Sat Nav Bad. Sat Nav Good.

Way back in 1979, the Boomtown Rats recorded a song called “I don’t like Mondays”. I would like to extend that to “I don’t like Januarys”. It is still depressingly cold here. And wet. The sort of wet that gets right through to your bones. What are you meant to do if getting on your motorbike means becoming wetter than a fish taking a bath and colder than one of Ben and Jerry’s specials?

Clean the bike? Done that.

Take the dog for a walk? Done that – got wet.

Buy a wake board? Done that, but it is too cold to use it.

OK, so a week ago I thought I needed something new to look at. You might have read my post back in December hinting to my dearly beloved that I might need a new Sat Nav for Christmas for my tour of the USA. Well, it worked :) and I sat there on Christmas day surrounded by discarded wrapping paper and with a big smile on my face, holding a box marked Garmin Zumo.

About a week ago, having seen it was raining AGAIN, I opened the box to give it a try. My initial impressions after a couple of hours were “why did I bother - this is a pile of poo”.

However having got over the teething troubles, I soon realised this was just what I needed. The next few days showed to me this would be very good indeed.

OK, before telling you, dear reader, why I like the Garmin so much, here is the scoop on the teething troubles. I opened the box to see there is no manual, which is strange, so I checked the packing list. Guess what? There isn’t meant to be a manual packed in the box! You have to go online to get one. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am all for saving the planet and not printing stuff unnecessarily (like in 6 languages) but this is pretty silly. They don’t tell you where to find the manual online, you just have to go find it for yourself, then if you are like me and do want a paper copy, you have to print it out yourself. Not a great start.

One of the things that attracted me to the Garmin was the ability to plot routes on your computer in detail and then transfer them to the Sat Nav unit. This means having to load the mapping software onto your computer. OK so far – loading it was a piece of cake. Then you have to unlock the maps. Garmin please listen to this – it was a TOTAL NIGHTMARE to do this. Two calls to their support department (actually very helpful) soon sorted this though, but why make it so difficult in the first place? I understand the need to do this, but why make it so that only people at Garmin can understand how to do this? Dumb, vey dumb.

The next thing to go wrong was in addition to the maps (Europe) that came on the CD in the box, my wife purchased one of the map sets (the USA) on a memory card that you place into the Sat Nav unit, which I did. However, there is no way to transfer those maps back to your computer to make the route planning easier. OK, so I need to exchange this memory card for a CD, so I contacted Amazon which is where my wife purchased the memory card. What came next was a bummer – to prevent people copying software, Amazon and their suppliers do not take back software, so even though I couldn’t copy it, I had to buy the same USA maps on a CD! I now have all of the USA maps twice. Not happy.

So, this all took a few days to resolve and of course when the new CD arrived I had to go through the stupid un-locking process again. Arrrrggghhhhh!

Anyway, now to the good stuff. Planning a route on your computer is so much better than doing it on a sat nav unit. It is so easy – you can see a proper map and enter waypoints with the click of your mouse, join them up to form a route and save them. So easy! This turned me back into a happy little boy. You can even then view your map in Google Earth to see what other highlights there are along your route that you might want to stop and see. I don’t want to sound too gushy over this, but having used this for the past few days, I am a convert. The TomTom system I have is now consigned to a cupboard and the Garmin will rule supreme I am sure.

Having planned a few test routes I went out and tried them on the road. Ok, it was in my car because it was STILL RAINING, but I am sure you will forgive me for that. The unit performed very well on the road – up to the high standard of the TomTom. The Garmin Zumo has a bigger screen, but a comparison of the two sat navs shows them to be about the same on the road.

I have yet to try the Garmin on a motorbike, but I am pretty sure it will be as good as in the car. I have already wired it in to the bikes power source, which was straightforward. I will rig up the very neat Garmin speakers (extra cost) inside my helmet soon and take it out for a test ride.

That is if it stops raining.

New Paint Job for the Road King?

You know how your mind turns if you have a difficult decision to made? I am trying to decide if I should get a new paint job done on my 2006 Harley-Davidson Road King. This is the bike I will be using for the tour of the USA. I have been thinking for a while that I might get it done before shipping the bike to New York, but I am not sure. Trouble is, I rather like the sort of classic retro style of the Road King and it seems a shame to do anything that will really detract from it.















But I also like having a bike that stands out a little. Duh, I mean a lot. My custom bike doesn’t exactly blend in to the background!


Then a few weeks ago I saw a picture that a guy called Tony Evans has painted. This was painted onto a piece of flat sheet metal as a sample and I adore the picture which is of Audrey Hepburn. Yes, the picture on the left is really an airbrush painting! Now, it just so happens that I am a bit of an Audrey Hepburn fan and so is my wife. I just love the way she looks in some of her old movies. I even had a picture painted of Audrey for one of the bedrooms in our house in Spain.

So the big question for me is should I have this image, and others like it painted onto my Road King in a sort of homage to B&W movie screen legends? I am going to see Tony later today to see some of his work. I will let you know what I decide, but that may take some time......

Tony's work can be seen at Tony's Custom Paint Shop

Motorcycle Lodge

I was cruising the web earlier today and I looked at a blog that I like – it is called Thunder Road. Essentially a guy (Radar) in Texas who loves motorcycle touring is considering setting up a lodge (or lodges) to specifically cater for touring bikers. He is gathering information on what bikers might want out of such a lodge and he wants people to visit his blog to vote on this. I have voted and it struck me that I could help by publicising the need for as many bikers to visit his blog and vote.

If you want to vote and help determine what his lodges should contain, or if you want to publicise this on your own blog if you have one, then visit The Thunder Road Blog

Visa For The USA

Having visited the USA on many occasions over the past 38 years I thought I knew everything I needed to know about visa requirements when entering the US. It turns out I was wrong.

As I am from the UK I knew that the USA and the UK have a reciprocal visa waiver program. Put simply this means that each country relaxes its normal visa requirements for visitors from the other country – as a UK citizen visiting the USA, I don’t need a visa and vice-versa.

WRONG! I found out today that this is time limited. The waiver program only applies in certain conditions and one of the exceptions is you need a visa if your visit is for more than 90 days. My planned tour is more than 90 days, so I need a visa. No problem, as it will not take very long, but one of the requirements is that all applicants need to have an interview with a consular official following the completion of a comprehensive application form. There are very strict rules to follow when applying for a US visa.

You can find out about the visa requirements by looking at the U.S. Department Of State website

The website stresses the importance of applying in plenty of time before your visit, so I will get onto this very soon.

Snow Business

We don't get much snow in the South of England, but yesterday was one of those rare occasions. As such, I had to take a few photos near where I live......

Riding Suspended Due To Cold

Brrrr. Winter has hit the UK with a vengeance. This has stopped any thought of riding and my bikes are well and truly put away until the weather warms up. I heard on the tv last night that we had one of the coldest Decembers for so many years and that the UK will probably have more snow today than any time in the last 30 years. I just looked outside and the snow has started here.

Yesterday I went for a walk near to where I live and took a few photos. The pictures below are not snow – they are ice covering the fields and roads. Pretty, but not exactly motorcycling weather!

Another Good Book for Trip Planning

I have been doing some more research over the past few days about travelling in Arizona, including the Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, Sedona, Monument Valley and Route 66.

When I was recently working in Chicago, I stopped by a bookshop and picked up a book called “Arizona, New Mexico & the Grand Canyon Trips". It is a lonely planet book. This book is a gold mine if you are travelling to this area as it is full of useful information about hotels, restaurants, places to see etc. It complements the other books I have suggested in earlier postings on this blog. The other books are good for trip planning and this book fills in some of the detail that you need to know.

The way I used this book (and many others) is to read the brief parts in the book about a particular hotel for example, and then use that information to then look it up on the internet to find out more. I find this works well as the books give you only just enough information, but you really need a little more to make your decision about whether to stay there or not.

This book is a must if you are visiting the area. I am happy to recommend it.

6 months until the start

It is now 6 months today until I start my tour.

The preparations are on track; the route is set, shipping of the bike is being sorted, dates all known, packing lists being developed, the hotel for Sturgis is booked.

There is snow here at home in London and my bikes are put away for winter. The tour seems a long way away, but the 6 months will go by fast.

To Cover or Not to Cover?

I am not sure about whether I should take a bike cover with me. Opinion seems to be divided on this with security of your bike being compared to the amount of space a bike cover takes to carry when touring.

Essentially it comes down to this – where are you going to park your precious and maybe beloved bike overnight when on the road? Will it be safe where you leave it? If you think it will be safe, then go without the cover. However, my guess is that you will never really know if your bike will be ok – even parking in what seems like a very safe area doesn’t mean the bad guys don’t go there.

I have bought a lightweight bike cover for my tour (http://eztouring.com/). As can be seen from the photo below, it does a great job of covering the bike. This cover is made of the same material they make parachutes from – it seemed to me that parachutes get packed really tightly so a cover made from the same material should roll and pack into a similarly small space. The first photo below shows the cover packed ready for carrying on the bike – hmmm, this is small, but even this takes quite a lot of space, so I am not sure if I will have room for it. I guess I will make my mind up when I have packed everything else and see what room I have left.
















This photo shows the cover on the bike.

Which Sat Nav?

Using a Sat Nav on a bike has benefits and disadvantages. Some say it takes away some of the freedom of the road that we all adore so much. Some say it simply helps us from getting lost! I am somewhere in the middle – I use one when I really need to, but leave it off the bike most of the time.


When I do use one is normally when I am on a long trip to somewhere I have never been before. For a few years I have been using a Tom Tom Rider and I have found it OK, but only just. Sure, it is clear with a good screen, the route it finds are normally very good, the speed camera warnings are excellent and it is very easy to use. It is only let down by the longer route planning with many waypoints (places you want to go via on the way). In short, I don’t like its longer route planning capabilities and there is no way to save anything but your currently planned journey. Also, I have never really been happy with the way you connect the unit to speakers / earpieces so you can hear the verbal directions.


For my 13,500 mile tour of the USA I definitely needed a Sat Nav, but I wanted something better than the Tom Tom.


I did some research, checked out what each could do, asked a few buddies (thanks Derek), compared features and prices and decided to go for the Garmin Zumo 660.






















Christmas is coming and guess what is going on my list...... Jackie....... ?

Assuming my wife takes the hint, I will let you know how I get on with it during the tour preparations.

HOG Assistance in the USA

Many of us Harley-Davidson riders in the UK have taken out a bike recovery insurance policy called HOG assistance. In the event of a breakdown, this covers transporting your bike to the nearest H-D dealer, transport costs, overnight accommodation etc.

I have enquired if the UK cover is applicable if you take your Harley to the States, and the simple answer is yes. The UK and USA organisations have reciprocal arrangements whereby each is covered in the others country. There are two things you should do however – notify HOG assistance in the UK before you go to check exactly what cover you will have in the USA and secondly, get from the UK people the breakdown telephone numbers for use in the USA.

USA Times Zones

One of the things I will have to think about on the tour is the different time zones across the USA. On the main (contiguous) States, there are 4 times zones which are (from west to east) Pacific, Mountain, Central and Eastern. These range between 8 and 5 hours behind the UK. The map below shows approximately what time zones are where. Don’t get caught out by the boundaries – they don’t necessarily follow the State boundaries as you might expect!

The USA changes its clocks for summertime normally at the same time as the UK, but sometimes not.

Top Road Trip Songs

When on the tour, I want to listen to the most relevant music that I can. Therefore I am putting together a list of my Top Road Trip Songs. I have my own ideas about what to include, but I’d like some suggestions, so why not suggest a song or two using the comments link below this post and maybe add your suggestion to my list.

USA Helmet Laws

Being somewhat confusing for riders from outside of the USA, each State has its own helmet laws that say whether you must wear a helmet, you can choose to wear one if you are over a certain age, or there are some States that do not have a helmet law. The map below shows what the current situation is with each State.
Red means you don't have to wear a helmet.
Blue normally means you dont have to wear a helmet if you are over a certain age (check on the link below)
Green means you must wear a helmet
(Click on the map for greater detail)
















For further information see http://www.iihs.org/laws/HelmetUseCurrent.aspx

Now I am definitely not saying that you should or should not wear a helmet if you are riding in the States – that is up to you. But, you should know what the laws are, so as well as looking at whether you have a choice to wear a helmet or not, there are other laws that you should consider like;

· Do you have to wear eye protection?
· Must you have a headlight on?
· Can you wear headphones?
· Is lane sharing / splitting allowed?

For the answers to these questions in any of the States you might be considering visiting, see
http://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/PrintLaws.html

Pannier / Saddlebag Liners

I forgot to mention something very useful that we used on our motorcycle trip to California – Pannier or Saddlebag liners. We purchased these in the UK before we left and took them with us. As we were renting bikes, we wanted to be able to put our belongings in a bag that we could lift out when we arrived at the hotel for the night. We each had 3 and everything we took went in these.

I have to say they were excellent – waterproof with a top that sealed and this formed a carrying strap. I would definitely recommend these for anybody going touring and renting a bike.

They are called Exped Shrink Bags, come in different sizes and are available in the UK from http://www.gearpac.com

Who might join me?

Over the past few days, I have contacted a small number of friends to ask if they want to join me on part of the tour and a few have already expressed a wish to join me. I am not sure how many will eventually come on part of the tour, but a few seem very interested.

I think it will take some time to finaise who will come with me, but there is no rush!

19th September - Detailed Route Planning Completed!

Over the past few days, I have been doing the detailed planning of the tour route through the States of Utah, Arizona and California. They are the last three States and the total distance that I now intend to travel is 13,409 miles in 121 days.

My intended route is shown right at the bottom of this page. It strikes me that the route reflects areas of particular interest to me. The route is very twisty in the States of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Arizona. The reason for this is this is the area of the Rocky Mountains – I had planned many routes over this mountain range and the twisty route reflects this.

My route that takes in several passes (roads over mountains) that are at high elevations – this would take some thinking about in advance due to the potential for poor weather at these heights and even altitude sickness. I would need to look into these further in the future.

Having now determined the detailed route, I needed to fix the dates that the tour would take place. In thinking about dates, I only had two considerations to bear in mind. I didn’t want to be in the northern States when the weather was cold, nor in the southern States when the weather was too hot.

Also, I had wanted to go to the motorcycle rally Sturgis in South Dakota and in 2010, the rally takes place between 9th and 15th August and this meant I would need to start the tour on or about 24th June 2010 in Maine in the north east of the USA. This works well as it means I would be in the colder northern States in the summer. It also meant I would get to Death Valley (probably the hottest area in the south in October which is also okay as that misses the really hot months of July and August.

The dates of the tour were therefore fixed to starting on 24th June and finishing at the end of October. Perfect timing.

4th September – Contacted the Harley Owners Group

It had been about a month since I attended the SOFER Rally and met Marjorie Rae from HOG where we had briefly discussed my intended tour.

Since then I had started this blog and it had developed well enough for me to contact Marjorie again. I did that yesterday to ask her opinion about how the blog could be promoted – after all, if I am spending time writing this, I want people to read it!

Marjorie wrote back almost straight away and suggested that the blog could be mentioned in the UK HOG e-zine which goes out to all HOG members in the UK and Ireland. That would give it just the promotion I was thinking of, so thank you HOG!

1st September - Detailed Planning Part 6

I spent yesterday planning the tour through Colorado. This sounds like it will be one of my favourite States. The mountains, passes and rivers will mean this could be a stunning State to ride in.

When I did the planning for Colorado I used an excellent site which is full of helpful information to people planning to ride here. This is called Passes & Canyons – Motorcycle Touring in Colorado.

Today, I started to look at the States of Utah and Arizona. Monument Valley looks fantastic.

31st August 2009 - Saddlebag Locks for my Road King Classic

Having done a few long trips through Europe on my Harley-Davidson Road King Classic, I had learnt that not having locks on the standard leather panniers is a real pain. This means that I could not leave anything of value in the saddlebags.

I had heard that you could buy locks for these saddlebags and I had previously set out to find some on the web. I found they were available in the USA and had bought a set from the Lock It company (http://www.lockitt.com/). Today, I fitted them. It took a couple of hours and was relatively straightforward. They were quite expensive ($180), but in the long run, I suspect they will be more than worth the money.