The Last Post. San Francisco - New Orleans (3100 miles)

Well listeners, this will be my last post before I sign off. I've enjoyed doing the blog, even if at times it was a labour of love whilst my travelling companion would snooze with the TV on about 15 mins after we had checked in to another very mediocre motel, but that's what we kind of expected. In fact, after a day in the saddle, we could've slept on broken glass. The closest comparison I can think of is the same feeling you get after a full day's skiing. Suffice to say, that although it wasn't physically hard sitting on our arse all day, the buffeting from the wind and concentration required to ride these bikes at between 70-90 mph ensured we were exhausted each night. Having said all that, I found that I missed the routine of getting up and heading off wondering what the day would bring.

San Francisco seems like a long time ago now and I'm grateful to Nutting and Massimo for making it such a memorable trip with many funny and unforgetable moments, but for me it was an opportunity to see a side of America that not many foreigners get to experiece. I also believe that by doing it on bikes we got to talk to and meet more people as opposed to doing it by car. We met so many wonderful individuals along the way and really made an effort to do and go to places that were recommended to us by various locals. That being said, I still be believe we saw the best and worst of what the States has to offer and what impression that left upon us. The main thing really is size. Now I know it's not supposed to matter, but the US doesn't do small. Everything is vast, from the country itself, the scenery, the towns, the trucks, an increasingly large number of people's waistband and of course the food portions. America is quickly eating itself into total obesity. You see it everywhere you go (particularly in Vegas) but everyone is just eating too much and the reason for this is that all fast food restaurants are now substituting quality for quantity. We have now learnt, whether it be a KFC or Taco Bell or Waffle House to always ask for a small of eveything and it will still feed 3-4 europeans, easily. They should shut down every fast food outlet for a year to get people back to cooking a meal and taking exercise. Americans live in their cars and when you experience the distances they cover you can understand why, but a drive through ATM? Seriously, you could get in your car in the morning and not have to get out of it until the evening by which you could've eaten, done your groceries, picked up some cash and rented a dvd or 2. The US is fast becoming a land of extremes between the body beautiful and the body bountiful. That being said it is still the service oriented capital of the world. Almost without exception, everyone we met was engaging, polite and positive about life. It was refreshing from some of the european 'attitude' that we so often put up with. It is a country with so much to offer, I just hope it doesn't get lost under a mountain of fat.

Was this a once in a lifetime experience? As I eluded to in an earlier post, I was very grateful to Karin for letting me do this, but having done it, I'm not sure I'd do it again. However, I would recommend anyone to do it just for the experience but do it with people you know, like and trust. Nutting and Massimo were the perfect companions. I don't remember one arguement between any of us and I'm sure there were reasons for plenty! Maybe I'll do another one with my boys when their older, but in the meantime, having handed back the keys to my Road King Classic, I am secretly quite proud of what we achieved. 3100 miles in 2 weeks and over £3,500 for our charity with more still to come hopefully. And so the adventure ends in New Orleans, a city fittingly with as much character as the city we started out from, San Francisco. As much as I love the US, I can't wait to get home and give my family a big squeeze. I have missed them far more than I thought I ever would so my imminent return can't come a moment too soon but I will leave here with a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. I loved it and I love the fact that it's over. Thanks again for sharing the trip with us and if anyone wants any advice about doing a similar trip it would be to do it, don't give it too much thought and take a pair of spurts with you for comfort!! As a Cowboy we met in Texas told us; "May God put one hand over my shoulder and the other one across my mouth!! Take care y'll and come back real soon you hear.....

With love and thanks to all those who helped, encouraged and commented, William, William and Massimo.

Day 13 Port Arthur - New Orleans (310 miles)

Well, we did it!! We made it to New orleans, approx 3100 miles from San Francisco, without getting arrested, stopped for speeding, crashing (apart from Nutting's small incident) or breaking down. The final leg, the 13th day (eeek), took us via the southern state of Louisiana and close to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico through the swamps. Amazing how the scenery changes over the last few days. Suddenly boths sides of the interstate had trees rather then desert and there were plenty of bridges everywhere. We put the hammer down a little this morning, as long as Nutting was in front. When I take the lead, Trigger seems to develop a lethargy and drops back in a sulk. It's almost as if Nutting doesn't like to adopt the huskey position! Coincidence? I'll leave that up to you.

Given that we've now left Texas, Nutting was suffering from cowboy withdrawal syndrome. I'm hoping that a few drinks on Bourbon Street will put paid to that long face. Maybe he should've had a chicken and sausage gumbo for lunch at A Bears instead of his southern fried chicken. For the uninitiated, a gumbo (as explained to us by our waitress Honey) is like a stew but you eat it with a spoon rather than a fork as it's more like a soup than a stew. Anyway it was delicious and kept me going as the temperature dropped on the road. In fact as a side note, quite soon Europe will soon be taking delivery of a new eating implement which is a spoon with prongs at the top like a fork at the end for all sorts of culinary occassions. It's inspiringly called a Spork. Watch out, it's coming!!

So, New Orleans. The drive in gave us the sense of style and sophistication which was achieved in 20 minutes that the rest of the trip has been severely lacking. In fact, the architecture and atmosphere is almost European. It really is as beautiful as I had imagined, even if I only saw glimpses of it past my travelling partner's huge cowboy kit bags strapped to every inch of his bike. So, we arrived at the hotel, exhausted but happy. It has been an amazing trip with 2 very good friends and a lot of happy memories and a few less happy ones, Pismo beach and Fort Stockton spring to mind. Once in a life time? Probably. Would I ever consider doing something similar again? Maybe, but I think I'd plan it differently with my family's permission first of course. Anyway, I'm off for a well deserved beer with Roy Rogers and if anyone is interested, I'll do a wrap up tomorrow. Thanks listeners for sharing the journey and I hope you've enjoyed the trip as much as we did!! See you all soon and please add any comments or questions you may have about the blog, all are welcome, really!! Have a lovely Thursday and from Roy Rogers, Trigger and myself.

Day 12 San Antonio - Port Arthur (330 miles)

Hi there Listeners! Sorry about yesterday and the distinct lack of blog. It was a great day but by the time we had arrived at the luxurious Holiday Inn, freezing cold, all we had the effort to do was to have a hot shower and go and have the first Margarita we could find. Four or five later, and I'm not a margarita fan, we felt warmer and certainly better. During discussions, Nutting decided that he now had to leave from New Orleans on Thursday back to the UK, so the last part of our itinerary has now had to change to accomadate Roy Rogers. So we have now skipped Houston and gone straight to Port Arthur with a view to being in New Orleans tomorrow. So, after a bleary eyed start and the mandatory trip to a cowboy store for more boots, belts, buckles and t-shirts for Nutting, we set off. I adopted the huskey position and couldn't help but laugh at the size of Nutting's travel bag now loaded with all the cowboy kit. At the beginning of the trip I could see most of his back and head; now he resembles an asian trader with his entire house on the back of his scooter. Poor Trigger, the drag must be enormous.

The 3 things we have to look out most for when riding are:

1. Roadkill
2. Dust, dirt, stones and large insects hitting you at 70/80mph
3. Shredded tyres or tires, as they're called over here.

Dead animals pose more of a threat than the live ones for the time being, but you normally smell them before you see them, and then there's the bugs and stones. I've been hit in the shin a few times by flying stones and it hurts like hell but this afternoon I was hit on the forehead between my glasses and helmet by a big bug at about 80mph. I don't know if anyone else heard my shouting and swearing for the two miles it lasted but I never knew that a bug could hurt so much. If you want the experience, just hang your head out of the window whilst driving at a similar speed and top tip; keep your mouth closed ALL the time!! Finally, shredding tyres/tires. A trunk and trailer roared past us at about 90mph and about 2 mins later one of the trailer tyres starts to disintigrate all over the road. It smells like burning rubber and bits of tyre of all shapes and sizes are spread all over the road. It's a bit like playing a arcade game of trying to avoid the bits of tyre as other cars do the same. Certainly gets the heartbeat up a bit, which is a good thing given the lack of exercise we've taken and the excess amount of crap food we've eaten!!

So, I'm sorry listeners but today we put the hammer down and didn't even have time to take a photo of Houston. Tomorrow is our last day in the saddle so allow me some nostalgia tomorrow as we head out on our last day. Somewhat relieved, somewhat sad. Anyway, more soon listeners.........

Day 11 Del Rio - San Antonio (225 miles)

We went to the Alamo, rode one of the twisted Sisters (the best riding road in West Texas) and had a cup of coffee in Bandera, the Cowboy capital of the world. It was cold today, 55° to 60°, and a lot of tough riding along single lane highways so we were shattered by the time we arrived in San Antonio. This is all an excuse to say that I am uninspired today and will try to be more detailed tomorrow when we pass through Houston.

The journey is now blending one day to the next, more soon listeners..............

Day 10 Fort Stockton - Del Rio (210 miles)

Wow, what a day. I'm not quite sure where to begin; the fantastic riding road, passing through 2000 miles, Nutting riding his bike into the back of our gun range host's truck or shooting a 357 Magnum (probably the most powerful handgun in the world). Overall though, it was possibly the best day we've had so far. We set out from Fort Stockton on a wonderfully sweeping road and for 65 miles until Sanderson, we saw 4 cars pass us in the opposite direction and we passed no cars going the same direction as us. The key to today was to ensure we filled up with gas whenever we could because we didn't want to get stuck out here amongst the biggest ranches in the US. The King Ranch is supposedly the biggest at 1,000,000 acres with 5,000,000 head of cattle just to give you idea of the scale. We stopped briefly to photograph the moment we went through 2000 miles of road ridden, which is further than driving from London to Athens. Bow legs are about 1000 miles away!!

We arrived in Del Rio at lunchtime as Nutting had organised a meeting with our new best friend, Roger Litton. He is a 72 year old, walking, talking all American hero. A former pilot (although he does still sometimes fly for ranch owners) who parachutes, runs 2 miles every day and now wants to take up snow skiing. He is also the President of the Del Rio Gun Club and had invited us to share the range with him. We needed no second invitation, so we met up on the outskirts of town and after a brief introduction we agreed to follow him to the range. Halfway there Nutting is so busy looking at trucks the same size as a medium sized house, he has failed to notice that Roger has now stopped. He brakes too late, given that the bike is now laden down with about 3 tonnes of cowboy paraphenalia, and very gently slides into the back of Roger's truck. Fortunately there's no serious damage to either 'Nutting/Roy Rogers' or 'Trigger'. Roger is more concerned about Nutting more than his truck, Nutting is more concerned about 'Trigger' and I'm laughing so hard, I forgot to take a photo, dam!

A 357 Magnum on a Sunday in Texas. Does it get any better? We shot a few other hand guns, but we were only really there for the Magnum and it didn't disappoint. So, a little in there for everyone today and I didn't even go into the fact that the lovely Massimo finally got home safely after flight cancellations, Nutting's girlfriend quit her job and both my eldest son's front teeth have dropped out but most importantly it is my wife's birthday tomorrow and I'm not there to celebrate it with her, so Happy Birthday my darling and may the next 29 years be as kind to you as the first 29 xxxx!!!

Off to San Antonio and some civilisation tomorrow and hopefully less excitement! More soon listeners...............................

Day 9 Las Cruces - Fort Stockton (310 miles)

Well, here we are in the lone star state! Sunny Texas, which to be honest looks alot like New Mexico. Although as we left NM, I was riding behind the Nut adopting my huskey position, when I thought I could smell the consequences of the rather spicey Mexican meal we had last night coming from in front of me. The smell continued for about 3 miles before I was somewhat relieved when we saw the source. It shouldn't have been a surprise given where we were, but we then passed about 4 miles of nothing but dairy herds. I don't know how many head of cattle there were, but I'm guessing tens of thousands. America doesn't do small.

El Paso was a big disappointment so we drove on to Von Horn for lunch. Here we found Chuy's, a fantastic Mexican restaurant in the middle of a very depressing, essentially ghost town, but, as above, if all they sell is either diesel or fried chicken or maybe it's all in one meal, then frankly it doesn't stand much chance of survival. However, we did meet some other bikers that were interested to hear Nutting bang on about the trip and how he was a 'Vet' (soldier in the widest possible sense rather than an animal whisperer version) and on his way to Miami. They were charming and wanted a photo of us with them rather than the other way round for a change. There's still a strong bond between bikers and this was a good example. Good chat, a few laughs, some stories and a photo as evidence. As an example, we pulled up the other day for 5 mins to take a photo on the side of the Interstate and 3 different bikers stopped to ask if we were ok. Can you imagine a motorist doing that? I doubt it.

We arrived in Fort Stockton and having checked in to the absolutely NOT Quality Inn and worked out we had about an hour to have a look around this historical town before dinner. Once we did that, we tried to think of something else to do with the other 55mins that remained. I went out to call Karin and by the time I came back into the room, there was my travelling companion, who has now morphed into Roy Rogers, standing naked in the room with nothing but his gun belt, guns and stetson on. I've never seen the film, but I'm assuming there's a similar scene in Bareback Mountain or whatever it's called. I suspect I may find it difficult to sleep tonight.

Anway, after a delicious dinner at K Bobs tonight it's off to Del Rio tomorrow. Question is, do we go to church as it's Sunday or a Gun Range and shoot virtually every hand gun known to men? Tune in tomorrow listeners for the answer. More soon...............................

Day 8 Tuscon - Las Cruces (330 miles)

A number of firsts today:

1. Got caught in a dust storm in the desert - not very tasty

2. My first Taco Bell/KFC combo for lunch - absolutely disgusting

3. Riding a motorbike with 50mph cross winds - a little frightening

4. Seeing a grow man totally over excited about a cowboy town - completely hysterical

We decided fairly early on to take a 50 mile round trip to go and see Tombstone, the scene of the famous shootout at the OK Corral, as both Williams are big Cowboy fans. We were up at 6.30am and arrived at Tombstone at about 9am. Amongst other things, Americans really look after their heritage and are very proud of their comparatively short history and Tombstone is no exception. The main street is almost authentic and various members of the local community continue to walk around in period costume, which actually looked quite cool. Anyway, Nutting went completely Cowboy mad. First came the Stetson, closely followed by a tassled jacket, a belt and holsters, 2 x hand guns, bullets and at that point I had to drag him kicking and screaming from the shop before he bought a horse, ranch and some deputies. I have never seen a grown man get so excited about a period of history before. Nutting was running around photographing everything and everyone, telephoning people letting them know where he was and throwing money at anyone who had the word 'Authentic' in the title of the shop. Unfortunately we didn't have time to stay for the 2pm re-enactment of the gun fight, so at least it gives Nutting a reason to go back!

A long day in the saddle as we passed into New Mexico and proper Cowboy country, but what boring countryside. Impressive that it's so big and barren, but thank god for ipod! In these dust bowls, the wind picks up and gusts to the point where our bikes were at virtually 45%. To get a break, we'd pull up next door to 18 wheelers and just sit behind their rig for a restbite before pushing on. First of our 2 big days are now over, thank goodness. The fact that we have to fill up the hogs fairly frequently is no bad thing. We arrived in to Las Cruces, another a typical US border town, and checked in to the Pack 'em Inn or Squeeze 'em Inn or whatever it's called for another mediocre night's sleep. Nutting wants to have Mexican food tonight, only on the condition that I can leave the window open!!

Off to Fort Stockton tomorrow, another 300+ mile day, so better charge the ipod. More soon listeners........................