Chicago

Status Project Route 66: DONE
20 days- 3800 miles 8 states. Another dream fulfilled. The Route 66 ends in Chicago and it was an incredible experience. I saw so many great places along the way, which I am really grateful for. Having a sore butt from riding all those weeks I was rewarded by meeting some really nice people here in Chicago. Now taking some days off from riding I can enjoy the city and plan the rest of my trip towards New York. After all Project “Cross the US on a bike” is still running.






A ticket to ride
I rode almost 4000 miles without getting pulled over by the police. Then I visited Buckingham fountain here in Chicago. The only downer to all that is that you have to pay 25 cent every 8 minutes parking. Even for motorbikes. The meters are obviously high end machines, which need maintenance quite often as some guy is running around checking them all the time. After a little small talk he adjusts the meter to 4 hours free parking, smiles and sais: “Have a save trip to New York.” Great- time to see the fountain, the harbour and navy pier. Arriving back at the bike I find a ticket telling me I had to pay 50 $. But it was not for parking- I have no licence plate. Actually I have the best licence plate ever - it reads “I fix your computer for bed and breakfast .com” The really annoying thing is that they stick the ticket on to your bike with superglue. It took me at least half an hour to scratch the remains of my glorious ticket off my tank.



“Health care in US” or “dying is free”
Since Michael Moore and other documentaries people are mostly aware of the health care situation US citizens life in. But experiencing it first hand gives it much more quality. Staying here with some lovely friends in Chicago gave me a little insight to that. Waking up in the morning I overheard a telephone call between Debbie - my couchsurfing host, and her mother. Debbie is sick since several days. Her sinuses are swollen and blocked and she is coughing all the time:

- Hi mom
- I really don’t feel well.
- I been at the doctors yesterday and he gave me these pills against sinus infection. But he said it could be pneumonia (Lungenentzündung) too he can’t tell.
- Because he would need X-Rays to be sure. (now she is crying)
- No, mom I can’t afford to get X-Rays (coughing) they are incredibly expensive. I am supposed to be at work this evening at 6. I can’t go there. I am too weak. I don’t know what to do. (pure desperation resonates her voice as she cries on the phone)

Trip update

Trip log so far:
Day 1: 370 miles to Santa Barbara
Day 2: 150 miles to Los Angeles
Day 3: 300 miles to Las Vegas
Day 4: 1 mile to the Casinos
Day 5: 270 miles to Williams
Day 6: 230 miles to Page
Day 7: 300 miles to Gallup
Day 8: 330 miles to Santa Fe
Day 9: 350 miles to Amarillo
Day 10: 350 miles to Oklahoma
Day 11: 150 miles to Tulsa
Day 12: 200 miles to Springfield
Day 13: 290 miles to St.Louis
Day 15: 350 miles to Chicago

It is a Canyon and it’s Grand....what else?
Riding a bike is in itself a fun thing to do. But every now and then one is happy to have some sights along the way to get distracted from the long and winding roads. When fatigue was about to set in I stopped at some “scenic pullout” as these spots are called where you’re supposed to see some beautiful sights. Many times it turns out that you just look at some old rocks. This time it was different. I pulled over and stopped. 20 seconds later my eyes were filled with tears. (no joke!) The Grand Canyon is one of the greatest works of nature I’ve ever seen. Posting the picture below is anticlimactic as there will never be any kind of document, neither written, videotaped or narrated to explain what I felt when I was there.




Caught in the rain
English people do it all the time. People on bikes too. Talking about the weather. Since I left San Francisco the weather forecast is my personal horoscope and I take it very serious every day. I became sensitive for every kind of weather information. Reading clouds is one of my favourite activities while riding. Unfortunately one can not always be lucky. I was riding towards Springfield, when I saw some clouds, that just didn’t seem right. Too dark and too big. At this point I hoped that the road will turn left or right, but that was not happening. It led me right into the dark. I stopped to adjust my gloves and to put the rain covers on the backpack and saddlebags. Actually there is no rain cover for my backpack so I took an old white (telering) rain poncho and fixed it half assed on the backpack. As I moved forward, still hoping that the rain might feel mercy for me, I heard the first drops hitting the visor of my helmet. And then it began. Storm and spray hit my face as I ride with an open face helmet – great decision, Mike- everything is grey and I felt water everywhere. My pants and shoes are soaked. When shifting gear upwards I can feel the water in my shoes running backwards to my heel, when shifting down it runs to my toes. I look down and see water coming out of the ventilation holes of my incredibly unsuitable footwear. I grit my teeth and keep on moving. Now it pours down so hard that I can’t see anything. The rain poncho on my backpack is torn to rags as it flapped too close to the exhauster and melted. I ride down the freeway like a shooting star, red bike in front and pulling a white “rain poncho”- tail right after me. Must have been a great look. 10 minutes later the sun came out again. Two hours to Springfield. Awesome!

Sir Peter
In Austria we sometimes have the phenomenon that frogs, hedgehogs and deers come across the roads. Here in the Mid-east of US are other animals to find. I found many armadillos(Gürteltiere), foxes and suricates (Erdmännchen) smashed to pieces. But mostly I see turtles trying to make a run for the other side of the road. Bloody evidences prove that they don’t succeed very often. So being a good Samaritan I stopped and picked up Sir Peter. Sir Peter is a turtle- explorer, who tried to find out what the other side has to offer. After all the grass might be greener over there. By the way don’t ask why his name is Sir Peter! I just made it up. Sir Peter took a little ride with me on the route 66 (to the other side of the road) and really enjoyed it. Keep on exploring the other side, man!



Acoma Village
Many native Americans live in national Reservations, which are self governed and self organised. So do the Apaches, the Comanches and the little tribe of the Acomas. I visited the Acoma village to see what is going on there. The first sign of Acoma village greets you with the words: “Attention visitors- Taking pictures only with picture permit” I was still on the freeway wondering what I should take no picture of. Arriving at the visitor center of Acoma village I found the actual village placed on the top of a mesa ( a plateau). A guided tour that took me up there with a bus taught me that the Acomas are a little Indian tribe, which got molested by the Spanish Inquisitors pretty badly. They had to abandon their native religion and become roman-catholics instead. They found a way to cope with their past- they practice both religions. Why even fight for religion anyway?



Austria is just around the corner



The route 66

So I say thank you for the music….

Trip log so far:
Day 1: 370 miles to Santa Barbara
Day 2: 150 miles to Los Angeles
Day 3: 300 miles to Las Vegas
Day 4: 1 mile to the Casinos
Day 5: 270 miles to Williams
Day 6: 230 miles to Page
Day 7: 300 miles to Gallup
Day 8: 330 miles to Santa Fe
Day 9: 350 miles to Amarillo
Day 10: 350 miles to Oklahoma

So I say thank you for the music….

At the very moment I am in a Place called Pampa in Texas. Back home we usually say that we are in the middle of Pampa when we are completely lost. (Ich bin grad mitten in der Pampa) So I thought it is an appropriate time and place to tell all of you guys out there, who read my blog once in a while, that I am really really grateful for all the supportive and motivating messages you sent me over the past 6 month of my travels. Many times I just don’t find the online time to answer, so let me tell you one thing:
Thank you for your support! After all it is you, who keep me going on those endless roads towards New York.
As I write this some Texan man with big white hats are outside and take a closer look at my bike. They see me now… they already noticed that I am not from here and now they wave at me and smile… I wave back and nod. It reminds me somehow of India, where you stop somewhere and within seconds there are 15 Indians around you. The Texan Guys turn and leave now. They don’t know where I go, and if they asked I told them I cross this continent. Then they would open their eyes wide in disbelief and say “Wow, fella, that’s a long way to go!” and “Take good care on your trip, buddy! Have a safe ride.”
Those little things can make a whole day bright.
Knowing that you in front of your screen think of me sometimes, knowing that people wish me a safe ride while travelling and other bikers on the road, who greet me- what else could I wish for!

Trip log

Trip log so far:
Day 1: 370 miles to Santa Barbara
Day 2: 150 miles to Los Angeles
Day 3: 300 miles to Las Vegas
Day 4: 1 mile to the Casinos
Day 5: 270 miles to Williams
Day 6: 200 miles to Page (Grand Canyon)


check out my new licence plate!!

at the hoover dam.

at lake mead


Why I travel by bike
Travelling with a car is a security issue:


Travelling with a motorhome is a safety issue:


a burning motorhome on the route 66

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!

Finally alone or The demons of doubt
When I left home to travel around the world I decided to travel alone. At that point most travelling people would say, that this is the best thing to do anyway. Being alone forces you to make your own decisions as you go. There is nobody, who argues in favour or against a certain idea. You have to know what you want and find out if it is possible to do or not. Until I left San Francisco there was not a single day, on which I was actually alone. All the people I met and all the friends I found are an incredible enrichment for this trip, if not even more than that. But now that I am on the road with nothing but the landscape ahead of me and the machine pulling me towards the horizon I am finally alone. Nobody is there to discuss the plans for the next day or to watch a movie with or to do conversation.
It feels wonderful.
I think I am not a brave guy. I think brave is someone, who makes decisions and sticks to it no matter what. No doubts or bad thoughts come to his mind about what he did and if it was the right thing to do. Especially when high risks of failure and high prices are involved it is a virtue to make a certain decision and not having bad feelings afterwards.
As far as I can tell the decision to travel alone was the most important decision I made in my whole life. I sacrificed everything I had, which means I paid a high price and the risk of failure is high as shit, because I don’t even know what the point of all this is. I had hard feelings after those decisions and I call them my “demons of doubt”. They haunted me after quitting my job in Munich and they haunted me after buying the bike to cross the US. At least I learned one thing: The demons of doubt are completely pointless. They don’t help coping with the situation, they don’t give you power and they don’t support you in any way. One thing is clear: Get rid of your demons, make decisions and life a happy life in the moment.

NEW BORN

12.05.2009 9:00 am San Francisco. Today I started my Trip through the US on my new Bike. The Golden Gate Bridge was the starting point. On the first day I did 370 miles in 9 hours and arrived in Santa Barbara save but very exhausted. It is a funny thing when you ride for hours and hours, then you take a short break because you are so proud of yourself of managing to ride that long. A short look at the map brings you back to reality- do you know how far 100 miles can be on a bike? In a shop I asked for a map from whole US but with less miles but they wouldn't sell me one- so I have to go all the way. Right now I physically feel like hit by a horse and mentally like new born.

McLovin
Drinking is one of the favourite hobbies for young people here in San Francisco. Unfortunately there is a law that no alcohol is to be sold to anyone under 21. What some of the poor bastards do is getting fake ID’s with a birth date that makes them exactly 21. Whoever saw the movie “Superbad” will know what I am talking about. A young and funny looking guy gets a fake ID with a birth date that makes him 25. One little problem is there though with the ID- the name on it is changed to McLovin.
I found this ID in a Souvenir shop here in San Francisco and tried it. No joke! It works! The other day I went to the bars and showed it at the door- I got in. Then we went to Safeway to get beer and vodka. So we show up at the counter with the ID. I hand the ID to the guy behind the counter and he looks at me and at the ID again. Once. Twice, Three times, then he hands the ID back to me and says: “Thank you Mister Lovin.” We had to leave Safeway as fast as possible to avoid choking from our suppressed laughter.


USA and the media
The media and specially TV is a strange thing in US. You have about 60 channels but every channel seems like a derivate of MTV. All you see is half naked celebrities or movies, which lack every kind of shame. I want to point out a special example that describes what I mean. There is a show called “Favourite celebrities body parts”. What first sounds like a Quentin Tarantino movie ala “Hostel” turns out to be a description of hot and sexy bodies of Mathew Mcconaughey and co. First talking for hours about the six-packs and butts of male actors and finally arriving at a close up on the boobs of Mariah Carrey it gives the impression that there are no other troubles in life that that. Or the other day we saw a nice movie about people in College and their adventures. Whoever has been to Bangkok and knows what a PingPong show is will be able to figure out what I mean by saying: This is nothing against US-College movies. And I do not talk about porn- it’s Wednesday afternoon program. At the same time the media pretends to keep up a certain kind of standard- but they still want to show those things so what could be a solution? A blurry spot on every cock! Great Idea! So you sit there and watch a movie where half of the screen is blurry and the other half shows alcohol, drugs and people puking. What a Brave New World!


Begging Indian style
Walking down the roads of San Francisco offers you many opportunities to do good and donate money. Actually when walking down the roads here people beg as much as in Mumbai. Maybe someone should think about that when taking into account that the US is the 8th richest country in the world and India is a development country.


Project Route 66
Oh… you are still here! Good, because here comes the really great news! This is my new ride: It is a Suzuki V-Strom 650. I did my maiden voyage over the Golden Gate Bridge in shorts and Flip-Flops of course! Some might say there is a better way to invest all your travel budget, as riding a bike across the USA can be dangerous, lonely, expensive, exhausting and risky. But…you know…it’s a Motorbike, baby!!!!!
So from now on I will sleep in a tent, eat bread and water and look for opportunities to Fix your computer for bed and breakfast. So if anyone knows anyone here in US where I could stay for a night and do something for it (I would do anything!!) tell me! (post a comment) My route will be San Francisco- Los Angeles- Las Vegas- Salt Lake City(maybe) and so on.
So please everybody wish me luck and a safe journey, as I have about 5000miles in front of me.





By the way.... My new San Francisco girlfriend!!!!

just kidding...LOL