Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Nice bike ride man! You faced all kinds of weather there.

Can I ask you some personal questions:
1). What are prospects of landing a job in US? Is it better than India? Are jobs available?
2). Can I save more in US than India? By savings, I mean "Income - EXPENDITURE".
3). Is it worth it to go to the US? From my childhood, I dreamt of going abroad, but now I think no wait! Maybe I should stay here itself as the next wave of development is going to come across Asian countries.

Sorry for going OT, but needed some answers from a genuine source.

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Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Thanks dude!


Thank you so much!


Thank you so much for the kind words Sir! Hope all is well with you.


Thanks bro!


You have a PM!



Day 6 (May 2, 2014):

I woke up a little early and head out. The destination for today was New Orleans, Louisiana and it was just interstates all the way. It should be an easy ride! After a while, I hit Alabama. I was starting to get a little bored. I just remembered that I also carried a digital camera and a tripod with me to take pictures of myself. Since it was raining and also pretty cold the first few days of the ride, I completely forgot about it. I took the first picture of myself using the tripod!








I got back into Alabama and kept riding west. In a few more hours, I was in Mississippi. It was fun to stand on this suspension bridge. Every time a truck went on it, I would be jumping up and down for a few seconds.








I rode on and I hit my first time zone change. As I was going west, I had moved from the Eastern Standard Time zone to Central Standard Time zone. I had an extra hour to ride today! Somewhere around 6 pm, I was 100 miles away from New Orleans. I could have done that in 1.5 hours, but I saw an exit there that told scenic beach route. I took that and saw the road in Google maps. It was an alternate road to get to New Orleans that ran along the south coast (Route 90)! It was a little longer though. Since I had time, I decided to take it. It would also be a refreshing change after being on the boring interstates all day! It was one beautiful ride all the way to New Orleans.




The beginning part of this stretch reminded me of Goa. It was just Casinos and pubs on the beach. I stopped for a while next to the beach and then rode into the sunset. Just after the sun had set, I entered Louisiana. For the next thirty minutes till I got into New Orleans, I had a huge bug attack! The effect can be seen on the helmet and the windshield. I reached my destination safe and a friend hosted me for the night.





























RIDING INTO THE SUNSET TIMELAPSE

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Day 7 (May 3, 2014):

It was going to be quite a long ride today. The destination for today was Austin in Texas and it was around 550 miles away. It was a very uneventful ride though. I started around 9 in the morning and rode out of New Orleans.




From there, I kept riding taking only short breaks for fuel. My first long break was at a Waffle House for brunch and just shortly after that I hit Texas.




It was getting super hot here! There are vents all over my jacket and pants. I opened them all up and it was much better. I kept hydrating myself and riding! The speed limit was also 75mph throughout so I could keep at those speeds constantly. I covered some good distance and reached Austin around 6pm.




Thanks to my old colleague and close friend Shishija and her husband Sharath for hosting me in Austin. She made her specialty Kerala style fish fry for dinner that day. It was the best meal in the ride so far! Rest day tomorrow, so no alarm and just relaxing. It would be a much-needed break!

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Superb mate. Indeed a good initiative.
#ride hard #ride safe.

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Amazing expedition and great pictures. I never liked Suzuki Bandit but I'm going to change my mind. It look fantastic with those saddle bags.

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Thanks bro!

Yes even I was not a huge fan, it is one amazing bike though!


Day 8 (May 4, 2014):

It was rest day today. I just had to get up to Plano for the day, that was around 200 miles away. I woke up pretty late, ate a really good homemade breakfast and then did a quick check on the bike. After lunch, I rode out. It was a pretty uneventful ride except for two huge traffic jams because of accidents on the highway. I reached Plano for the night after stopping in Arlington to meet a few friends for a while. Oh yes, we had a small photo-shoot when in Austin!

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Day 9 (May 5, 2014):

I had head north from Ohio, hit all the states there. I touched all the states in the east coast next and then did the ones in the south. It’s been 8 days on the road and I had hit 22 states so far. The plan was to go north from here and hit the states in the middle, before heading west. I had no host for the night, so the plan was to ride north as far as possible after hitting all the states on the way. The rest from yesterday and the home made food left me all pumped up! I head out from Plano around 9 in the morning and went north. In an hour, I hit Oklahoma.






The weather was good, the roads did not have much traffic and it was straight interstates all the way. So I kept riding just taking short breaks in between for gas or a snack. I hit Arkansas and then Missouri both in a few hours!










It was almost evening now and I was starting to get a little tired. I had just been munching on small snacks from morning and I did not have a proper meal. I had almost ridden 500 miles too already and I could ride for a few more hours too. So I decided to take a long break and have a nice meal. I stopped in a small family run barbeque place and had the most amazing pork ribs with onion rings ever! I spent almost an hour here and after this I was totally refreshed. I had to go west and hit Kansas and then get back into Missouri to head north. By the time I hit Kansas and got back into Missouri, it started getting dark. I thought of riding till my body felt tired and then take a motel at the next exit. I rode till around 11 pm, by then I was completely exhausted! I took a motel in the next exit, again an Indian run motel and crashed after a shower. Today was my personal longest ride in a single run, 704.6 miles (around 1134 km). I did it in around 14 hours.

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

awesome deed bro, btw what are the speeds maintained in city limits? that beamer guy drove like in gta or something..
btw even i do charity by freely sticking decals on my bike and promoting the company , and in our bangalore terms seems like the waffle house adds too much soda in their food

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Awesome!!! Helmets off to you Waiting,waiting,waiting to read more.

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Brilliant log, great cause, and amazing effort.. keep it coming brother..ride safe

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

WOw... Gets goosebumps even the thought of doing a Trans-USA. Amazing to see folk in love with riding, and to combine it with a fundraiser is indeed smart bro. Brilliant Pics... Love those landscapes where there's nobody else... and Virginia... wow.

The best part about the tlog is the The Big Bandit... absolutely love the fact that its featured on this tlog.

Surely wish to follow your footsteps to doing something similar in another continent...

Keep it coming... getting thoroughly inspired.

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Thanks man! The speed limits inside the city usually vary between 15-35mph, depending upon the city and the size of the road. New York was a completely different story though! People drive like in India jumping lanes, speeding and honking. I started riding like that too after a while, it was fun!

Good to know about your charity efforts too! Yes Waffle House is a place where you get really unhealthy but tasty food.

Thank you thank you thank you!

Thanks brother! You too!

Thank you for the kind words brother! I wanted to write down the Tlog, but kept delaying because of the lack of motivation. Words like these from fellow riders make me want to write them down and complete it. Thanks again!



Day 10 (May 6, 2014):

The drive chain on the bike was running very loose! I had ridden the bike almost 4000 miles since I picked it up and this was the first time it became loose. I did not have the huge spanner to remove the wheel nut, so I had to take it to a bike shop. I quickly searched for shops nearby and there was one an hour away. It was almost in the direction I had to go today. The plan was to continue north and hit Iowa. From there I was to head west into Nebraska all the way to reach Denver, CO. It was going to be a pretty long ride, around 600 miles. The shop was on the Iowa/Nebraska border. I started around 9 and I entered Iowa in a while.




I then made it to the shop; I called in earlier and scheduled an appointment. Still, they took almost an hour to get it done. Motorcycle labor charges are pretty steep here. A simple chain tightening would cost around Rs35 in India, here the same thing cost me $35! The first thing on my shopping list after I complete the ride is going to be that big spanner! I met with a local biker in that shop who was also waiting on his bike. I was telling him about the ride and when I told him about my destination for the night, he suggested a different route. He suggested that I take a state highway instead of the Interstate I was planning to take. The reason he gave was no traffic and ‘NO COPS’!

The police here are very strict about the rules on the road! The most common violation people do on the highway is speeding. Usually you are spared if you are doing less than 10 miles per hour above the speed limit. If it is anything above that, you are pulled over immediately and given a ticket! If you are having a bad day, even a few miles above the limit and you will be pulled over. I was constantly doing around 10 miles above since the ride started without being pulled over. Since this guy told there would be absolutely no cops and traffic on that road, it was tempting to travel the extra distance since I had to go far today. Soon the bike was out and I hit Nebraska!




From here, I got on to the suggested state highway. As he had said, there was no traffic at all! It was beautiful two lane roads but the speed limit was 60 though. I was doing around 70 constantly and I got a little bored after a while. So I started speeding a little more and I was doing 80’s. All was well for almost a 100 miles. The road would get over in another 20 miles and I’ll have to get back on the interstate. I was happy on taking this detour because of the distance covered and the road was scenic too! All of a sudden I see a Dodge Charger zoom in the opposite direction. Only when he passed me did I notice that small LED strip on top. F***! It was a cop car and I was doing more than 20 above the speed limit! I was watching him in my mirror and as soon as he crossed me, he did a quick U-turn like in the movies and switched on the flashing lights. Finished!!

I pulled over and removed my helmet. He came over to me and asked me my name, where I’m from and my license. He told me I was doing 85, that was 25 over the limit. I apologized and told I did not notice the speedo for a while. I then told him about the ride and why I’m doing it. He then went into his car and told he’ll be back in a while. He comes out after 5 minutes, with a ticket in hand. He had reduced the speed though; I have to thank him for that! He had given me a ticket for doing 75 miles per hour in a 60-speed zone. The fine was $123! I could pay it in court or pay it online. If he had put the actual speed, the fine would have been much more steeper! I apologized to him again, he wished me luck and then I rode on. I stuck to the speed limit for the rest of the day! I couldn’t afford another ticket! If there are too many tickets, your license can be confiscated too. Since I had the distance to cover, I took very short breaks and kept riding all the while. I had my second time zone change today from Central Standard Time to Mountain Standard Time, another extra hour to ride. Sometime in the evening, I entered Colorado.






From here, I had to do around 150 miles to get to Denver, where a friend would be hosting me for the night. It was a pretty easy ride through the interstates and not much traffic. I reached Denver around 11 p.m.

Somewhere in Nebraska, after getting the ticket, I stopped for a small bite in a fast food joint. There was an old couple that started conversation with me while we were eating. They were very sweet and they were all excited to hear more when I told them about the ride I was doing. I carried flyers in my tank bag to give out to interested people. After a while, I bade goodbye to them. She went on to visit my website, make a donation and also follow my ride through Facebook. She was just one of the several wonderful people I met during the ride!




Oh yes, I was planning to pay for the ticket once I got back home. Since I had 10 more days of riding to do, I took a picture just in case I misplaced it.

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Day 11 (May 7, 2014):

I started a little early today, around 8 in the morning. There was no fixed destination for today. The plan was to be in Arizona tomorrow and to see the Grand Canyon there. The distance to get there was around 750 miles. So again I thought I would ride as far as I could and break after it gets dark. It turned out to be one of the most memorable days of the ride for both good and bad reasons! First, thanks to my friend and host Hari for putting me up in Denver, CO.



I took off from his place and head south. He had suggested a place called Pike’s Peak Highway around 100 miles south of Denver. I had heard of this name somewhere but I had no idea on what it was. Since I had only 750 miles to be done over the next two days, I decided to go visit that. As soon as I took off, it was all dark clouds above me! Riding in the storm again kind of scared me. Luckily, those clouds were only above the city and I rode away from them.




Denver is nick named the mile high city because its elevation is one mile above sea level. As I went south, the elevation kept changing and the views just got better and better. It was mountains all around and I could see a few snow capped mountains in the distance. This was the first time I was seeing snow during the ride.






I then took an exit to go see the Pike’s Peak Highway. I was just told that it’s a 13-mile road that goes up a hill. The ride to get there and back was just amazing and it turned out to be the best ride of my life! Remember the snow-capped mountains that were so far away? At the end of the 13 miles, I was riding through all that snow! I will let the pictures do the talking and yes the GoPro shot the entire ride. I have put the videos at the end of this post!














It was one beautiful ride and I got back down somewhere around noon. Since I had enough fun, I decided to just ride for the rest of the day taking short breaks. I continued south and my worst enemy of the ride started torturing me real bad, the crosswinds! It was not too difficult to ride in the rain but the wind can hit real bad at times. I remember back in India, every time a heavy crosswind hit, my Karizma would move around in the lane. Here the bike was pretty heavy and so it would be only me moving with those crosswinds. Not anymore! The winds here were so bad that even the bike started moving around. As I went further south, it got much worse! I somehow fought through it and reached New Mexico late in the afternoon. I was shortly welcomed by a severe sand storm!








This ride was turning out to be very tough! There were crosswinds so bad that I would be riding on the right most lane of the road, very close to the shoulder. A cross wind would hit so hard that I would be pushed left two lanes! Luckily, there was not much traffic. So I stayed a little below the speed limit, even slower when the cross winds got bad. Whenever I saw a car or truck in my mirror, I would slow even more and let them pass. I rode like this for a few hours!

Riding in all that crosswind took its toll on me, I was exhausted! The winds broke my helmet visor too. I had left my helmet on top of my bike when I stopped in a rest area. The wind blew it over and it fell down. I guess it landed on the visor and the hinges that hold the visor in place cracked. So now the visor would not lock into the helmet and I could not imagine riding in this place without one. Come duct tape to the rescue! I put the visor on and taped it all over with duct tape. It would be like this for the rest of the ride!

I stopped in a town a little while after it became dark and took a motel there. I could not ride any further; I was completely exhausted. I had ridden around 400 miles though, so I had only 350 miles left for tomorrow and I would also be seeing the Grand Canyon. I went to sleep feeling a little excited about that.


VIDEOS:

Getting to Pike's Peak


Pikes Peak Highway Uphill


Pikes Peak Highway Downhill


Riding into the sunset - New Mexico

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Nice clicks n videos. ..roads look dry but the mountain peak got snow...amazing:thumbup:

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Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

As usual, awesome narration and mindblowing pics. Bring on the rest. Just waiting for your next post.