Should I Be Surprised?

It's been a while since I've put pen to paper (or fingers to pads), and something's been bothering me for quite a while now. So sorry, for those of you brave enough or silly enough, this is my latest offering for you to ponder!

It's about a pet peeve of mine!

I can’t let the atrocious driving that occurs in Auckland (New Zealand?) go without making a comment any longer!  This has been brewing for quite a while and I think you should all be thankful that it’s manifesting itself as a social comment rather than as an act of road rage. 

I don’t consider it a rant as my opinion for what it’s worth, has been carefully built up over quite a period of time by what I consider to be very astute observations and lots experience on our roads, both city & countryside.

I’m also looking at it through the eyes of both a motorbike rider and a car driver but the same observations count regardless of what you drive/ride. Having said that, as a motorbike rider you do seem to develop a bit of ‘sixth sense’ when riding amongst cars. I think you have to, just to stay alive.

I should say also that I don’t set myself up to be perfect or an expert by any stretch of the term but would say that I have been a victim of many senseless and unnecessary driver actions. I am known as ‘Captain Slow’ with my bike riding friends, a nick name I hope is actually born of affection not malice, but it does give you some idea of my somewhat chilled riding & driving style. This doesn’t mean to say that I am one of those slow, inconsiderate driver/riders that are the cause of a lot of a lot of angst on the road either too by the way, just that I have always enjoyed the journey, not the length of time that it takes me to get there. I do a rather unusual thing and stay within the assigned speed limits or at worst with the main flow of traffic so I don’t classify myself as a nuisance on the road.

I think that many of the worst examples of bad drivers on the road would be on their daily commute. Day in and day out on badly designed and congested roads make it hard to get excited about the trip – you just want to get there. But surely you can make it as pleasant or as enjoyable as you can! You don’t have to turn into a monster behind the wheel and make everyone else’s daily commute as miserable as yours, do you? Just deal with it, don’t leave home so late you are in a perpetual state of frustration and anger to get there, blaming everyone else for your lateness. Get a nice cup of coffee and listen to some nice music, not the amped up angry music that only adds to your already bad driving!

What is it that turns what are mostly I’m sure, normally nice people in raving maniacs as some as they get behind the wheel of a car? Is it the anonymity of being cocooned in a shell where you can become effectively whoever you want to and use this anonymity to hide behind?

Some people are just so aggressive, (and it does seem to be worse with certain types of cars, dare I say European or even utes? Observations would point out Audi drivers to be among the worst! Something about driving this particular brand of car seems to bring out the worst in people? More investigations are pending on this somewhat flawed theory!

These angry impatient drivers must be so wound up and so uptight by the time they get to work you have to wonder how much of their day is going to be in the same vein? How much of their bad driving and anger do they then dump on their fellow workmates or dump on their staff, or just take it out on other poor unsuspecting souls like the local barista or parking warden, (these guys are just doing their job, do you think they would do it if they had a choice?).

I understand frustration in traffic and the daily commute, even though my own commute is only 8kms and in light traffic, but why does it have to affect our psyche as a city of such diverse people. How different would our city be if there were no driving woes or parking woes or people just being polite and considerate? I think we’d be a different city entirely.

In a nutshell, we are appalling drivers. We are on any given day, arrogant, rude, thoughtless and worst of all selfish. Are we born like this or do we become like this as the toll of growing up with all of its responsibilities takes over? I don’t know the answer, I’m asking you!

My lovely long suffering wife who has to put up with all my theories & observances very patiently observed that surely it doesn’t happen all the time? There must be some down time or a calm patch? Sadly it does happen with regular monotony. There would rarely by a day or a commute goes by where I (and I suspect you), don’t see at least one example of bad driving go by, usually more. You don’t have to look far.

Daily I see red light crashes, lane changers without indicating, horns being used to berate some poor motorist who isn’t moving fast enough or merely following the speed limits. Drivers who just couldn’t care less, (you can often tell these by the dents and missing paint on their vehicles and the gay abandon with which they navigate their vehicles through tightly packed roads and car parks with not an indicator to be seen). Audi’s despite their expense don’t seem to even have indicators? Perhaps an optional extra? 

The examples go on, tail gaiters are shocking & prolific. Texters, lip-stick appliers, breakfast eaters, (yes that’s right), coffee drinkers, (nothing against coffee drinkers Willie), smokers, radio station & CD changers, cell phone talkers, the list goes on. This last bunch of ignoramus is appalling in their arrogance. Blatantly driving along with their cell phone up to their ears and in their own world, often so involved in conversation they are oblivious to their surrounding fellow drivers. They would argue that they can deal with both driving & constructing a decent conversation, but one has to suffer. Which would you rather it be? They just don’t care about anyone else, “It’s all about me Jack and you can get just put up with it”. They just take the fine on the chin if they are unlucky enough to get caught, and put it down to a cost of doing business. I often wonder just what type of call is so important. How did they get on a few years ago before mobile phones became the epidemic that they are? I don’t think the planet stopped revolving!

If they are unlucky enough to be caught by the men in blue. Sure as the sun rises if I was to try this I would be pinged on the first time. Which raises the question, where are all the Police cars? They are so scarce on the roads these awful drivers are allowed to get away with pretty well whatever they want. No wonder all the good citizens who actually do remember their Road Code get so frustrated. The only time they seem to show up is when there is an accident and there’s no guarantee that won’t take up to an hour to get to!

I shouldn’t be so hard on them, by and large I think they do a good job. It can’t be easy trying to be everywhere. There just isn’t enough of them.

I might add that speed and aggression is no longer the domain of the middle aged men company car driving specimen either. The prolific rise of the aggressive young female drivers is very noticeably on the rise. They are giving the young men a run for their money! They push their little European and high powered Japanese cars along the freeways weaving in and out to get the jump on the slow cars in front of them, often only ending up one car length in front of where they were! I wonder if they notice that? Perhaps they are prepared to take the ‘swings & roundabouts’ to this method of driving?

Hhmmm, I’ve just reflected on what I’ve written and extend to you my humblest apologies. It has indeed turned into a rant despite my stating that it wasn’t going to be so. I’ll call it quits now but I have so much more to share! I’ll have to go that at a later date, sorry in advance.

Until next time when I promise I will post a move uplifting and positive post!

Captain Slow (aka Dave)

USA Travel - Technology

April 2012


I can't finish this blog about our travels around the USA without saying a word about how technology makes or doesn't make a difference to travel!

How would this trip have been different say even 20 years ago without any technological advances?

Just in case there are any of you that didn't know, I like technology! Something to do with boys and their toys some would unkindly say.

Of course we would have completed the trip, (people did travel 20 years ago!), but it would have been different. Getting around we would have used good old fashioned hard copy fold out maps. Fine in a car with a navigator I might add but not too crash hot on a bike. You would have to try and memorise the route, a technique that failed miserably with me. Might just be my ability to move the necessary brain cells!

My Kiwi GPS

I know the Internet was around then but it certainly wasn't as sophisticated as it is now, so searches would have been more rudimentary. You would for instance have used ordinary phones to phone and make reservations if you are the 'phone ahead' type, who likes to know where they are going to be putting their heads down at the end of each day.

I believe the roading system has always been quite well marked in the USA but the cities have got bigger and faster so the turnpikes, overpasses and junctions have got more complex and you can go around them a lot faster. Faster navigation is required.  Off these roads you definitely need artificial guidance if you don't want to waste valuable time.

We were doing a highly mobile motorbike journey with only time over breakfast or down time at the hotels or motels at the end of the day to sort out the next days route and stay. We only 'winged' it on couple of occasions as it happened that worked out OK although a degree of luck was involved.

Things I consider as essential (in order) for a journey of this nature are -

GPS - I will never ever ever go to the USA again without one of these devices. It would have made my first days in LA before Nev, Phil & Murray arrived, soooo much easier! I would have found my way down to Huntington Beach and back to the Custom Hotel in plenty of time and would've been at the hotel to meet the boys when they arrived. Instead of arriving late, tired and with a huge headache. I would have found The Rock Store and back through Malibu much more efficiently. I knew Phil was bringing a GPS and at the time was quite happy to just slot in behind him and the others and use his. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. By Tucson I'd had enough and Nev & I tracked down a Garmin Nuvi50, (with free lifetime map upgrades!). What a difference! The only problem then was watching the battery life as it was supposed to be plugged into a 12V supply. I switched it off on the long journey stretches and turned it on again coming into the cities, that did work but it died on a few occasions when we really did need it!

We could have used the iPhone maps function as this is a good quality mapping app on the phone. But! Roaming data is very expensive while overseas and the cost of doing this would have been prohibitive. The few times I did need it in desperation, and turned it on cost me dearly. Whereas once you bought the GPS data was free! I have a $310 Vodafone bill for this month. Not big by some peoples standards but it is by mine. Perhaps one of the hidden cost of travel?

BlueTooth - This was for in our helmets so we could talk to each other. We had this  set up before we got to the USA and it was invaluable. I lost count of the number of times it got Nev and I out of trouble particularly with the interstate and freeway intersections. Only having the one GPS, I was relaying the directions to Nev if he was in front and just letting him know where I was going when he was following. Also if we ended up taking the wrong exit off the motorway or missed a green traffic light we could stay in touch, so not lots of stopping and trying to talk over the noise of the bikes and traffic. The blue tooth unit had a range of 1 kilometre (roughly line of sight), which was good. We certainly stretched it's capabilities on more than one occasion. These were a good quality unit although Nev was a bit miffed when his little aerial cover fell off! Mr Mciver ended up fashioning one out of a hotel pen. 

iPhone/iPad - Well Smart Phones a! Where would we be without them? The iPhone could have well been on top of the list if I was in NZ and using my usual data for my plan. But as mentioned the cost is prohibitive when on 'roaming'. I know I could have bought a temp USA card and used their local telcos but there is still a significant cost involved with this and it would have meant swapping the SIM cards over all the time to check for messages and texts. We used WIFI where ever we could and there was only one cafe that refused us. I used the camera on my iPhone more than I used Pinkie (yes I have a wee pink camera called Pinkie everyone!). The photos I took on my iPhone went to my iCloud to the iPad so that I could load them into my blog!

Well that didn't work. NB - If I had known that iPads not having or using 'Flash' would have effected the ability to upload stuff to the web I may well have bought a Tablet which does have Flash. Anyway such is life, the iPad does have some other good features.

Phone calls were still made and texts sent and received, albeit a bit more expensively but where it really paid off was using the apps that make accommodation so easy.  TripAdvisor is the main App that we used and it is a free App to boot. We trusted the star ratings out of 5 because they were rated by people like you and me, just ordinary travellers. Not travel professionals or the hotels themselves, just you and me. We used to read the reviews and see how many 'Excellents' there were or how many 'Terribles' there were. After a while you picked up a 'feel' for the place and with TA's help you made informed choices. We didn't get it wrong which is great. The one place that were disappointed in was the motel at Twenty Nine Palms, which we didn't make on TripAdvisor! You can also search on how much you are prepared to pay. We also used it for places to eat and sights to see. Peoples honest opinions were a great guide.

I wrote a couple of reviews with places that I felt strongly enough to say something about, (for the good). The more people that give reviews the more accurate the App becomes.

Such a good app and it is world wide so I fully intend using it in New Zealand & Australia. Only one annoying thing, the iPhone TripAdvisor App showed the prices in English pounds while the iPad showed the prices in US dollars? I couldn't find a way of adjusting this?  Go figure!

Still on the iPhone/iPad, the other function we used with gay abandon was of course maps. This was invaluable when sorting out our next route for the following day. We only did this while using WIFI, (which is why we appeared to spend so much time at MacDonald's and Starbucks, coffee had nothing to do with it. So handy when working out mileages and travel times. Something a normal map would do also but would take you so much longer and would not be as accurate.

Yet still on iPhone/iPad advantages was of course Facebook which was handy for uploading photos too because I couldn't do it onto the blog because of Mr Apples reluctance to make it so. Also my wee conversion program for mileage/kilometres, time zones times for local time, (remember our time was always changing across the states so it was hard to keep track when you're so mobile), temperature from Fahrenheit/Celsius, gallons/litres and quite importantly currency. Always handy to convert US dollars back to New Zealand dollars to find out what the true cost of things really were. NB - With the exception of food and petrol there weren't a lot of bargins to be had. When you converted items they were in fact quite similar to NZ prices.

So there you have it. My humble opinions on travel (on motorbikes) in the USA. Rightly or wrongly, it is how I saw the USA.

For all of you who persevered with reading the blog, thank you. I was writing it in the end as much for me as you as it will serve as a great reminder of a great trip!

Nearly 4,000 miles or 6,450 kilomotres in distance.

No accidents except when the universe conspired against Nev.

Only one afternoon that we had to wear wet weather gear.

Nev & I are still talking to each other at the end of the trip.

Would we do another one?

In the blink of an eye!

USA - The Driving

April 2012


Well, where can I go with driving in the USA, or should I say riding!

For those of you who remember my second day in Los Angeles you may recall what an experience it was for me? Or not! But it was!

Looking back I realise that a big part of it was simply because of my lack of geographical knowledge. If I had known where I was going, I'm sure it wouldn't have been quite so bad. For those of you who think, 'Ahh hah, he deserved what he got, taking on LA and thinking he was going to win' I just want you to know I did study the map like you had to do in the good old days! Two things though, I was on a bike and you cannot spread a map over the passenger seat and LA is just so big, the distances just don't compute in a Kiwi's head, well this Kiwi boy's head anyway! You know you have to go down the I-405 for a few miles and it always seems like you've been on the 405 for ages, but you've still got 20 miles to go, or more. So you see something vaguely familiar on the exit signs and think, that's me, and off you go! You're no where near where you wanted to be. All this and you're remembering to ride on the right side of the road on an unfamiliar motorbike.

Anyway, that's enough justification from me.

Driving and riding in the USA is different to New Zealand. The speeds are faster, the cars and in particular the utes and pick-ups are bigger and people are wanting to get somewhere fast. For them, they are familiar with the roads.

They are very polite though. On a couple of occasions that may or may not have had something to do with navigational miscalculations, and needing to get across a couple of lanes fast they will pull back in let you in. It had nothing to do with the panicked look in my eyes, rather perhaps they understood because they have all been there at some stage. All this is done at pace. I had no horns used in anger against me and I didn't use my horn once. I couldn't even tell you what it sounded like. I did wonder as posted in one of my earlier blogs how much this may have had to do with the possibility of weapons being present or the fear of road rage incidents. I'll never know.

I do think though that speed limits are put there just a a general guideline because no-one sticks to the limits. I was told by a American driver that the general rule of thumb was the posted speed limit plus 5. Hah, right! I took this guide and stuck to it, but still had cars going past me like I was running on 1 cylinder. This included Highway patrol cars, sheriffs and Police! The limit plus 5 my hat!

The freeways and highways are well patrolled though. When my bike desided it didn't like the comment I made about red bikes being inferrior to black bikes and decided it wasn't goin to put up with these insults anymore and just stopped working 50 miles out of LA, it didn't take long to attrack the attention of the Highway patrol tow wagons. He just wanted to make sure Nev & I were OK and posted a yellow notice on my bikes arial so that all subsequent CHPs passing knew that I had been checked and that things were OK. We watched that little yellow sign blowing in the breeze on the side of the freeway for 3 1/2 hours! Such is life.

You do see quite a bit of debris on the side. More alarming is the amount of tyre rubber that has shredded off worn truck tyres. I sure wouldn't want to be behind or alongside a truck when that happened, it could take your head off.

The Interstates and freeways surfaces are either concrete or blacktop. I preferred the blacktop, as they were smoother. When the concrete surfaces crack or are damaged, they repair them with tar. Either running with the road or across it. On a bike this is not good. When the surface is cold in the winter or mornings, the tar makes the bike wheels 'twitch' as they slip a bit. When it is hot as in summer, the tar makes the bike wheels 'twitch' as they slip a bit! It makes for interesting riding when you're giving the bike a bit of a nudge along! Add to that mix the tyres on the bike having a bit of a flat spot from the straight riding and you can have a ride that always entertains and always gives you something to think about.

The other thing that unnerved me anyway, was the first few times that I went through a red light! When turning right you are allowed to do this unless there is a sign that says you can't. One of the first few occasions I did this there was a LAPD patrol car sitting over the other side of the intersection. That would be right, I get to do this for the first time right in front of the law. I closed my eyes and just did it! And guess what? It was OK, there was no siren or flashing lights!

It was quite funny, I had just picked up the bike and went through my first few intersections, I was doing fine and I was just riding along thinking hey everybody, look at me, I'm doing it, I'm riding on the roads in LA - USA! I laughed quietly to myself, probably just as well no one will know what is going through my mind, you look like a dork!

The intersections with stop signs also took a bit of getting used to. It is a case of first in first to go. You pull up to the stop signs, these can be what they call a 3 way, 4 way or as encountered in Carmel-by-the-sea, a 5 way! If you are the first one there you get to go first, second there, you go second. It works! I did wonder what happens if someone doesn't do it as they are supposed to, how would you prove it when it came to the blame game? I'm not sure that you could, I suppose like here in NZ, it is your word against theirs. Let the insurance companies sort it out.

The speed limits I think are well signposted. They take you up and down the speed range in gradual increments. Coming off the open the road they take you from 65mph (eg), down to 55, then 45 and often straight down to 25mph with going through shops where there were pedestrian crossings.

Pedestrian crossings had really cool flashing LEDs when you pushed the buttons and stayed flashing until you had crossed.

The speed signs then took you back up through the range when leaving towns. I was hard to get it wrong and I guess the flip side of that is that it is hard to argue against if you are unfortunate to get it wrong and get caught. I found the road well marked and easy to understand.

The GPS, bought out of frustration and sanity reasons was really good, it told you what lanes you had to be in and when to turn off the freeway. Going through town it was great in that it told you what the speed limits were whereever you were. Hard to get it wrong, or so you think. I managed to find some little chinks in it's armour but that's another story!

The interesting bits of roads with actual corners and stuff, interspersed with long straight boring bits made this ride through 5 states a very enjoyable experinece. One I would repeat in a heart beat.

USA - The People

April 2012

Well - some thoughts on our adventure in the USA.

These are only my observations and please don't feel compelled to read them. They are neither right nor wrong, just my humble observations.

Firstly the people! 

Actually Americans aren't hugely different to New Zealanders or any other country for that matter, but you all knew that didn't you!

However the sheer scale of the country and size of the cities has to make the psyche of the people a little different, doesn't it? The cities in particular I found very fast paced. I guess if you actually live there you find a more relaxed niche to live in but from a visitor's perspective the pace makes the people seem a little detached, a little more remote, and seem to be always focusing on some future event. They seem to find it hard to be in the 'now'. This may be more true of Californians perhaps.

Everybody seems to be in a hurry to get somewhere, maybe that's symptomatic of the distances and just how spread out everything is, it is after all a very mobile nation. They almost seem to be chasing something? Some unkind people would say that that would be the almighty dollar but I'm not sure I agree with that.

Not to say that they aren't friendly and helpful, I certainly found them so, but it seems sometimes to be a little superficial. You are just another number, sometimes that changed when they heard your accent, (yes we do have one)!

Side note - You could tell they didn't know where New Zealand was by the way they said 'Uh-huh'. I never raised it, they always asked where I was from because I believe they really wanted to know. I didn't want to embarrass them by putting them on the spot so I never pushed it. I did however always make sure that they did know we weren't part of Australia.

If something interested me and I bothered to get past the initial veneer I ended up having some wonderful conversations with them. I met some really nice people. You have to push them a little bit to get to the interesting stuff like their opinions. They don't 'let you in' easily. One work colleague who spent 2-3 years in the USA told me that it was close to a year before they got their first invite to a BBQ at some people's place, who had over time become friends. I could see that being the case. Unless you're a biker, as that seemed to break down quite a few barriers.

There also appears to be bit of a 'fear' factor as well? Safety is an issue. The remoteness they display kind of offers them a level or sense of security where if they don't have to let people 'in' they will be a bit safer? It's almost like they have a little bubble around them and they can hold people at arms length. I saw quite a few examples of this when on my bus journeys. But in fairness, this could happen on buses in NZ as well? I don't catch buses back home so I don't really know. For example I saw a black lady perhaps in her forties, who got up from her seat while waiting for a bus at the bus stop and went around the corner to wait when a young (black) man sauntered around the corner with his hoodie up, and sat down at the same seat. When the bus came she waited until the last minute then came back around and hopped in the bus. She choose who she sat next to and it was another black lady. She was clearly intimidated.

I did wonder if this was due is some part to the gun culture that is alive and well in the USA. You really don't know who has a gun on them and who doesn't. Perhaps you have to assume that everyone does or could have one on them. It doesn't seem to take much to get a gun licence and this is for hand guns also bear in mind. Talking to Roger (the ex-cop from San Francisco), he did define that most gun agents in the USA don't like it when Californians buy their guns from out of state, as there is a much more complex paper trail to be done. They will avoid it or just refuse to sell them a gun. Californian gun laws are much tougher, but not impossible.

Younger people didn't seem quite so afraid but this could be the bravery and naivety of youth! It's not like like I was in a bad part of town. There seemed a even mix of white, black and Hispanic races in my immediate area which was Westchester. Perhaps this is so for Kiwis also but I think as a general rule we walk the streets in Auckland anyway a little easier. You might disagree.

Apart from my mapping error on my first day when I inadvertently ended up riding through Watts and East LA, I felt quite safe. Even then I was too ignorant to know I wasn't in the best place to be although looking back I had plenty of clues.

Sometimes American people working in shops and garages quote the 'have a nice day' a little to easily. I love it when they say 'have a nice day' at about 7-8PM at night! This is a little more true for Californians. There does seem to be a difference between Californians and other states.

I don't know whether the economic downturn is having an ongoing effect because I've got nothing to compare it to but certainly in some of the smaller towns we went through in states like New Mexico and Utah, Nevada there was evidence of the harsh reality of economic downturn. Lots of empty shops boarded up and businesses that were clearly struggling. People in the dinners talked about better days and how the government is stuffing everything up. I didn't get a feel for the Republican/Democrat thing but you are either in one camp or the other, and for Obama or not. A bit simplistic maybe but I was an outsider looking in with a self-admitted lack of knowledge on the subject.

Americans are extremely patriotic. I bought one of the car magnets that I was seeing everywhere on the rear of peoples cars. It was a tied ribbon that was the Stars & Stripes and text that said God Bless America. I bought one for our tree at work, where people put tacky items from their holidays and destinations. I found it tacky but Americans do not. All small towns that we passed through have the Stars & Strips flying from tall flag poles and many shops and schools. Even some Harley riders have USA flags flying from their bikes, and flag patches adorn leather jackets and jeans.

Sometimes it looked a bit like a country under siege where everyone unites to fight the evil of terrorism. Nev laughed when I said I felt every black Suburban with tinted windows that went past us was either FBI or CIA. My friend Roger from Oregon laughed also and said that they probably were! This humour fed my paranoia!

Our petrol stop in Dixon provided an interesting sight. Two large buses with blanked out windows with Dept of Homeland Security on the side were parked in there just having refuelled. Big uniformed men were walking around the place with the usual weaponry and heavy utility belts hanging off them. I for one would not have given them any cheek. I did wonder what was inside and where they were going? Nev thought perhaps they were transporting prisoners but I wasn't so sure that's what DHS was responsible for? Perhaps it is?

Recorded announcements at LAX announced that all travelling military personnel went to certain gates for speedy processing, and a big thank you from the American people and we salute you! This message is broadcast perhaps every half hour to all 4 terminals. They do believe that God will defend and bless the USA and yet have cut God out of so many other facets of their lives. Prayer time at school etc...

Anyway, I liked the people. With two exceptions of blatant rudeness I only experienced politeness, helpfulness and humour. I think the average American on the street is quite distant from American foreign policy and ultimately not responsible for it, in a country of 313 million people there is little they can do to change anything except once every four years, and then it just comes down the the economic policies of any given President. They are more concerned with their internal economy and their quality of lifestyle than being the defender of the downtrodden in a global sense.

They are a lot like you and me, and that's good enough for me.

A Silly Grin In LA - #20

Monday 23 April


It felt a bit odd waking up without the usual trip planning ahead of us. With the exception of Sedona where we stayed for the extra day we had been on the move everyday. Our trip was at an end though I was looking forward to one last ride to Santa Monica for some shopping. As much as I would miss the adventure of our trip and the excitement of visiting new places each day, there was something nice about home and New Zealand. I wanted to see the green grass, smell the fresh air and taste the sweet water.


Kelly on reception recommended 3rd Avenue at Santa Monica as her 'preferred place' to go shopping to look for those last minute shopping items.


I was also looking forward to my usual Oatmeal and coffee at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf so Nev and I trotted off there for the last time.  Logging in like a pro & the locals, we checked for any last minute emails and messages. Yum, loved my Oatmeal and coffee. I kind-of was savouring my last experience of this.


Back to the hotel and checked with the girls that our late book out arrangement still stood. It did.


On the bikes and with the aid of Mr GPS we went to 3rd Avenue. Parked in our first car park, fully appreciating the amplified noise of my beast. We wandered up and down in what was obviously a very up market shopping area. My daughters would love this place! We visited the Nike store and Nev wanted to check out iPads in the Apple Store. That was really busy with lots of assistants in blue and yellow t-shirts. Each specialising in their areas of expertise. Nev is going to consider his options.

A shop sign that appealed to my sense of humour!

Made some purchases, had our obligatory coffee and muffin and people watched for quite a while. Again I am amazed by the number of homeless and destitute people there are - even in an area like this. You see them all over the place, one having what sounded like an interesting conversation with himself in a shop window. There was an Irish busker singing away, quite an old chap. You wonder why he had to, perhaps he just liked singing in public?


Well, our final ride. We headed towards Bartells route 66 to drop the bikes back, stopping to top up the tanks and for me to take the GPS RAM mechanism off the bars.


The store was supposed to be closed on Mondays but as they were starting to get into their renting season business was picking up and some of the staff were in to arrange some people with their bikes. Glenn was there.  I did wonder if he came in just to make that his own bike, (mine) was actually OK. He really is a chilled out character. Nice guy.

My last look of my bad-boy bike! I'm going to miss it!

He looked at Nev's bike and made a tentative estimate of what the necessary repair costs were going to be. They will have to work it out in much more detail late via emails. We still hoped that Nev's insurance company was going to cover it.


With some reluctance I turned my back on my reliable horse and walked away.  Just walk away! I had a wee tear in my eye.  I avoided asking Glenn if it was for sale and if so, what price?


Paul was due back any second having run some people to LAX and was going to take us to our hotel. He did and it was a fast trip in a big RAM pick up.  Sounded nice.


He said see you next year and shook our hands - and just like that our trip was over! Done!


We wandered into our room and freshened up for the last time and for the trip home.


Closed our door after leaving our last tip for the cleaning staff. We waited for the Custom Hotel shuttle to pick us and some other hotel guests up and take us to LAX.


Nev got dropped at Terminal 1 and I got dropped at Terminal 2, only to find out that only business or premium customers for Qantas used that terminal. I walked to Terminal 4. Hah, LA was having one last laugh at my expense. Anyway, I booked my luggage through after finding out that I was 3 KG over my allowance. The nice lady behind the counter gave me a little 'free' bag and would let me carry on two hand luggage items, but I had to find some weighty items to off load. I know, my bike boots and GPS holder.  Perfect, that worked. Boy the boots really were quite heavy!


I walked with my two cabin items back to Terminal 1 to catch up with Nev.


We had a bite to eat and a couple of beers. As his flight was leaving two hours before mine he was keen to go and see if Phil was booked in and catch up with him. They were on the same flight. So that was that. I saw the Air New Zealand plane waiting to go. It made me feel quite proud, just a simple thing like seeing a bit of home in a foreign country makes your chest puff up.  Funny but true.

I had 3-4 hours to kill and chose to do that by people watching, trying to work out who the mad bombers were! I also read and caught up with doing some of the trip blog.


Time dragged by but eventually it was time to go.


My shoes made their last step off American soil and my journey in this amazing country was at an end.

A Silly Grin In LA - #19

Sunday 22 April

The bikes were wet - caused by heavy fog.  None of the locals looked surprised!

Roger & Wendy were packing up and leaving as I wandered outside yawning and scratching... They had a long way to go.  Wendy signalled me over, it was to help her push her Harley backwards out of the packing space. She was a tiny wee thing. She had a big grin saying I knew I should have backed her in last night but just couldn't be bothered. We wished them safe travels.

Yay, another free breakfast awaited.

It was a bitter sweet day today.  It was going to be our last full day of riding back into where it all began.

We had decided to get to Santa Barbara for brunch and then head down the Pacific highway and turn up into the Canyons for a ride to The Rock Store.  It was a Sunday and a nice day and that's usually when the bikes come out for a ride and catch up with other bikers.

First a stop at Santa Barbara for brunch. The ride was cool with fog present for much of the ride to Santa Barbara. We were warm enough though it was nice just sitting at a steady 65mph. Enjoying our last proper ride. I'd got quite attached to my bike and would miss it when I hopped off for the last time. Again, I had underestimated the fuel situation and when the wee LED came on I started looking for a garage. They are never there when you need them. Eventually we came off the freeway and into a small town that was hosting a car show, old school cars. Some beautiful beasts there were. Lots of bikes in town also, the town for some reason seemed excluded by the fog and was quite nice in the sun.

Onward - Mr GPS bringing us nicely into Santa Barbara and straight to the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Where using their WIFI, we checked our progress and sorted out the route ahead.

We had already decided we would end our trip where it all began, at the Custom Hotel, so we didn't have to worry about sorting out accommodation. We liked it there and it felt nice and familiar. By doing the Rock Store today and then getting into LA we could spend Monday morning finding somewhere to do last minute shopping before we had to drop the bikes off.  So today was going to be quite chilled really.

Santa Barbara was certainly a notch or three up from Santa Maria and could see why the lady had recommended it to stay in preference to SM. It was nice just taking in the views and enjoying the ambiance. People were very laid back and just enjoying their chilled Sunday morning.  Jogging, waking their dogs and calling in for a coffee and muffin.  The Coffee Bean was very busy.

We watched one particularly attractive lady walk past with her wee doggie, Nev sighed and said 'Yip, three weeks is a long time isn't it'.  I knew what he meant and said very firmly to Nev that I wanted to know the very instant that he found me even a little bit attractive! We both laughed with people wondering what the joke was! After a tinkle it was time to throw the leg over our horses again.

Again, it was nice just enjoying the ride as we slid in towards the big smoke of LA. The bikes just humming along. Nev was listening to Joan Jet singing I love Rock and Roll and AC/DC on his bike stereo and I could hear it through his Bluetooth unit in my helmet. I said I never figured you for a AC/DC fan and he replied that his daughter had loaded the CD for him. That explained it.

Riding down towards the Ventura highway I was again running low of fuel and again had trouble finding petrol stations.  Nev made the observation that once you have fuelled up then you only see garages.  Murphy is alive and well in the USA too apparently.

Sending us northward on the 101, and away from the coastal No.1 highway Mr GPS obviously choosing the fastest way rather than the shortest distance. We rode in the Canyon area and eventually onto the Mulholland Highway. We found The Rock Store and it was in full swing. Bikes parked everywhere and more coming and going all the time.  I wasn't sure if it was going to be open because of the owner passing away, but it was.  And it was busy. I bought a pop drink and some T-shirts.

Ahhh - a great Sunday ride!

Moi at The Rock Shop!

We just watched for quite some time, with some interesting bikes in the parking lot. Jay Leno didn't come this Sunday, or at least not while we were there anyway. All sorts of bikers there, the show-offs, the posers, the weekend cruisers. Young ladies who obviously knew how to ride, big ole boys, young guys, tourists, (I guess that was us). Couples, all sorts!

Great paint job!

Loved this one!

Hoping I wouldn't stall, we eventually moved on out and back down the canyon roads towards LA.

Back onto the freeway I tried to conserve the battery of the GPS and turned it off for the long stretch before we would need it again.

Turned it back on, got it sorted and promptly missed the turnoff we needed! Man....  Got back onto the freeway and around and around we went. I was starting to feel a bit stressed and Nev went respectfully and wisely a bit quiet, just waiting for me to work off my frustration!

It was like the LA freeways were just reminding who was boss and having one last crack at this rookie tourist that thought getting a GPS was going to solve his problems.

Just when I really needed it Mr GPS said I'm outta here and shut down! Why oh why don’t these bikes have a plug for a 12 volt plug? Nev & I were free-wheeling it again and having learnt from past experience you can just ride around for hours looking for familiar roads, so when we saw a Starbucks, in we popped.

One coffee later, we found we were on a road that should have been familiar and in fact only 4.5 miles away from our hotel.

My mood got progressively better and Nev sensed it was OK to start talking to me again. Hehe... He really is a good mate to ride with, we get on well together.

Pulling into The Custom Hotel was like coming home and felt comfortable and good. The girls behind the counter are great, friendly and greeted us like long lost friends and explorers!

They put us on the 10th floor this time and we had a great view of LAX. The familiar tails of Qantas and Air New Zealand easily recognisable. There something that makes you feel proud of New Zealand when you see the Koru standing out, (well to Kiwis anyway!), among the rest.

We unloaded the horses and freshened up. We caught our by now familiar $1 Big Blue Bus down to Route 66 to retrieve our suitcases and Nev's cardboard box. He correctly guessed that his original cardboards box had mysteriously disappeared and they had to find him another one. There was a bit of discussion about his poor bike and what the steps would be to sorting that particular issue out. They would do a ball park figure of the damage but wouldn't be able to do it properly until Bartels HD could look at it.

Returning we starting moving our stuff back into the receptacles that would transport our stuff safely back to NZ.

We went down to Deck 33 for a supper and a beer or two.

It was great to be back but not great to be back.

We had our last beer with dinner and just chilled for a while, reminiscing about the trip with all the highs and a couple of lows.

The view from our 10th floor window - of LAX

Upstairs and more packing – tired – bed – nighty nite!

Last sleep in the USA

A Mild Hog Note

For all of you still brave enough (or silly enough) to still be reading - I have been going through and adding photos to past blog entries. So if you really have nothing to do you can skim through and look at them!

Added advantage is you don't have to re-read the blog!

Even though I'm back in the land of green grass & good coffee I still have one last blog to put in and then a summary of the trip broken into

USA - The People
USA - The Country
USA - Driving
USA - Technology

I totally understand if you don't reach it that far!

Thank you for all the kind (sympathetic) comments to the updates, it was kind-of nice to know that some people were reading them...

Dave