World Tour - Europe, Asia, North and South America - Entries for: United States of America

Our flight from Kuala Lumpur to Los Angeles took roughly 24 hours and went down without any problems. We landed on Tuesday around 10 o'clock. Before we were able to get off the plane we had to wait a little while because apparently there was another plane in the way and we couldn't get to the terminal yet. Once the doors to the cabin were open two Policemen came in and immediately arrested someone a couple of seats behind us!! Welcome to the United States of America!

We only traveled with hand luggage that's why we were able to leave the airport quite quickly. We took a cab to a hostel that we had booked with booking.com in advance. Once we arrived we were told to better lock up all valuables in one of the lockers. In a room with 20 other persons we certainly were going to do that anyways. We soon found out why this was one of the cheapest places around in Los Angeles. It was not in the nicest part of town and we were soon reminded of many American movies. A homeless guy trotting over the street with his belongings in a shopping cart. Some walked around with their pants just above their knees, the boxers under their butts and an over sized T-shirt covering the rest, all while playing load music from a modern boom box.

Since we had landed early in the morning, we had the whole day in front of us. We wanted to beat the jet lag which is why we decided to spent the day wandering around on Manhattan Beach. It was way to cold to go swim. Only a few surfers decided to go out which left the entire beach empty.
After half a year in Southeast Asia our excitement about the first juicy, big, American burger was written all over our faces. And it tasted unbelievably good even though the prices compared to all the other places we had been to so far left us in shock. That day we did not really experience nightfall since we fell asleep before that.

Our bikes arrived a day later and after running to a couple of checkpoints we soon were able to unpack them. We were allowed to leave our crates at the cargo area and so we found ourselves soon back on our bikes riding through America. What an amazing feeling to ride on our own bikes through the United States!

Since we are always surprised over and over again at how much stuff fits into our luggage cases we decided to take a private room for the rest of our stay so that we would not have to worry about forcefully leaving with less gear. Someone in our room had a couple of things stolen the night before so we were very conscious about not leaving anything laying around.

Since Denis' Sena 10C did not survive the heavy floods in Thailand we set up a meeting with Sena, which had luckily their Headquarters in Los Angeles. We had a great time and Denis not only got a new Sena 10C but also got a brand new Sena Prism action camera. Thanks to this we will have a couple of new perspectives in our America videos. On top Basti and Denis were able to try out the Sena Honda Africa Twin. Especially the DCT version was of big interest for them. Many Thanks to Alyssa and Chris for this great day and for taking such good care of us.

We spent the entire next day exploring LA and touring around the Hollywood Hills and Beverly Hills. We walked across the infamous Walk of Fame and spent some time taking in the local sights. It does not sound incredibly exciting but it was more than worth our time.

We rode from the small town Bishop back towards Death Valley the next day. Following Death Valley Road we soon found ourselves on a well maintained gravel road. Exactly what we had been looking for. We were not sure if this road would be open since it had rained a lot these past weeks.

We got along quickly until we turned off the main road to have a look at the infamous moving rocks. Soon we were met by a rough road with washboards that reminded us of the times we had in Mongolia. From time to time our suspensions had to handle big rocks covered from sand. We still had fun and road further towards the moving rocks. For the longest time it was uncertain how these up to 700 pound heavy rocks managed to leave tracks along the dried out lake bed. Especially in this region aliens always seem to be a viable option! In the end it turned out to be a little less spectacular. Most scientist agree that it is a combination of frozen water on the surface and the high wind speeds in this area. Still a couple of these tracks looked suspiciously like UFO start and landing tracks ;) You might notice in the pictures that we had different emotions about this place.

After a small walk across the lake bed and a couple of pictures we turned around the way we came from. The washboards and stones were surely happy to see us for the second time this day. Fabi asked Denis after a short while if he would like to switch up bikes once more to see the differences in this tough terrain. We quickly switched but the change did not last for long...
Already after a view miles Denis had managed to brake Fabi's front tire that had been welded in Tajikistan, due to his ruthless riding style. ;) He had managed to get a hit exactly on the weakened part of the rim which caused it to bend once more. Banging the rim back was much easier than the first time around but we were once again not able to seal it completely which is why we had to use a tube in the end. Darkness was settling in and whilst Fabi and Denis fixed the tire Basti had started to get dinner ready and set up the tents. Just when we were about to head to bed we saw some lights followed by a loud clanking sound. As it turned out we were not the only ones with tire issues. Four guys in a jeep had managed to blow out one of their front tires and they were making their way back out to the road on the remainders of their rim. We sadly could not help them out and so they headed on towards the main road.

Well rested we continued our journey the next day and the fixed tire was not giving us any further problems. Next stop was Titus Canyon. Normally passable by car it was apparently closed at this time. We walked up a bit and after a short time Denis and Fabi were certain the road was only meant to be closed for cars. Basti had a different opinion and so we parted ways for this short distance. Not like Fabis front rim which had no other option then to come along.
The canyon road lasted for only 30 kilometers but those were more than spectacular. There was almost no trail to be seen. Mostly we struggled through a washed out river bed with loose gravel slowly "surfing" our way up the canyon. Our surroundings were impressive and a once in a lifetime feeling crept up on us. To be able to enjoy this on a bike especially our own is a feeling that is hard to explain.

After making it across we met up with Basti in the small village Beatty and after lunch we headed towards Las Vegas!

This morning we had something entirely new planned for us. We had met someone at the Mint400 that had organized a photo shoot in a Japanese magazine just for us. After meeting up with them we rode out to a dried out lake bed where we took a couple of pictures. What an interesting experience for us! One we would gladly do again. We were told the article would make it into the magazine around August but since it will be entirely in Japanese there will not be a lot for us to read :).

Later that day we ate at a local Subway. Out of nowhere someone walked by and once he spotted us he waved excitedly and came into the restaurant. As it turned out he was also an enthusiastic motorcyclist named Gary and he would invite us to ride with him the next day around Vegas to see some sights. We followed his invitation which is why we rode together to the Hoover Dam and the Valley of Fire the next day. The dimensions of the Dam were incredible especially if you consider when and with what it was built.
Even more spectacular for us was the Valley of Fire. The incredible sight and the diversity of rock formations and colors were unfathomable at first. After an amazing day and after a cup of coffee we parted ways with Gary. Thanks again for this beautiful day ride!

But we were not finished with the fun in Vegas yet! Heather and Mike had one idea after another and taking a break was not yet an option. After visiting an old abandoned ghost town named Oatman, which was part of the Route 66 we went to see a Nascar race the next day. We went together with AJ and Heather who were bashing the sport all the way to the racetrack. But once we heard the first cars race by the sound and the atmosphere caught us all by surprise. The noise was deafening, the rubber from the tires was sprayed across the viewers and you could feel the wind from the cars as they passed us. What an incredible feeling! Even though we had no idea about the rules or the racers at first we soon had all picked our favorites and started cheering them on!

With a little adrenaline left from the race we all went together to the Hofbräuhaus later that day. And what can we say!? It was nice to finally be home for one day! Traditional food and beer was a very welcomed sight after such a long time! With it a great, be it Austrian band, that played a lot of customary Oktoberfest songs. And as it is with a real Oktoberfest at midnight we had to go home but as it is also customary we went further and saw a great 80's show in one of the casinos!

To round of the weekend we went with our hosts to the desert the next day to unload some guns and ride around in the dirt. Believe it or not this is still not where our Vegas experience ended! Just before we actually wanted to leave Vegas we had an exciting night ahead of us. We were invited to be part of an exhibition as a vendor. The exhibition was held by Cyclegear for all their partners. We were the "outsiders". It was a very interesting night and we told our story to anyone that wanted to listen. We had a lot of fun and with this experience would love to do it again.

Once again we realized how lucky we are that we have the time to change our plans as we like. We only wanted to stay in Vegas for 5-6 days and in the end we stayed for almost three weeks. Three weeks we will surely never forget and all thanks to the amazing people we had met there just by luck. Once more we want to thank Mike, Heather, AJ and Debbie, a good friend of the family, with all our heart for taking us in and giving us the chance to share this incredible time.

Just before we arrived at a friends house we got to ride a nice curvy mountain road whilst it was slowly getting dark. Heather, Mike and the rest were waiting for us at a restaurant in Sedona.

The house looked amazing and we were promised that the next morning with the view would even be more impressive. The house was built on top of a small mountain and it had large windows in every room so that you would never miss the incredible view. To better understand the size of the property you have to take into account that we had to take a golf cart down from the main house to our guest rooms. After we had unpacked we spent the rest of the night in front of a bonfire where we let the night run it's course.

The following day we all walked up a nearby mountain or to be more precise one of those massive red rocks. The view from the top was more than worth the short hike! The hike itself was already a lot of fun but when AJ took us to an off road track to try out the old Jeep we immediately knew the fun was not over yet!
To this day we do not know how the road was able to deteriorate to this point. It was riddled with large rocks, big ruts and gravel. There was no straight piece of path to be found. It was obvious that AJ had a lot of fun pushing the Jeep over this path. We on the other hand had to hold on tightly not to get thrown out of the car. We all took turns and the early caution soon gave way to faster maneuvers. It was surprising to us how much beating the Jeep could take. AJ was back in the seat at last and he let the Jeep fly for the rest of the trip. We braced ourselves inside the Jeep and held on as well as we could. But the Jeep held up great, just the radio decided at some point to fall out of the dash but it was already loose when we started. We didn't imagine to have this much fun with four wheels :)

A day later we all went to the south side of the Grand Canyon. For this journey we decided to leave our bikes behind and join everyone else in the car. It was a good decision since the road to the Canyon was straight and long... something we would surely experience a lot in the next few months through the US.
The Grand Canyons sheer size and width is unfathomable. It is hard to explain it with words and even the pictures don't do it any justice. We walked along the ledge for a while and just let the view sink in.
Later that evening we visited Don, who has a small collection of custom cars and bikes. In his garage/man cave we had everything a man could wish for. We spend the night playing pool and sharing some great stories. We ended up playing "Three Ball" and even though we were no match for Don we still had a great time.

The next two days we shared some great German breakfast with our neighbor Birgit. She also had incredible stories to tell and we loved the company. Overall we enjoyed ourselves very much in Sedona and we would like to thank everyone for their great hospitality. Saying goodbye was still not the hardest part since we already knew that we would be heading back to Vegas and quite certainly also to Sedona.

We said our good byes the next morning and started heading towards Texas. Ethan had mentioned that the White Sands National Monument would be a great stop and since it was pretty much on our route we decided to check it out. We had only seen some pictures so we were really surprised at how big it was once we got there. The road into the dunes started as a tarmac road but towards the end turned into a well maintained white sand path. The size of the area was stunning and we were glad that we were able to take our bikes through most of it. The sun was shining and once we stopped we soon felt the heat creeping into every corner of our riding gear. We walked around for a bit end enjoyed the white soft sand. People around us were using the slopes of the dunes to slide down on either self built sleds or even snowboards. It looked like a lot of fun but for us the view was enough. We rode back out grabbed something to eat in the next town and headed on towards Texas.

We knew we wouldn't make it to the border but we decided to ride as long as possible almost up until the sun had set. Finding a camp spot turned out to be more of a challenge than we had thought since the region that we were in had a lot of gas pumps and was fenced of for that matter. Not only that put in some cases we were turned away by the stench of gases. In the end we did find a suitable spot near the highway. It had gotten dark already so it was quickly time for us to turn in.

The next morning we enjoyed watching the scenery change from desert like New Mexico to a more green Texan environment. Overall we were surprised how much of Texas is being used as farmland and how vast the fields appear. The crops stretched as far as our eyes could see and we could only image what machinery was used to farm these fields. Once we got into Texas winds were picking up around us. After riding through them for a while we decided to check them out since we saw dark storm clouds on the horizon. There were some thunderstorm and tornado warnings to the north of our position so we continued riding south east. We changed our plans from camping to staying in a motel once we realized that there would most certainly some remaining storms hitting us later that night. After having dinner at a good barbecue place in Brady we had a couple of beers in a local bar and our way home we noticed that the winds were starting to pick back up. That night heavy rains and storms passed over us and we were very glad to have made the decision to stay in an hotel.

The next morning the sun was back out and we headed on towards San Antonio in perfect riding conditions. We wanted to see the infamous Alamo and experience some of the history. What we did not know and not expect was the beautiful center of San Antonio.
The way to San Antonio was as straight as one can image maybe one or two slight bends but other than that it was a perfect straight road.
The Fort Alamo is special to history because there was an important fight in the war for Texan liberation from Mexico. The odds were not in favor of the Texan soldiers and in the end they did loose but not without doing significant damage to the Mexican forces. Especially the fact that after the fight a lot more people joined the Texan liberation forces made this place an important turning point in the war. The fort itself was converted from an old Spanish missionary and the tour through it explained the circumstances surrounding the fight very well. After our short lesson in culture we decided to take a look at the nearby city center.

There was a canal formed around the city center with a form of gondola floating around. Along the canal led a walkway with occasional bridges spanning across the canal. Nearby hotels had fountains connected to the canal and there was a wide variety of restaurants and bars along this walkway. It emitted a very special ambiance and we quickly decided to have lunch at one of the restaurants at the canal. We were positively surprised about the city and noted it as one of the nicest cities we have seen so far.

We still decided to go on towards Houston where we were looking forward to see the Nasa Space Center and take part at the Cycle Gear's Second Annual Go Ride event. Whilst looking for a camp site we rode along some vast stretching properties where there would have been plenty of space to camp. Since all of the properties were fenced off we took some time to find a small spot where we could set up camp. We obviously could have also asked someone if we could camp in their property but we wanted to find a spot on our own. A small note on the side, even though we were very happy to be back in a green environment we immediately found out one of the biggest disadvantages... the mosquitoes were back!

We have spent countless miles on straight multi lane roads until we arrived in Orlando... But we were not only for the amusement parks in Orlando but had to get some needed maintenance on the bikes done. Denis and Basti switched their shocks to new ones from Wilbers and Denis also switched his front fork springs. Fabi had to wait until Daytona Beach since the replacement of the ESA springs needed some mechanical expertise.

Basti was very busy the following two days to find out when his girlfriend would make it to Orlando. Since Olga was using a standby ticket it was not set at what exact time she would arrive. In the end it took two days since she was luckily able to take the second flight. Whilst Basti and Olga were a bit stressed about the entire situation, Fabi and Denis decided to go for a round of gokarts. It was the first time for Denis to have a go in an electric kart, at first he was not excited about it but soon he realized that e-karts were quite quick and were not as susceptible to weight differences. We rode race after race until our arms were burning due to exhaustion. Up to the bitter end we tried beating the lap record but in the end we had to give up. Fabi was two tenth of a second away and Denis was four tenth' away. But we have bought a 10 race packet and since there are more than one track in the US our karting experience is to be continued...

With a slight sore we headed to the local Cycle Gear the next morning to chance some parts that have been giving us a headache for some time. Thanks to Olga, Fabi was - !finally! - able to change his in Tajikistan damaged front rim and Denis was able to change his front brake rotors. Those had begun to gain too much play and they were making an unsettling noise when braking harder. Since maintenance is always a good time to find new surprises on the bikes, Denis got another worrisome surprise from his rear bearing. At first we thought his bearing had given up for the third time but upon closer inspection we found out that due to his earlier damages to the rim dirt had gotten outside of the bearing and damaged to hub. Up to an extent that the bearing was able to move inside the hub... Thanks to our connections to Mike in Vegas we soon found out that for the time being we would be able to mend it with Loctite's "Sleeve Retainer". During this entire time Basti was picking out clothes with Olga and we will leave open at this point who had a harder time.

Sadly all Auto stores were already closed by the time we were looking for that magic sleeve retainer. So we had to settle for another day in Orlando. Basti and Olga decided to spend the day with Mickey Mouse and his friends in the famous Disney World. They were amazed how well the different areas are designed and it was really easy to get lost in a different world. The rides on the other hand were not as exciting. But Basti told us that towards the end even he started waving back at people with a weird smile. Overall is Disney more worth a visit for families with kids but it was still worth the visit.
In the meantime Denis' repair looked promising and after just an hour the bearing had become fixed again. But we still had to wait another 23 hours until the setting time was achieved. Since all four of us did not plan on watching the glue set we decided to split up the next day. Basti and Olga would head towards the Everglades and Denis and Fabi after being stationary in Orlando for another day decided to make the best of it and go to see SeaWorld.

Our main expectation was to watch some fishes swimming behind glass windows but we were positively surprised from the moment we rode the first roller coaster. All of them were quite intense and after three coasters in a row we could feel the adrenaline pumping, only Fabi's stomach wasn't too happy about it. To calm down and in contrast to the coasters we decided to spend some time watching and touching some of the mantas. Soon we had our route figured out and so we headed to our first show. First up were the sea lions and we immediately got the impression that the bond between trainer and the animals was special. After the sea lions we went straight to the infamous Orca show. It was breathtaking to watch these large creatures perform all sorts of figures just by a hand signal of the trainers. The audience was also sprayed with a lot of water and everyone had a great time. After the show our stomachs were ready for a couple more roller coasters followed by a dolphin show. In the end the day had turned out to be a lot more exciting than we had anticipated.

Our ex-coworker Steve had invited us this Saturday to join him and his friends for some German beers and food at a "Frühlingsfest". It was held annually and it would be as close to the Oktoberfest as you could get around here. Convincing us wasn't that hard and so we soon agreed to join him. Since it was quite far away from our hotel we had decided to go there by bike and not drink too much.
This turned quickly out to be a naive mistake and so we decided after the first Maß (1 Liter) of beer to leave the bikes on the parking lot over night. We had a fun night with lots of different kind of liquors and we once again realized that once you put German beer in front of us there is no stopping! Denis even managed to loose his phone that night but was luckily able to pick it up later from the last bar that we were in. Obviously just after trying to reach two different Uber drivers for more than two days!

After one day of sobering up we decided to look for more thrills by going to the Universal's Island of Adventure roller coaster park. Fabi had been there 11 years ago and Basti had also seen it somewhere in between. We walked in and just like 11 years ago we immediately went to the red and blue dragon coasters which was located as far away from the entrance as possible. The park had evolved a lot since the last time Fabi was there, especially the new Harry Potter themed part was completely new. Impressed by how well "Hogsmeade" was displayed we enjoyed our first ride of the day. Fabi and Denis went for a second round whilst Basti tried to paste himself by sitting one out. Over the course of the day we road all the coasters once, some even twice. After drying up from the Popeye water ride which was incredibly wet and fun, Denis and Fabi went all out on the Hulk roller coaster. About 4 times they rode it again and again. We had a great time and even though the coasters were not as tough as the ones in Sea World we still enjoyed every one of them.

After a long time in Orlando it was now time to pack up and journey on.

After having set up camp in the middle of nowhere we jumped back on our bikes and headed further north. We had breakfast in a Wendy’s in a small town in Georgia with the name Greensboro. It almost seemed like the local retirement club had their hour of leave as well. The restaurant was full of people! After a short while an elderly couple walked up to us and told us they had looked up our website because of the name on the back of our jackets. And they were amazed at what we were doing. Furthermore the man reached out to Denis and gave him 5 Dollars and wished us the best of luck with our journey. Even after a year it still strikes us sometimes how nice and friendly people can be. It sometimes makes us think how we would act in similar situations…

Our goal for today was the infamous motorcycle road called the “Tail of the Dragon”. 318 Corners in just 10 miles! We were eager to get there but we knew we would not be able to reach it this day. Luckily we soon realized we didn’t have to wait until we reached the Tail of the Dragon to have some fun. The landscape changed quickly after our breakfast and we soon found ourselves amidst nice green mountains and valleys with even nicer roads. A corner after another awaited us and it felt unreal to us after so much time on those endless straight roads. We did not want to stop and take pictures, we just wanted to go further and further into the mountains.

Later that night we had decided to try to find another camp spot. We saw a small dirt road off the main county road and decided to give it a try. Sadly along that beautiful road along the river, one property stood beside the next one. We asked someone passing by if he knew a place where we could set up camp without disturbing anyone around us. Steve, the driver, immediately invited us to follow him to his sisters, Loretta’s, house that was just a couple of houses up the road.

Said and done! Two minutes later our bikes were parked right in front of a beautiful property right next to the river. Loretta walked up from the house and she was quite amazed at the sight of our three bikes. Steve quickly explained our predicament and our story. Without hesitation she invited us to stay on her property and set up camp in her backyard. We bought some things for dinner and enjoyed a fun barbecue and campfire with Loretta and her family.

Our departure the next day was delayed because of rain which is why it took as another day to reach the Tail of the Dragon. If you arrive from the south you are greeted by the “Tree Of Shame”. An old tree with lots of motorcycle parts hanging off it. All parts of motorcycle accidents that had happened in the past. We made it luckily without having to leave some parts behind and we enjoyed the ride very much. It was a great feeling to have made it this far and over this infamous road. We must admit that it is a nice road but we also liked the roads before and the ones that followed shortly thereafter through the Great Smokey Mountains. We managed to reach Knoxville, Tennessee, where we had set up another tire change at the local Cyclegear. We have had spent more than 12.000 miles on our last Heidenau tires and we were getting some brand new ones :). Also Denis was finally able to change his broken old Rim to the new one that he had gotten sponsored by Honda USA almost 1000 miles back in Miami.

We rode the next four days from Knoxville over beautiful curvy mountain roads and through incredible scenery in the Appalachian mountain range along the Blue Ridge Parkway and the unbelievable Skyline Drive through the Shenandoah National Park directly towards Washington D.C.. Only once were Denis and Fabi stopped by local law enforcement because they had passed in a no passing zone. Once the policemen found out that we were from Germany he very politely explained to us that we were not supposed to do this in Virginia. We accepted his explanation and were glad that he had let us off the hook with just a warning.

The road from D.C. to New York was quite uneventful so we decided to spend the day on interstate and highways. The next days we would therefore spend solely on sightseeing.

Since Heather would be in New York at the same time we were hoping to have a local tour guide with us. As it turns out her qualities as a tour guide were more than insufficient. We decided to start our tour in Central Park further heading up 7th Avenue through the high rising buildings up to the famous Time Square. New York managed to impress us deeply and we were amazed by the skyscrapers and the atmosphere of the city. Just before sunset we took the elevator up to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building. It is a unique sight how the skyscrapers are submerged in the red of the setting sun just before the lights of the city turn on.
By the craziest circumstances we were told that Bruce Springsteen would be interested in meeting us the next day. We could not believe our luck and we were very excited what the next day would hold in store for us.

Bruce had chosen a small corner in the middle of New York as our meeting place. We were not sure at first if he himself or an agent in a car or by foot would pick us up. So we waited until we suddenly heard a voice from behind us say "Are you the guys I think you are?". And there he was, Bruce Springsteen, with Sunglasses and a big smile all by himself. After introducing ourselves, he took us to a nearby Cafe were we had breakfast together. We wanted to avoid asking the same questions everyone asks so we started out by telling him some stories about us and our journey. We talked about his bikes and the tours he had taken. And maybe one or two of those questions everyone asks ;)
Because Bruce is also an enthusiastic biker we decided to have him have a look at our motorcycles. We took the opportunity to have him sign each of our bikes. What a great memento of this day and this experience! After an hour Bruce had to leave, we said our good byes and in a matter of seconds he vanished in the masses. What a day! It took us a while until we realized what we experienced that day. A big thanks to the Boss that he took some time out of his day for us. He is a very easy going and nice guy that made a great impression on us.

The following day we did some more sightseeing. The 9/11 Memorial was a very intense and moving museum. We all agreed that it was very well done and worth the visit. We also took the obligatory boat tour to the Statue of Liberty and walked around the city to see more of the everyday life. New York is a fascinating and buzzing city that we will hopefully see again some day!