I've read up to the point where he is in New York, and I am struck by a couple of things. One is how unbelievably many punctures he has; at this point in the trip he has had dozens, if not hundreds, of flats.
I realise that tire technology has improved greatly since 1971, but he is literally getting multiple flats per day, and doesn't seem to go more than a couple of hundred miles without having to fix his tire.
The other thing that strikes me is how often he is offered a free place to sleep for the night, or a free meal. It seems like every other town he rides into, the local police, firefighters, or just some friendly bloke offers him a place to stay for the night.
Every now and then I read something that really opens my eyes, such as this line: "At a roadside lunch stop, we meet a man on a Harley-Davidson Sportster with a tent. His name is Mark, and he’s heading for Florida, having a job lined up on the construction of a new Disneyland there." Which of course would be Disneyworld...
Or this sentence a few pages later: "We go there by ferry, past the Statue of Liberty in the haze, the Twin Towers full height but not completed." Wow!
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Bruce Clarke - 2020 Yamaha XV250
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