So the next day is here and it's time to cross over into the USA. As it turns out, it all went very easy, far too easy as when I arrived at the Mexican customs there was nobody to be seen and I needed my bike pasport  (Carnet) stamped. The problem with this border was that both frontiers are almost within the same town. I did see one guy who just waved me through, then the next thing I know is that I am queing up for the American customs, So what happened with leaving Mexico I have no idea.

I was also suprised by the American customs, They asked if I had drugs or weapons, let there sniffer dog around the bike and welcome me the USA, well, that was easy, after all the problems you hear about getting into the States. I must say that obtaining a visa is very thorough, so they knew all about me well before I arrived.

Now I had to find somewhere to look at the bike with this intermitant cutting out, and soon found a park with caravans to rent, which suited perfectly, I also needed some more cash and some American bike insurance.

My Caravan was huge and on a nice site here in Brownsville but it was so hot that the Air con had to be on all night just to be able to sleep.

The next morning I found an insurance company for the bike, The only problem was needing a perminant US address, which I did not have, So I asked the guys in the insurance office if I could use their business address. Well, they had to think about it but were OK with it in the end, so that made me legal, Then went to a Wallmart shopping centre and got some supplies before returning to my caravan. Next two jobs was to find a Wells Fargo office and get another $US500 cash from my loaded stolen visa card and try to find where the broken electrical wire was. This had to be close to the steering, because it would cut out with movement from the handle bars, but it was far too hot to look at it today.

The next morning I removed the petrol tank and the front fairing to get to the wiring.

This took me most of the morning and after stripping the outer wiring cover I found where the break was after a lot of fiddling about. The only trouble now was that I needed a soldering iron to repair the break. There was a caretakers shed where a guy was fixing a lawn mower, and lucky for me he did have the soldering iron that I could use. It took the rest of the day to get everything fixed and back together, and was a good feeling to know that I should have no more problems from now on. Then I got to a Wells Fargo office, picked up some more cash and was ready to leave for my North American adventure, where at least most people can understand English. So on the forth day in Brownsville it was time to hit the road once again to head towards Houston and to spoil myself in New Orleans.

Everything was packed onto the bike ready for the ride, but the very first thing I wanted was a proper American breakfast as soon as I got to a roadhouse just outside Brownsville. I know I had lost a bit of weight in Central America, mainly due to only eating chicken and rice. It appeared that no matter what I ordered on just about any menu, I ended up with a verity of bloody chicken and rice, but not this time as I had the most wonderful breakfast you could imagine including hash browns, eggs, beans bacon and all the coffee you could drink, It was just so nice and served by a very nice waitress in a short dress. That should keep me going for most of the day, and it did.

Riding out of Brownsville was a pure pleasure, the highway was wide and smooth, the weather warm and all the signs were in English for a change.

It was good to be on a road without much traffic apart from a Highway Patrol car following at a constant distance. I made sure I kept below the 55mph speed limit so as not to get into too much trouble.

Then the Patrol car closed in on me, I guess to check out my foreign registration plate. I was sure I would be pulled over. He dropped back once again and followed from a distance. then closing up again drove alongside me and gave me a salute, I couldn't believe it. I gave the guy a wave and he sped into the distance, what a welcome to the United states.

I was on my way to Houston via Corpus Christi to find the NASA headquarters for the moon landings that I remembered as a young guy at school.

Towards Corpus Christi the sky's became dark, and I must admit I was a little nervous when the thunder storms started. Bolts of lightening were darting into fields as I pressed on hoping that it would end soon, but it didn't. This was now mid afternoon and all I wanted to do was stop and get out of the rain. My jacket was soaked through and I was shivering with cold. Just outside Corpus Christi was a small motel, a bit rough but at least it was dry and next door was a Walmart store where I could get some food and dry out. The rain never stopped all night, the thunder was loud and the lightening lit up the entire sky.

The next morning the rain had cleared for now but my clothes were soaking wet. I was going to have to stay another night. I decided to have a look around Walmart to find a plastic over jacket which should help keep out the next storm I ride into.

Things were still a little wet when leaving the next day, but I was looking forward to getting to Houston. The sun came out and helped to dry my riding gear and by the time I had reached Houston I was dry and excited about my visit to the NASA space centre. 

Ominous clouds towards Corpus Christi, but once in the Space Centre all the rain was forgotten.

Massive Saturn 5 rocket.

This is the Houston control room that the moon landings where controlled from.

Picture taken from inside a Shuttle cockpit

The Houston Space centre was a great eye opener, They had these pods to emulate modual landings with no engines that they would through out of a B52 bomber at 65000 feet that the astronauts would glide to the earth to practice their landings.

So After a great couple of hours at the NASA Space centre, it was time to make my way to Baton Rouge ( Red Stick ), Where the Indians would dry out their animal skins, and on to New Orleans for some R&R. This is swamp country, the roads are elevated above the swamps but you had to be carefull not to hit any dead armadillos and turtles lying on the road. 86 miles further and I was entering the French quarter looking for a hotel, I knew this would blow the budget a little, but hey this is New Orleans, and I may never come here again.

A couple of hotels were about the $129 to $149 a night, but I found one on Bourbon street itself, The Lafitte guest house for $112 per night which was just the ticket. It had a four poster bed, high ceillings with huge long windows and even more impressive curtains, and a fabulous bathroom, I was spoilt, It was something from 100 years ago, with a safe place to park my bike.

So cleaned myself up, changed into some reasonable clothes, and hit the bars. Great live music coming out of many of the bars, so found one to sit and listen for a while. People were very friendly and chatty and if you like Jaz and Southern Blues it was just great.

However the day and the Rhum was catching up with me, so it was time to retire and get a good nights sleep, to do it all again tomorrow.

So after two nights it was time to head back to Baton Rouge and get on the 71 highway to Little Rock which became the 171 which opened out like a British motorway but with nothing on it, A little rough in places but at 100K's an hour was pure pleasure to ride. From Little Rock it was time to head towards the West. I stopped in a gas station to fill my belly and petrol tank up, but became confused with my map. A Harley rider gave me some good directions with a road number that my map did'nt show, So it was on the 371 highway. Beautiful green farmland was all around me, the bike was going well, but tiredness was creeping in, and it was 400 miles since leaving New Orleans using two tanks of fuel. I then saw a little Motel just outside Magnolia for $38 a night, which was just the job to rest for the night.

At 8am next morning, it was back on the road. The scenery was lovely and back on the 371 to find highway 30 towards Hot Springs where I decided it was time for breakfast.

People notice your foreign number plate and I always seem to attract those wanting to know where you come from and where you are going, which ends up with me having a longer stay than intendid, But it was always pleasent and gave you a feeling that your never alone. So after another full on American breakfast it was off on highway 7 through the hills, and some twisty corners to find the main Interstate 40, which is basically the replacement road for Route 66 and pretty much follows it West.

Once on the Interstate 40 it was nice to tour along at around 110/120 Kl/m's an hour until I got to Fort Smith when the rains started to pour and by the time I got to Salisaw I had had enough and turned off the Interstate only to find a Motel 6. These motels are generally very tidy and most of all clean, so it was unpack the bike and have a shower before getting a cab to the library to check on any e-mails and let people in New Zealand and UK know how I am and where I am. Then back to the Motel 6 to rest up watch a bit of TV and get some sleep for the morning.

Unfortunately the rain was still pouring and thunder was right overhead. I waited another hour got another cab to check the library once again but still no news, No news is good news, as they say.

So back to the motel and to get on my way in the rain before I get charged for another night. By now the rain was less and things were getting brighter, so on with my wets and back onto Interstate 40 to Oklahoma city (where the girls are so pretty).

All these names of towns seem to ignite songs in your mind that helps you to travel the vast distances that is America. I was relaxed and cruising nicely at around 110/120 KL/M's, I just loved the freedom these roads gave you without being jamed up like the UK. The further west I travelled the warmer it became.

Needing more fuel, I stopped at the next gas station where I filled up removed my wet's, bought some biscuit's and a can of 7up. I always get nervous before entering a new town as the highways often dump you in the middle where I seem to end up getting lost but these Interstates were straight through, without having to stop, which was great as I'm not much of a town person. Because of the late start I was not going to get too far today, so I decided to make for Weatherford another 45 miles from Oklahoma city and ended up arriving at 5.30pm after turning off the Interstate. This was a tiny place with a Space museum, a news agent and a couple of stores that were about to close, so ater finding the Motel I unloaded everything and walked into town. I fancied a couple of beers and some food but all I got was 2 warm beers and a stale sandwich. This is the problem if you arrive anywhere too late.

Never mind, I decided to have an early night and an early start in the morning. No breakfast at this motel so with a quick check over the bike it was load up and back onto Interstate 40. I would have liked to have seen the Space Museum, but it did'nt open until 9am, but I had already seen so much at Houston that it did'nt matter so much, I wanted to get the miles done today. Along the Interstate there were native Indians selling carvings and other gifts of interest, I would have liked to stop but maybe another time. Before long I was needing more fuel and would you believe I came opon a Roadhouse (Restaurant) and trading post all in one that also sold gas. It was only 10.30am and I had already clocked up 160 kilometres so as I was getting hungry and ordered a full on American breakfast with as much free coffee as you could drink, The breakfast came with two eggs, hash browns, sausages two pancakes with syrup, and all for the same price of a $6 tank of fuel.

I had to admit that I had to leave one of the pancakes, but I was full and that it would last me the whole day. I was back in Texas again for the second time where the grass started off green but as I got closer to Amarillo it was turning brown and getting hotter, with the land flattening out and the now, straw coloured grass was blowing gently in the breeze. Once again the Interstate went straight through the centre of Amarillo, but this time the traffic was a lot heavier,  After that the road flattened out into a desert for as far as the eye could see. The bike was cruising nicely, but every so often the speedo mile reader would flicker and when I checked it against the trip reader I found it to be running slow.

This made me wonder for how long this had been the case, and how many miles had I done since my last oil change and service, which was in Ecuador.

I went a little further until I saw somewhere to stop and stretch my legs. I checked the oil and topped up my chain oiler, I decided that I would service the bike when I get to Flagstaff. I was now in Cheyenne country which felt just like the Wild West. So back on the Interstate 40 and keeping an eye out for more gas, There are normally signs along the highway telling where you can fill up, so it did'nt take long to find one. This time a shell station with another queue type pay first fill later arrangement. I handed over my usual £10 note and returned to the bike. It was a strange time out pump, That if you did'nt press the lever within a certain time after removing it from the pump body it would cut out, ( I never new this ) so I had to go back into another queue then ask him to start it again, He must have had a bad  day because he was not happy with me at all, I was also a bit tired and told him to not bother if it's too much trouble, and I'll have my money back, which he did. So anothe few kilometres down the road was another station without any problems at all.

I had been on the road since 8 am and it was now 5.30pm and so made up some time from the previous day having covered 819 kilometres so far. I kept going a little further to a one horse town called Moriarty where there was a Econo Motel with a room for $39 which was only 15 miles from Albuquerque which was OK by me, I unloaded the bike and found a small dinner and had a nice chicken salad before returning back to my Motel room. A tiring day but I was very satisfied with how far I had come, and there was no trouble sleeping that night.

The next morning I was up at 5am wanting to get an early start, There were other bikers with the same idea preparing for their ride, I wished them well, then walked over to the cash machine,

The cash machine was outside the bank, and when the Nat/West card went in to request cash, it came back with a message that I had insufficient funds.

After all the trouble I had in Panama and ringing them up to explain of my travels they had obviously got their wires crossed somewhere once again.

Anyway I had no time to fix it now and resulted in using my NZ debit replacment card to pay for everything from now on, Because it was a replacement after being robbed in Panama I was unable to use it for cash.

So back at the Motel I packed everything up and got back on the Interstate after filling up with more fuel with my NZ card.

After about an hour and a half, I was getting a little cold when I saw another Indian Trading Post come into sight so stopped for another American breakfast, I also filled up again and tried the Nat/West card again with the same insufficient funds, so used the NZ card to get me out of trouble.

After that I was off and starting to climb the hills just before Albuquerque where it was still quite cool in the morning air. Once again the Interstate ran straight through the city, maybe the rough part of the city but an easy run through once again, I'm sure the city centre is worth a visit, It was a pity I could'nt stop at these towns but I wanted to get to the World Superbikes at Laguna Seca in California. The land was begining to flatten out now and the sun was getting warmer. Apart from this money problem on my mind every thing was running well and by the middle of the day had passed Gallup and almost across New Mexico and into Arizona. I saw the sign for the Petrified National Park that I thought would be worth a look.

Already I was about 150 miles from Albuquerque and it was nice to see where the timber had turned into stone, This tree had a concrete support under it to stop it breaking.

After I had rested for an hour, it was back on the Interstate towards Winslow where I ran out of steam after 500 kilometres (300 miles) for the day. The worry of the bank was getting to me, so when I found a nice little Motel I decided to stop and sort the Bank out once again.

I phone up from the Motel to my Nat/West branch in Bristol, when they said, Thank goodness you got in touch, We have been writing to your NZ address for a while getting no reply, to tell you that someone is using your card in the America's, Keeping in mind that they were given months of notice before I began this trip and had loaded a large sum of money to credit my account, was not acceptable to me. After much apology for the second time this had happened I hoped that was the last I would hear of it, (We will see). So after an age on the phone to sort all this out I told them that they were paying for the phone call, which they did.

The next morning I did'nt have that far to get to Flagstaff, but I knew that Meteor Crater was on the way, and wanted to take a look at it, After a small detour from the Interstate, I arrived at the visitor centre, paid my $12, (2 tanks of gas) and spent a pleasent hour looking around. I must say that it did not look quite so large close up as on the TV but it was very impressive all the same.

Then back on the road to an 800 year old Indian settlement at Walnut Canyon, where this tribe of Indians lived. They used mud to brick up the caves and it must have been very difficult for another tribe to find them. You can still see the ash from the fires where they did there cooking.

So now it's off to Flagstaff, where I wanted to service my bike, There were a couple of Motels on the outskirts of the town, but I thought I'd look for a motorcycle shop first to get some oil before shops closed for the evening, and found one that sold the same oil I had bought in Ecuador, Yamalube 20/40. after that I had another ride around this pretty little place and found another Motel 6 to stay this time for $49.90.

After unloading the bike, I had a little walk around and noticed a car repair workshop just down from the motel. I was a bit cheeky and asked if I could use his workshop to service my bike for a $10 bill. He said that would be fine as long as i did it on the forecourt, which was agreed.

 I had the oil and a spare filter then checked over the bike and all was well again for I hope another 5000 K's. So after that I found a bar and sat there to have a quiet beer. Then a couple came in with very strong Welsh accents and sat right next to me, We got chatting and as it happens they were touring around in a hire car for 6 months. My trip however would take a little longer. We got on really well and they asked if I'd join them for a meal next door at the (Who Let The Dog's Out ) Restaurant, which finished off a really nice day, then it was off in different directions, but you are never alone when travelling, It's great.

Not an early start the next day as I had things to do, like my washing and to find the Library to pick up any e-mails and to send a few postcard's, but first it was back to the (Dog's Out) for breakfast. At the laundry after I met a lady and asked if she knew of any Internet cafe's, It turned out that she was a visiting professor to Flagstaff University and why not try the computers in their library for free, which I did. I later spent a couple of hours that afternoon, sorting through a load of messages including one from Motorcycle Express concerning my bike shipment to the UK from Toronto in Canada, Everything worked out well that day and tomorrow it was off to the Grand Canyon, which I had only dreamed of seeing in my life time.

During the night I heard other bikers arriving, and the next morning saw all these huge touring monsters, some with trailors, and one with a V8 engine fitted, and made a nice job of it, I might add.

So we had a chat and made more friends before they loaded up to continue there tour, nice people.

So Strange how everything settled down after the tornado. Not a breath of air no rain as things settled down. A little further down the road and there it was, The Grand Canyon National Park.

I found a space to park my bike so that I could keep an eye on it. I did not want to lose anything off it now, and paid my $10 entry and walked along the pathway to look down to the Colorado river a mile below us.

Just an amazing view. So here are a couple of pictures to try to explain such a site.

I asked a kind lady to take a picture on my camera as I was lucky to get there at all. There were still storms in the area and I saw a lightening strike across the northern lip of the Canyon which caught a tree on fire. There were also lots of animals in the area like chipmonks, that could be hand fed and huge eagles hovering off the rising currents, I think the wild life did pretty well from the public.

I walked up and down the Southern lip of the canyon just amazed at what I was seeing. It was one of those places you just did'nt want to leave, and that I would never pass this way again.

Time was moving on and I needed to look for route 64 towards Cameron, but was on the wrong part of the National Park.

I stopped at a Cafe for a bite to eat and asked a guy how to get onto it. Apparently I had to leave the park, then re enter it at another point (Another $10) and go on route 89 to Cameron.

I decided to return to Flagstaff as it was getting late, found a cheap $27 Motel and make a fresh start in the morning, but what a fantastic day it had been.

The next morning I was on my way before 8am without a breakfast this time heading back onto the Plateau where I found route 89. I was enjoying the climb from Flagstaff and was facinated with the different colours of the rocks I was passing. No wonder they call it the Painted Desert.

The bike was running well after it's service and then 60miles on I came to a fork in the road, The 89 and the 89A. Not sure which way to go I chose the 89A to Marble Canyon. This turned out to be the right choice as it took me to Navaho Bridge that crossed the Colorado river.