The Bus Ride From Hell

Pam and I moved from California, in March of 2014 to Dandridge Tennessee. Because the trucks we had couldn’t handle all of our possessions, we left my motorcycle at a friend’s house in Paso Robles, Ca. The plan was, to go back and pick up the bike later.

Later was mid April 2014. I looked at my options for reaching Paso Robles Ca from, Knoxville Tn. Trains don’t run into Knoxville. Planes are too expensive to go to Paso Robles Ca. Bus does both for $119.00. Bus it is.

The bus from Knoxville Tn was nice, WIFI, charging outlets, nice seating, generally clean. From Nashville Tn, the bus was total crap. Door on bathroom just barely works, always open, no charging outlets, everything in general disrepair.

On the other hand the people riding the bus were VERY interesting, and diverse, I had some great conversations. OK, I’ll knock it off about the bus. Two and a half days later, I arrived in Paso Robles Ca, none the less for wear, and pretty much on time.

My friend Roger Toevs picked me up at the bus station. The next day Wednesday, we did all the things to our bikes, that had been previously ignored. I mounted front and rear tires, changed the engine oil, and lubricated the drive chain. The taillights, were both burned out, so I decided to also replace the headlamp. Roger was also making things right on his BMW. His side car needed some TLC on the frame, which required welding and such. Roger and I remounted the car to the Beemer, Roger tweaked it to his satisfaction, took it for a short ride. Perfect, ready to go!

Roger’s BMW has been ridden to Alaska at least twice, once with sidecar and passenger, and many other trips all over the United States.
On Thursday I scrubbed the tires by riding up to northern California, staying the night with friends. The next day I rode back to Paso Robles, about 600 miles, or so, round trip.

Sunday, morning April, 20, at the crack of 10:30am, Roger on his BMW 1200 GS with side car, myself, on a well used Suzuki DL650, headed East.


The travel plan was, “no plan”. Basically, mostly two lane roads, with as little Interstate as possible. The route was discussed on the road, and route chosen on the spot. This is the best kind of trip planning I have ever used, of Corse, it is the only method I have used.

The first day was pretty short, we only made it to Big Pine, California. Ah, the retired life, no job to get back to on time.


Traveling through Nevada, we encountered a pretty strong wind, (about 40 mph) out of the South. Riding in a
strong side wind, can be pretty taxing after several hours. When we stopped in Utah, Roger discovered his front tire, was getting a lot of wear, from all the side wind loading. Snow was encountered in one pass we crossed, but it was extremely light snow.

Moab, Utah, just another unplanned stop. Some friends of Roger, were camping there, so we stopped in for a visit. These guys had several kinds of bikes, and wheel drive numbers. How about a two wheel drive Rokon Trail-Breaker, or a few Ural two wheel drive side car rigs, they even had some standard bikes. Lies were told, adventures were exaggerated, and a good time was had by all.

Grand Junction, Colorado, a new front tire was located at the local Harley Davidson dealer (also BMW) . The service manager gave us high priority, and installed the tire on the rim, very quickly. One thing that happens when you travel with a side car, everyone wants to stop, look, and ask questions.

South west Colorado, is a fantastic place. The roads, are pretty well maintained, and are well engineered. Mountains, are spectacular, with lots of snow. Crystal clear rivers are everywhere.

Monarch Pass, was not seen until I passed it. We turned around to check it out. The snow was higher than the building, and it had been opened, only a few days. Hot coffee was a welcome taste.

Roger has friends everywhere, including ------------ Colorado. Bla Bla have a nice screen printing shop, and his wife does bead work in her shop next door. BLA BLA sells t-shirts, and his wife BLA BLA sells beadwork, in her shop. They are hard workers, and take pride in their work.

Eastern Colorado is nothing like the western side. The land is flat, with no rolling hills, and vegetation is sparse. Riding a hundred miles, here is a little less fun, than Kansas. Wind, hasn’t been a problem for while though.

Wichita Kansas, the night before the deadly storms were predicted. Roger, and I discussed the implications of traveling through the storms. The evening of Weather Channel predictions, had us considering hunkering down at the motel, we were in.

The Weather channel at dawn, had the storms about 12 hours behind us, and moving fairly slow. Packing began, we decided to outrun the storm.

Earlier days in trip, we had been traveling at a pretty leisurely rate, around 300, to 400, miles per day. The pace was kicked up, to around 550, or so, miles per day.

OK, I will continue this story later. H

pass the popcorn

Aren't they all ?

My motivation to get into travel biking was while sat bouncing up down in a dusty and cramped local bus in Namibia in 1992, when I saw a red Honda XL500 with alli boxes (ridden by a long haired German ) overtake the bus.

My thought was "This bus is sh!te, I wanna do what you're doing". By 1993 I had a bike licence and an Africa Twin. In the past 20 odd years I've been on a bus less than half a dozen times.

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