Diary & Travel Report by Simon Milward

Guggenheim date & riding East

May 3rd 2002

Dear Friends,

ROUTE

The ride from California to here in Washington DC was eventful. The first stop was Las Vegas, the king of casino cities and I managed to blow a total of 50 cents gambling! What a lot of girls, glitz, neon lights, all you can eat buffets and the nearby Red Rock Canyon. The day I left the desert was awash with sand, gale force winds had brought down trees, people were hurt and roadsigns blew around on the street. I didn’t manage to scrounge a free ticket to see the Beach Boys live so joined the other free-loaders peering over the fence at the back dancing atop newspaper dispensers! Good vibrations for sure.

The Hoover Dam was newly opened to passenger vehicles following Sept 11th. Then I rode the longest uninterrupted stretch of the famous Route 66 linking Chicago with LA and arrived at Grand Canyon in Arizona. The sight was awesome. It was funny to see the tourists rushing around at sunset between vantage points clicking cameras. America meets Japan! After sunrise next morning I rode on through the great Navajo Indian nation and enjoyed my encounters with them immensely. I stopped at Casa Verde, where I was reminded of Petra in Jordan, because here the Indians had built rooms into the walls of overhanging cliffs.

Further on the wind picked up and I was sand-blasted for miles and miles. The last time that happened was in Saudi Arabia. Due to the sand storm and my appointment with Tres Rios ABATE in New Mexico, I by-passed Monument Valley but vow to return next October after the Guggenheim date. But I could not resist a spot of off-road riding through the desert to the base of Ship Rock. Here I was ship wrecked and managed to miss my appointment with Tres Rios - I should have left my heavy gear with the Indians at their shanty dwellings nearby and been a bit more nimble in the sand!

Further on in Amarillo Texas I stripped the teeth on my timing belt and again bent the valves. My own fault, I am spending too much time riding and fundraising and not giving the bike the attention it deserves. So I lost a day and missed another fundraising opportunity at the Supercross event in Dallas. The Ozark Mountains in Arkansas and Missouri were nice to ride through on the state routes, I was getting bored out of my mind on the interstate highways. But I was soon back on them because of my scheduled meeting at the AMA in Ohio (more news on that later) and the state routes take at least three times as long to get anywhere. Stops in Indiana, Illinois and the STEAM Seminar in Iowa all went well, before I headed to upstate New York for a meeting with the organizers of Americade, a large gathering in June where I will appear. Thanks for sorting the Holiday Inn room Bill. That night of luxury contrasted to the next, spent at the rear of a gas station in a derelict building with no roof. It started to rain at 3am! New York State is beautiful though. America has so much to offer.

Here I am at the house of Ed Moreland of the AMA in Virginia tapping out this before going off to the airport. I'll be back in a few weeks.

BIKE

I've piling on the miles and Metzeler came through with my tenth rear tire and seventh front, thanks to Gina's BMW in Iowa City. I need a new drive chain again, about my fourth, I think the sand blasting finally killed this one. The Red Top solid state battery which was with me since Singapore has died too, I'm surprised it lasted so long, the best it did was get me out of water ditches in Siberia on the starter button in gear when the engine was drowned. It is still the most beautiful bike in the world though, just a little dusty here and there.

SPONSORS

Thank you new Corporate supporters: RedHotRiders.com San Diego, Hollywood HD, Las Vegas HD (LVHD.com), KK Motorcycle Supply OH, Mahrle's HD MI, and Wayne Masters & Spotman and all the other guys and girls at Heartland STEAM thanks for the great party and $500.

See you soon,

Simon