I thought of mumsie all day today ,, she saved me ,, as I left Oklahoma City ,, the worst ****ing hick town I have ever been in my life ,, Wall Mart level fat women with porky squeezed eyes at every gas station , from Oakie City until I crossed Missouri line ,, mama mia ,, they live in 1950s ,, the great American Will Rogers, from Oklahoma would be shamed of what he sees today.
On the high note I drove 817 KM to St.Louis ,, along the way I met some wonderful characters ,, like this Pola ,, a giant of a man with hand big as my face ,, teddy bear heart ,, a 48 year Harley veteran ,, we shot crap ,, for 30 minutes ,, he told me where to go as I take the Great River Drive up to Mark Twain's birth place...Hannibal , Mo ,, scary name ,
Hail ,, thunder and lightening warning all day , as I pulled into Sheraton, St,Louis ,, all hell broke loose ,, missed it by 5 minutes ,,MUMSIE ,, at the front desk , I charmed Ms.X ,, she gave me a king suite for USD 110 ,, Yi Haaaa ,,
Took shower and went to BBs ,, a St. Louis landmark ,,, where blues and jazz are played all night long ,, came back to hotel ,, got a room massage.
Tomorrow ,, off to Chicago ,,, I will have done the Route 66 in 6 days ,, that is BIG 666 .. a record !
[url=http://cafe.daum.net/HarleyAdventure]Daum ī

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As Moslems face Mecca ,, as salmon do upstream ,, John Steinbeck's,, The Mother Road has been about human struggle and triumph,, 1930 dry period following massacre on the Wall Street ,, a 20th century Irish potato famine,, a la Americaine ,,
This is one road ,, that represents biker's dream in entirety ,, IMHO

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Two days of R&R in Chicago ,, hit jazz clubs ,,
I left the Windy City got stuck two hours out... terrible storm ,, soaking wet and cold. Very dangerous road condition. Tomorrow bit dry according to the weather channel
Stuck at a water park resort called Surfari Park with so many poor dead animal heads ,, the owner has shot over the years ,, he even shot zebra and giraff ,,
Funny putting my bike to Europe ex New York for May 3rd sailing, on same ship that brought my bike from Inchon to Long Beach. MV/Tonsberg.

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Amazing 9 days of sheer cruising on a Harley ,,
By passed all the tragic weather ,, in the USA ,, Hurricanes, Tornados Summer storms,, killed many this year.
Crossed Holland Tunnel into Manhattan ,, at 14:22 hours ,,

Sisiter in law offered me their flat by the UN,, declined,, took a room at the Elysee on E 54th St,,, need to ship the bike, from Elizabeth, New Jersey to Bremerhaven and head out to Cancun, for few days.

While bike is in transit ,,

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In Hamburg now ,, relaxing...
My Bremerhaven customs clearance horror can be read here
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...885#post336223

Poland to Kiev, Ukraine ,, using Lublin as the diving board ,, any idea, which brder has the most effecient people working?

After Kiev ,, I must make a hard decision to either go onto Vladivostk , or enjoy the Bulgaria, Rumania, Croatia, Italy, France and Spain.
RSVP ,,

Staying at Jan III Sobieski, with underground parking.
They say they will keep on eye on my Harley ,, security seems to be a big problem here in Poland.
People are driving like mad ,, passing on your lane ,, took a 30 minute taxi ride yo go see a concert of an American jazz musician, whom I met at the hotel,, a harrowing experience,,.
Outside of a lovely village I saw just before the Posnan ,, all grey Soviet era block housing in the city. The old town and the Jewish sector is on tomorrow's schedule.

Friends called ,, come down to Croatia, for a HOG rally ,,,Decided to the southern route. Heading down to Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Trieste, Italy, France, Spain, Germany and back to Korea. Will do Russia next year.

Happy to report ,, Back home safe ,,
Did USA Route 66 then to New York ,, Bremerhaven, Hannover, Berlin, Germany then to Warsaw and Krakow Poland to Vienna, Austria then to Zagreb and Biograd, Croatia for 2011 European HOG rally with 5,500 bikes and 15,000 local inhabitant participation ,, then drove 450KM of Croatian coast line to Italy, Trieste, Venice, Milano, to Monaco then to Montpellier along the Cote d'Azur,,crossing the Spain border into Barcelona then up north to Zaragoza, Bilbao and Pamplona ,, to cross into France again to Paris to Luxembourg, to Landau Germany then to Frankfurt ,, just got home yesterday ,,
2012 is for Russia and Mongolia ,,
Not a single flat tire or break down on my bike ,, she is a wonderful gal...
See you on the road soon folks ,,
Pics at Daum 카페 under The Journey
Meanwhile, I will be in Korea till next year July ,, any one needs assistance let me know ,, this is not just a lip service ,,, call me at +82 10 4765 4984 or PM me ,,

Having DHL air ship ,, my 2006 Harley Davidson Road King including boxing at 320KG 190 cm x 140cm x 90cm ,, paying 2050 Euro ex Frankfurt to down town Seoul DHL terminal ,, fyi Esther Hartmann DHL Frankfurt +49 69 1301 7035
Esther.Hartmann(at)dhl.com

All packed ,, hitting the road manana for Dong Hae ,, for the ferry to Vladivostok.
For years I had fear and unknown feelings about Russia coming from S.Korea.. been only to Moscow in 1979. Scary place then.
Having read all your posts ,, cleared many doubts.
Will use only hotels and gasTINitsas ,, Will check out all the titty bars and opera houses, from Vlad to Odessa.
Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania , Italy to finish my RTW.
Hope to see on the road several HUBBers ,, including Korean kid Neo , who is in Latvia and thinks he can get the Russian visa.

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On the day of departure ,, for whole week the weather report said ,, thunder showers but the glorious sun came out ,, Tony rode in his Road King to see me off to the port city of Dong Hae some 280KM away ,, as we started to climb the Sorak mountain range ,, weather turned sower ,, cold icy wind came down with fine icy mist covering everything ,, froze to death. As we were descending I got a message form "Lighthouse Keeper" To the good news of you arriving ,, sun is shining down here ,,, for first time in a month. Indeed when we came down to the seaside,, glorious sun every where.
So three of us ,, one BMW RT1500 and two Harley Road Kings ,, made a run for Dong Hae ,, 80KMs south ,,
I found a hotel for 50,000 Won ,, Booking.com wanted 90,000 Won ,, good thing I called the hotel direct ,, in fact this is what I will do from now on. After a din din Lighthouse Keeper drove back to his home,, Sok Cho ,, Tony and I went in search of a bar run by Russian girls to learn Russian,, we found a nice place and her name was Lina ,, learned many useful Russian words ,,,

We tucked in at midnight ,, and next day ,, headed down to the port for the process of checking in the bike,,customs ,, passport control.
While we are doing this some weirdo Yank calls me over and says ,, "Do you know who I am" ,, Said I ,, "Should I know you" Says he " I was told that they will send a guy on a Harley to kill me ,, if it is true ,, you had better kill me now or I will kill you" Obvious nutcase ,, I walked away ,,
Later on the boat as we were docking at Vladivostok I ended up punching the guy ,, and he fell over ,, nutcase after picking fights with elderly Korean men all through the night ,, SOB grabbed my shirt collar as I was passing him. He made a big stink ,, I almost kicked him in the face, when he was down,, but held back ,, one punch was enough.

Tony had to go back to Seoul on his own ,, some 5 hours away,, but it was so nice have my best kid brother riding at my side. Thank you Tony!
And thanks Lighthouse Keeper for riding 4 hours for a din din and your words of encouragement meant a lot!
At the port of Doing Hae ,, as I was waiting to board alone , Lina ,, the Russian girl from night before came to say good bye ,, amazing , I didn't even hold her hands ,, yet she thought it was amazing an old man like me would go through Russia on a Harley Davidson ,, her favorite bike. She told me that she worked as receptionist at the Hotel Hyundai Vladivostok


DBS ferry sucks all the way ,, ramp going up is very dangerous and has a nasty right hook at the top ,,I really wonder how the Russian stevedores will drive my bike down in one piece.
Had first class room for two people , a complete stranger 7ft tall Russian guy who snored all night. One key for the room ,, every time he went out ,, he would take the frigging key and I would be locked out. Da ,, The so call standard room is worse ,, you are squeezed in a series of bunk beds ,, claustrophobic ,, so call family room forget it ,, loud Koreans talking all night chewing squid and drinking Soju

When you disembark ,, it takes some three hours as first to get off are 72 hour no visa tourists ,, then Russians and the rest ,, the immigration and customs area is no narrow ,, only 50 people are let off at a time. Also the docking port is not really a regular passenger terminal at all ,, more of an annex to the rail, road station.

I was met by Yuri Melnikov's assistance,,, drove to their office to make copies of my bike documents. New law ,, NEW LAW ,, FROM ON ,, THOSE ENTERING VLADIVOSTOK PORT MUST HAVE SOME SORT OF BIKE SAFETY CERTIFICATION. WITH OUT IT NO INSURANCE,, NO INSURANCE NO BIKE! I gave her a Korean registration with bunch of stamps. Hope it works. They are coming tomorrow at 11:30 AM ..taking them out to lunch ,, understand bushman UK ,, adopted her ,, she stayed at his home, when she came to UK for a visit. Such a nice guy.

Checked into Hotel Hyundai ,, understand it is the best in Vladivostok ,, also in par with Hotel Versaille. Still perhaps three star hotel any where else,, gave me a discount for USD 200 a night.

Tomorrow night I am meeting up with Iron Angels at their club house to make plans for the orphanage visit.

My bike comes out on Wednesday.. then I am off and will drive to Khabarovsk ,, 760KM away ,,

Heading out manana ,, escorted by Iron Angels,,to Khabarovsk ,,
Made a donation to an infant ward,, some 2800 dollars worth of diapers and toys. Iron Angels carried them in their pick up,, beautiful babies ,, abandoned.

Had a wonderful time here ,, Yuri ,, Svetlana ,, and all the beautiful ladies of Vladi ,,,I shall return ! ! ! !
Roof top bar at the hotel Hyundai has impressive array of high class ladies of the night,,

Hi Joe

Say hello yo Yuri & Sveta from me and Bushman. We enjoyed looking after her when she came to stay in England. Mark (Bushman) came over to stay with me and my wife and Sveta stayed with us. We took her out to see the sights of England - sorry to see her go back,

Martin

Martin ,,
I did indeed ,, took Svet to a Korean rest at Hyundai ,, then took both to Bombay ,, then to a Karaoke ,, then to R&B dance club ,, sent Svet home ,, looked in on the titty bar by the Hotel Vlad... Uck !
When do I met you guys?
Neo got his Russian visa in Latvia ,, he has to be on Vlad on 23rd,, got to haul some butt!

Left Vlad at 12 noon ,, Iron angels escorted me out of town to the Vlad monument ,,, not far from it ,, road started to shake too much for my Harley ladden with all the baggage ,, drove and drove ,,some 9 hours,,, off road ,, bumpy asphalt ,, very little smooth surface ,, met a biker ,, asked if he knew a hotel ,, guy took me into town ,, pretty good size 350k from Khaba ,, soon 20 some bikers showed up looking punkinsh,,,, rather than finding me a room ,, prixks mucked about my bike ,, I even heard one guy calling me a chink ,, then the leader says come and sleep at his house ,, yeah right ,, I left in a hurry ,, drove till midnight ,, found a GAI real slimey shit ,, hole in the wall ,, for 600 rubles and really Stalin era friendly woman ,, room had a piss pot.
Oh well ,,
Next day woke up at 6 ,, arrived Khaba at 5PM,, some real major works going on folks ,, bone jittering ride it was ,,
Went to a taxi stand and asked for the best hotel in Khaba ,,.. he took me to
Parus ,, checked in ,, hot bath then walked around the top,, what a beautiful city ,, if Vlad was Kodiak ,, Khaba is Anchorage ,,,