Heading West

well I hit the road finally and it was good to be on the move again, even though I think I could of stayed in Knoxville indefinitely with thanks to the awesome people there

now I was reminded of the constant stopping on the road, and they will be even more constant on the Honda

The great American roadside

Half way through Mississippi the bike just died and I had to coast to a stop in the middle of a high way, well I said I wanted a bike with some character. I pulled all the luggage off and the tank also and I had a feeling it was a problem with the coil and I thought I'd check it out with the spare one I was carrying back down to Guatemala for Tank. Yep that it was. I put the new coil on and it started second kick and idled like a champ, so I put all the gear back on and kicked up some dirt and headed out westward again 

I ended up in Dallas with some friends of a friend I met in Fayetteville, I was welcomed in to Thu-Ha (pronounced 2-ha) and Sara who amazing creative people. I had been welcomed with open arms and Thu-Ha wanted to add to the coolness of the bike by adding a piece of art work to the side panel

Thu-Ha cutting out a stencil  

the finished product

Rick's Motor Guzzi broke down (charging system turned out not to be grounded) in central Dallas

We parked up to get a feed of burgers and 2 cop cars pulled up next to us but they were just getting burgers also

Already for the return trip well as ready as I usually am always a bit of last minute packing to do, see how the bike handles the load

Planning on hitting Chattanooga across to Dallas, I'll meet up with a friend from just out of Fayetteville AR in El Dorado AR to ride for a while as I head back to Honduras

Got the Beemer sold but having issues with Paypal as now my account is over $1000AUD I need to prove my address in Aus and ID, always a fun thing to do when on the road, see what transpires I guess

Ghost in the Machine

Well the bike is running and having a blast on it, having had a big help from Tim at Cycle Stop and Glenn, had the bike on the bike on teh dyno after having issues with the stock carby, and after a day of mucking around Tim comes into the dyno room with a carby off of a huge Harley and it fits so on she goes. we had to take the accelerator pump off as it was over kill

I have taken her for short rides and I took one yesterday in intermittent rain and of course it died at a set of traffic lights a fair way from home, lucky it was near a liquor store! I asked the guys at the store for some tools and we got a basic kit out of a Landcruiser but I couldn't get to the carby with the tools so I had to ask for back up (I now will be carrying tools on her at all times!!) Lance came and grabbed me after shooting off an email from Starfucks coffee place and a few other emails also cheers Glenn and Eric


Exert from Erics email:

 Eric 

To 'Damon', 'michael fairman', Jasson Tankersly, Glenn C

Welcome to the 555.  Mind if I send this to everyone?  Whoops, already did………….

From: Damon [mailto:olyflyer@hotmail.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 2:28 PM
To: Eric 
Subject: Re:

No but you can have the DVD, the music is Boards of Canada

I'm broken down out west without tools on Kingston Pike and Newcom Ave know any one who could help out, I'm holed up in Starbucks waiting out the rain

Oly

Sent from my iPod

On 15/03/2011, at 14:23, "Eric" wrote:

Hey, is your buddy’s vid of Baja uploaded anywhere?  And what’s the music in that vid?

Eric 

I think the problem was a kinked fuel hose we shall see today as I go for another ride 

The end of the start

Well I have finally decided to get off my behind and start a blog 7 months into my Americas trip see that a lot of my friends don't have the social network that I have been posting most of my photos on and seeing that I might do a detox from plugging into that matrix but as a traveller it has provided quite a useful tool


Any ways, I'm currently in Knoxville TN being looked after by some amazing people and Eric, Tina and Landon have made me a home away from home here in old town Knoxville


I have travelled back to the States after meeting Tank and Mike  in San Pedro Guatemala who are riding pre 1975 Honda XL trail bikes, and with the help of the close knit community here in Knoxville and specially those of the 555 Club I have found a 1975 XL 350 which I am picking up tonight and then needing to clean out the carby fabricate a rack to hold my rubbish I'll be back on the road south to Guatemala or where ever the whirlwind riders maybe.


I am trying to sell the White Pony which I have spent the last 7 months riding from Portland OR around the west coast of the US and down through Mexico for 4 months and then just over a week in Guatemala then a run back to Tennessee to carry out the crazy idea of the old bike and also to put some cash in the coffers 


Here is a pic of the new, older, beast

and a pic of the old, newer, one