Month: June 2017

Well firstly, we dodged the bullet! That is, apart from for about ten miles on day two, it didn’t rain at all while we were riding the bikes – had two or three wet nights but nothing in the day. This was just as well given the HD dealer forgot to give us the promised waterproofs and the waterproof trousers I took blew away on day two after me insecurely fixing them to the bike.

Returning the bikes to the dealer and getting to downtown Chicago proved a nightmare. Firstly we had to battle through urban Chicago for forty miles – traffic light after traffic light on bikes that that were air cooled (so became like having red hot radiators between your legs) and which had gearboxes so primitive that finding neutral was a total matter of luck that involved painful clunks up and down the box that gave your foot a very good working out – stiff and heavy as hell. Once at the dealer signing off the bikes was straightforward but getting downtown wasn’t. The dealership is around twenty miles from downtown in a pleasant suburb. However it has no train link or buses nearby. At first the dealer was entirely indifferent to our dilemma saying people got a taxi. When we said we didn’t (as he well knew) know the area, or any taxi companies he reluctantly phoned one. It didn’t turn up. He phoned again – it didn’t turn up. At this stage I started to go into a rant about how we had just spent 6K with this company and their treatment of customers was crap. A little while later one of the staff (usually based at another branch) said he’d got hold of a company van and would take us to the nearest railway station. Great. Two hours after this farrago had started we were dropped off at a very pretty station (just a track and platform – no staff) nearly in the country. We looked at the timetable and, guess what, trains only ran in the morning. Tired, hot, angry, fed-up and carrying very heavy bags we made our way to a nearby ‘posh’ cafe. This is where our luck changed for the short term. To cut a long story short the woman owner took pity on us and we soon ended up in an uber car heading towards a station which did run trains, we had also eaten lovely ice-cream that she wouldn’t take money for. The uber driver’s fare was a steal and we accidentally travelled free on the train. However it didn’t quite end there as we discovered you had to walk to the underground from the main railway station in Chicago and then we had quite a walk to the hotel. So eventually we arrived at our fancy downtown hotel in the late afternoon. And while the hotel’s position was great its rooms weren’t that fancy. But we’d got to it at last! And we finished the evening off with a very nice (and reasonably priced) meal at an Italian restaurant downtown.

The following morning started off with a relaxed breakfast then for me (as Andy doesn’t like heights) a trip up to the Skydeck in the Willis building. You could see for miles. Fortunately we got there early as the queues were very long by the time I came out. We then toured downtown on the overhead railway before brunching and heading off to the Museum of Science and Industry – where we spent a very interesting afternoon and saw a captured U-boat. In the evening we were going to go to a blues club but when we got there we discovered we would be the only white people in the building so decided to give it a miss. However a free music concert was happening in a park opposite and we finished the evening there.

Sunday began with another relaxed breakfast at the nice little breakfast bar we had found near the hotel before starting a guided coach tour focused on Chicago’s mobsters and murders. Sadly most of the buildings they lived in had long since been knocked down or redeveloped. But the tour guide was very good and informative. We were then going to watch a massive March of LGBT & Os which was planned but went to the cities major art gallery (which is right opposite our hotel) instead. In the evening we had a lovely steak dinner downtown. PS what we’ve become really good at is getting senior rates for things, about half way through the trip we found most hotels offered them if asked and practically all the places we visited did to!

And today we’re packing and will shortly be heading to the airport …………. PS The greedy so and sos at the airport charged $5 for the hire of a baggage trolley from the railway station to the airport concourse: so as we had plenty of time on our hands after checking in the luggage, we took it back and hired it out to someone else for a reduced fee. Sorted.

 

Out of interest we have visited 14 States and done just under 3500 miles:

• Illinois 
• Indiana 
• Ohio 
• Pennsylvania 
• Maryland 
• Virginia 
• West Virginia 
• North Carolina 
• South Carolina 
• Georgia 
• Tennessee 
• Kentucky 
• Missouri 
• Iowa 

Sadly Illinois isn’t the most interesting state to ride through. However we knew that when planning the trip so haven’t had to face disappointment. What did surprise us was how poor the road surfaces were – dreadful. Andy believes Illinois may be quite a hard up state hence little money spent on infrastructure? 

We’ll be giving the bikes back tomorrow and neither of us will be too sorry to do so. Both of us had a good idea what riding a Harley Davidson would be like but hoped the reality would be better than the stories we’d heard. Also neither of us regret the decision to hire them as a) we’ve experienced riding America on its iconic motorcycle and b) no other hire bike offered us the dealership network/security HD did. However they are primitive and very unresponsive compared to Japanese and European bikes. Their main virtue was the seat was comfortable, unfortunately this was negated by their screens terrible airflow design which caused excessive buffering.  But that’s life. (Picture below is of final ‘on the road’ hotel in Zion near Chicago.)

This morning we went to Mark Twain’s cave – where he played as a boy and wrote about in his novels. We were in the first tour at 9:30am along with about ten Americans. The tour guide and tour were superb with everybody in good spirit. We then set out for Le Claire – we were going to Davenport but the tour guide at the cave said Le Claire, which is next to it, might be better. It’s also the home to the TV programme ‘American Pickers’. We started out on Route 61 which runs alongside the Mississippi all the way. Sadly my satnav took us over the river into Illinois and we travelled in a more or less straight line through flat, featureless farmland for about one hundred and fifty miles! You just set the cruise control, try not to fall asleep and let your mind wander. We did find a family run diner though and had a very nice and homely brunch. Eventually we got to Le Claire, a pretty touristy small town on the Mississippi, and settled into a good but quite inexpensive hotel. We had a ‘light’ meal for supper. To  lake Michigan tomorrow. 

Andy had two simple tasks for today. The first was to find somewhere interesting to spend tonight with a view to a bit of sightseeing tomorrow.  The second was to go and check out a hotel I stopped at – as I’ve got the satnav I usually ride in front. As to the first task, he chose Springfield where he said there where famous caves that they ran tours through. Well after visiting The Gateway Arch in St. Louis we stopped for Brunch. Experience told me to check the caves out at this junction. Now apart from the fictional town that Homer Simpson lives in, there are probably another fifty odd Springfields spread across America, and the one with the caves was about three hundred and fifty miles away going in the opposite direction to the one we wanted to go in (there is also a Springfield about one hundred miles away towards Chicago). Doh! We laughed. I then suggested we go to Hannibal where Mark Twain lived. It’s on the Mississippi and has a cave to explore (Andy likes the idea of caves as they’re cool and he’s feeling the heat at the moment). Once there Andy was sent into the downtown hotel I stopped at. Out he came with a long face saying he didn’t think much of it. After a little discussion we went back; river view, breakfast included, indoor swimming pool, friendly staff and $90 – what’s not to like?

As to the day generally, we did about two hundred and thirty miles, crossed the Mississippi about five times and rode some lovely roads. Equally though we rode over some plains that were thirty or forty miles of just flat empty farmland. We didn’t go into the city centre of St. Louis as experience has taught us that big American cities can be a nightmare to ride into for not much gain, especially if you’re wearing all your hot and heavy motorcycle gear. We did though ride through very empty and poor suburbs on the east side of the river. Lots of empty and rundown factories and houses and dreadfully maintained roads – not somewhere we wanted to stop at. Interestingly we’ve noticed that there are never any pull-ins on the roads nor any public toilets. A hundred miles and not one lay-by! What do Americans do when they want a wee? After booking into the hotel in Hannibal and cooling down, we went for a stroll to the banks of the Mississippi – which is pretty huge even this far upstream. Then to the Mark Twain Brewery where not only do they brew beer but they also have a bar and restaurant. Had a light dinner as we’ve been eating too much generally and then retired early as we’re both knackered. Good day. Mark Twain’s caves tomorrow. 

We have just visited Poppies Louisiana Kitchen and had the best fried chicken I’ve ever tasted. We also got approached by a ‘good old boy’ who told us our man bags made us stand out as non-American – a bit of a Jeremy Clarkson moment for those who remember the Top Gear gang being run out of an American southern state because they had Gay slogans on one of their cars! 

This morning we went to the Grand Ole Opry. It’s located on the outskirts of Nashville and is a nice but not exceptional building. Back stage tours were fairly expensive and they didn’t know when they’d start, so we rode on. We visited four states in today’s two hundred miles trip and still haven’t seen a ‘gator – though had to avoid a tortoise crossing the road. Brunch was at a really eccentric diner run by three aging sisters and their mother. We were their only customers and got very personal service as they were keen to know where we came from etc. The food wasn’t bad either. The ride today wasn’t exceptional as the roads were long, flat and empty through fields or forests.  We crossed the Mississippi three times!

Sadly Nashville has been a bit of a disappointment. Firstly, the hotel we’re staying at is rather Fawlty Towers ish. While it is very close to downtown Nashville it’s also showing signs of its age and overuse plus the staff don’t quite treat you as valued customers – rather just another group of tourists passing through. Andy nearly threw a major paddy last night when he discovered his mattress was covered with a plastic waterproof cover – that rustled. I thought it showed the hotel cared and didn’t want all its guests to share leaking body fluids with each other. In the end we removed it, laughed, and had a good nights sleep. After breakfast we went downtown in the hotel shuttle: well we did after listening to the reception staff discussing the fact it wasn’t running because it was low on gas and they weren’t going to use there own money to gas it. In the end one of them got it and took us downtown. We then decided to tour the city centre in a free shuttle bus. However as it was coming towards us it hit some road signs and the very flustered driver said she couldn’t carry on until her boss had seen the damage. Later another shuttle turned up and we toured round. Not a lot to see we concluded. After a second breakfast in a pleasant little cafe the heavens opened so we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum – which was interesting. Then to a bar with a live group playing before going back to the hotel. Tonight we have, hopefully, found a nice German restaurant nearby. And tomorrow we’ll visit the Grand Ole Opry House which is nearly ten miles from the city centre.