We left Palm Springs in what was going to be another day in the desert in sweltering heat. We were only about a two hour ride from the end of our tour.
We headed out on Hwy 111 and then linked up with Interstate 10 until Riverside where we stopped for a break. From there we took Hwy 91 and descended through the Sierra Nevada mountains towards Los Angeles. We merged on to Hwy 710 and this took us to our final stop of the tour - Long Beach, our original departure point back on Tuesday, 2nd July.
We will spend 3 days in Long Beach. The bike will be taken to a self-service car wash bay tomorrow and cleaned thoroughly. NZ Customs are very particular about 'foreign matter' being imported back into New Zealand and you can be charged a hefty fee to have your bike cleaned properly if it is not up to standard.
The Harley has served us well this tour, it didn't miss a beat and gave us no problems. It carried us through 25 states across the USA and Canada and clocked up 16,000 kilometres (10,000 miles)!
The bike will be 'crated' at the Mainfreight USA depot on Tuesday, ready for shipping back to New Zealand. Tracee and I fly out of Los Angeles on Wednesday evening. With the time zone change we land back in New Zealand in the early hours of Friday morning (23 August).
Like our last tour of this great country in 2010, this has been another one of those great 'life' experiences, where we can say we ticked a number of 'must do' things off our 'bucket list' such as; Canada, New York, Route 66 as a few examples of some of the many highlights.
There is nothing like traveling through North America on a Harley Davidson. To have the ability to view scenery without the constraints to your vision that a car gives, the smells and the exhilaration of speed and wind in your face (bugs aren't so great though!). The only real downside is the daily routine of packing and unpacking the bike and the adverse weather you can be exposed to at times - but that is all part of the adventure.
Like last time we will 'feed' off the memories of this trip for years to come. I know when I finished our 2010 tour I kept saying to myself; "Did we really just do that?". I feel much the same now. It has been a great experience, we met some great people and saw some amazing landscape - full of contrasts, from the Oregon coast, to the mountains of the Canadian Rockies, New York's Central Park, the forests of Virginia and Tennessee and the desert country of Arizona and California.
So, back to New Zealand we go and 'normal' life! Will there be another tour 3 years from now?
Go in peace my friends. I followed your blog as you toured your way up the West Coast, through the Canadian Rockies, To NY, through the the New England States, back across the USA and returning to where the road trip began. Thank you for telling us about your great adventure. I hope I'll be able to return the favor.
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Ron & Michele Andrew