Back to life,back to reality.

EVENING !

I thought I would leave it a few days before I wrapped the trip up to allow some time to get over jet lag and let it all sink in. Its now been over a week so I thought I better pull my finger out and get on with it.

I think I will do this post in the style of interviewing myself (read the questions in the voice of Hugh Grant).

Hi Matt,congratulations on completing your journey.

Thank you.

So lets start on a positive,what was the highlight of your trip ?

The end… hahah I joke I joke. Its difficult to narrow it down to just one highlight. The big stuff I saw was cool but I didnt see as much of it as I would have liked to. The hoover dam was massively impressive and I loved the Flintstones theme park (which is now up for sale). But I would have to say the highlight(s) of the whole journey were all the people I met along the way.

From the clueless taxi driver on the first day,to all of the hotel reception staff,the Kawasaki owners club, Ande and friends for taking me to the weird witch burlesque, Syd for listening to me moan for months,introducing me to loads of greyhounds and looking after me while in Pittsburgh,Robbie,Graham (who’s help I would be screwed without),The legend that is Rob,everyone at scooter works for going beyond the call of duty several times,the patched up biker who I met at the gas station in the middle of nowhere,the native American who cursed me,the bar tender and medical students who took showed me a good time in Omaha Nebraska, everyone at Sportique scooters in boulder (especially lovely Liv who is ignoring my hopeless advances),everyone at scooter nation in vegas the builder guy in Yosemite who called me a ‘crazy son of a bitch’,the cop who shouted at me (twat),Robin and Jimmy who helped me out in Vegas,Diego and everyone at the San Fran scooter centre,Rick and everyone at Zeitgeist in San Francisco for getting me horribly drunk the day before a 5 hour flight and everyone else who I met along the way YOU ALL MADE MY TRIP (sorry if I missed anyone out I met so many people).

Wow it sounds like you met a lot of cool people. If you were going to do the trip again would you do anything differently ?

The only thing I would really change would be to give myself more time. There were so many places I missed out on visiting because of time limits. Except for a couple of slightly freaky towns I would have liked to have spent at least a couple of days in every place I visited.

What was the hardest part of the trip ?

Hmmm probably spending so much time on my own inside my own head with only FF to talk to. Theres a lot going on up there at the moment and not all of it is good and when you spend at least 5 hours on the road every day trapped inside a helmet it gives you a lot of time to go over and over things until you go slightly mad. Im glad I did it on my own,it was a challenge and exactly what I needed but only talk to strangers in bars or hotel front desk people takes its toll eventually.

How do you feel now you are back ?

Poor,very poor. It also feels strangely like I have never left. The second I stepped into my house I felt like I hadnt been anywhere,its nice to be home but its all slightly depressing and going to take a while to get used to again. I think I am definitely more confident, I just need to keep the momentum going and start planning what I am going to do next.

Do you miss your scooter ?

At first I didn’t, I was glad to see the back of it but now I cant wait to get it back,fix what ever is wrong with it and ride it again. I am amazed it carried me so many miles loaded up with stuff,over mountains and through deserts without having any serious mechanical issues. People knock these scooters all the time but this trip proved how reliable they can be.

So what’s next ?

Get my scooter back,get it running perfectly again and then ride from lands end to John o groats in as quick a time as possible. After that I will probably start planning and saving up for a trip around Europe. I want to do something like this every year if possible. I also need to start getting my life in order and making a few changes here and there.

How is Fake Franco ?

He’s very grimy from all those hours on the road and has been very quiet since I got home in fact I havent heard him speak once. I think he is just jealous because I have real Franco now and he is much more interesting but just as arrogant.

Ok,I cant think of any more questions right now. Interviewing yourself it quite difficult and its hard to talk to yourself this way without sounding like an idiot. is there anything else you would like to add ?

Its ok I understand, I would like to thank –

Tasso scooter parts – http://www.lmlparts.co.uk/
Wildcat scooters who really saved the day- https://www.facebook.com/wildcatscooterparts
Love LML – http://lovelml.co.uk/
Moto GB – http://www.motogb.co.uk/
Genuine scooters – http://www.genuinescooters.com/
Scooterworks Chicago – http://scooterworkschicago.com/
Sportique scooters Colorado – http://www.sportiquescooters.com/
Scooter nation Vegas – http://scooternation.com/
Graham Burbank.
Stanley Whippet – https://www.facebook.com/stanley.whippet?fref=ts
James Cargo – https://www.facebook.com/JamesCargoShipping?fref=ts
Gps Kevin – https://sites.google.com/site/gpskevin/adventurerides
Hurry Home Hounds – https://www.facebook.com/hurryhomehounds?fref=ts
Hounds first – https://www.facebook.com/HoundsFirstSighthoundRescue?fref=ts

And everyone back at home and in the US who read my blog,donated and talked to me and supported me along the way THANK YOU you all raised £2,282.

See you next time which will hopefully be sooner rather than later.

https://www.justgiving.com/Matt-Tipper1/

NIGHT !

Day ? : OMG you will never believe what happened !?

I am taking a few days off to get drunk and see New York.  Miss you all already…not

This makes everything worth while ….

Matt- over £2200 raised.

That’s 22 neuters
Or 44 courses of vaccinations
Or A couple of months of kennelling for our dogs with behavioural problems.
Or 100 sacks of dog food.

That’s incredible! Thank you so very much 🙂

We hope that doing this has helped you too. You are a great guy and deserve so much happiness.

Thank you so much x

Day 25 – Heaven and Hell.

Total Miles – 4,236.

I MAAAAAAAAADDDDDEEEEEE ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT !!!!!
khkfhkladhfklhskldfhlksafkjasjkvbmbfiuhqofw;oiahf.

Ok now that’s out of the way normal service shall resume.

I woke up at 6am excited about completing my journey,hung around in my room for a bit,paced and then made friends with a cat while waiting for breakfast to be served.

The cat decided to sleep on my bed and FF decided to get a little to friendly with it.

I got talking to all the other guests over breakfast,the lady cooking the breakfast told some stories about ‘Cochise’ one of the Bison they keep in a field near the hotel. Apparently Cochise is a fan of charging things including a helicopter that made the mistake of landing in his field. Well done Cochise.

They were all in disbelief about what I was undertaking. They thought I had just ridden in from the next town 60 miles away. Apparently I had made their day and they all made me pose for a photo. As they were leaving one of the builders who were staying at the hotel shook my hand,called me a crazy son of a bitch and then laughed at how slow I was going to go when I hit the mountains…..again.

After saying my goodbyes and posing for another photo I saddled up on lucky and pointed myself in the direction of Yosemite national park on highway 120.

The first 20 minutes or so were like a roller coaster,the road undulated beneath me and a couple of times I nearly left the ground when reaching the crest of one of the ramps. As I continued down the road the scenery got greener and more breathtaking.

The weather was perfect and lucky was running as good as new,today was a good day.

The climb was easy compared to the rockies and we stopped off at a few points along the way so that FF could stretch his legs and I could take some photos.

We paid the fee to enter Yosemite and started working out way back down the mountain. Yosemite is so beautiful and perfect that if I was going to stop and take photos of everything I would still be riding now.

Its hard to capture in a photo but the roads have quarts in them from the mountains so they literally sparkle in the sun light as you ride along them. Heaven !

We rode for another couple of hours until we eventually left Yosemite. I had an odd feeling that we were all working as a team. Lucky was my trusty reliable companion who got me where I needed to go,I pointed him the right direction and FF sat behind me taking in the view,thinking about food and provided light hearted relief when I got tired.

The roads were amazing,perfectly paved,full of twists and turns and relatively free of traffic. I made the most of them as I new I had the peril of the interstate to come.

As I pulled up to a junction to leave highway 120 lucky cut out and wouldnt rev high enough to move forward from a stop. I made it across the busy junction and then pulled over on the side of the road as the trucks raced passed to try and work what was going on. I topped up the fuel and checked a few basic things but he was having none of it. He is as exhausted as I am and he was going to take some seriously coaxing to get us to San Franciso.

I eventually got him to cough and splutter in to life enough to get us back on the road (FF said there is always one who lets the team down) and we rode for another hour or so before pulling over for fuel.

After filling up I went to pull away from the pump and lucky cut out again so we pulled into a car park in the shade to try and work out what was going on.

For the scooterists amongst you I will explain what I did –

Changed the plug ( the old one looked fine but it was worth a try).
Checked the routing of the fuel pipe.
Changed the HT lead and cap. I am 99% sure its a fuelling issue but it was worth a try.
Changed the coil.
Added some seafoam to the tank.
Checked the exhaust was tight against the manifold.

None of the above seemed to have an affect, I considered calling a recovery truck but I had made it this far so there was no way I was arriving at the finish line in the back of a truck. So after some words of desperate encouragement I convinced lucky to carry on with the last 2 hours to San Francisco.

I found that if I kept the revs above a certain point and slipped the clutch I could get enough power to get us moving. Eventually we hit the interstate and it was rush hour which means 4 or maybe 5 lanes (I cant remember exactly) of solid fast moving (75mph plus) traffic.

Lucky was happy for a while but every now and then he would lose power and jerk around as if he was trying to through me and FF off his back. We hung on for dear life as we ran the gauntlet of the interstate.

We pulled over when we could to let the engine call down but re-joining the freeway was difficult because of the lack of power spluttering problem.

At one point the traffic in front came to a standstill,I closed the throttle but nothing happened.The engine continued to rev and I sped towards the back of the car in front of me at 65mph. I pulled the clutch in,switched off ignition and coasted to the side of the road.

I investigated the problem,removed and re-fitted the carb slide,cable and spring which cured the issue. Not sure what happened there.

At the side of the interstate –

We carried on down the interstate counting down the miles as we bounced around the pot holed roads at speed until we eventually reached the queue for the toll bridge. We sat in the queue for about 45 minutes, I had to constantly rev the engine to keep it alive and to make sure I had enough power to creep forward every time the traffic moved.

When I got to the booth I realised I didnt have enough cash so the booth lady gave me bit of paper that said something about a fine on it. Ill deal with that when I get home,probably by ignoring it. FF called her a bitch and we rode off as quickly as we could.

The traffic was gridlocked for miles which is not ideal when you are on a knackered scooter but we eventually pulled up outside the hotel only to be told we had to park a couple of blocks away.

So there I am outside a very fancy hotel in the San Fran financial district,surrounded by posh cars trying to get my beaten up scooter covered in bits of desert,with a fake greyhound strapped behind me to start and pull away just so I can go and park it. I had crossed the finish line but it certainly wasnt over yet !

Eventually we parked,I checked in and then headed straight to the bar for a drink or 5.

It was over.

I imagined the end of the trip to be more emotional than it was. I think that fact that I was so concentrated on not breaking down in a flow of fast moving traffic kinda took away from the momentous occasion. I am relived I am here,its been the most amazing experience of my life and I think it will finally set in over the next couple of days.

Tomorrow I have to try and convince the depot who are taking care of shipping my scooter back to come and pick it up in a van rather than making me ride through the city to where ever they are.

Once that is done I think I will finally feel like the trip is complete and will probably post some kind of awe inspiring wrap up to the whole experience.

Right now I am exhuasted,dazed,slightly drunk and off to have a bath.

NIGHT !

Day 24 – The home straight.

Total miles – 3,957.

Todays blog will be a fairly short one as not very much happened. The my cameras battery ran out too so there wont be many photos which is probably a good thing because the internet here is very ‘rural’.

I left the hotel at 7am to try and beat as much of the desert sun as possible.It took about 45 minutes to get out of Vegas and then I sat on highway 95 pretty much all day. My scooter was running well except for when it got really hot and the old stuttering engine problem reared its annoying head again.

The scenery along 95 was pretty much as you imagine desert scenery to be,lots of tough looking plants,red rocks and sandy stuff.

As I travelled further north I was relieved to find that it got cooler and cooler until it was sunny,dry and the perfect riding temperature.

A couple of signs worried me along the one,one was for death valley which filled me full of fear and the other was ‘Next Gas Station 98 Miles’. I am so glad I bought the 2 gallon jerry can back where ever it was because without it I would still be out in the desert drinking from a cactus and eating my shoes.

FF decided to tell me that he was the voice of my GPS and that I had been following his directions the whole journey. I asked him why he made us nearly die in the middle of nowhere and he said to teach me a lesson. I asked him why he cried his eyes out during the whole of this ‘lesson’ and he changed his mind and said that it was his friend who was the voice and not him.Hmmmm.

After about 6 and a bit hours on the road and a few fuel stops we eventually crossed the boarder into my final state California. I couldnt help but smile for the next half  mile,the ended was in sight,I had very nearly made it and we crossed back across the boarder into Nevada again. About an hout later we arrived in Benton California.

I am not really sure how I found the Benton Inn (https://historicbentonhotsprings.com/inn_rooms.php ) But I am glad I did. Its pretty much the complete opposite of Vegas. The rooms are oldy worldy and out the back it has three hot tubs at are constantly filled with naturally hot spring water straight out of the mountain.

This place is so peaceful and the perfect end to a hard days riding.

I sat in the hot tub for about an hour,then lay in a hammock for about half an hour and then headed back a couple of miles down the road to get fuel and food.After eating cheese on toast and some chips (everything else had meat in,obviously) I got talking to one of the locals. This guy looked like Hulk Hogan if hulk hogan had spent his whole life smoking crack instead of wrestling.

He told me that he had been to England and when I asked him where he had been he looked confused and said Paris and all over Europe. He repeated himself quite a few times,wished me luck a lot and continuously shook my hand while we were talking. Nice chap.

I have just got back to the hotel and me and FF have just finished relaxing on a sun lounger while eating cheetos and looking at the mountains.

I was going to break the last leg of the trip into two days but its only 280 miles so I thought I would get it out of the way in one long day SO, I have just booked my hotel in San Francisco, I will be there tomorrow and Friday and then I will fly back to New York on Sunday afternoon/evening.

This means that if  I can get through tomorrow without anything going wrong then tomorrow will be my last day on the road . I am looking forward to not having to ride every day and I am massively excited about rolling into San Francisco but at the same time I am sad that this amazing adventure is nearly over and soon I will have to return to normal life.

Please,please please cross your fingers that nothing goes wrong for me tomorrow !

Speak to you from San Fran tomorrow, NIGHT !!!

Oh and P.S I couldnt afford to get a tattoo to commemorate the trip but Newark did leave me with a nice scar on my knee (sorry).

Day 23 – The Strip.

Total miles – About 20 more than yesterday, I only road to the shop and back.

Today I slept in for the first time in weeks and didnt get out of bed until about 9am.The plan was to head to Robin and Jimmy’s (friend’s of Grahams) to pick up a scooter part and a care package that Graham has sent for me and then head to scooter nation (http://scooternation.com/) to get my third and final oil change done.

Once again my GPS was playing up and was telling me that the street that Robin and Jimmy live on doesnt exist so instead of getting lost in Vegas in the heat I got a cab and retrieved the packages. The care package consisted of a load of proper tea (not property that would be hard to fit in an envelope) and a genuine scooters t-shirt,thank Graham.

After cooling off in the hotel for a but I headed to Scooter nation.The guys there had never seen a 200 cc manual scooter before and showed a lot of interest. After staring in a quick promo interview and and making a very rare appearance in a photo we got down to changing the oil.

There were a few slightly worrying moments with the change,about half of the threads on the oil drain bolt were stripped so it was difficult to torque it down properly but with some careful wrenching the job was complete. The oil was very black but the filter was in pretty good shape and the oil screen filter didnt contain too many worrying things just a couple of slithers of metal,nothing to worry about.

FF as always wanted to  pose in front of the shop for a photo and then we headed off for breakfast (Eggs again) before heading back to the hotel for a shower.

More great customer service from another scooter shop,some of the UK dealers could learn a lot from how these guys do things over here.

After a quick shower and a change out of my jeans we caught a can to the strip so lose some money and see the sights of Vegas.

There is so much do see and do here its all a bit overwhelming especially when you are on your own and a total travel novice. I got dropped off at planet Hollywood and after grabbing a Ben and Jerrys milk shake we headed to the casino.

We tried to join the roulette table but just like back in Chicago FF wasnt allowed anywhere near the table. I think maybe he has been here before and got caught cheating or something. I noticed security keeping a close I on me as we sat down at one of the slot machines.

I ended up putting about ten dollars in this thing,pulling the handle lots and walking away with nothing which is probably a pretty common gambling experience.

We headed back out on to the strip and walked past the Eiffel tower.

And the statue of Liberty (FF said it was better than the one in New York).

We then wandered around the shops,in the various casinos losing more money on more machines until we spotted something that looked very much like the London eye. In the past I have hated this kind of thing so I thought I better force myself to go on it as it might actually be fun. There was no queue so we walked straight on and joined a couple in a ‘pod’,they gave me and FF a few funny locks for some reason but we didnt care.

The ‘High roller’ is pretty much an exact copy of the London eye but apparently bigger and it gives you the best view of the city. It takes half an hour to complete the trip and is well worth doing even if its just to escape the sun a bit.

We spotted a couple of guys wearing sandwich boards in the car park down below-

The couple in the pod with me took more selfies in that half an hour than I think I will in my whole entire life and I am planning on living until I am 107.

After the wheel we walked further down the strip to try and find something to eat that didnt have meat in which is tough in most parts of America. We eventually ate some pretty below average Chinese food had a couple of beers in a ‘pub’ and then headed into the flamingo casino to lose some more money.

After a couple more beers and a couple more hours walking around in the 33 degree heat I started to feel a bit weird so I got a cab with an interesting woman who offered to take me and FF for a massage with a happy ending. FF was well up for it but this cabbie was old enough to be my grand mother so I declined. She wasn’t bothered and proceeded to tell me about how many homeless people she knows who are actually millionaires.

Vegas is pretty much what I was expecting. Its loud,very American and full of people I would generally avoid. Tens of thousands of tourist spend all day putting their money in to machines and getting nothing in return while the streets are lined with homeless people begging for a dollar and getting nothing.

I was meant to be going out with the guys from scooter nation for some whiskey,beer and popcorn tonight but I think I have a bit of sun stroke so more booze is probably a bad idea.

To be honest I wish I had only spent a couple of hours at the strip and then gone out down town with the scooter nation lot to see a bit more of the real Vegas away from the hoards of tourists with their foot long margaritas. I think this is the kind of place its best to come with a load of friends. Just like all the other major cities I definitely want to come back and spend some more time here at some point.

Tomorrow I am going to leave at 6/7 am to try and get out of the desert before it starts getting mega hot. I have a 280 mile ride to Benton a very small town with natural spring hot tubs in Yosemite California,my final state.

Thursday I ride 226 miles to Tracy (a city not a random person) and then for my final riding day on Friday I have an easy 70 miles to cover into San Francisco to drop my scooter off.

I have decided to name my scooter lucky because it isnt,or it is depending on how you look at it. Hopefully lucky will be lucky for the next couple of days and get me to San Francisco without any dramas. Fingers crossed,all of you !

NIGHT !

Oh and P.S Nick I tried to take my camera and FF into the naked pool room and was told neither were allowed in,sorry 😉

Day 22 – HOT DAM !

Total miles – 3,429

The plan today was to leave at sunrise and get to Vegas before it got mega hot. My alarm woke me at 4 am and I decided I didnt mind the heat that much and went back to sleep. I eventually left the hotel at 7ish after forgetting my headphones and having to go in and ask for my room key back to retrieve them.

I felt good today,even though my scooter was being held together by something designed to stop bolts coming undone and even though I had a 4 hour ride in temperatures up in the high 30s to look forward to.

The first part of my journey involved a 40 mile ride on the interstate. The interstates are pretty much like the motorways in England except the speed limits are higher and the lorries are bigger. As long as you dont mind being surrounded by big rigs and blown all over the road riding on the interstate isnt actually that bad.

I eventually pulled off the interstate and on to historic route 66 and stopped for fuel,to drink some water and to check that my oil stopping bodge was still in place.

The thread lock was doing its job so I carried on down 66 to the first ‘ghost town’ of the route Seligman. The town is full of gift shops and tourist traps as well as some old relics of the glory days of 66. I pulled over for a walk around and stopped off at one shop for a chat.

The old bearded guy in the shop asked me how far I had travelled on ‘that thing’. I explained how far I had been and where I was heading and he gave me one of these –

My official route 66 drivers license,he said that I had earned it.

The out side of his shop was dressed with a load of manikins and FF was desperate to pose with them so I got a few photos so that he can add them to his portfolio.

I then headed out of town back along 66 for another 40 miles until the next town peach springs. Peach springs looked pretty dodgy and there were any shops selling crap so I didnt bother stopping.

The next ghost town up was Truxton,the sign outside this place said ‘please stop we are bored’ so I did.

(I forgot to take a photo so I nicked this one from google).

Sat outside was a woman and three young children. We got talking,I bought a can of Fanta and she explained that her and her husband had up sticks from Colorado and bought pretty much the whole town with the intention of renovating all the old buildings and putting Truxton on the map. She didnt like the fact that it was referred to as a ghost town. We chatted about various things,she told me the story about how the day before she had been humped by a 4 year old who referred to her as ‘spicy momma’. Her daughter drew me a picture of the incident while her two sons played with the ‘disconnected’ pay phone while telling me they were going to call the cops on me.

About 45 minutes later I was just about to leave when suddenly a police car sped into the car park. The officer got out of the car and said that there had been a report that somebody had died and it had come from a pay phone at this address. There was another car as well as two ambulances on the way.

One of the boys suddenly looked very guilty and it turned out the phone was as disconnected as they thought ! The officer asked the kid to come and speak to him and he ran inside crying thinking that he was going to jail.Another police car showed up followed by an ambulance and a fire engine.

The boy was eventually coxed out and given a firm talking to by the cops. I spoke to the Sargent and he said they had all driven 60 miles from the nearest big town thinking that there had been a murder.Mum wasnt very happy so I thought it was probably best I left her to teach her boys a lesson so I headed off back down 66 in the increasingly hot sun.

By the time I reached Kingman it was blisteringly hot and I started to feel a bit weird. I pulled up in some shade at a gas station,downed a bottle of powerade and cooled down a bit. I still had a least 2 hours left to ride.

I eventually felt a bit more normal so I battled the wind along highway 93 towards the hoover dam. After about 10 miles my scooter started feeling like I was running out of fuel again every now and then. Basically its all down to heat,its all a bit technical but due to boiling and evaporation not enough fuel is getting to the engine. At first I would pull over and let the bike cool down but then I found out that if I pull the clutch in while riding and give the engine a little break it seems to solve the problem for another 5/10 minutes.

I took breaks when ever I could to check the oil leak situation,drink loads and drench my tshirt in water which feel amazing for about 5 minutes. After about 30 miles I reached a gas station so stopped to use the toilet and buy more water.

While I was having a drink I decided to take one of the side panels off my bike to let the engine cool down a bit quicker I was a tiny bit shocked to see what the desert had done to it !

While hanging around outside a guy came over and asked me if I felt safe on the high way on ‘that thing’. I told him that I had ridden it from new york and that although I had come close once or twice I hadnt died yet. When he realised how far I had travelled he exclaimed ‘Holy smokes’ which made me smile.

I set off for the last 30 miles to the hoover dam,the running out of fuel thing happened every 5 minutes (the sun is so strong that the roads are too hot to touch with bare hands) but the wind helped keep me cool slightly. We passed a sign saying ‘scenic view’ so we pulled over for a look.

Pretty scenic.

I got talking to a guy in a wolf tshirt about my trip and he told me about his travels before awkwardly shaking my hand and ending the conversation. FF started moaning that he wanted to see the dam because one of his friends cousins (another dog) helped build it or something I didnt believe a word of it but we got going anyway.

We arrived at the dam and I got talking to three brummies on Harleys,they looked hotter than I felt and their bald heads werent doing them any favours. I was pretty excited about seeing the dam so we passed through the security check and parked up.

First up was a memorial to all the men that died while making the dam.

There were two of these huge statues and apparently if you rub their toes you get good luck so I rubbed them more than most people.

I then noticed this little plaque on the wall and FF pulled me over to have a look at it.

‘Told you’ he said with a irritating smug look on his face.

We then walked round the corner to the dam itself –

Its HUGE ! and nearly vertical the whole way down. I did have quite a strong urge to slide down it.

I had to hold on to FF because it was very windy. He moaned about me holding on to him and said he wasnt a baby so I dangled him over the edge and asked him if he still wanted me to let go. He shut up after that.

We crossed the road to the other side of the dam

Cooled off in the wind while looking at the bridge,

and then headed back on the road for the last 40 miles to my hotel in Vegas.

Vegas is hotter than hell and every single traffic light I got to turned red as I was approaching so the ride seemed to go on forever. I finally pulled up,parked and unloaded then had a shower and headed to the bar.

This place is swanky,very fancy but has a slight wiff of sugar daddy sleaze. There is a naked swimming pool and crappy house music is piped all around the building. The barman was cool and we had a good chat,he has travelled all around England and thought the way I pronounced ‘bath’ was funny. I drank a few beers then headed to a Casino down the road for some food. I spoke to a guy in the queue who had just moved back to the US after living in Cambridge for 5 years which was nice.

Now I am back at the hotel,its 10pm and I am exhausted. Time ran out really quickly today, I was planning on going to the strip tonight but I dont have the energy to deal with big crowds and bright lights.All these really early starts and long hot days have really taken it out of me. I have booked another night in this place so after getting my scooter fixed tomorrow I will head into town to do all the tourist stuff,gamble and get FF’s photo taken with an Elvis.

Today was a good day,the ride was hot and hard but the hoover dam was amazing and I met some really cool interesting people. My one biggest fear with this trip was that I would just ride coast to coast without anything interesting happening but it has been the complete opposite,even all the bad stuff makes the whole thing much more exciting.

So tomorrow I spend the day in Vegas,get my oil changed for the final time and fingers crossed get the broken part replaced without any bother and then on Wednesday morning I make my way 282 miles north west to Benton California for the night at this place https://historicbentonhotsprings.com/inn_rooms.php

I now officially have 558 miles to go and I have been dreaming of arriving in San Francisco every night.

NIGHT !

Day 21- The curse kicks in.

Total miles- I cant even be bothered to get up and check but its not many more than yesterday.

After googling the weather forecast last night and finding out it was going to be in the 40s I got genuinely concerned about my ride today. I stocked up on water and ice and planned to leave at 4:30/5am before the sun came up to make the most of the cool morning.

I was woken up by a facebook message at about 2 (stupid time differences) and got out of bed at four. I packed quickly as I could see the sun was already on the horizon. FF slept in and then moaned for about half an hour about wanting coffee and fruit for breakfast.

I drank as much water as I could,left the room at 5am and went to the front desk to check out. This is where failure number one happened.

I had left my ‘power brick’ and US mobile phone in the room and I had just put my key into the drop box. I tried to fix the key out but my hand was too big and I was on the first floor so I couldnt climb through the window so I had no choice but to sit and wait and wait and wait.

I did manage to get  this photo though .-

Eventually at just gone 7 the front desk opened and I was able to collect my forgotten things. I sat on my scooter and programmed my sat nav. This is where failure number 2 occurred. For some reason it would calculate the route, it would get to 99% and then freeze. I tried over and over again but it just wouldnt work. By this time it was 8 oclock and I was considering giving up and booking another night at the hotel but eventually it sorted it self out and I was on my way.

The first 45 minutes were plane sailing,it was hot but not too hot and the roads were pretty quiet. Eventually I turned off the main road and headed towards a golf club (not a 3 iron in the road but a club where people play golf). The road suddenly changed to a dirt track which I though was novel and would only last for a couple of miles.

Well a few miles passed and then a few miles more and the ‘road’ got progressively bad until I was literally bouncing along a land rover test track. I ended up getting stuck on a few ruts and falling over sideways a couple of times but my gps said kept going so I did.

Eventually I was in the middle on nowhere I hadnt seen any sign of human life for at least an hour and massive lizards were running out in my path.I was lost,mrs Garmin was an idiot, it was hot and I was running out of water.

I took a few breaks in the shade when ever I could find it to try and work out what the best thing to do was. I considered turning back but in the map civilisation looked pretty close.

I stopped here before a very rough section,you can see my scooter half way up.

The road got worse and worse until I was eventually just following very faint tyre tracks through the desert. By now it was midday,stupidly hot and I began to actually think I was going to die out here.

I hit some particularly rocky sections and my scooter took a few hefty blows but it just kept on going. By this point FF was bawling his eyes out saying he didnt want to die (all morning he had been calling me a wimp for worrying about the heat).

Suddenly over the brow of a hill the highway was in sight, I motored towards it then pulled over in the shade to inspect the damage and noticed a pool of oil underneath my engine. I was going to die !

Under the tree that I was stood next to was a skull and a spine from another animal that had tried to cross this place on a scooter. I didnt really know what to do so I called Syd and explained what was going on. There wasnt anything she could do but it helped just to speak to someone. I tried to plug the oil leak with some chewing gum and thread lock but it kept leaking.

I used my sat nav to find the closest hotel but it kept trying to send me back the way I had come. It told me there was a gas station 2 miles away so I topped up my oil and headed in that direction.The road quickly disappeared and turn back into dirt track and the gas station that was apparently on my left was nowhere to be seen. I shouted at the GPS and FF continued to cry.

There was only one thing for it,I could either stay there and burn to death in the sun or ride the interstate back to the nearest town topping up the oil on the way.

Obviously I went for the second option or I wouldn’t be writing this now.

It was 15 miles on the interstate to the hotel so and every one of those miles seemed to take an hour.I rode with my hand over the clutch so that I could disengage the engine if the oil did suddenly run out and pulled over every couple of miles to check the level.

I have never been so happy to see a hotel as I was today. The cool air conditioned breeze dried FF’s tears WE HAD MADE IT,WE WERE ALIVE !

I called my mum and then went about trying to fix the leak. It turned out I had got the source of the leak wrong and put the thread lock and chewing gum in totally the wrong place. There is a tiny hole in the oil screen filter cap that I have now blocked with thread lock. Thanks to the hero that is Graham,who drove for an hour today to fed-ex me a new cover I should be back to a 100%ish fixed scooter by Tuesday.

Tomorrow I ride 200 and something miles to Vegas,see the sights before getting my scooter fixed and heading off and covering as many of the last 500 miles as possible on Wednesday.

I will be in San Fran by Friday even if it kills me ……

https://www.justgiving.com/Matt-Tipper1/