In February Jill and I met most of the Group in Derbyshire for a day and our fellow travellers turned out to be a broad mixture of ages and backgrounds with the largest contingent coming from the "classic Brit bike" clubs. Everyone had their own reason for doing the trip and many had never been to America or done any bike touring before but we all had one thing in common - a desire to cross America by bike, even if the chosen mount was a Harley. Paul had done considerable research work and had produced an excellent documentation package including packing lists and maps of all the overnight stops. Detailed routes were produced for the first few days since it was expected thereafter that people would want to do their own planning.

Thus it was that twenty-three brave individuals including two late stand-ins gathered at Heathrow airport one May lunchtime. It was "spot the fellow traveller with helmet as hand luggage" as we gathered for the Virgin flight for Newark, New Jersey. The flight was excellent but despite booking as a group Virgin had very considerately spread our seating allocation all over the plane so much time was spent in gangways. We arrived at Newark late evening local time and twenty two of us collected in the airport foyer ready to go to our hotel. Paul, demonstrating a navigational ability that was to repeat itself on the trip, somehow managed to miss us all, board the monorail in the wrong direction and take a tour of the airport carparks before retracing his steps and reaching the Marriott Hotel all while we were all still in the airport foyer looking for him!

Newark to Harrisburg PA

The next morning in the foyer of the Marriott sharp suited business men found themselves sharing the checkout queue with a bunch of leather clad British bikers keen to get on the road. Unfortunately the promised courtesy transport from Moturis was almost an hour late but at least it was free.

Finally reaching their small New Jersey depot they were clearly unaccustomed to such a large party turning up and had brought in bikes from Florida as well as purchasing new ones. One by one we went through formalities and were invited to check the sixteen Honda or Harley motorcycles including four Wings before signing our life away.

Checking over the resplendent brand new cherry red Wing Aspencade complete with Honda 50th Anniversary plaque I noted that the temporary registration plates expired before we were due to reach California!! Moturis advised that by then we would be well west and out of date plates would not be of interest to the local Highway Patrol!! With paperwork completed came the challenge of getting twenty three people and their luggage onto sixteen bikes. Luckily we had enjoyed the luxury of trying a test pack on a GoldWing before the start of the trip courtesy of one Eric Donaldson (Wing owner of EDAM) but several of the party came to the realisation that they really had brought too much luggage. Some binned items at Moturis, others vowed to seek out the US Postal Service and send a parcel home.

Alan, a local Honda VFR rider arrived and generously offered to guided us to the Atlantic Ocean for the obligatory "departing adventurers" photograph. We had agreed to use group riding with designated lead and tail bikes and number two dropping at each junction and staying until collected by the tail bike. Paul lead and as the only other rider used to such system Jill & I, resplendent in Hi-vis vests, were the tail marker.

We headed off to Sandy Hook for the picture call only to have the first Harley problem six miles out when the petrol cap on Steve's machine vibrated loose. Pictures duly taken we continued to a Pancake restaurant at Hazlet for a typically American lunch and the first dropped bike when Ken learned that Harleys, like Dukes, have kamikaze side stands which require a lot of respect. Having enjoyed the usual generous portions and excellent service of an American diner we were commenting on how well everyone had managed with the marker system including Steve's unscheduled stop.

Our route now took us from the urban roads of New Jersey onto the Interstates. At the first freeway toll barrier a car pushed in ahead of the front five bikes and then took ages to pay. Still that should have been no problem except that at the next intersection there was no marker - obviously got bored waiting!!. The first three bikes dived off down a slip road and Dave and myself seeing the main group ahead stayed on the main road. Pulling over we agreed that the others should realise their error and re-join the freeway but we had failed to realise that this was their very first exposure to American freeway junction layouts and they didn't re-appear ahead.

At the next junction there was again no marker and Dave made a very late change which I could not safely follow and disappeared off down a slip road. All alone with signs indicating that we were joining for the New Jersey turnpike for Manhattan. A helpful policeman gave us directions and we were soon heading south all on our own.

Having recovered our composure we rejected the easy option of heading down the freeway to Harrisburg and headed south detouring through the Amish country seeing the neat houses and ponies and traps before swinging north and arriving in our Harrisburg motel late that evening as darkness fell.

Harrisburg to Richmond VA

Several of the group wanted to do their own thing but around half, all new to America, wanted the support of riding as a group so once again Paul and ourselves acted as lead and tail on a planned route via Gettesburg and the Shenandoah Skyline Drive in the Appalachian Mountains to Richmond. We were also seeking a Harley dealership for a clutch lever after Eric had been caught out by - guess what??

About an hour into the trip one of the Harleys suffered electrical problems which I managed to fix (as a Chartered Engineer my opinion on HD engineering is *@!*). This plus one very slow rider on twisties and a re-occurrence of Paul's navigational problems meant that it took us three hours and much more than the stated fifty miles to reach Gettesburg.

Having looked round Gettesburg Plan B was invoked and we headed south on the Interstates unaware that it was the start of Memorial weekend and got involved in a very big traffic jam near Washington with 5 lanes of stationary traffic - well no holiday is complete without a traffic jam.

In the traffic around Washington the group spilt leaving myself and three HDs, one of which duly overheated. We agreed to continue as a group taking an alternative route around Washington to try and avoid the jam. This was an interesting trip as none of the others had driven in America. Keeping the group together in heavy traffic required good forward planning, fortunately the Wing had a big performance advantage over the Harleys.

Leaving the Interstate for fuel was a disaster as we headed into downtown Washington - I had forgotten to explain the principles of the "U-ee" to reach the signposted gas station on the other side of a dual carriageway!!! Finally clearing the worst of the traffic we headed south for Richmond where once gain we quickly found the hotel and most of the rest of the group.

One Group had headed directly for the Shenandoah Skyline planning to ride the full length and found it very pleasant but with a strictly enforced 30mph limit resulting in a very late arrival at Richmond.

Richmond to Charlotte NC

The small group which had come down from Washington agreed to travel together to Charlotte with Dave and Sue acting as navigator and ourselves as back marker but two more bikes, who had given me the most problems as back-marker the day before, insisted on joining the group. Clearly some were still lacking in confidence!!

After having had our fill of freeways we kept to a more rural route through the Virginia to Danville and into North Carolina changing the route as we went to avoid the reported effects of a recent severe storm. Past Winston-Salem the skies darkened and it started raining and Dave pulled onto the hard shoulder for the customary donning of wet weather gear. Spotting lightning approaching and having experienced American lightning during trips to Florida, I warned everyone before making a very fast exit heading for a flyover ahead but continuing to the service station just beyond. The others perhaps not as aware of the scale of the danger eventually wandered in and we watched the storm pass by, missing the worst of the heavy lightning and huge hailstones.

It soon brightened allowing me to double back and recover a glove dropped in my haste to gain cover. Continuing west we picked up I77 south past Lake Norman and into Charlotte and soon found our hotel where we were hit by the Y2K bug. "Well Sir when we took your room bookings last year our old computer system didn't have a 29th February 2000 and on transferring to our new computer system your booking got moved to tomorrow". It was however NASCAR weekend in Charlotte and alternative accommodation for 23 wasn't going to be easy but the cheap motel under the flight path was a big disappointment. Paul, who had the hotel vouchers, never made Charlotte. We later discovered that he had been riding with Charles who had discovered that Harley brakes don't work as well as other modern bike brakes and had a major spill which resulted in a hospital visit.

Charlotte to Atlanta GA

Several of the group were planning a showdown with the Quality Inn over the alternative accommodation but we were meeting friends in Atlanta and regarding it as part of the adventure headed south arriving in Norcross near Atlanta by lunchtime.

Amazingly John and Jo-Ann had only months before moved to a new house only a few miles from the hotel Paul had booked. We had an excellent time including a superb meal with John, Jo-Ann, Mark and Sarah and they introduced us to Duluth's Police Dept. who drive very flash black Trans Am cars with gold lettering. John assured us this does not cost the good citizens of Duluth any more in local taxes since the Police Dept is "self financing". Their main income is from speeding fines and it is advisable to be extra vigilant at the end of the month (in case income is below budget) or on public holidays (when they need to cover the enhanced payments to officers). Since it was a public holiday and the end of the month John was being extra careful!! We saw several instances of "self financing" activity!!

We had a really nice meal with John Jo-Ann Sarah and Mark followed by a pleasant evening sitting on their decking at their new home.

To continue the Trip Report

To return to the Buxley Homepage