Ever wanted to meet an Aussie ... or 2?

[2aussies]

Originally Posted by Ally House

If you stretch "Nor Cal" up into Oregon, I'd put you up, throw beer on ice and steak on the grill, and do some riding! If you can't get up quite as far as Eugene, PM me for some suggestions on routes if you wanted to sneak into Oregon far enough to say you did it.

Enjoy your trip!

Oooooooooh Ally you have tempted us ..... Ahhhhh you know what .... lets see if we can make it happen ... We met a guy from Washington DC in Vietnam and did a three week tour with him on chook chasers (trail bikes) so if we can make it up there I reckon we can take you up on your very compelling offer .... Ok even if we make it to your place and our blood alcohol reading means we have to abandon any north bound sensible routes then we may just have to explore some more if your excellent roads!!!!
Cheers

Coxy

[2aussies]

Originally Posted by milestugeau

Sounds like a great trip! If you would like to spend a night or two in Monterey (or more!) we would love to have you. Happy Birthdays! My wife and I recently reached the combined century mark ourselves.

Doug, to quote the Ozzie vernacular , you mate are a bloody legend ! ! The trouble and strife (wife aka Juls) has been saying " Monterey would be nice .... How about if we spend some time in that area ... " etc etc so if you are up for it we would be very grateful to meet you folk and find out more about the great roads in your area.
Cheers

Coxy & Juls

[milestugeau]

The trouble and strife (wife aka Juls) has been saying " Monterey would be nice .... How about if we spend some time in that area ... "

Smart Lady that Juls! PM me with your # and e-mail and I will reply with same. BTW, what will you be riding?

[2aussies]

[quote=milestugeau;385143]The trouble and strife (wife aka Juls) has been saying " Monterey would be nice .... How about if we spend some time in that area ... "

Smart Lady that Juls! PM me with your # and e-mail and I will reply with same. BTW, what will you be riding?[/QUOTE

PM sent

Bikes are:

1. 2009 Black Night Rod Special
2. 2011 Orange ~ ~ ~

[2aussies]

• Arrived in LAX 0545
• Due out on 1230 flight Dallas
• Sweated on standby for 0910 flight.
• Got it !
• Flew over some of the roads we hope to travel over later
• Got to DFW 1430 "a mild 96 degrees"
• .....no baggage...?
• Apparently the boys inTSA wanted to check out my collection of highly volatile Hawaiian snow globes...

And so our bags missed the early flight...

Another lesson in patience..

[2aussies]

http://db.tt/VbRHsXfs
Testing the upload link

[2aussies]

Gday all
Braved the flat plains in the pan handle of Texas, the heat of Arizona and the humidity of San Diego - loving all of it !!!

About to bid farewell to our daughter and send her back to the land of the Canucks tomorrow then back on the bikes

Will be by passing LA as suggested, any help or suggestions for accom/food places in
A) Big Bear
B) Santa Barbera

Any advice Greatly appreciated and looking forward to catching up with Doug and Vincent in monterey and fresno - thanks for all your help and guidance as well as your generous offer to host a couple of Aussies.

Cheers

Coxy & Juls

PS will post more pics when we get reliable wifi

[2aussies]

Day 34 (End of trip) - Just got back to Oz (Australia) via UnZud (New Zealand) - despite many attempts at making on going posts I was continually challenged by my
1) phone/tablet and/or
2) available wifi and/or
3) my (in)ability to make all three work at the same time ... grrr ... so here goes attempt #627 - so I will start from touchdown in Dallas and try to make it more coherent....

From the outset I would like to acknowledge and thank Doug (milestugeau) and Teresa in Monterey Ca., Bill (Sklywg) in Phoenix Az., Vincent (Twistedtrader) and Lorna in Friant Ca. for their generous help, guidance, suggestions and hospitality on our trip - the magic of this forum and the interwebthingy provides the conduit to real life connections with amazing people, great roads and unforgettable memories - Thank You - you guys ROCK .

So for those following this disjointed ride report .....When we last left our intrepid ozzies they had just made it to DFW only to find that their baggage had been held over to be investigated by the curious chappies at the TGA in LAX (we think the x-ray of Julie's bag was just too damn interesting to pass up ... probably the snow cones we smuggled in from Hawaii)


Ride DAY (-2)
Dallas was a surprise bonus - Mark (great guy) hosted us at his place in Downtown Dallas through AirBnB - enlightening us to the surprisingly urbane and cultured Dallas (nothing like the TV Show...) he and his lady took us out - showed us the sites and introduced us to "Grits, Ribs and Mac'n'cheese" at their local saloon where I managed to only just get out without being shot ...



United Airlines arranged for our bags to be delivered to Marks place while we were out to dinner so it was clean clothes and a comfy bed before getting up and looking for additional riding gear (COOL SUITS were a priority!!!)

Ride Day (-1)
Alas we find that there are very few bike shops open on a Monday ... except Strokers ... and according to their website they had everything we needed ... Helmets, boots, glasses, cool vests... the lot .... so as we hadnt picked up bikes yet (it was Monday and all the bike shops are shut....) we rode the train out to the burbs and walked a mile or ten through the dry 110F heat to get to the one bike store that was open in Dallas on a Monday. Strokers....

Lesson 1 - check opening hours of local stores
Lesson 2 - don't assume that just because gear is available on their website that they have it in stock..... (oh yeah we can get it in for y'all by next week...)

So we buy a t-shirt - look at the oversized choppers and go next door to the "legendary" Strokers Ice House Bar.... where we meet a local Texan Bush or two..... The first is Troy Bush - yes Mr Bush is from the same town, no he's not related - but yes he did work for Dubya for many years .... the other "bush" works behind the bar in full Texan safety gear

and confirms that everything is BIGGER in Texas (even though she is originally from California).

In between trying to explain to the former Bush that she is unavailable to join him for a dirty weekend in Vegas even though he has two paid tickets because his "buddy" cant make it ... (I'm betting he will be able to change his two single rooms to a king suite as well...) she wants to get a group shot to commemorate the moment she met some "Ossies"


Evening of Ride day (-1)
Our Dallas hosts actually invited us out again that night... which is surprising in itself and says more about them and their Texan hospitality because there is a real chance I could get us all shot if I dont shut up and stop taking the piss out of the locals...this time they took us to experience some spectacular Tequila and real Mexican food... (I was required to leave a large tip for being me)


Ride Day 1 Intent is Dallas to Amarillo - 360 miles (582 miles) 6 hours of riding .... Yeah... right ... not quite....

The first "real" day of our trip - the plan was to pick up bikes from AMS Ducati - get all the paperwork done and head out of town to Amarillo by 10:30 am .... of course it all went like clockwork .... NOT!!!

Shop doesnt open until 10
Bikes not prepped
Tags needed to be done
Harley still hasn't released the Title for the Orange bike.....
Battery flat in Orange bike
No Gas in bikes
Coxy still has no helmet and the Motorcycle Super store that is "nearby" to AMS turns out to be 10 - 15 mins ride away (apparently that is next door in Texas terms)

Just as well Texas has no helmet law as my first time on the black bike was going from AMS to the helmet shop ... (Juls had been more diligent and ordered hers online before we got there... ) and yes this was the first of many times I got lost ....

When I finally got there I am amazed to find a Pom (i.e. an ex pat Englishman) doing a stocktake - now Poms are pretty ordinary at customer service at the best of times ...but when he is half way through packing up his shop for relocation ... well I dont expect a whole lot .... turns out he is a decent bloke - although he doesnt like Nolan - which I thought I was going to buy ..... anyway several million dollars lighter and 3-4 hours later I have successfully purchased and fitted the following:

1. Scorpion Helmet - convertible from full to Half face with peak - never wore the full one ...
2. TAICHI Mesh Jacket - great flow through - fortunately didnt have to test abrasion resistance
3. Taichi moisture wicking top (2XL) for me (comfort life saver)
4. " " "" "" "" (M) for Juls
5. Taichi skull caps for under helmet -x 2 - still have one... no idea where 2nd one ended up...
6. Biker undies for me - like bicycle shorts and surprisingly comfy with the big "pad"
7. Moisture Wicking Leggings for Juls ( apparently no Sumos in Japan ride bikes so nothing in my size hence why I went with the biker undies)
8. TCX X2 riding boots - super comfy wore them every day on and off the bike
9. REV'IT long boot socks for me - excellent - apparently they help pressurise the flow of blood to your toes ... dunno how it works but I still had both feet and no sign of gangrene so guess they were worth it....
10. SIDI Boot Socks for Juls (as above)
11. Cool vests with arms x 2 (as will become apparent later ....best $50 each we spent ... thanks to Doug for the heads up on this)
12. Dark Glasses for me
13. Clear glasses - used them once - no idea where I left them ...
14. Battery Tender x1
15. Dual Cigarette lighter and USB ports x2 (to connect to battery tenders and power phones/GPS/Comms etc - one works - one doesnt ...but I dont find out until the phone dies in Wichita Falls....)
16. Earphones and boosters - (turn out to be crap and ripped out when we get SENA Comms units in Phoenix)
17. 2 x Ear plug sets - again crap and replaced in Albaquerque with decent ones

and the boulevard cruisers are looking more like "serious" tourers


Note the Bikers Friend x2 and the Kuryakyn Tail Bag -(brilliant - highly recommended) as well as the 2x Air Hawks to preserve nether regions from Numb Bum Syndrome - definitely helped with the Night rod's limited suspension travel.



Just realised this is the WRONG place to post a Ride Report so this story Is To Be continued .... here