Hip, Hip, Ouch!

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

If you don't like the sight of slightly paunchy middleaged blokes in underwear go no further!!!!!








Right hip about 6hrs after being taken off blackie by a short sighted Irishman.

Same hip, one week later after bruising came out, nice eh!

Have just come back from a week cruising on the River Shannon (keeping a sharp lookout for short sighted Irishmen), letters have started to arrive from the Insurance company and solicitors. Have got to make enquiries tomorrow regarding the bike being examined by an assessor. Took measurements today and find that left exhaust has been knocked down by about 1", don't know if the hanger has bent or perhaps the rear frame. Will certainly need new lower right front panel, new nose cone, mirror, brake lever, front mudguard, and complete rear panel (the one that goes around the bike below the seat and holds the rear light assembly). Will also need new panniers, new Givi Wingrack and fixing kit. My Arai helmet also needs replacing.

The panniers, wingrack and helmet alone come to about £900.00 before they even start looking at the bike itself.

I was just in the process of selling blackie to a mate as I have a nice new Silver Honda Blackbird waiting for me in a showroom in Manchester - picking her up on October 2nd. Will have to raise more funds now until insurance claim is sorted. Oh well, at least no-one was killed I suppose.

What a weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday 5th September, time to collect the bike from Southampton, so loaded with spare parts off I trot to Ronaldsway airport for my flight. Flight at 1200hrs, must get to the port by 1700hrs as the office closes then till Monday.

Weather atrocious, heavy, heavy rain - flight put back 4 times. Finally take off at 1730hrs (port office closed). Get to Southampton at 1820hrs, still raining, and as port office is closed and I will have to return on Monday, I catch a train to Birmingham in order to spend the weekend with my family. Train fare £106.00 return. GULP!!

Have a great weekend, parents anniversary and granddaughters 2nd birthday, so not all bad.

Up at the crack of dawn on Monday and catch train back to Southampton. Pay my money at the office and go to see bike. Boy, has she got dirty whilst she has been on the boat, covered in dust, still, we are re-united.

Get to work and fit new regulator and generator windings, press the starter and the battery is dead. Try jump starting her, she fires up, take of the jump start and she dies. Call RAC man!!!

He comes out and checks battery and tells me that the battery is not holding amps - new battery required. Question - was this the problem all the time, and I have I wasted £200 on rectifier and windings? I don't know but suspect that is so. Bugger!

It is now 1730hrs on Monday, and the RAC man runs me to a Honda dealer to get a battery - dealer does not have one - more bugger.

The upshot of this is that the RAC have now got to arrange a full recovery for me and the bike from Southampton to home on the Isle of Man, all for the sake of a battery.

I was originally booked on the 1800hrs ferry from Liverpool, but due to the problem I have changed the sailing to the 0215hrs from Heysham, so the recovery has till 0130hrs to get me up there

Recovery turn up and onto the truck goes Blackie, and off we go, getting to Heysham at 0100hrs - no problem, and onto the boat we go. Give the RAC a quick call just to let them now that I will arrive at Douglas at 0545hrs and they say a recovery vehicle will be waiting.

Arrive Douglas as expected, and guess what - no recovery!!!! More phone calls, will be a 2 hour wait as the message was not passed on! Decide to forgo recovery and go home to bed and collect bike at lunchtime after buying a battery.

Got up and purchased battery from the local dealer, back to port and fitted same, pressed starter - she lives!!!!!!!

Start to ride home, and get taken off buy a myopic idiot in a car doing a U turn to get to a parking space. I find myself sliding across the tarmac and tram lines on my head, shoulder and hip whilst the bike slides along on its side propped up on the panniers. "Sorry, didn't see you" says the driver, blaming a blind spot in his mirrors.

The upshot of all this is that I am now waiting to have the bike examined by the insurance company to see if it is repairable (hope it is as I was selling it to my mate) and I am left with whiplash, stiff shoulders and a grazed, bruised and swollen hip.

How do I do 8000 miles across America and 0.2 miles back on the Isle of Man? Answers on a postcard please.

Trains, Planes and Automobiles (and a Fast Craft)

Up at 0530hrs Tuesday (Baltimore time), and make my way by taxi to Baltimore Penn station for the train to Newark Airport ($96 one way). Arrive at Newark airport and contact BA via phone as desk closed. £0 minutes later I am told that my booking has been successfully changed and that I am on the 1805hrs flight from JFK to Manchester. Whoopee, I'm on my way home!.

Shuttle from Newark to JFK has been booked for midday but just as I phone in at 1120hrs the driver appears and I am on my way to JFK. 1 hour later I am checking in at the airport and getting rid of my bags (not to be seen until Manchester). A few hours to kill, so a meal, a look around the duty free shops (glad I bought my daughters DigiCam from Walmart as they do not sell cameras at duty free) and a relax reading my book before being called for the flight.

I had the same emergency exit seat that I had coming out so plenty of legroom (it pays to check in early). The plane pushes back spot on time at 1805hrs and takes off 45 mins later - there was a hell of a queue in front of us for take off. The flight was trouble free with a fantastic in flight entertainment selection, and I even managed an hours sleep at some point.

Landed Manchester on time at 0600hrs UK time and after baggage reclaim I made my way to the rail station for the 0724 train to Liverpool (calling at almost every station en route). Into Liverpool Lime Street just as it starts to rain, typical, so grab a taxi down to the Pier Head, well, I did have 2 heavy bags!

Got myself booked onto the 1115 crossing to Douglas and sorted out the First class lounge for a bit of quiet, stuck on the ipod and grabbed a couple of hours shuteye before arriving in Douglas to be greeted by Chris. So that is it, trip done and dusted and behind us. Its great to be home and it already seems like a distant memory. Places like New York (first week), Glacier Park, Seattle, Crazy Horse, Mount Rushmore, Cody and Yellowstone seem an eternity ago, and no doubt Niagara and Gettysburg will quickly follow suit, but it is nice to get home.

Just got to get Blackie home now and this chapter will be complete and closed. The new rectifier is already on order and will be fitted as soon as I get down to Southampton.

So that's it folks, the end of the trip and the end of this blog. Jed is already studying maps and planning his next instalment as he says he has got the travel bug, where will he be off to? - we will just have to wait and see.

Thanks for taking an interest, and thanks for the comments YOU made to the blog. It was nice to have some feedback and to know that the blog was being read by someone!

See you all soon (and no doubt bore the pants off you)

Love to all, Nick and Jed x x x

Do Honda's Cry?

Jed looking all forlorn astride a broken Blackie (see below)

Fancy looking forward to joining Baltimore Police and then being given one of these to drive. You couldn't face anyone could you!

Got up this morning and we made our way to the dock in order to drop off Blackie. No problems getting there as I had had a dummy run yesterday, I also remembered the worse of the potholes and avoided them, clever eh.

Stopped at the dock gates to give information and get directions to Customs for clearance, get back on the bike, press the starter....................and......................nothing, well a few clicks but no spinning engine!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! Remove the seat, fiddle with the terminals on the battery (Oh madam!) and...........................nothing!.

Reckon the rectifier has burnt out (part of the charging circuit) as I had one go on a previous Blackbird. Will start fine with a push or a jump start, but not under its own steam. Anyway, helped out by Port Security who gave me a jump start and got me to the customs shed where all paperwork was sorted within 10 minutes, off to the shipping shed where there was a long queue, so switched off engine. Mistake. Came out 30 mins later and ..............nothing. Kind man gives me a jump start, and I ride her to her allocated position in the shed to await her placement on the boat back to Southampton on 8th August. Left big note on top of tankbag to effect that battery is under seat and how to get seat off (have heard horror stories about people ripping off side panels to get at batteries - don't want that to happen)

Why did she pick that moment to stop running? Does she have feelings and knows that the trip is over? Is she sad that she is being left by myself and Jed? Who knows, but I will have a nice new rectifier to put on her when we are re-united in Southampton in a few weeks time.

Some numbers for you.

Total distance covered 7974 miles.

Money spent on petrol, $844.00.

Amount of petrol. 201 gallons US

Average mpg. 40 mpg US

Money on hotels and camping $3930.77 Including first week in New York.

Average cost per night $78.61 or 40 English pounds per night, don't forget, I am getting on and like a bit of comfort so didn't stop at any old place you know.

I have booked my train up to NY and a shuttle from Newark Airport to JFK for tomorrow, so this may be the last post till I get home. We will see!

Baltimore

Rode into Baltimore this morning in order to sus out where the bike has to go tomorrow. Came in via a Walmart where I managed to get my daughter a new digicam. Same make as the old one but probably updated. Not a bad price either, as you would expect. Just hope it works because I can't return it.

Weather was nice and hot today, but clammy, just like an English summers day, all sticky. In view of this I was riding in just my jeans and T shirt, helmet and light gloves (and still boiling). As I entered Baltimore the heavens opened, yet again Jed says, and as I was on the interstate I could not pull over to don waterproofs so had to ride through the storm for about 10 mins until we entered Baltimore proper and I could pull over. Glad I did pull over because the rain then fell with a vengeance but I had managed to get some shelter. Pulled on my dry waterproofs over my wet clothing and got back onto the bike, and, yes, the rain stopped and the sun broke out.

Found the road I need to take in the morning to the docks and had a recce. Boy, the state of these roads. If you think the prom in Douglas is bad, imagine it lifted up, scrunched together, then put back down. There were ruts from heavy lorries, potholes akin to mine shafts and ridges like the Himalayas. I was fearful at one stage of having the front wheel buckle or the pannier frames fracturing. I kid you not, it was bad. At least tomorrow I have only to do the trip one way, and its only 7 miles.

On the way to the hotel I was sweating up in my waterproofs so stopped and took off my jacket and continued, within 2 mins it started raining again!! As I was now in traffic waiting to turn into the road the hotel was in I could do nothing about it, so another soaking. When will it end?

Booked into my hotel in Baltimore, a short walk from the harbour and went for a stroll around the shops by the harbour. Very impressive I can tell you. I have also sighted the Baltimore Aquarium which also looks very good, so after dropping the bike tomorrow (so to speak) I will pass my time with a visit to there.

As soon as I finish this I will be booking my train for New York and JFK, so must go.

Dog Wash

This doggie wash was at the car wash, 6 bays for cars and this one for dogs. Good eh!

Walk dog up ramp onto tray and shampoo and set, not bad eh, and all for $5.00.

Horse drawn carriage in Gettysburg, one of about 8 in use all day. Note the bag at rear of the horse to catch his droppings. There was not a single deposit left anywhere on the carriage route so must work.

This is what they are talking about for the trammers in Douglas!

Battle tour.

Went on a coach trip of the Gettysburg battle sites today, with commentary. A 3 day battle condensed into 2 hours. As you can imagine, the surface was only scratched, but the appetite whetted.

The battleground has, wait for it, 1,300 memorials, statues or stones on it, I have never seen so much commemorations in my life. The whirlwind tour was very good (and like everything on this trip, excellent value) but it was only after visiting the new National Battlefield visitor centre that things fell into place. I mean, I did not even know what had kicked off the civil war in the first place and it was never explained. The visitor centre was free and the displays and video pieces were excellent, it really bought home not only Gettysburg, but the whole civil war.

PM I spent a little time giving the bike a little TLC before she sails back, in other words, she had a good wash in a car booth. I'm sure she appreciated it, although I will be glad when I can give her a good polish, she deserves it, she has been great, thanks Blackie!

Did my second ghost tour (there are 13 separate companies doing ghost tours, now what does that tell you) and this one was much better than last nights, and covered different ground and stories. Whilst standing listening to the guide, I was fascinated watching the little firefly's lifting off the ground, you could see little lights rising about 18 inches off the ground and then going out - or were they orbs?????

Also, whilst standing outside a building that was a field hospital during the war I saw 3 bats flying around, no one else seemed to notice, or if they did nothing was said.

For those interested in ghosts and the paranormal, the Most Haunted team is having a 6 hour live special from Gettysburg on October 10th, got that in your diary Marie? I will be able to say I've been there!

Saw a cool dog wash today, will post a photo tomorrow - keep you in suspense, dog lovers, bet you would like one at home when you see it!