| Author | Message | ||
     Jerry_haughton |
this just in from Newf: Jerry, Alex called me from Deer Lake, NL last night and I guess left early this morning to make his way in. Its about 6hrs from Deer Lake to St. Johns so I will get him to call when he arrives. You should have came with him, having a ball. Going to take the boys out tonight to experience the Downtown St. John's Night Life, there is a local music festival going on this week and tomorrow the Annual St. John's Regatta (Oldest sporting Event in North America) is set to run. More pictures to be posted. Bill thank you Newf! ride, Alex, ride!!  FB&D | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
Mr. Alex Prior has safely landed in St. John's Newfoundland!!!! | ||
| Dino |
Congratulations Alex! We're all proud of you. What an Adventure!!! Dino | ||
| Iamike |
Greetings to all Badwebbers from 'The Rock'. We are all here and well except for Tom (DULLORB). We're sitting here eating bar-b-que and drinking Screech (it's not all it's cut out to be) but you'll just have to come here and try it in person. The scenery is fantastic, the roads are good and the hospitality is FANTASTIC! I've been keeping a journal and taking lots of pics and video. Will post some when I get home. To those of you that couldn't make it - eat your heart out! Not really, actually we've been going to confession every day and watching cartoons the rest ot he time. Signing off- Iowa Mike | ||
| Awprior |
Well, I've made it across the continent. The Buell was great (not a single problem), I 've made a ton of true and lasting friends, seen some amazing things and it's all happened for a good cause. I'll have lots more to say when I arrive at home and have some time to collect my thoughts and think about this trip. Of all I've experienced, seeing the sign that said 'Welcome to St. John' was definitely an emotional part of the trip, realizing what I had just accomplished. Many many thanks to everyone who was a part of this trip, those who I rode with, provided a bed or meal, those who supported the American Cancer Society, those who helped out with well-wished, prayers and advice, and many many more. Without you, it wouldn't have been possible. We're off to downtown St. John for a bit of a party, afterall, how often does a kid get a chance to do this? Thanks again, everyone. Matt, see you soon, Brother. Alex | ||
| Awprior |
Bart, I'd love to meet up again. Shoot me an email, let me know when you're going to be where. I'm still unsure of when I'm going to leave the island, but we can work something out! | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
Alex, i just don't know what else to say. we're proud to know you, that's for sure. neither of us has stopped smiling since Newfie gave us the news! well done, Mr. Prior, very simply well done. Ferris & Denise ps to Matt: thinking of you. | ||
| Thunder |
Alex you have raised the bar for all of us!! Congratulations on your achievement!! And for allowing us all to be a small part of something very BIG!! It's people like you Alex that make this world a better place and makes all of us want to be better people!! This is really COOL!! Celebrate!! Everyone!!  | ||
| Ocbueller |
Raised the bar,eh. Do I hear a Ride "Around" North America? SteveH | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
Do I hear a Ride "Around" North America? Court, do you wanna take this one? | ||
| Iamike |
Drew, Bill R. & I are on the ferry making the rebound trip. They are forecasting rain for Friday. We'll just watch the weather (even though we are Badweatherbikers) to decide on the scenic or the fast route. | ||
| Awprior |
Well, 3 weeks, 7463 miles, 14 US states, 5 Canadian provinces and I'm home. What a great trip, what a great bunch of people to ride and hang out with. The Buell performed very well, used a little less than 3 quarts of oil the entire time, one D220 rear, the ignition switch wore out (who knew that would happen), and my 4 year old battery died (a new record for life?). I swear the bike never ran that well before. I think she was happy to be on the trip. We'll be having plenty more of these in the future... I have a ton of great pics and stories to share, but I'll start off with a few of my favorite pics, and let my mind and body rest for a few days before I dive into getting everything posted (I'm also missing quite a few that Newfie still has on his comp. that I don't have). Thanks again to all who were involved, I've made a bunch of great new friends. This was waiting for me when I arrived at home:  Saw this on my way home this morning... I didn't know that Newfoundland was right off of I-81, on PA 191. Didn't even have to take a ferry...  The beginning of the trip: the bike is a lot cleaner, the tank has very few signatures, I have a lot more sleep, and I'm 5300 miles from my destination...  Dawn on the first day of the trip, overlooking (I think) Walker Pass:  Somewhere in Zion National Park. You HAVE to check this place out. Beware of two Tuber Buells (Bart and Mini Bart) doing wheelies through the 1.1 mile tunnel, constructed in 1931. Not that I would know anything about that.  Overlooking the Eastern end of the Cabot Trail in NS. Supposedly one of the 10 best motorcycling roads in North America. It's not all that technical, but the views are breathtaking:  The western end of the Cabot:  There are LOTS of great pics left, I need to get the rest from Bill and I'll slowly begin posting them. Keep your eyes open... Alex | ||
| Road_thing |
Well done, Alex! rt | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
Alex, all i can say is that when i grow up i wanna be JUST like you! coolness!!! Dawn on the first day of the trip, overlooking (I think) Walker Pass correct, on Hwy 178 about 30 miles east of Lake Isabella, CA, about 30 miles west of Ridgecrest, CA, elevation 5400 feet and some change...and the LAST time we'd see temps under 100 for the rest of the frikkin' day!!!! ok, you've rested enough -- MORE PIX!!! Ferris & Denise | ||
| Awprior |
Jerry, I want to, but for whatever reason, my computer doesn't want to open up the rest of the files on the CD that Newfie burned for me. Let me mess around with it a bit more and see what I can come up with. Alex | ||
| Moltons3 |
Alex Glad to see your back ! Welcome home ! Wade | ||
| Awprior |
My adventure began on July 16th, with an early morning flight to San Diego, CA. The plan was to fly to CA, pick up the bike at the Forward Air Terminal, and hang out with a few friends from school for a few days. Due to a few circumstances that were sort of out of my control, I didn't end up leaving for California until Sunday the 18th, the same day as my parents left for Anaheim, CA. I had gotten tickets for my family to fly out, as a trip sendoff, and to see my grandparents, which we hadn't seen in quite a few years. I made it to California, picked up the bike (with more than a few problems in the process). We were pulled over for speeding (63 in a 65, but the max trailer speed is 55). When we picked up the bike, the crate had been 'opened', more realistically rammed with a fork truck. The strap across the rear of the bike was broken, which allowed the bike to slide around in the crate, doing some minor damage. I thought, big deal, it made it here. Good enough for me. We spent the next few days relaxing and hanging out with family, and even took my grandmother on California Screamin' at Disneyland. That was cool. The last night we were all together, we had some great Chicago style pizza and wathced movies, and I crashed early so I could be up and ready for the adventure to begin... This was at the San Diego Airport, found it fitting for some of the discussions we have on Badweb from time to time...  This guy was hanging out at BWI when I made my first attempt to get to California, I was hoping it wasn't an omen for the rest of the trip.  The scenery around Anaheim and the other areas we visited there was great. I had no idea what to expect for the rest of the state.  July 22nd began the riding adventure. I left Anaheim around 7 am, for a 9:30 meeting with Ferris, Denise, Unibear and Jim Atterbery (sp?) at the base of the Angeles Crest roadway. I did a bit of lane splitting on the 5 headed north, which scared the crap out of me at first. The cars and other vehicles in California seem to have a respect for bikers that I haven't seen anywhere else; they were very aware of your presence (I'm sure the exhaust note of the M2 helped a little as well). Once I was a little past LA, I headed up Hwy 2, where I was passed by 3 LA Bomb Squad vans at a very high rate of speed. Scared the heck out of me!  We met at a gas station at the start of the road, and the mountains in the distance looked awesome. It was nice to finally meet in person, after many many emails and phone calls. Jerry is an awesome individual, someone I am very proud to know as a true friend, and someone who is very passionate about motorcycles. He was instrumental in getting this trip off and running.  The road was great, lots of twists and turns, and it climbed in elevation pretty quickly. Our first photo stop on the top of one of the peaks over looked the Mojave desert. Ferris was kind enough to tell me just how hot is was down there, well into the 100s.    We stopped for lunch around noon, and talked bikes, life, and what we'd be seeing in the next few days. We headed down the mountain and proceeded to Willow Springs, which was awesome to see. They had a little museum of sorts, lots of go fast toys and pictures from races dating back years.   | ||
| Awprior |
From Willow Springs we headed towards Lake Isabella and the Thunderdome. We took a road named the 'Lion's Tail', which was a great road, very small, very tight turns, complete with cattle standing in the middle of it. We have cattle in PA, but we don't let them wander all over the road... The first views of Lake Isabella were breathtaking. The lake is surrounded by a few small towns, great scenery, and awesome roads. A Bueller's dream. The Thunderdome is somewhere around the mountain on the left...  We swung by Ferris's place to ditch our gear, and to relax a bit before we headed to Cheryl's diner for dinner. Cheryl donated dinner for us hungry Buelligans, which was a phenominal meal. If you have a chance, stop by and say hey, she's a great lady. FMJ and Dino met us at the restaraunt a bit after we arrived. We traded stories, probably one of the funnier ones was Dino and his Persian rug smuggling problems. (PERMIT!) As we were finishing dinner, there were a lot of Park Service firetrucks and personnel flying about the town, which is NOT a good sign. As we headed back to the Thunderdome, I was in awe with what had happened in the short time that we were dining: the entire mountain across the lake had been engulfed in flames.    We stayed up until about 1 am trading stories and marveling at the fire that was burning in front of us, hoping that no houses were destroyed in the process. It was about time to turn in, we were leaving for Zion Nat'l park in a few short hours, and had a long, hot day of riding ahead of us. It was a great first day of the trip, great scenery, roads, and I made some great new friends. Tomorrow: Ferrisville to Zion National Park, via Death Valley, Las Vegas, Arizona and lots of twist roads... | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
We have cattle in PA, but we don't let them wander all over the road... good one, Alex, big belly laugh!!! The Thunderdome is somewhere around the mountain on the left... see the mountain directly above the VFR, the one with the notch in it? that's Split Mountain, and the 'Dome is below and a little to the right. the big thunderbusters looming in the background to the left, behind Split Mountain, are generating due to the influence of Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the lower 48 - wish we'd had enough hours to take you up there. next time??? We stayed up until about 1 am trading stories and marveling at the fire that was burning in front of us, hoping that no houses were destroyed in the process. i'm very happy to report that as bad as it was, only several out-buildings were lost. all the homes up in Cyrus Canyon were spared, due in large part to a small ridge which turned the fire just enough that it climbed around the homes, and due in LARGE part to the firefighters - God bless all of them, and the miracles they perform. Alex, what you said about me? right back at you, dude. i tried to convey to you, several times while we were in each other's company, what mine and Denise's involvement in your ride meant to us, but never could find the right words. we are honored to have been a small part, glad to have helped raise some $ for Matt and the American Cancer Society, and thrilled to finally meet and ride with you. and no matter what you say, YOU made this ride happen. now then, i'll do something i'm not very good at and just fut the shuck up, and look forward to the rest of your tale. your friends, Ferris & Denise | ||
| Awprior |
Ferris, We'll have to ride Mt. Whitney for sure, give me a bit of time and I'll be out again. The Bostrom intrigues me as well... Dino's tales of it sound great. Glad to hear that no houses were damaged in the fire though. It was a touching moment, riding the roads where the fire happened, smelling the burnt land and catching the ash in the visor... Hope no one was hurt. Buellers never shut up... Keep talking! Words don't always convey what people feel, riding together covers everything though. It was an unforgettable experience. Don't sweat it. Take care, brother. Can't wait to ride together again, especially when D gets that SV! (Message edited by awprior on August 14, 2004) | ||
| Dino |
Ferris- For Alex's next visit, I'm thinking -Dome to Mariposa; -day loop into Yosemite via west entrance to Tioga Pass and back, circuit thru Yosemite Valley and up to Glacier Point, back to Mariposa; -Mariposa to Tahoe via Hwys 49, 26, 88, 89; -Tahoe to Mariposa via 207, 395, 108, 49; etc, etc. Too mundane? | ||
| Awprior |
Dino, Sounds great. We'll have to start planning... Day two of the trip: Lake Isabella, CA to Zion National Park, UT. This stretch would take us through the rest of California, to Las Vegas, through the northwestern corner of Arizona and into Utah. Ferris sounded reville at 4:30 am, after hitting the sack at 1 am. We were all a little blurry eyed, but had quite a few hot, long miles ahead of us. We rode through some of the areas where the wild fire had been burning the night before, there were numerous fire trucks along the road keeping an eye on everything. It was weird riding through that area, thinking of what it looked like up in flames a few short hours ago. There was a lot of soot blowing around, and the smell of charred countryside was strong. The first photos we took were of Walker pass, at dawn.   We rode through some vast expanses of, well, nothing really, and headed to a town close to the China Lake Airbase for breakfast at Denny's. I didn't realize just how big the desert and mountains out here were. It seemed like they went on for miles without seeing any towns or anything. Our next stop was another mountain pass, over looking Death Valley. We could only think about how hot it was going to be when we hit the bottom.  Death Valley proved to be interesting, as there's not a whole lot there. Lots of sand (watch out for the mini dunes on the road), and one gas station somewhere in the middle. The highest temp we rode through there was 116, a bit more than the 60 degrees we left Lake Isabella with.  This was the only place to stop for gas, cold water or anything along the way.  Shrotly after this stop, Unibear's XB12 developed a problem that continually caused his check engine light to turn on. It turns out that the tank was being overfilled, causing some sort of problems with the CA emissions junk on the bike. Eventually we figured that one out, and continued on the way. The next stop was Badwater Basin, a suitable name for the Buellers rolling through. This place is low and hot. It's 282 feet below sea level, and there's a little water, surrounded by salt crust.  The sea level marker was way up on the side of the mountain behind the basin.  But it's a dry heat... My butt. It's still hot. Surprisingly, the black 'Stich worked well, dumping a half gallon of water inside it worked great. By far, the best piece of riding gear I've ever purchased (other than my other Aerostich stuff).  We headed out of the desert towards Las Vegas to meet up with Bartimus (one of the more interesting characters I've come across in my travels). I'll bet one of Ferris's memories is of me, stuck in traffic just outside of Vegas, sweating like hell with a bike that was sweating ever more, riding up next to him, tapping him on the shoulder and saying, 'this is awesome, man'. It truly was. Even with the heat and exhaustion, it was one of the best rides I'd been on. Chopper what? Why no Buell???  The bikes in front of Vegas Harley/Buell:  FMJ's Triumph was the only bike to have problems along this stretch of the trip, shearing a few of the drive pins for rear wheel. Unable to find the parts we needed locally, or anywhere close by, we continued towards Zion National Park. We took a very sprited pace through a cool little canyon on I-5 through Arizona. I can't say some of the people that were on the road were too happy with us, but it was a great road. We stopped by Zion Buell to meet up with Alan Blackburn (aka Papa) and see the dealership. Alan is a great guy, he helped us out tremendously with getting our rooms in Zion, and had his techs take a look at Unibear's bike to see what was causing the trouble codes.   | ||
| Awprior |
As we approached Zion, I was amazed by the beauty of this area. I had seen pictures in magazines and a few on the net as I did my research for the trip, but seeing all of it in person was just amazing. The view from our hotel:  The Tubers that were along for the first part of the trip:  The mountains... Wow. Cool cloud layer too.  Two of my new good friends... The stories they can tell... It was great riding with you guys.  The little bar/grill we had dinner at. It turns out that the following day (Saturday) was Pioneer Days, which I guess is the big Utah celebration for the summer. Good thing we got there when we did, the bar was closed the next day, and we all needed a margarita or two after the long day on the road. We celebrated the ride with a few rounds, and it was Glenn's birthday too! What a great way to spend that.  It turns out that Utah has a law against having more than one beverage (alcoholic) per person at a table, so we had to slurp down the margaritas pretty quickly once we started ordering more than one round. No one said anything about the roadie that FMJ had taken in with him. Must be a Utah thing, we didn't see anyone with hula hoops though.  We spent the rest of the evening talking bikes, Old School Buell, while sampling a few local brews. Bed came early, it was a long day, Bart, Jim Atterbery and I had a lot of road to travel heading east, and the California boys had a ways to go back to their home state. The next morning we headed through the park, which was even better than the stuff we had seen outside of it. Our fearless leader on the first of many u-turns, as we stopped for a lot of pictures:     Bart being, Bart  The roads in Zion were great, turns and great scenery. There were a lot of RVs and Park Service personnel around though.  A sad ending to a great morning of riding (all of 30 miles), and a great past few days. This is the eastern entrance of the part, where Bartimus, Jim A. and I would head east, and Ferris and Unibear would head back west to California. Truly an honor to ride with these guys, and the memories will last a lifetime. Thanks for a great trip, and I can't wait to ride together again.  Up next: Bartimus, Jim and I roam through Utah... Lots of great stories there. And who called me baby Bart again??? (Message edited by awprior on August 15, 2004) | ||
| Denisea |
Alex... I think it was "Baby Bart" but "Mini-Bart" will do just fine. Great pics!!!!! D | ||
| Unibear12r |
A great tell Alex! The honor was mine. A great group of people, each and everyone of you! Yep I ooopsed and overfilled my gas tank twice and got the light each time for not being careful enough. The bike would sort itself out after only just about a minute and then ran perfect. Many thanks to Zion HD/Buell for confirming what was wrong. They were great! After I learned how far to fill my tank no more problems.  It was a great adventure. Thank You | ||
| Awprior |
I sat down this morning and tallied up the contribution to the American Cancer Society through the Ride Across North America. Total raised: $3707.62. Thanks to everyone for their support to this great cause. I will be meeting with my ACS reps early next week to give them the check! Alex | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
ALEX, U ROCK! FB&D | ||
| Denisea |
 | ||
| Denisea |
Baby Bart... more pics plez... | ||
| Tripper |
I think he is waiting for a CD containing the next legs pictures. We apologize for the technical difficulty. |
