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At long long last, I've made time to update the site. Over a month, and a lot has happened. Char flew home almost a week ago now, and I've been back on my own, to some degree. Next step; 4,800 miles off road, almost coast to coast. The 'Trans American Trail', starting within a week. |
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Roadtrip on four wheels One of the main goals for this part of the trip, was to meet up with Sean and travel as a trio for a few weeks. Sean is a close friend to both Charlotte and I, and lives in our home town of Wells. We kicked off from Memphis early in June, and spent 3 weeks trying to tame the savage power of our Nissan Versa rental car. As sean's first visit to the States, we were all keen to see as much as we could, and set down an optimistic plan to tour eight of the South Eastern states.
We had a blast together. Sean loved the States, and we continued to meet some extremely kind people. |
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Tragedy at 'US Highland' As I'm sure I made clear in my previous web update, I was pretty much blown away by my visits to the US Highland motorcycle business. I conversed with Chase a lot over the following few weeks, which led to a job offer for me to join the company there in Tulsa. A couple of days ago I received an email with news that three of the top players at US Highland had been killed in a Cessna plane crash. This came as a huge shock. My heart goes out to the three wives and 8 children left behind. |
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| New York City area When we first arrived in America, a 'Horizons Unlimited' member named Chris Dawe kind of adopted us. So for the last 9 months or so, we've been watched over and helped out, via the internet, from Chris's place in Pennsylvania. We were first directed to the town of Rockaway, an hour or so west of NYC. John and Mary are two members of Chris's extensive motorcyclist network, and our first hosts in the NYC area. Staying in other peoples homes can occasionally be a bit hit and miss, but with John and Mary we felt so naturally welcomed, we were almost family members. As a keen photographer, John encouraged us to try a new photo trick. Results below:
From Rockaway, we took public transport into Manhattan for Charlotte's last stop of the trip. From his overland HQ in Pennsylvania, Chris had our next point plotted with David and Francine. We turned up at the the Broadway address marinated in our own perspiration, and Francine kindly showed us into their incredible 10th floor loft apartment. Both David and Francine have extremely demanding careers in the medical sector, but somehow found time to treat us with amazing hospitality. We joined the local weekly bike meet at the 'Ear Inn' (the oldest working bar in Manhattan, renamed the Ear when the round parts of the B fell off to make Ear instead of Bar). We crammed some of the obvious tourist activities into our couple of days in downtown New York City. Then the big goodbye, and Char's departure.
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Plans I'm now just west of Dallas, Pennsylvania. Staying with the oracle of overland; Chris Dawe. John and Mary have very kindly invited me to spend this last few days with them, and this will also give Nick and I a base from which to start the trip south. It's a very different feel to the trip now Charlotte's back at home. It's also a pretty interesting time that Char's having in England, adjusting to the new life without travel. We have a house lined up in our home town of Wells, that we should be able to rent. This will also have a spare room, so we're really looking forward to hosting people ourselves. Charlotte's investigating alternatives to the obvious return to her legal career. I am quietly working on an idea I first had in Baja Mexico, to start a business to supply adventure/overland motorcycle equipment. This has consumed much of my thought and time for the last few months, and should be up and running within a couple of months or so. We're so excited just to see what the next 12 months holds for us. With things moving so fast it's impossibly to guess how things might work out, but we're happy to do our best and see. Life is good. |
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I can't stress this enough. The most significant thing I have learned from this trip, is how kind people are. I have been show such incredible generosity. I have been put up in peoples homes for several months, had fuel/hotels/meals/bike spares/drinks/tolls paid for, by people that I have barely got to know. Thank you to everyone that has helped me, I really do appreciate it. I am fully aware of the karma from which I have benefited, and seek to readjust to this imbalance. In particular, I wish to show great thanks to: |
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