomba by 7am.

Today is a big meat and potato feed for the boys. Fatten them up before they head back to “prison”.

We’ve been planning this meal for a few days and Mendoza has been hanging out for it…

The other day I made leftovers n he was grumpy. He was hanging for the pie. And this one was/ is worth waiting for… the spuds come from the garden and are very very nice spuds… 

I’d say there is about 10 litres/ half a 20 litre bucket here. At least 3 kilos/ 6-7 lbs.

I messed up a big meaty saucy sorta deal with onions and peppers and tomatoes. 

Then I concocted one of my very nice white sauces… 

The device I am using is, I dare to say, better than a whisk… I love my whisk and to say that Gracie found a cheap kitchen tool at the mall that is better than my whisk, well, its a pretty big endorsement. It is a good tool and keeps the sauce from being splattered all over the walls… 

Had a good lighting storm recently. Am kinda impressed I managed to grab this shot with my phone…

The boys are unhappy that I chose last week as our annual (its been 3 years) spring cleanup of the shed. We emptied it and washed it out… It was very dirty. We luckily found no nasty snakes or spiders but moved mountains of dirt n ol dog hair. It even smells good…

My glutes are sore. It took 4 days (and I am still not done) but everything is inside and its pretty tidy. And I am sore, sore, sore… And it is raining, so life is pretty damn good. We need the rain.

The weather last week was hot, dry and perfect for a shed clean up.

For a few nights everything was out of doors, sleeping under the stars… 

Cars and bikes and tools n toys… all outside…

Moving back in was a bitch… It was like a huge workout, like moving house, more work than riding long distance. But the result is a clean shed.

Moving back in was a bitch…

Thank goodness for the boys. They did the ladder climbing. So I prove that an ol fart and two strong boys can do a lot.

We moved everything, Maybe 2 tonnes of gear, that is stored above the kitchen area. Cleaned and sprayed and managed everything at altitude. Some of it all came down, was inspected for need or want, and put back up under cover. Funny how very little was disposed of. We simply lifted, shifted and sorted a pile of “stuff”.

Got a good pict of the 57 Indian…

Came across Doktor Willis’ navigational devices as I cleaned. made me smile.

One day, Big Bro, one day… And I look forward to the instruction…

In my family a marble reminds us of my deceased father.  Its a long story but when ever we find a marble we smile, noting the ol Dawg be still around… 

The pie is cooked. The boys honked into it before it cooled so the cheese ran but it turned out great.

For those in “the know” please note I am using Zai’s “vanuatu pot”…

Big smiles

More later

I am sitting in the Tom Bradley Int Airport/ LAX. I have a few more hour to wait. So I sit here in the “lounge” and keep miming occupied and my throat lubricated. Its not a bad place to be…

I’ll try to recount my past few weeks of fun…

Aug 14th, riding out of LA…Aug 15, heading to the Grand Canyon…Aug 16, heading north into Utah…Aug 17, enjoying Utah…18, another hotel room…19, looks like Montana…20th, Camp Eclipse…

21st, Camp Eclipse take1122nd, riding out of Idaho…23rd, into Wyoming…23rd, The green of Nebraska n Iowa…24th, in Iowa…26th, The big-hype fight in Independence…28th… last night with the family…29th… heading south…29th, Morning of the 30th… chasing my shadow…31st, In Colorado…1st of September… the hot highways of Arizona/ California…2nd, last ride into LA town…

Last day of August. I always, all ways like and enjoy the month of August…

So, what I have done…

Rode from Pasadena to Tetonia, ID in six days… 

After Idaho and the eclipse I shot to Iowa… 

Iowa was good.

Now I am riding back to Pasadena… 

I am in Pagosa Springs as I write this. I have been on the rode – off n on – for 20 days now… yee haw… golly I am enjoying the riding.

Today was a good day of highway-time… I left the hotel in Garden City at 830, had a fuel stop within 50miles, then rode a full 100 miles before I stopped again…

I have two types of road-side stops…

1) Refuel only: arrive, take right hand glove off, leave helmet on, refill the bike, glove back on, hit the road again.

2) Refuel, pump the bilges, n have a drink: arrive, take right hand glove off, leave helmet on, refill the bike, park the bike, take gear off, walk inside, pump the bilges, buy a drink n have a pleasant rest.

Today I did a long day, over two major mountain passes, with a decent rain storm heading up to the Wolf Pass… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Creek_Pass …

Wolf Creek Pass (el. 10,857 ft.)

I enjoyed the ride… I took my helmet off, 2) style, once today. I rode n rode n rode…

Met a lengthy delay when an old dude’s truck decided to catch fire on the side of the road… 

The ride through the pass was amazing… 

August is over. I am heading home.

Some picts from the road…

sign says welcome to Colorado…

in the rain…

And life is good.

Much more later…

My weekend in Iowa is over. It has been good.

Spent the weekend hanging with my mother, n brother, n sister, n bro inlaw, and their kids n grandkids. They still live in the town I grew up…

And I really enjoyed hanging out in the neighbourhood I grew up. My sister lives in the house my family was raised in. We moved there when I was 10. They have lived there since about 1978. It is still “home”.

So I hang on the front porch and walk the streets where I was a kid, a teenager, a young man.

It is good.

Take off tomorrow heading back to Pasadena… 

It’ll take 5/6 days, maybe 7 if I take it easy.

After sitting here since Friday I look forward to the highway…

Smiles

In Iowa there is no rules about motorcycles n helmets. Indeed, many of the states I have recently been have no helmet law. Which is very cool. I guess if you are going to risk your life on the razors-edge, may was well do it without a helmet.

This past week… 

I’ll hang here with my family for the weekend and decide Monday which direction I ride.

Personally, my hair gets all tangled and snarled  if I ride no-lid. I also find it hard to see much (even keep my glasses on my face) at 80mph.

But I ride naked. And a bit fast.

This eve I rode from W’loo to Indee in short sleeve and my vest, helmet and gloves. It was still warm at 7pm, but the chill was in the air, and at speed it was brisk, to say the least. I missed my protective gear. My armour.

What does Iowa look like?

Who said Iowa was flat…A very nice old farm house…Look at that, a hill…South of Denison…Not flat…Not flat…Not flat…The biggest triumph dealer in the midwest is in a small place with about 120 residents… My hat goes off to Baxter Cycles in Marne, IA. 

I sit in Casper,Wyoming. Rode out from Camp Eclipse this morn about 730am. Did not ride all that far. A bit over 300miles over maybe 6 hours. First miles on mountain passes so slow going. By the time I hit Casper I was hungry and thinking of doing my laundry.

Had 1 pair of clean socks left. Everything else needed a wash.

So I am fed, hapi and my laundry is all clean. I’ll head to independence, Iowa from here. All I gotta do is follow HWY 20. I should be there Friday or late Thursday.

Over the past several days I have been unable to upload much. Though I have endeavoured to keep the words flowing. I tried to write daily.

So here is a write-up of the ride into and the stay at Camp Eclipse…

But some picts first… And… remember that all road picts do not look the same… They just look like they look the same…

The roads I have traveled have been pretty good. I get a lot of time with very little traffic. I love the lonesome highway. Especially @80mph…

My helmet camera is restricted so very little left right move-ablitiy thus all shots by default are looking down the HWY…

I think I have done 2200 miles so far. Maybe 40 hours of road time. And a few hundred picts that need editing…A hint: look in the rear view mirror in the picts…

Does not really look like much but this is running down a switch-back…. losing altitude running down the mountain but only going 45mph…The long lonely road…Riding in very sensual. Unlike being “inside” a vehicle, I smell everything. I hear a lot, even though my helmet produces a lot of wind-noise. Bugs hit you. Some of them big.

The pine forests offer an olfactory party. I even kinda enjoy the odd dead skunk in the middle of the road. Been years since I smelt skunk…I think I might be getting pretty good at these road picts…. I met some fun people this weekend. The problem is I am terrible with names. This was the kind of gig where we all wore name tags so it was easy to be familiar, just look at their tag. This is a Russian/ Englishman and his lovely daughter Victoria…Victoria and I became pretty good buddies…The tent city as the eclipse starts…Mamma always said to not stare into the eyes of the sun…

But mamma, thats where the fun is…The dusk of totality…

I became friends with the man who owned the land this tent city was erected upon. Ralph is a true cowboy. 4th generation rancher. His wife was a hoot. I met his son n daughter and their families. This was an honest invasion by aliens into cowboy country. Aliens from California, and Texas, and France, and netherlands, and Spain, and England and even the Solomons….

Cowboy Ralph and his posse were enjoying the party (every night), while marveling at the extravagance, but staying quiet about the invasion of aliens from more than a dozen countries.

There was much there to comment upon, from a Cowboy’s percpective. Being small town born n bred I udnerstand their confused complcity.

I Met Ralph the first night and we drank n told lies each night thereafter. I very much enjoyed his company, his family an dhis friends.  I truly hope he takes up my offer and one day visits Australia.

This is a shot of one of the many, very enthusiastic participants at the event. Lucky for Princess Neno Ralf had left his gun in the truck… 

Back dated words….

OK, its been a few days since I updated the journey. been busy. otherwise occupied…

I have sent a few emails since I past posted day3 riding.

But have not managed to get a blog post organised… lets see… Working back wards… I am in Idaho, hanging out, waiting for the big event… The Total Eclipse Of The Sun…

I watched an eclipse when I was a kid. I remember in Boy Scouts, constructing our viewing boxes and going outside, after all the warnings, and looking at the sun as it eclipsed. And no, I did not go blind. I don’t really recall any powerful emotion from that event. My head was in a box and I saw bugger-all!

But I do look forward to tomorrow… for a couple of reasons…

First of course is it’s my 60th birthday (according to modern counting methods). Last year I threw myself a 60th bday party, but that was counting the womb-time as yr 1 and birth date being 1st bday. I know I confused folks then.

But this year is my 60th, conventionally counting, bday. And my present to myself is an eclipse.

Second, I am rediscovering long-riding… In July 2015 I had an accident on the road from LA to SanFran. It wasn’t a “bad” accident, But I tore my left shoulder all to hell. I aborted what was to be a several week trip, less than a week in, and limped back south with a very, very sore shoulder. Over the next many months the condition did not get much better. Pain was a constant companion. My shoulder did not work at all. It got so damn bad I consulted a doctor.

Eventually I brought two Polynesian healers together for about 10 days (in Honiara) and I got quadruple daily treatment through massage/manipulation. It fucking hurt. It hurt a lot. I screamed and hollered and sweated. But a lot of my mobility returned. Since then I have self-treated through constant use. And this long bike ride was going to be a test. Either my shoulder could take it or not.

The first couple days of riding found my shoulder aching a lot. I persevered and now can happily say my shoulder is pretty damn good. In the last two nights of sleep I do not recall waking due to extreme shoulder pain. That is a big plus.

Third is a weird, eclectic, strange, and fun group of people I have met through Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic (VG) project. The idea behind VG is to develop and market “space tourism”. The project has been partially funded by crazed individuals who have been willing to invest a huge sum of money (you can find out on-line how much) into the R&D of it all. To date (actual numbers are closely guarded) there are roughly 600 “investors”. I am one. We call ourselves “Future Astronauts”.

So “Camp Eclipse” is a VG event which I am lucky enough to welcomed to.

And it is very cool.

Last year I used all my selfish muscles and put together the best possible ol-fart birthday party. The party started Saturday afternoon and ended Sunday noon. We had a swing band and various entertainers, and a great meal, and too much grog, and a big-arsed hangover the next day.

This year, because I am really, really 60, I am going to give myself  party that will last for a couple of weeks…

In A Nut Shell: I hit LAX from Brisbane on Friday the 11th. On Monday the 14th I rode into Arizona. Day 2 I rode through Williams, Az and past the Grand Canyon, spending the nigh at Cedar Springs UT. From there I rode the mountains passes to Dushesne UT.

Day 4 started in Dushesne. A very pretty little mountain town. I rode through some incredible mountains passes and switchbacks and ended up in Jackson WY that night. Day 5 saw me ride 191 through Yellowstone from north to south. I spent 3 hours riding at low speed through Yellowstone in terrible traffic. I spent the night in Bozeman, Mt. Day 6 I drove back south on 191 to Tetonia, ID and “Camp Eclipse”.

Day 7, today, is a rest day from the bike and an enjoy day here at the camp. Some intersting people of knowledge gining interesting perspectives and insights… very cool.

So, To catch up quickly I will pull a couple emails I recently sent out…

1) To Hans at San Bis resort

Dude…

How are you?

For an old fuck I am pretty good…

And…

I am more than fucking happy. I have risked my life numerous times today. And the day before… Man. If running fast n slippery on the razor’s edge don’t make you happy, don’t know what will!!!!

Riding and the meaning of life:

Have completed my 4th day of lonely long, hard riding. Been running up the Rocky Mountains south to north from Arizona into Montana. Been a long day through magnificent mountains.

My day is done. I have settled into a “cheap” $200 a night hotel. It is very basic. I am in tourist season, in tourist country.

Ready to find some food. Get some sleep. 

Luckily a decent place for feeding is next to the bedotel… Don’t have to walk too far to get pissed… Thus I sit…

Drinking a very flowery Ale. Brewed locally. I usually will try a local brew, but this one aint getting a reorder. 

Sitting outside as the sunsets and the chills its in. The wind is brisk. I’ll go back soon, I feel like a nice coffee before I bed down… its only 6pm so another beer and a coffee…. The mushroom ravioli with mexican peppers was excellent. 

I am in a cowboy-town, Jackson, Wyoming. Been riding through switch-back mountain roads. Up to 9000 feet, crossing summits then rushing down into the valleys, to 4000 feet in, say 20 minutes or less. Being Swiss you know what I mean…

It is very cool. 

Exhausting riding. 

I’ll be up in the morn and on the road by 9am. It’ll be too cold before that. We are at 6500 feet. Temps very much like the sunny coast.

So I sit and eat my one meal of the day. And get enough sedative to last the night. 

Damn this young-buck shit wears an old chassis out!

Tomorrow will see me run through Yellowstone Park, south-to-north. 

Looking forward to it.

Have traveled over 2000 ks since I started in California. 

I get another couple of weeks to keep this foolishness up. 

SMILE

And life is very good…

Smiles

2) To DB in northern Michigan…

Dok,

I sit in Jackson Wyoming. It’s 6c out so still too cool to ride. Should warm up a fair bit in the next hour or so. So I sit n drink water n watch news before I ride…

I am riding a stock standard Thruxton… a great machine. A tank bag. Heavy riding gear, n bugger all else for 3 weeks. Got to do laundry yesterday so life very good.

Riding the Rocky Mountains from south to north, Arizona to Montana.

Amazing ups n downs n switch backs n no guard rail deadfalls…. very good riding.

I ride today into Montana. Following hwy 191 for one more day. I’ll check into an ad hoc tent city “Camp Eclipse” on Saturday. I need a rest from the bike. A couple of days of no riding and I’ll head east to Iowa. 

Unsure if I will ride north into your neck of the woods. Have taken 5 days to get this far. So not traveling as fast as I can. But the roads are Grand. The riding is Great.

Would very much enjoy a BS session with you but time is going to run out… only get a couple more weeks of this then back to Aus.

And life is good. 

Smiles

So, I am almost caught up…

Smiles

Day #3 finds me in Duchesne, Utah… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchesne,_Utah

What a neat place!. Very happy to be comfortably ensconced in a very cool small town Luxury Accomodation & Suites.

I had a feed in a very cool, small town cafe.  Fucking Home Made Cauliflower soup!!! Then mashed potatoes and beast n gravy. DAMN!!!!

Did I say DAMN!?

I am very happy…

Did I say the ride was epic? Well, at least the last part… Price to Duchesne was killer. Breath taking. Scary. Demanding. Exhilarating… 

Only 55 miles. It took me well over an hour. Highest elevation over the mountain was 9000 feet. The climb up, then the running decent were both cool. Traffic was kind, and what I did encounter I easily got around. Ended up running through some impressive scenery. My darn helmet cam ain’t camm’n so no shots. Bummed but then I never take photos anyway and just cause I got a nifty new cam, well hell, I expect it to work. Foolish me!

And another circuitous day, with not huge distances gained, nor high speeds overall, but mostly very good riding… Up 15 and over on 70 is speedracer stuff. 90 miles an hour easy. Round big sweeping curves through majestic formations at horrifying heights, Pretty cool ride…

I want to talk about HWY 191… Looks like it starts at Agua Prieta, on the US/ Mexican border, and runs north to Morgan, on the US/ Canadian boarder. I was on 191 a bit a few years ago when riding through Utah and into Colorado. Pretty impressive road way… 

One thing that strikes my fancy is that it runs right through Yellowstone Park…

I think I’ll ride through Yellowstone.

I think I’ll travel as far north as I can for two more days. I need to be in Idaho on the 19th. I have booked a tent in the mountains from which to view the coming Solar Eclipse. An eclectic, ad hoc tent city. Should be cool.

I’ll head for Jackson, Wyoming tomorrow, and Bozeman on Thursday. Gives me an easy day’s ride back south the 19th.

This aimless travel is kinda good for the soul…

More later

A great day!

A strange, wandering route. And I end up at a gem of a little place, Cedar City, Utah. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedar_City,_Utah

I ended up on Utah Highway 14, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_State_Route_14

The entire day was cool. Not a terribly long ride, and 7 hours is easy enough, but the country I rode through was worth the price of admission…

First stop this morn was the Grand Canyon… Of course, nothing but a big hole in the ground, but damn! What an awe inspiring big hole.

Didn’t stop a lot today. Not did I get to go very fast. The parks are all slower speed limits. But traffic was kind. I really enjoyed the diverse landscapes. The very best was my last hour today, riding through the cedar forest. The air was scented by the astringent-ish smell of the tress. It was very nice…

Got lucky with the light on this one…

Wide open and endless vistas…

Zoom in… You’ll see a 3-mule-team pulling a covered wagon…

Lakes in the drylands…

At repose…

more later…

Always liked the term “naked” when it comes to 2 wheeled motoring… It naturally appealed to my repressed catholic sense of propriety…..

I sit in Kingman, Arizona. Day #1 of my 2017 naked ride through the highways and byways of the USA. And it has been a few years, eh? Been a few years since I got to long-ride across the US ofA.

Day #1: 

So 5hours over 300 miles. I know, not a record but I am starting slow, working easily into what will be a lot of long hours on my trusty Triumph…

Was in the saddle by 10am this morn. First leg lasted about 2 hours/ 150 miles. Mostly high volume big city traffic. I get in the fast lane and just ride with the traffic. Speed limit says 65mph, traffic running 75 to 80.

So I just ride in the flow.

Once away from the city, once past Barstow and heading east toward Flagstaff, traffic is almost nonexistent. I just cruise at about 85/ 90mph.

The big blue and yellow sign says “welcome to Arizona”. If you zoom in you’ll see I am doing 80mph/ 140kph…

Tomorrow I am going to head north-east from here and go take a look at the Grand Canyon… 

More later…

Sitting in Pasadena. Landed 7am yesterday. Was here by about 830. Was a productive throughout the day…

First and foremost on my list of things to do was to get my Thruxton into be serviced. I had given the bike-place a call from Aus… check out…  http://www.proitalia.com/service/.  If you need a bike or some bike work in the LA area, don’t go further than these guys.

So, Saturday morn and all is well… managed to fight the jet-lag bug yesterday. Was busy all day, had my bike sorted by about 3pm then Connie and I went out in search os sustenance and sedative… we found both at BJ’s… A salad and a pizza and half a dozen glasses of ale and I was a happy camper. Stayed up and organised until about 10pm, slept well and was up and happy by 7am this fine SoCal day.

I know this does not look like much, but one of the things that makes me HAPPY is my Evan Wilcox tins are here and ready to be sent to genius Jim in Aus… yea, right, tins and geniuses… I hear you, what are you on about???

Genius Jim is my britt-bike man in Aus. He rebuilt the 66 

Is working on the 69 Atlas. And has the 52 Triton… 

The aim of the Triton rebuild is to turn it (back) into a truck track-babe. We’ll give the engine a big punch and aim to have on the vintage racing circuit before to long.

The main hold-up on the project was getting the right tanks (tins) for it… I did my research and found that the dude who does the best and the coolest is here in SoCal, his name is Evan Wilcox… check out http://www.wilcoxmetal.com/england.htm.

The gig is this… when you give Evan a call to talk tanks, he tells you straight up that he has 2 years of work on his books. You give him a $100.00 deposit and you get on his list. He’ll build them when he gets to you… So I paid the deposit and waited. Somewhere last year my turn came but I waited a few more months due to “backlog”, and the tins git built early this year. All was complete sometime in April.

So the tins have been waiting for me here for some time. I opened the boxes up last night and had a peek… 

Look nice, don’t they????

More later

I am siting at Brisbane International airport. And I got a ticket to fly… got a ticket to ride too…

As usual, it’s a long story… for now I am content to sit n drink a nice coffee, enjoy the rattle n humm of the lounge where people congregate in preparation for their respective travels.

And Brisbane International is a humming place… a cross roads of Asia and the Pacific.

It is a humming place…

Me, I am just cruising…

Friday August 11 2017, flying to LAX from BNE. Hit LAX is about 17 hours. It’ll be Friday morning there, when I land. So some time travel is required in order to have loads n loads of fun. And fun on 2 wheels, I might add…

I am flying over the big pacific pond to hop on my trusted Triumph and ride. I am looking forward to it… Simply enjoy the long lonesome roads the USofA offers the intrepid 2wheeler. Off the top of my head I expect to pass through: California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansa, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Wyoming, Maybe the Dakotas, Utah, Idaho, Colorado, some of Montana, and Nevada. If I go into Michigan need to add Wisconsin an Minnesota.

So I hit LA Friday morn. I’ll grab a taxi to Pasadena. Wake Connie up. Get into “my” apartment, and start sorting my bike out. It has been sitting for 24 months. Even longer… Was August 2015 when I parked it after my last long-ride. This bike is a new one… I had traded my pervious Thruxton in when I got back from the ride with the Aussie boys. I had traded it in but had never really rode the new bike much at all. Cant really remember but I doubt it has 200 miles on the clock.

So I’ll hit the ground running, get the bike charged and then send it over to the shop to be serviced in the afternoon. All things being equal I should have it back Saturday some time. That means I can ride as early as Monday.

Still trying to decide what my first leg will be. If I can get out early enough I’d be keen to aim for Texas… Been hankering to look Uncle Teddy Selman up. Pasadena to Orange is only 1700 miles… 3 days. Three long days.

Or maybe a quick run up to Missoula to see the Filardi tribe. Perfect time of the year to ride in Montana.

Time will tell. First is the servicing on the bike. Second is a review of time and distances. Third is external needs and demands. Once I sort these things out I’ll know what I am going to do.

I know I need to make it to Iowa. Need to stop by and see my mom in Independence. I would like to do a northerly run into Michigan to see my ol buddy The Dancing Bear. Have a tent in the mountains booked for the solar eclipse on the 21st so that’s a big-un I need to keep track of. My flight back is the 7th of Sept.. So everything needs to be done n dusted within 4 weeks.

Got a new toy I shall be putting to use this trip… A NUVIZ heads up display unit for my helmet… 

It’s a unit that pairs with the phone and does general GPS duty plus camera and music and such. The trick with it is it gives you a “right eye” visual. The map it displays is small, but the verbal directions work real well. I like that it gives speed without looking down at the bike. I have tested it in Aus and so far am pleased with the freedom a heads-up gives me on my bike. As I ride this next trip I will review and write more on this nifty new toy…

To make the NUVIZ work I had to buy a new helmet… My standard “flip front” helmets don’t work too well with the NUVIZ so I went to a full face… Took some shopping but I found one that fits pretty good. Not sure about the graphics on it… 

I first thought it was a spider – cool – but then realised its an ant… which is cool too, I guess…

The lounge has just cleared out. The humm has decreased. Makes me wonder if my clock is wrong…

And life is good.

More to come…

Smiles

I am siting on the ridge above Honiara. Weather is overcast and rainy.  Temps are pleasant. A cool breeze rustles the vegetation. Birds sing.

The sky is hazy. I can only make out a feint outline of the Florida Islands. The seas are flat and grey. Cooking a big hunk of beast on the bbq for this eve. It is smelling great.

The hounds have aggregated around my table. All five of them loiter leisurely. I like having my hounds around me. This is Iowa and Rhett…

Eric Clapton, John Mayal and the Blues Breakers are singing about having rambling on their mind. The hounds like the tunes.

I am preparing to fly back south tomorrow. My time spent in these islands is always poignant, both sweet and bitter sweet. Both fun and frenetic and laidback and luxurious. From a full day of “office work” to a long day and a longer night sitting out on the water watching the stars and listening to the waves.

Every trip to these islands provides another worthy tale. Another story in the ol-skool EPIC tradition.

And I do have another classic “island tale”…

A tale of woe, severe hangovers, planes to catch, transfers from island to island, and very important cargo.

No doubt, many of my faithful readers have indeed experienced similar, noting most y’all have been drunk, delayed and painfully hung-over, if not in the islands – somewhere/ sometime- in life…

The story begins:

A Thursday morn, a 430am wakeup in Palmwoods, Qld, AU. My bags are packed. My trusty 20 year old truck is fueled up and ready for the run to the airport.

It should be easy – but for “The Bruce”.

One of things I really, really like about our place in Palmwoods is that it is not more than an hour and a half from our door to the International airport in Brisbane. If “The Bruce” cooperates.

The only road from door to door is known as “The Bruce Highway”. (remember Monty Python with their Aussie “Bruce” routine?)

Anyway, “The Bruce” is the only viable road to the airport. Of course, you can drive an hour inland, then an hour or so south, and you’ll be about an hour from the airport. Not ideal.

The Bruce is the arterial roadway from North of Brisbane into the city. For all vehicles, persons and pets living north of The City.

When traffic is kind (very kind) you can do the run in a bit over an hour. If traffic is unkind you simply do not get anywhere.

Last November I was traveling home from a trip and it took me 6 hours to do the run. A multiple vehicle pileup had taken place less than 45 minutes from home. Both lanes were completely closed.  I sat in traffic, engine off, for over 4 hours. The dual-lane roadway was a parking lot. I could not get off. I could not turn around.

So, Tuesday morn, I hit the road early. My flight is at 10am, so I am on the road by 6. This gives me up to 3 hours to do the run and still make my flight.

And all is well.

Traffic is not “bad”. I do the run in under 2 hours. Check in and am sitting in the lounge with well over an hour to kill.

The flight was non-eventful. Walked straight out of customs and immigration into the wet-heat of Honiara. Paul is waiting and we are home pretty quickly.

Paul and I are flying to Gizo the next morn so we have things to discuss and a dinner with a friend/ business associate at 7pm. We do a bit of work, play with the babies before supper.

All is good. What could go wrong in my world?

Anyway, buddy Hans at San Bis http://www.sanbisresort.com asked if I could bring up some good meat. On the way from the airport to Tasahe we stopped and bought a full rib fillet. It weighed over 6kgs and cost over 2000 SBD. Its frozen so I set it out to thaw so I can cut it. I’ll take half up to Hans and cook the other half when I get back next week.

All is good.

Time comes for us to head down to the Mendana for a Japanese meal. Our buddy, Clive, is on time so we have a couple beers before supper. Order a big mess of raw fish as an entre, and open a nice bottle of red to breath before supper.

The beer was cold, the raw fish delicious, the Bento Box very good – it went surprisingly well with the bottle of red. We are having fun telling tales and discussing people we know. Basic bullshit/ gossip session moderately fueled by alcohol.

Clive is the guy who is doing the Chokolate here. Check out: http://www.solomonsgold.co.nz/

So we are having too much fun.Clive suggests cognac and chokolate for desert and heads to his room for both.

A friend of Paul’s, Peter, has called. He was at a different watering hole and was wondering when Paul would be done and ready for a night-cap. Paul invites Peter to join us.

So Clive brings a good (if not great) bottle of Hennessey and a selection of his life’s work. We settle into sips of dark-brown-hot fluid and nibbles on bitter-dark-sweetstuff. And time flies…

Paul brought the bottle home as a trophy: 

And time flies by. I have no clue what time we dispersed from the Mendana but the bottle was empty and the chocolate all devoured.

That’s the good news, we had a great feed with grand company topped off by glorious grog… The bad news is Peter is renting a house from us and lives in the compound, so he heads home with Paul and I… where he promptly gets his guitar out and we start having fun… more fun… we can’t let the fun stop… we want fun, more fun…too much fun…

Peter is an eclectic string-tickler with a passion for the blues with a slide on his finger. He is pretty good, sober or drunk.

All is good. What could go wrong?

Friday morn I wake to noise of a family on the move. Paul is rolling his bag to the car, Betsy is making noise with her household of females, we’ll be heading to the airport “soon”. I hear… It is 7am.

I am on the couch. Did not make it to bed. I very little recollection of even getting into my house. My bags though are packed and I am pretty much ready to walk out. A quick shower and I should be good to go… but…

But I feel like death.

It has been ages and ages and ages since I have been foolish with a bottle of dark, hot, alcoholic liquid. I know them all well, the bourbons and scotches and irish and kentucky single malts and french vsops and italian brandys…  I know their lying characters…. Their promise of a sweet mouthful with a double burn as it all goes down with a smokey after burn/ taste. I love good liquor, but imbibe very rarely anymore.

I hear sniggers n snorts in the peanut gallery… yes, my father did say that I’d drink horse-piss if it was 10%, and he was not far wrong – THEN. Nowadays I am a cultured well mannered ol granddaddy. Stop the snort’n…

My hard liquor days have been over for a couple decades. I am too mature and old and smart to fall in and drown in a bottle of hard liquor…

But I feel like death.

It is a well know feeling. That feeling of being poisoned by too much fun. It is a feeling I thought I hd grown past…

All is not well in my world!

I get showered. Cut the beast in half. Put Hans’ in a big double plastic bag and the rest in the refrig. Grab my bag and head to the car where I lay down in the back and try to go comatose.

The effort of the move was too much.My equilibrium is quite unhappy…  I suppress an urge to spew. Betsy gags as I dry retch. I get the window down in time to spit. It was a close call… Betsy had the kid-lock on so I could neither get the window down or the door open… it was close.

But I exert supreme control. I know once I start spewing I won’t stop so I lay and suffer in a harsh state of self control under tremendous pressure.

I KNOW YOU HAVE BEEN THERE BEFORE, SO STOP THE SNIGGERING….

I was a bit better by the time we reached the airport.But no much.  I laid in the car as Paul checked us in. I got up to board the flight. I was carrying my backpack. Paul had the beast and his bag. I spoke little. Kept my feet in focus. One foot in front of the other… one foot in front of the other…

What could go wrong?

I have zero recall of the flight. Once in my seat I crawled into my cocoon of painful illness and woke only when the plane bounced onto Nusatupe.

So we get to Nusatupe, I am feeling ok, but very, very dusty. Paul is laughing at me. Snapping pictures for future reference. We canoe over to Gizo where I promptly climb onboard ICE and continue my recovery. It was maybe 1130 when I headed down the passageway into ICE’s airconned interior.

I slept until about 230. Got up and drained the bilges and drank some water. Shook myself like a wet dog and headed into the office to see about the work we need to get done.

My couple hours onboard ICE were as forgettable as the flight. I was proverbially “dead to the world”.

That’s when I think about the meat. As I head to the office.

Paul and Don are out. I check the refrig in the office. No meat. I check the freezer and find a crocodile. (doesn’t everyone keep a croc in the freezer?)

But no red bag of beast there…

Too much movement was making me feel queasy so I sit.

Don and Paul come back and we discuss the missing meat… we ask and look and hunt, again, and then decide it had been forgotten onboard the plane. A few more phone calls and some checking and we find that the meat is in Honiara. Back at Henderson in a refrigerator. All safe and sound.

Gotta love them islands. You can forget a big hunk of beast in a bag onboard, and its not lost. But its not here either. It’ll come up on a flight “tomorrow”.

I let Hans know what has transpired. I am going to spend the night at his place but now don’t have supper in hand. So I take a bunch of kidding and abuse.

Forgot the meat… He laughs when I say it’ll be delivered “tomorrow”. Yea, right!

We have a quiet eve at San Bis. The restaurant there does a mean chicken fricassee so we did not go hungry. I drank only water and went to bed early.

Saturday was a full day of office work. The meat did arrive on the afternoon flight. Hans was very happy. I had supper up with the family on the hill and did not get back to San Bis. We flew back here yesterday morn.

But the beast that was misplaced was indeed finally delivered. No losses incurred. Very little fallout or negativity… just a killer hang over and another great island tale.

And a good feed to be had tonight…  

Big smiles to all…