 USA
(Seattle - San Francisco - Mojave Desert - Grand Canyon)
The Beach Boys and more faszination
[August 15, 2004] So, finally I have arrived in the South.
At least I thought that while driving South on the Highway
101 through Washington State. That meant sun and beaches to
me! The first thing was to fill up my cigar humidor with excellent
tobacco from the Dom Republic and Honduras. The still valid
trading embargo suddenly made my Habanas (still a few left)
an illegal product, but very well accepted to "after-dinner"
locations. And as I knew they were used and smoked quite fast
while celebrating faszinating events.
The 101 followed the coastline, first really wild and scattered
in Washington State,
then from the Columbia River onwards Oregon showed me the
big sand dunes.
And all the time it was a constant change of wind, fog, clouds,
but never really sunny. And this should continue until southern
California… How about the Beach Boys? Did I miss something?
Obviously. Still the 101 proved to me the spectacular scenery
of the coastline, combined with endless curves for joy riding.
Along the highway there are many different attractions, that
force one to stop. One is the Avenue of the Giants, a national
monument of the highest Redwood trees around. These trees
grow up to 340 feet and do so since many millions of years.
And standing around those trees gave me a good feeling of
humbleness and endlessness. How often do we humans only think
of the importance of mankind and ourselves.
San Francisco showed its special charming face, sometimes
sun, but more often fog and clouds, and a special breed of
Americans it seemed. Everybody was up and running, you can
see them everywhere with the skates or bikes. And finally
I ended up within a Jazz festival, very good rhythm. Now I
do understand the Beach Boys…
After that and 6000 Miles it was time for some repairs on
the bike and a new rear tire. Tom, the best mechanic on the
Westcoast, is an excellent tourguide on the southern California
State offroads. And he showed them to me in the AAA maps he
gave me. "Oh, you must take this trail" and "Man,
there is a tourist trap, you want to take this route"
and " Here is an abandoned ranch to stay overnight"
that's what I heard from him in all details. And it really
made the difference in traveling for the me during the next
weeks. Thanks Tom!
Following now Tom's special routes I was more offroad than
onroad, and that finally led to the most spectacular scenery
you can imagine. More than once I did not meet anybody for
60 miles. And I could enjoy nature to the most. What a treat
to see the beauty of the desert at night,
hear only the coyotes and the bats. Or watching the Condor
demonstrating his flying skills! Or experience the Grand Canyon
without ANY tourists!
Stunning…
After these spectacular days I headed east to Vail / Colorado,
where bests friends, the Scott's, set up a homebase for me
so that I now can perform the necessary maintenance work on
the bike and myself. And prepare ourselves for the great adventure
in the MOAB mountains, an offroad paradise.
New friends
(Vail - Moab - Las Vegas - Death Valley - Phoenix)
[Sept. 8, 2004] Now, after endless 9000 miles my KTM deserved
its first major service. And there was lots to check, to adjust
and to change. And to be ready for the Moab adventure.
Already the way towards Moab is dominated by the Colorado
River and its beauty. The Colorado cuts its way through the
mountains and therefore creates a faszinating scenic view
of colors, light and rock formations.
Once again great nature!
After a few hours in the sanddesert of the Arches Nationalparc
I arrived really tired in Moab (because I had to lift up my
f… heavily loaded bike too often). Luckily I hit the
right bar for a cold beer and meet Sally Gator (I had meet
her parents in Alaska earlier in the trip) and she introduced
me to her friends. And with the that an outstanding week in
Moab began! Brian gave me the trip tips for the area, sent
me to the Slickrock and invited me to join a tour with him
and his friends Zane and Chris "the Kid" through
the nearby mountains.
What a great nature again! And everybody enjoyed it and they
don't take this faszination for granted. Almost all the people
I have meet here in Moab had been or were still working as
rafting or mountain bike or jeep touring guides in and around
the Colorado River areal! And they all are very happy and
love it!
And more of these super days followed when Zane and his wife
Molly invited me to join them on a bike and camping trip in
the Canyonlands parc. They showed me their home and secrets
like the Anasazi ruins
in the area, a 1000 years old and only an handful people get
to see them. Again a great treat for me.
Then it meant for me to say "Good Bye" to my new
friends from Moab. Thanks guys, I will be back for sure!
I continued my trip South through the Monument Valley down
to the Arizona desert. The Navajo Reservation offers a sad
view, somehow disillusionating and I decide to drive down
to Phoenix to meet my sister and Penny I haven't seen for
a long time. We had planned a short trip to Las Vegas and
the Death Valley and I needed to service the bike after the
rough offroad days in Moab. And I found in Doug, Steve and
Matt friends who offered me their workshop and helped me with
tools to improve the bike. Thanks guys!
Las Vegas is exactly how I expected it to be, noisy, expensive,
crazy and crowded.
Where else could you find the Eiffel tower, Venice, Rome and
Disney world within half a mile?
The Death Valley offered a very welcomed releaf being hot,
quiet, no people and sandstorms.
The last days we spend with the friends from Phoenix camping
out in the northern woods nearby Flagstaff. And a nice birthday
surprise for me as well as all the emails and comments on
the website, thanks to all of you!
The days here in the US were great and now I am more than
ready to meet the big challenge as the real adventure will
start tomorrow in the Baja of Mexico.
See you soon, hasta la vista
Rasmus
|
