YANKS FOR THE MEMORIES!!!
Well I've had as much fun as everyone reading Pete's usual great write-up and selection of pics. Dang, looking at it all, it makes me want to go there too!!!
Yeah, it seems like ages ago already. It was a blast and a pleasure to see Pete & Gudie again and I hoped I could show them enough beauty and fun to repay their kindness in New Zealand 6? years ago.
First off, Pete pulled off a MAJOR miracle in resurrecting my 2003 DL1000. It hadn't run for over 4 years. After I'd exhausted troubleshooting, I shipped it to 3 different Suzuki dealers who all scratched their heads, handed me a bill and proclaimed it to be accursed. Pete and Gudie arrived in Medford at MIDNIGHT on a Sunday. Pete said he hadn't been able to sleep on their flights so you can guess how many hours he'd been up. But the next morning by 9am he had all the plastic bits off the front of the Strom and before 1pm we added gas and I heard the sweet snarl of the v-twin. Wow! I truly didn't expect success, but that sure as heck got things off to a nice start. You can't appreciate what a true miracle this was to me. Hat's off to you buddy!!! I mean "mate"!!!!!!!
I figured I might add a few comments here---some in response to questions asked, some just observations of Pete & Gudie's observations of the US. I realized they had some misconceptions about some of the things they saw, but it was good to see their reactions to some of the things here. Hopefully I might help shed a bit more light on "Uncle Sam."
First, the camera I have is a Canon G-11. I got this camera for one reason only---it has a turn and swivel LCD display on back, along with a real viewfinder. This was to replace my trusty old Olympus Camedia 5060 which also had that type of LCD panel. Once you've had a camera with one, you won't want to be without it--I use it all the time. My only complaint (and it's a big one) is that the Canon's chip consistently washes out the sky. I have to use Photoshop to correct the color in almost every picture I take. As great a camera as it is, I'm almost ready to go on eBay and look for another Olympus as it's color algorhythms were about spot on.
Yup, there are a lot of churches in the US and a myriad variety of religions. The primary reason for settlement of the US by Europeans was to avoid religious prosecution. But our Constitution was brilliant in not only allowing freedom of religion, but also freedom FROM religion. Most Americans will say they believe there is a God, but most Americans also do not go to church regularly. A lot of old churches provide an interesting architectural history of the country. I tried to talk Pete & Gudie into buying an old church that is for sale (don't see that too often) in a neighboring town. I thought it would make a nice spot for a brewhouse and pub. Who could resist such holy water?!?
Speaking of water.....There is an awful lot of water around here--something I understand is in short supply in much of OZ. But we have lots of high mountains conveniently located along the coast, ready to snag the onshore breeze's sea-moisture. And this water has also conveniently seen fit to create so many wonderful canyons & formations so perfect for motorcycling. In Pete's nice pictures of Crater Lake, what is most interesting is that basically you have a mountain that literally blew it's top and left the nice big hole. But wouldn't you think that a giant hole in the top of a mountain about 3,000m up would not accumulate water--that any water up that high would simply drain out? It's a conundrum when you see the spot.
Although I've spoken to Pete & Gudie off & on for a few years and I've been to Sydney one time for 3 days, I had no recollection that your food prices were so high. It made me wonder if food costs might not put a damper on any future trips to OZ I've been thinking about. I guess part of our cheaper food has to do with both economy of scale and the fact that the US is blessed with a lot of the best soil on the planet. There are farms and ranches from small to enormous all over.
Pete & Gudie were a bit stunned to see so many wandering men. That's a more complicated thing and not all of it is bad. The US has a long history of wanderers--I'd imagine OZ has it's share. An awful lot of people simply don't fit the normal profile of wanting to be in one place and have a fixed home. A lot of them actually enjoy the freedom of living out of a backpack and traveling with their thumb's out hitchhiking. In years past it was very common to see these people using empty train cars to hitch a ride to somewhere. Right now the US economy is in the worst shape in over 50 years and it's not going to improve any time soon, so there are more people out of work and more people without homes. Some of those people are now out panhandling, reduced to begging for money. But I notice that in the US, still, if you are willing to work and you aren't thinking you deserve more than you're actually worth, you can find a job. I just spoke to a friend in another city who simply likes to work. She just took on her third job. She doesn't need to do it, she does it because she doesn't like to sit at home and any extra money can help pay her son's college. Historically in the US the ultimate freedom means we can have the ultimate success, but we are also free to fail. It was also the end of summer when we did our ride and a lot of those folks were wanderers, vagabonds who were simply moving south before the weather got too cool. We have a joke that in the US our "poor" people all seem to have cell phones and wear $100 sneakers. Thank you socialism. I've never seen a poor person in the US who didn't have a $7 pack of cigarettes in their pocket. But it was interesting for me to see Pete & Gudie's reaction. However in some big cities (San Francisco comes first and foremost to mind) the downtown's are almost being overrun by mentally ill and drug addicted people. It is hurting tourism in San Francisco. In years past, many mentally ill (mostly schizophrenic) patients could be confined to hospitals or asylums, but over time our courts decided that wasn't right. So now they are out on the streets--those without families. And they tend to congregate in the heart of big cities because a lot of social services are offered there. There are churches and social organizations that have a lot of free beds and meals for the night, but a lot of the mentally ill and drug addicted choose to sleep in the streets.
Health care has been a hot topic in the US, with an awful lot of our own politicians spouting crap about how good socialized medicine is. Bullcrap. The American populace doesn't want it and Pete's experience was typical. The hospital where he went didn't even realize he was a world-famous motojournalist ;/) but as he said they had him half stripped and were starting medications before they even knew his name. Yes, a lot of prescriptions are expensive. There is a good reason for that and it's a bad reason---thank you lawyers. In the US, our lawyers are running amok. Companies have to charge a lot more here to cover the potential and likely legal problems they will have for almost anything made. The cost is huge. But in spite of this, our system still produces the vast majority of all the new medications and medical devices and medical procedures used all over the world. So Oz and the rest of the world can get quite a benefit from this at quite a huge cost savings. The pace of medical research is increasing logarhythmcally with significant new drugs coming out almost monthly. These are very expensive at first. People here complain about the cost of care and medications but when they get sick, they darn well bitch if they don't get the latest and greatest every last thing available. And they would like it to be "free", as if there were such a thing. Such is human nature I guess.
One thing I found absolutely funny as hell, was when Pete & Gudie first arrived, during the first week they were absolutely stunned and often taken aback by.....(drumroll...) CHOICES! After a trip to a large grocery store Pete's comment of "How many bloody types of lemonade do you need to have!" brought a grin to my face. It's true---lots of choices. But those choices would not be there if there wasn't a demand for them. Such is free enterprise. And Gudie was particularly flumoxed by the choices with dinner. "I have to pick the dressing I want on the salad??!!!???" "There are THREE choices of potatoes to go with that??!!!??? AND I get a vegetable???!!!!" "I have to choose what sauce goes on the steak??!!!???" I type this with a smile--I never thought anyone would be taken aback by having choices. But that is the beauty and wonder of travel. What I take for granted is simply not the way things are elsewhere of course. I have been lucky enough to travel to Europe and Asia and "down under" so I'm aware of, and appreciate these things. And Pete and Gudie have travelled a lot too. It was just funny for me to see their reaction to the many choices we have in our routine lives here. It was also shocking to me to hear how long you have to wait to get a meal served in a restaurant in Melbourne. C'est la vie.
Tips: how to give tips? Not that complicated really. Basically for the traveler, only 2 main things to know: If you eat in a restaurant where they serve you at the table (i.e. bring you the menu and your food, i.e. not McDonalds) it is customary to leave a tip of 15-20% if you are happy with the food and the service. If you don't like it, don't tip. They will get the message. The second place to tip is in a hotel/motel. And that is to leave about $2 or $3 on your bed each day. This is for the housekeeping staff who usually work at low wages, but they can make a good wage with the tips. This is not entirely expected so it's OK if you don't tip there, but it's fairly common. Oh, one other place that the traveler might tip is a taxi cab driver (add $1-3 to the fare) and at the airport IF you have help from the baggage personnel outside the terminal building (not at the counter inside) it is expected you give $1-2 per bag you give them to have them check in the bags for you. Most of you would carry your own bags in to the check-in counter so this is not an issue.
Deer are everywhere here and a real threat as their reactions to approaching vehicles is totally unpredictable (not unlike roos I understand.) This area of the US also apparently has the largest concentration of mountain lions (cougars) in all of North America. But these are very shy animals. Many folks have lived here all their lives and never seen one. So for Gudie to not only have seen one, but to have seen one hunting deer is priceless!!! And as for my encounter with the black bear....well for starters, that bear had a VERY successful summer of eating. I've seen a lot of black bears and this one was huge. I have never seen one run in front of a vehicle though. Complicating this particular episode was that the road was cut into a steep slope and the bear was on about a meter+ rise of dirt on the uphill side of the road and the instant I rounded the corner and saw him, he must have panicked and he jumped into the road right in front of my Strom! All in a microsecond he appeared, jumped and I found myself pinned under the Strom. My ankle felt like I'd broken it, but after about 10 minutes of hobbling around, it wasn't so bad. I was left with a torqued knee but wow did I ever have a big smile on my face! Who the hell has a black bear jump in front of their motorcycle??? (Did I mention he was BIG?) That night, sitting in our hotel room sucking down a couple ice cold beers, Pete and I started laughing so hard I almost had beer shoot out my nose. Damn that was a funny day. And I can't tell you how grateful I was that my bike didn't hit the bear--if it had, there's a good chance he would have thought I was attacking him and he might have jumped on me and I couldn't move with the bike on me.
And do you folks realize how hard I had to work to top Gudie's sighting of the cougar? ;/)
In the end, we darn near had to pry Gudie off the DR650. She liked it so much she took the keys with her back to OZ!!!!! I'm not kidding. She did get along with the bike well and it was nice to see her "hauling ass" through the twisties on it---she really did smile a lot when talking about it. She made me envious--how do I tell her that next time we need to dig up another 650 because dog-gone it, I want my 650 back!!!! If I had to have only one bike it would be the DR. I've done just a few mods to it, but it is simply an all out smile machine now, on paved road or dirt.
I was happy to hear someone else here comment on how a stranger in Denver offered (belatedly) to lend him a motorcycle (OK, a Harley) to ride. I'd like to think that is pretty typical of us Yanks. I think overall most of us realize we live in a pretty great spot and our lives are blessed in a lot of ways that many other people's aren't. People in the middle of the US are so friendly that it is said if you ask them for directions the next thing you know they'll be making dinner for you and offering you a bed for the night--and that's not much of an exaggeration. And that appreciation for all we have is due in large part to the fact that "we are the world." Nowhere else has the wide diversity of cultures come together that have mixed together so well. And most of us have long memories of "the old country" where maybe things weren't so good. But in travelling around the world, you find that most folks are pretty friendly and generous. I think that that friendliness and generosity in particular is one thing that most Americans view as high common ground with Australians. In the US, Ozzies are usually thought of as tough, creative, friendly and happy folks who can't wait to get off work, have a cold beer and throw something on the barbie. And in that, there is a smile and a bond that just can't be faked or bought.
Pete & Gudie, come back soon. I had a blast and dang--did you folks know how much those 2 like to cook? I mean good food! I haven't eaten so well in .....well a very long time. I had it better in my own house when they were here than when I'm on my own. Geez, maybe I'll have to pay them to visit?!!??!!!!!! And I have to wonder what mischief Pete will be up to---what the heck will he do to trump a hunting cougar and a flying bear??? Stay tuned!!......
Well I've had as much fun as everyone reading Pete's usual great write-up and selection of pics. Dang, looking at it all, it makes me want to go there too!!!
Yeah, it seems like ages ago already. It was a blast and a pleasure to see Pete & Gudie again and I hoped I could show them enough beauty and fun to repay their kindness in New Zealand 6? years ago.
First off, Pete pulled off a MAJOR miracle in resurrecting my 2003 DL1000. It hadn't run for over 4 years. After I'd exhausted troubleshooting, I shipped it to 3 different Suzuki dealers who all scratched their heads, handed me a bill and proclaimed it to be accursed. Pete and Gudie arrived in Medford at MIDNIGHT on a Sunday. Pete said he hadn't been able to sleep on their flights so you can guess how many hours he'd been up. But the next morning by 9am he had all the plastic bits off the front of the Strom and before 1pm we added gas and I heard the sweet snarl of the v-twin. Wow! I truly didn't expect success, but that sure as heck got things off to a nice start. You can't appreciate what a true miracle this was to me. Hat's off to you buddy!!! I mean "mate"!!!!!!!
I figured I might add a few comments here---some in response to questions asked, some just observations of Pete & Gudie's observations of the US. I realized they had some misconceptions about some of the things they saw, but it was good to see their reactions to some of the things here. Hopefully I might help shed a bit more light on "Uncle Sam."
First, the camera I have is a Canon G-11. I got this camera for one reason only---it has a turn and swivel LCD display on back, along with a real viewfinder. This was to replace my trusty old Olympus Camedia 5060 which also had that type of LCD panel. Once you've had a camera with one, you won't want to be without it--I use it all the time. My only complaint (and it's a big one) is that the Canon's chip consistently washes out the sky. I have to use Photoshop to correct the color in almost every picture I take. As great a camera as it is, I'm almost ready to go on eBay and look for another Olympus as it's color algorhythms were about spot on.
Yup, there are a lot of churches in the US and a myriad variety of religions. The primary reason for settlement of the US by Europeans was to avoid religious prosecution. But our Constitution was brilliant in not only allowing freedom of religion, but also freedom FROM religion. Most Americans will say they believe there is a God, but most Americans also do not go to church regularly. A lot of old churches provide an interesting architectural history of the country. I tried to talk Pete & Gudie into buying an old church that is for sale (don't see that too often) in a neighboring town. I thought it would make a nice spot for a brewhouse and pub. Who could resist such holy water?!?
Speaking of water.....There is an awful lot of water around here--something I understand is in short supply in much of OZ. But we have lots of high mountains conveniently located along the coast, ready to snag the onshore breeze's sea-moisture. And this water has also conveniently seen fit to create so many wonderful canyons & formations so perfect for motorcycling. In Pete's nice pictures of Crater Lake, what is most interesting is that basically you have a mountain that literally blew it's top and left the nice big hole. But wouldn't you think that a giant hole in the top of a mountain about 3,000m up would not accumulate water--that any water up that high would simply drain out? It's a conundrum when you see the spot.
Although I've spoken to Pete & Gudie off & on for a few years and I've been to Sydney one time for 3 days, I had no recollection that your food prices were so high. It made me wonder if food costs might not put a damper on any future trips to OZ I've been thinking about. I guess part of our cheaper food has to do with both economy of scale and the fact that the US is blessed with a lot of the best soil on the planet. There are farms and ranches from small to enormous all over.
Pete & Gudie were a bit stunned to see so many wandering men. That's a more complicated thing and not all of it is bad. The US has a long history of wanderers--I'd imagine OZ has it's share. An awful lot of people simply don't fit the normal profile of wanting to be in one place and have a fixed home. A lot of them actually enjoy the freedom of living out of a backpack and traveling with their thumb's out hitchhiking. In years past it was very common to see these people using empty train cars to hitch a ride to somewhere. Right now the US economy is in the worst shape in over 50 years and it's not going to improve any time soon, so there are more people out of work and more people without homes. Some of those people are now out panhandling, reduced to begging for money. But I notice that in the US, still, if you are willing to work and you aren't thinking you deserve more than you're actually worth, you can find a job. I just spoke to a friend in another city who simply likes to work. She just took on her third job. She doesn't need to do it, she does it because she doesn't like to sit at home and any extra money can help pay her son's college. Historically in the US the ultimate freedom means we can have the ultimate success, but we are also free to fail. It was also the end of summer when we did our ride and a lot of those folks were wanderers, vagabonds who were simply moving south before the weather got too cool. We have a joke that in the US our "poor" people all seem to have cell phones and wear $100 sneakers. Thank you socialism. I've never seen a poor person in the US who didn't have a $7 pack of cigarettes in their pocket. But it was interesting for me to see Pete & Gudie's reaction. However in some big cities (San Francisco comes first and foremost to mind) the downtown's are almost being overrun by mentally ill and drug addicted people. It is hurting tourism in San Francisco. In years past, many mentally ill (mostly schizophrenic) patients could be confined to hospitals or asylums, but over time our courts decided that wasn't right. So now they are out on the streets--those without families. And they tend to congregate in the heart of big cities because a lot of social services are offered there. There are churches and social organizations that have a lot of free beds and meals for the night, but a lot of the mentally ill and drug addicted choose to sleep in the streets.
Health care has been a hot topic in the US, with an awful lot of our own politicians spouting crap about how good socialized medicine is. Bullcrap. The American populace doesn't want it and Pete's experience was typical. The hospital where he went didn't even realize he was a world-famous motojournalist ;/) but as he said they had him half stripped and were starting medications before they even knew his name. Yes, a lot of prescriptions are expensive. There is a good reason for that and it's a bad reason---thank you lawyers. In the US, our lawyers are running amok. Companies have to charge a lot more here to cover the potential and likely legal problems they will have for almost anything made. The cost is huge. But in spite of this, our system still produces the vast majority of all the new medications and medical devices and medical procedures used all over the world. So Oz and the rest of the world can get quite a benefit from this at quite a huge cost savings. The pace of medical research is increasing logarhythmcally with significant new drugs coming out almost monthly. These are very expensive at first. People here complain about the cost of care and medications but when they get sick, they darn well bitch if they don't get the latest and greatest every last thing available. And they would like it to be "free", as if there were such a thing. Such is human nature I guess.
One thing I found absolutely funny as hell, was when Pete & Gudie first arrived, during the first week they were absolutely stunned and often taken aback by.....(drumroll...) CHOICES! After a trip to a large grocery store Pete's comment of "How many bloody types of lemonade do you need to have!" brought a grin to my face. It's true---lots of choices. But those choices would not be there if there wasn't a demand for them. Such is free enterprise. And Gudie was particularly flumoxed by the choices with dinner. "I have to pick the dressing I want on the salad??!!!???" "There are THREE choices of potatoes to go with that??!!!??? AND I get a vegetable???!!!!" "I have to choose what sauce goes on the steak??!!!???" I type this with a smile--I never thought anyone would be taken aback by having choices. But that is the beauty and wonder of travel. What I take for granted is simply not the way things are elsewhere of course. I have been lucky enough to travel to Europe and Asia and "down under" so I'm aware of, and appreciate these things. And Pete and Gudie have travelled a lot too. It was just funny for me to see their reaction to the many choices we have in our routine lives here. It was also shocking to me to hear how long you have to wait to get a meal served in a restaurant in Melbourne. C'est la vie.
Tips: how to give tips? Not that complicated really. Basically for the traveler, only 2 main things to know: If you eat in a restaurant where they serve you at the table (i.e. bring you the menu and your food, i.e. not McDonalds) it is customary to leave a tip of 15-20% if you are happy with the food and the service. If you don't like it, don't tip. They will get the message. The second place to tip is in a hotel/motel. And that is to leave about $2 or $3 on your bed each day. This is for the housekeeping staff who usually work at low wages, but they can make a good wage with the tips. This is not entirely expected so it's OK if you don't tip there, but it's fairly common. Oh, one other place that the traveler might tip is a taxi cab driver (add $1-3 to the fare) and at the airport IF you have help from the baggage personnel outside the terminal building (not at the counter inside) it is expected you give $1-2 per bag you give them to have them check in the bags for you. Most of you would carry your own bags in to the check-in counter so this is not an issue.
Deer are everywhere here and a real threat as their reactions to approaching vehicles is totally unpredictable (not unlike roos I understand.) This area of the US also apparently has the largest concentration of mountain lions (cougars) in all of North America. But these are very shy animals. Many folks have lived here all their lives and never seen one. So for Gudie to not only have seen one, but to have seen one hunting deer is priceless!!! And as for my encounter with the black bear....well for starters, that bear had a VERY successful summer of eating. I've seen a lot of black bears and this one was huge. I have never seen one run in front of a vehicle though. Complicating this particular episode was that the road was cut into a steep slope and the bear was on about a meter+ rise of dirt on the uphill side of the road and the instant I rounded the corner and saw him, he must have panicked and he jumped into the road right in front of my Strom! All in a microsecond he appeared, jumped and I found myself pinned under the Strom. My ankle felt like I'd broken it, but after about 10 minutes of hobbling around, it wasn't so bad. I was left with a torqued knee but wow did I ever have a big smile on my face! Who the hell has a black bear jump in front of their motorcycle??? (Did I mention he was BIG?) That night, sitting in our hotel room sucking down a couple ice cold beers, Pete and I started laughing so hard I almost had beer shoot out my nose. Damn that was a funny day. And I can't tell you how grateful I was that my bike didn't hit the bear--if it had, there's a good chance he would have thought I was attacking him and he might have jumped on me and I couldn't move with the bike on me.
And do you folks realize how hard I had to work to top Gudie's sighting of the cougar? ;/)
In the end, we darn near had to pry Gudie off the DR650. She liked it so much she took the keys with her back to OZ!!!!! I'm not kidding. She did get along with the bike well and it was nice to see her "hauling ass" through the twisties on it---she really did smile a lot when talking about it. She made me envious--how do I tell her that next time we need to dig up another 650 because dog-gone it, I want my 650 back!!!! If I had to have only one bike it would be the DR. I've done just a few mods to it, but it is simply an all out smile machine now, on paved road or dirt.
I was happy to hear someone else here comment on how a stranger in Denver offered (belatedly) to lend him a motorcycle (OK, a Harley) to ride. I'd like to think that is pretty typical of us Yanks. I think overall most of us realize we live in a pretty great spot and our lives are blessed in a lot of ways that many other people's aren't. People in the middle of the US are so friendly that it is said if you ask them for directions the next thing you know they'll be making dinner for you and offering you a bed for the night--and that's not much of an exaggeration. And that appreciation for all we have is due in large part to the fact that "we are the world." Nowhere else has the wide diversity of cultures come together that have mixed together so well. And most of us have long memories of "the old country" where maybe things weren't so good. But in travelling around the world, you find that most folks are pretty friendly and generous. I think that that friendliness and generosity in particular is one thing that most Americans view as high common ground with Australians. In the US, Ozzies are usually thought of as tough, creative, friendly and happy folks who can't wait to get off work, have a cold beer and throw something on the barbie. And in that, there is a smile and a bond that just can't be faked or bought.
Pete & Gudie, come back soon. I had a blast and dang--did you folks know how much those 2 like to cook? I mean good food! I haven't eaten so well in .....well a very long time. I had it better in my own house when they were here than when I'm on my own. Geez, maybe I'll have to pay them to visit?!!??!!!!!! And I have to wonder what mischief Pete will be up to---what the heck will he do to trump a hunting cougar and a flying bear??? Stay tuned!!......