24 June 2011
Had another four hours sleep and dawn walk around Centralia. Mom had some dramas with her car and helped her out with that. Rode to Mexico to visit with Dad and show him my new bike.
Rode to Molino to have a look at the house where i lived my pre-adolescent years. Molino is way out in the sticks. When i was a child there were about a dozen houses, a general store with a petrol pump and a small church. We used to walk about three miles to a one room country school. There is a lot less there now and the place has a general dilapidated feel to it. Still, it was quite evocative to see the place. It all looks smaller and run down except for the trees i used to climb which are much bigger.
Rode back to Centralia and just managed to stay awake the whole evening, so let's see if i can sleep through the night.
23 June 2011
Got about four hours sleep before jet lag had me awake at 3:00. I tossed and turned then got up to walk around Centralia, Missouri, just after dawn at about 5:30. It's a sleepy little working class town where the streets are lined with mature trees. I passed block after block of modest clapboard houses with lots of old pickup trucks in the driveways, scampering squirrels and an abundance of red breasted robins. I was overwhelmed with a feeling of "these are my people, these are my roots". There is nothing like a summer morning in the heart of small town Missouri and the Springsteen song seems to be on endless repeat in my head.
My mom picked me up from Sharon's at 8:00 to go visit my 82 year old father in the Veterans Home in Mexico. We arrived just in time for the Thursday bingo games. We spent the morning and lunch with Dad, catching up on old times and new ones.
Then we went to visit my aunt Dorothy, with a stop on the way to visit my sister Joyce's grave. The last time i was in the USA was for Joyce's funeral, it's nice to be back in a happier time, although we still miss her.
While at aunt Dorothy's place i was hit with the worst case of jet lag i've ever had and kept falling asleep in the middle of conversations. Mom mercifully took me back to Centralia and Sharon's so i could have a snooze without embarrassing myself.
The evening was spent playing games and catching up with Fred, Sharon and Katie.
22 June 2011
After not sleeping for about 38 hours, i managed to get a blissful six hours sleep before jet lag woke me up at about 5:30AM. My body was yearning for some exercise so i walked a few miles along Charles Rock road in St. Louis. It had been about seven years since i'd had a close look at a major USA urban setting and i was curious about how it would look and feel.
Signs of economic hard times were apparent with commercial properties only about 50% occupied and the public infrastructure showing signs of neglect. It was a beautiful mild morning and commuter traffic was just getting started. The trees are in full leaf and there is a lot of lush green. There is certainly no drought in this part of the world. It felt good to be back in Missouri.
After breakfast and a long hot shower to shake off the jet lag i drove Bob's pickup to Gateway BMW, all the while telling myself to "keep right" and mostly doing it.
I spent the morning at the dealership getting the paperwork settled, getting checked out on the bike operation and systems, transferring my stuff from a large airline bag into the bike luggage and being surrounded by mid-western American accents. Do i really sound like that? Everyone at Gateway BMW seemed competent, passionate about what they are doing and were very pleasant to deal with.
I rode away from the dealership about noon chanting "keep right, keep right" and after about half a mile, realizing i had been on the left the whole time. I gave myself a good scolding and proceeded with extra caution.
The ride to my sisters house in Centralia, Missouri, took just under two hours. On the way i passed through my old hometown of Mexico (the city, not the country, in spite of what my NZ passport says), riding through the streets of my childhood. It was a good feeling.
I think i am going to really like this bike but it is early days and time will tell. It rides and handles well, has all the right features for long distance touring and looks and feels good. My only complaint thus far it that it has a tendency to want to turn onto the left side of the road instead of the right. I'll have to see if the dealer can do anything about that when i take it in for the break in service next week.
I finished off the day hanging out with my sister Sharon, her husband Fred and their daughter Katherine and her fiance Michael. There is a lot of buzz in the house due to Katherine's upcoming wedding in a couple of weeks. It feels really nice to be back with family.
21 June 2011
Every journey begins with the first step - in this case a looonnng one. Since my childhood days of watching "Then Came Bronson" i have dreamed of touring the USA on a motorbike. About six months ago the signposts of my life were saying "do it now". Since then i have been researching, planning and preparing, and established a start date of 21 June 2011. After some anxious days monitoring the volcanic ash cloud that was grounding flights out of NZ, my departure on the morning of 21 June was cleared for takeoff. I flew from Auckland to Sydney, Sydney to LA, LA to St. Louis.
The only dramas i had were having my toothpaste confiscated in Sydney and having my just renewed New Zealand passport questioned by Customs in LA. My freshly renewed NZ passport showed that i was born in Mexico (the country) instead of Mexico (the small town in Missouri). Fortunately, my USA passport was all in order and that is all that US Customs cared about as far as me entering the USA. We'll see what happens when i try to get back into NZ.
Bob Honz of Gateway BMW,
whom i purchased my BMW R1200RT from, picked me up at the airport at 6PM, took me by the showroom to have a look at the bike and have a couple of beers.The total transit time from when i left my house until arriving at the dealership was 35 hours and i wasn't able to sleep during any of it. After chatting with Bob and some other staff over some brews, Bob left me with his pickup at the motel so i could drive myself back to the dealership the next morning. The Super 8 motel reminded me of the Memphis hotel in Jim Jarmusch's film "Mystery Train". The staff were real characters but my basic needs were met and i got a good nights sleep until the jet lag woke me at about 5:30.
