Friday 24th October : New Yoooooooooork !

Start spreadin' the news, I'm leavin' today
I want to be a part of it, New York, New York
These vagabond shoes are longing to stray
Right through the very heart of it, New York, New York

I wanna wake up in a city that doesn't sleep
And find I'm king of the hill, top of the heap

These little town blues are melting away
I'll make a brand new start of it, in old New York
If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere
It's up to you , New York, New York

New York, New York

I want to wake up in a city that never sleeps
And find I'm A-number-one, top of the list,
King of the hill, A-number-one

These little town blues are melting away
I'm gonna make a brand new start of it in old New York
A-a-a-nd if I can make it there, I'm gonna make it anywhere
It's up to you, New York, New York

Germany - New York
48.000 Kilometers
6 months
6 tyres
3 chainsets
11 countries
countless great people

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH !

it's done

happy - content - silent- a bit proud too

Baba

(details and pics to follow soon)

Wednesday 23rd to Thursday 24th October :Bikers paradise, a festival of turns and colours - Take me home, country road

Almost heaven, west virginia Blue ridge mountains Shenandoah river - Life is old there Older than the trees Younger than the mountains Growin' like a breeze Country roads, take me home To the place i belong West virginia, mountain momma Take me home, country roads All my memories gather round her Miner's lady, stranger to blue water Dark and dusty, painted on the sky Misty taste of moonshine Teardrops in my eye Country roads, take me home To the place i belong West virginia, mountain momma Take me home, country roads I hear her voice In the mornin' hour she calls me The radio reminds me of my home far away And drivin' down the road i get a feelin' That i should have been home yesterday, yesterday Country roads, take me home To the place i belong West virginia, mountain momma Take me home, country roads

I is that song I keep singing all along that absolutely stunning Blue Ridge Parkroad.
Once for really longing home to my beloved people - as wonderful his trip may have turned out -I feel happy to come back home. And slowly with a tiny little bit of sadness something like a little pridecomes up too - not for being an superherolongwayroundsort-of-thing. But for having met so many fantastic people and feelingthe privilege it means, once you really follow and go for your dreams.
Not too many words on the fabulous next 500 miles through an everwinding road southwest to Northeast along Blue Ridge Parkway and once out next into Shennandoah Nationalpark.
It is THE perfect bikergoodbye to America - everwinding perfect roads with almost nothing much to worry about - hey, you can do it on a Harley :-)
Just it is getting cold as ice with all thebeuaty makes camping an icy experience again - and being a bit late in theafternoon today in Shannondoah Nationalpark just 2 hours before sunset the ranger at the southern entry gate tried to persuade me, to spend the night right at the Southgate, as I would nver make it to theparkmiddle before sunset.
Yep, that was a bit of a riding fun by the end of the day - 110 miles with maximum parkspeed set at 35 miles - just two hours laterthe brave 650 nd me left the park again - at the North Gate :-) pretty cold to be honest - but just as happy. Come on, see why....

Impressions from
Blue Ridge Parkway
and
Shennandoah Nationalpark





















GOOD NITE FROM COLD AND CURVY BIKERS PARADISE

Baba (340 happy singing smiling miles to New York )

Tuesday 22nd October 2008: From Alabam to Chattanooga Choo Choo, Blue Ridge Parkway ,Canadabikes + why I did not shoot the Sheriff

What a reunion this morning has to offer - I am meeting MISS CHATTANOOGA Debbie again - we met up in Alaska on the ferry from Whittier to Valdez - when she invited me to meet her in Chattanoooga it sounded a bit unreal to be true- now she takes me round town and to the Chattanooga ChooChoo historic train station. We have lots to talk and thus time flies - yet I have to leaver her to soon again to head on northeast to the Blueridge Parkway taking me further towards New York. Thank you for EVERYTHING Debbie !!!

Chattanooga Choo Choo

Getting out of Chatanooga via the Interstate 75 is fairly easy and quick - unlike the 71 East through Sevierville into the Great Smoky Mountains Nationalpark. Sevierville is pure tourism- stuffed and jammed with cars, driven with people talking on their cellphones, sending textmessages or eaven reading books while they"drive". Though it takes you into a lovely landscape - avoid entering through that road into the park. It seems everybody with a minimumage of 75 and older is on their way to see the Indian Summer at falltime in the Smoky Mountains and along Blue Ridge Parkway. (please do not missunderstand - I do appreciate older people VERY much, especially when they are travelling- it is only a remarkable numrber at the same time)
I start figuring out how many weeks it will take me to do the more than 500 miles up Blue Ridge Parkway and further through Shennandoah Nationalpark in this "speed" - and therefor decide to do something for my averagespeed by passing some of my roadfellows on a doublelaned part of the road. This was no problem so far in the states - and while I keep wondering about that black Dodge in my rearviewmirrror that follows me straight away , a policehorn and blue flashlighs turn up - my first policestop in 49000 kms on that bike and 46.000 on the tour.
The Sheriff getting out rather tense asks me for my driving license and explains all I've done wrong - BECAUSE I AM IN NORTH CAROLINA NOW !!!!
Sorry , but how the hell shall I know that something that was ok anywhere else suddenly is illegal in North Carolina - and how again do I know I am there without a streetsign telling me . Once we come across all that the Sheriff turns out to be a wonderful and helpful character - as it is supposed to be. I get a lot of useful information from him, and whilst everybody passing along thinks I get a big ticket now, we have the most entertaining chat about the trip, bikes and the roads ahead. This maybe the time and place to put a general "Thank you Guys " to all the helpful and friendly policestaff all along the Ride of Change.
Most importatnt the officer stopped me right where the Blue Ridge Parkway takes 0ff at an almost invisible and not even signposted crossing west of Cherokee - I would most likely have missed it without him ....
Getting on the Blue Ridge Parkway there is 360 miles of turns and curves through some of the most spectacular Indian Summer fallscenery ahead of me.......
Enjoy some impressions of the first miles with me----

The long and winding....road

Northeastern FallMoods on the roadside

As if all this was not already good enough - it got even better - and again that is what makes the difference in riding a bike around the world.
While I get off the Parkroad into Asheville to look for a campsite for the nite (not a real pleasure with the temperatures having dropped dramatically in the last 2 days for a coldfront running in from Northwest) I am on my way into a supermarket to buy some food for the nite. Tha's when 3 bikers come on towards me to ask me where I am bound to and where I come from. It is Heidi,Hector and Mark from Toronto, on their way back home from a 2 weeks trip into the US. Heidi on her first longer biketrip with a 1977 Honda CB550, Hector on an 1972 R65/5 BMW and Mark on a Triumph Bonneville - new but vintage looking.
They are the real sort of bikers that make the difference to people sitting on bikes with a Dennis Hopper/Peter Fonda/Easyrider-Outfit .
it is mutual sympathy from bikers meeting bikers -and it takes just a short chat for them to invite me into their sparebed in their motel in town.
What a lucky man am I to run into such great people so many times in my life.
We spend a lovely night with pizza and some really awsome chats on b ikes and life itself.

Thank you guys for being so kind - and for you too there is another open door to visit in Germany !


Baba (693 miles to NewYork and enjoyig a warm bed to sleep in)

Monday 20th October 2008: Natchez Trail Parkway. Barber Motorsport Museum, Eastern time and Chattanooga Choo Choo !

Waking up in Alabama, croossing through Georgia and sleeping in Tennessee - friendly and helpful people all along the way - and a sunny day. What else does it take to add 645 kiloneter full of more more highlights to the trip...

Out of Jackson in the morning it is ice again on the bike - but getting warmer quickly along the Nachez Trail Parkway - a 466 miledrive along the old trailroute from Alabama to the New Orleans harbour. It is quiet in the morning, just some birds out singing and some ryebirds catching fish in the lakes . The one and only problem is not to run out of gas and to be patient enough to wait for a pump coming by - but today 3 pumps on my route are closed for having no gas - right in the middle of the states. Expect the unexpected.
Thr road crosiing pretty straight through the swamps and meadows is a nice ride - but not a spectacular one, especially not , when you sit on a bike.

Natchez Trail Parkway impressions

Natchez Trail Parkway impressions
Natchez Trail Parkway impressions
Natchez Trail Parkway impressions

Having been on for abot a hundred miles I decide to turn east towards Birmingham Alabama, not to miss the famous Barber Vintage Motorsports museum, a collection of almost 750 vintage and modern motorcycles and as well as a substantial collection of Lotus and other racecars. It's a mustgo for eanybody interested in the history as well as into the variety of motorcycles - as well as in their restauration.The Staff is extremely nice and helpful and you will be surprised about the ideas and technical approaches of the earlier days -as well as yu will beby the enourmous skills and enthuthiasm these guys have, to find, purchase, transport and restore all these treasures . And i do not want to forget this wonderful American guy on the road , that took some extra 20 miles on his car to take me to the place - just because I had asked him for the way - there is as wonderful people here than in all other parts we ha travelled before.
With some nasty weather to get into the area in the next 2-3 days I decide to pushit aabit furtther north up to Chattanooga along Intestate 59 North ( having sen so muchdeer on the road at daytime and ridden over all-sorts-of-animals I prefer to ride the Interstate for the night - as you simply se better and I meanwhile met 4 biker personally, who were hit by deer on he road- not worth taking the risk of a small forestroad for anyway seeing nothing in the dark)
And maybe you will leven find your first bike in there again - pretty likely if you are not older than 105 years by now ;-)
The one and only things I personallly do nort understand - why is there scooters displayed - who wants to see ponies when you go on a horserodeo :-) ?

So tomorrow I will tell you more of the Chattanooga Choo Choo....

1939 BMW with the first hydraulic fronfork




This one is for you, offroad Dan from Canada

There are 500 bikes more in the warehouse
waiting to be restord and displayed
You know who build this ?
What movie you know THIS BIKE from ?


A real INDIAN

Baba (still dreaming of these old bikesounds - 1300 km to New York )

Sunday 19th October 2008: Mississippi calling - don't ride with a hangover

It's the day after- after New Orleans let the good times roll over you.....
The sun's shining rather blinding than anything else - but no excuses, man !
If you can party, then you can also get back and ride your bike the next day.
I somehow mange to get out of New Orleans by midday - and yep this placeis as packed as yesterday - just the crowd has mover out of Bourbonstreet next to the Mississippi Banks .
It is not easy at all to get the right impression of this city in too short a time being in .
Looking at i t somehow makes you feel like being absorbed in a major touristrap - and I personallylike the tourists to come back to a city that was severely damaged - first by the wellknown Katrina Hurricane effects, and if this had nt been enough just now like all American sites by the thunderous effects of the wallstreetgenerated real estate crisis.
Leaing thebeaten track, walking into quarters where you do noy want to take a camera anymore - that tellls you ways more aboutthe real live behind the fassades of the French Quarter. Academics working off as carwashers for a living, Katrinadamages still affecting many poorer peoles lifes. And poverty overall does not at al llook black only . Travellling Louisiana offers many looks at people living VERY basic lifes - it is not for everybody that the American dream has come true or everwill be.
So back onthe road it's Interstate 10 west towards 55 North- rather a boaring ride if youdid not look at the freeway being build right into the swamps of the mississippi-Delta ll on stilts (Stelzen) what a work this must have been. See a great satelliteview of the Delta by clicking here.
Another short moment of tension was asking my way to a petrol station along Route 51 North - tricky as the roadside canbe i ran into some f the Mississippi swamp area ad almost got stuck in that mud there - once againthatConti pulled me out of he trouble. The hird set of tyres is pretty rundown already - and I guess there will be hardly anything left in New York - but it is still llasting as ever .
So you see nothing much todaybut being to the Mississippi State.
Tomorrow the plans up t he Natchez Trace Parkway, a scenic 440 mile drivef ollowing an old trailroad from Alabama to New Orleans- part of which shall lead me to theBirmingham motorcycle museum ( Lisa and Guy told me not to miss it) tell you more once I am there:-)

Good nite from the Mississippi

Baba

Mississippi swamps

BLOG UPDATE ! JUST A NOTE FOLKS

To keep the Blog rather more up todate than it was in the recent past - I will publish the latest news now as soon as they are written, and parallel to this keep writing some of the older blogs too- sometimes you just dont make it to write, fix flats, ride and meet people all at the same time - so if this gets a bit confusing sorry for that and thank you for your understanding - so to get the full chronicle at some stages you will have to go backwards sometimes.

An alle unseren treuen Blogleser- manchmal ist es leider nicht alles gleichzeitig zu schaffen - schreiben, fotografieren, Pannen reparieren, fahren, Menschen treffen und erleben....
Um den Blog wieder aktueller zu bekommen, werde ich einige Blogs veroeffentlichen, die aktuell schon geschrieben sind und alle anderen nach und nach parallel dazu einfuegen.
Die Chronologie wird dadurch etwas schwieriger zu verfolgen, aber ich hoffe doch sehr auf Euer Verstaendnis - der Blog ist jeden Tag erst auch einmal eine Internetverbindung suchen, schreiben nach einem langen Fahrtag, und bei 5 Grad minus im Zelt manchmal einfach auch ar...kalt :-)
Mehr bald aus New Orleans - gotta hit the road now !!

Baba

Saturday 18th October 2008: Let the good times roll ! There's a moon over Bourbon Street

It's a longrides end into a vibrating place of its own - New Orleans !
It is amazing how the people coped with all the damages from hurricaine Katrina since 2005.
An enormous effort and peoples will to come back have moved a lot - yet a lot is left.
But the tourists come back into town- and with the tourists in the French Quarter the good times roll back into town.
Like it or not- it all depends on your point of view, maybe even on your mood how you feel about the place. You can look at is as a fully comercialized Big Jukebox kind of setup - toss a coin and some jesters will start playing any sort of music for you, sell some whatever voodoo stuff to you, read the future out of the palm of your hand, or some prostitutes will even sell their bodies next to the pizzastand. You can bewonder those Harley"riders" parking their fully illuminated chromepolished "bikes" right into Bourbon Streetto pose for some senseless fotos with all the same looking kind of drunken girls.(Actually I would have loved topark my dirty bike nextto themand just ask them where THEY have ridden) Or you can ignore them while you get swept away by the crowd. You may not like those gay pseudocowboys displaying their miniponys to the crowd. You may hen wonder about horsemounted policemen posing with the tourists and making them sit on their horses while drunken guys next door beat each other up..
Yes you can look at it as those guys up in Texas , telling me that i am going to hit he messy ass.....of the United States down in New Orleans.
Or you may simply dive into all that, leave all cameras and stuff, soak up the vibrating live music rocking out of countless bars, have some wine listening to some of the most gifted Jazz musicians, or simply get the blues while you watch the moon over Bourbon Street dancing the night away....Guess what I did :-)
And by the way up there in Texas - if that is the As.... of the States down here - Its pretty much a nice bump that country has !

Just relax- and maybe you come to see the place yourself

Baba ( still got that blues.....man )

Friday 17th September: Breakfast in Paris Texas and a flat one in the flatlands

Eastbound 82 takes me into Paris - yeah it's Paris Texas - nice idea to have some breakfast here and see the Texasstyle Eiffeltower - topped with a cowboy hat :-) I just like these Americans...
Maybe I should not have called Texas the flatlands the day before -
so you know what is even flatter than flatlands ? A flatone in the flatlands !
Into a petrolstation to fuel up I feel a sudden loss of control at the frontwheel.
What has never happened on even the worst roads all over Kasachsatan, Mongolia, Siberia and the Far East - there it is. My front tyre is fully flat.
Lucky enough there is some pressured air available at the station ( do not expect this at any of the Amerivan petrol stations, and if there is be prepared to pay up to 1$ for it )
and the air takes me further and far enough 1/4 mile to a smallish car and tyre repair shop- before the tyre runs flat again.
So I feel preety happy to run into a tyreshop and quickly take the frontwheel out, so am I freezing when the guys start working to take the tyre off.
They have never done a Motorcycle tyre before ! And start to work it down with screwdrivers and things alike- just bad enough to fully punch the tube inside.
So I have to stop this quickly and bring out my tyrelevers, taking the tyre off myself.
It's just some punched hole in the tube, quick and easy to fix, so it is to put the tyre back on and the wheel back to the bike.
Those Texas guys where great and nice people nevertheless, just used to fix truck and tractortyres more than bikestuff . Yet they kept warning me with pretty harsh words about Louisiana and especially New Orleans with some rather drastic expressions.
Maybe I will put them on at some later stage....By all means you can feel a pretty strong racism from their words still going on in the South - at least by some of the people- maybe some will never understand that it is ONE world we are living in and have to share - if we like it or not.
Though everything went pretty quick finally I still lost some time this day - so it was "only 450 kms down to Sharavenport City - where I have to find a place to sleep, as night rolls in pretty early now and campsites or RV- Parks get less and less to put up your tent..
Tomorrows heading is New Orleans- so I will have to hit the road early to be in time for the good times...

My final goodnite from Texas flatlands

Thursday 16th October - Do it the Texasway - welcome to the flatlands and Central time !

Gotta do some mileage , folks. And getting into Texas from New Mexico is the perfect way to do it. Flatlands all over, getting on and off historic Route 66 again ( no its not a miss not to ride it) Interstae 40 takes me further east through Amarillo to freeway 287 southeast. paraleling Red River most of the time.
Fair enough with all the riing the fuelprices almost drop by one dollar per gallon ( not talking about the more ethan 2 dollars differenc for some ripoff gasstations in some of the nationalparks).

Its 650 kms today - time to think about a lot what has happened ever since leaving home- and guess how much that all is.

It looks like a smart decision to let the coldfront pass me on my way tto Santa Fe. I never got really wet and there is sunny skies so far , me riding just at the backside of the front, that moves eastwards towards the coastline.
Auuge and sudden major potthole on the road reminds me of some of the Kasachan roads, so does the senery with endless flat landscapes, just being interrupted every once in a while by some cattlefarming, some potato or cornfields or some oildwells. And to be honest the roads are wayyyyys better than in Kasachstan :-).
So nothing much happens. The speedometer tells me 43.000 kms ( about 27000 miles) since leaving Germany - and tomorrows outlook for another 600 miles to New Orleans send me to bed early - but one hour later than yesterday - as crossing into another timezone on my way east it's only 7 hours timeshift to Germany now. Below just dome impressions of the day.

Good nite from Gainesville (Texas)

Early morning blogwork in the
"New Mexico Middle of nowhere San Jon"
Do the timewarp again :-)
Back to the roaring sixtiesSunset in Cowboy Country

Wednesday 15th October : Bike on the rocks in Santa Fe at 2400 m !

It's there again -- the white stuff all over the bike at 6.30 in the morning - ICE !
As cold as the day starts out at 2400 m in Santa Fe New Mexico, the wonderful staff at BMW Santa Fe makes it feel much warmer by their friendly welcome to service the bike - a really good place to go when you pass by - that's how a dealership should feel like - meeting bikers who have travelled themseves a lot on bikes . Thank you all again Andee, Gordon, Alejo and all you other people for squeezing my bike in just out of the row.
Once I put my bike back all together and having chatted to so many wonderful people in and around the shop again ( Hey Blythe and Fritz - yes you are two of these great people) I put on some 300 kms Southeast towardas Texas, before I find myself a really basic motelplace to sleep another cold night. Lucky enough fixing my Bike in Santa Fe let the rainy coldfront move forward to the East - right were I wanna go- but good enough its a day ahead of me . quite a ood reason not to travel too fast , to stay right west of the rain.
Santa Fe is a nice change in the scenery to come in from Colorado. Most of the buildings set up in the Mexican pueblo Adobestyle and based at 2400 m altitude it is quite a different setup to all American cities so far - and I can pretty much use my Spanish again, as this is just as widely used as English, the city being so close to the Mexican Border,
Having had a rather short night yesterfay its time to say Good Night to all of you now and hit the bed, as tomorrows gonna be a long rididng day east into Texas and Oklahoma all thru Highway 40 East, as I have to make some mileage t get to NY in time without rushing it all.

Good Nite from Baba

Monday 13th to Tuesday 14th October: From Cold as Ice to Life is good ...

I have just got to Santa Fe this afternoon after having travelled Mesa Verde Nationalpark South together with Rick yesterday in the morning.
The Road up Mesa Verde Nationalpark convinced Rick and me definitely, that those Ancestral Puebloan Indians 1400 years ago must have been bikers - or at least those guys who built the 20 miles road into the Park - geeeee, this was pure fun and my sidestand hit the ground so many times, that it finally lost its safetyclip to fix the switch.
The result of which was, that the bike would not start anymore once we got back out of the Visitor Center . But just some brainwork and a piece of wire took me back on the road again.

Rick...
...rocking......Mesa Verde!!!After the fun... me fixing my sidestand,
but still grinning from these curves !Joe the BIKE-RangerAncestral Indian pueblo at Mesa VerdeMesa Verde PArk Ranger
explaining the sites

That same day it was a rather sad Goodbye to Rick after having shared some great days and definitely some of the nicest and coldest roads ever. :-)

Ride safe Rick !
It was great to share the roads with you !

After we left each other I hit the 160 east in still pretty chilly, but sunny weather, getting as far as Pagosa Springs to spend another pretty old night.
The forecast for today predicted some snow on my planned route via Highway 84 south into Santa Fe. I keep searching for alternative routes - yet there are not really any . So I just get all my gear on me , ready for the worst case - snowy roads . But as aways - never trust a weatherforecast before you look up the skies yourself - and despite the road at about 2500 m being pretty cold I hardly hit any rain - neither snow . Its pretty much a scenic ride , reminding me with lots of little canyons and rocky rugged mountains next to the Rio Grande of my childhoods Western movies , expecting John Wayne to show up anytime around he next corner.
Dreaming along the curvy road I just manage to miss some deer running right into my way - soI understand the sticker much better , that is on the back of a jeep passing me by :

Life is good !

Yes, that's what it is , even riding in this cold and rainy day - and I am glad my Guardian angels still not are at rest :-)
Today I changed my oils in front of Motel 6 as the Bmw dealers would not allow me in their premises for the always present LIABILITY reasons - a big issue allover the States as for making some money anybody feels like sewing somebody. Yet the suff at BMW Snta Fe isverynice and helpful - so tomorrow morning valves will be checked for warranty and then I strongly hit the road to the east to make i tto New York in time:-)

Good nite from Baba (tomorrows forecast is sunny and a bit cold )