Ride Motorbike From South to North America

The Motor Bike
Honda XR 250 Tornado

This is the story of an awesome little motorbike adventure.
Riding a small Honda 250cc, 24500km, from Buenos Aires to San Francisco to promote the book of the Freedom Flight microlight expedition around the world.

I have written stories and posted photographs of the trip hoping it will encourage yourself, the reader and perhaps others to do something similar.

The Americas are an amazing area of our world. Safe, cheap, awesome people and filled with fascinating history.

Good Luck and Enjoy
Ricky

Freedom Flight Book

If you wish to purchase a signed copy of the Freedom Flight book about the microlight expedition around the world, please contact me on freedomflightbook@yahoo.com

Ciao
Ricky

Home!

The book is out

Yessss! Yes.
The book is out and about.
Some books were sent out to San Francisco and the book signing started with a vengence.

The book will be available next week on this www.safreedomflight.com web page.
I will also email details of where it is available. If you would like me to email you details please send me an email at freedomflightbook@yahoo.com

Ricky

July 2006
San Francisco
USA

San Francisco has been a fun filled time with friends. Amongst the regular get togethers and related misbehaviour, we went sailing under the Golden Gate bridge in perfect weather and also wake boarding. As a result my return to Cape Town was delayed. I am sure it will catch up with me back home and at work but “More is Nog n’ Dag” (tomorrow is another day).

Lolo. The Red Cross Children's Hospital mascot.

Lolo
The Red Cross Children's Hospital mascot.

War torn, battle scarred and happy to be at the end.

Loza Luff
Lolo

The End. Humm! Time to plan the next one.

Today was FANTASTIC!
Perfect in everyway, even the weather played along.

From Santa Cruz, I cruised up the coast towards San Francisco where plans were made to meet up at the Golden Gate Bridge with another South African friend, Mark, Stacey and friends.
I had mixed feelings about getting to the end. Excited to be getting there but a pity that it was coming to an end. As I got closer this all turned to excitement when I got glimpses of the bridge and then a bit mushy when we met up (I am a boy shouldn’t admit to emotions). It was FANTASTIC to here.
23270km (14459 miles) across South, Central America and part the USA. Three months and eighteen countries.

1 Argentina
2 Uruguay
3 Brazil
4 Paraguay
5 Chile
6 Peru
7 Bolivia
8 Ecuador
9 Colombia
10 Panama
11 Costa Rica
12 Nicaragua
13 Honduras
14 El Salvador
15 Guatemala
16 Mexico
17 Cuba
18 USA

Leaving LA

LA to Santa Cruz
USA

Is it mandatory to take a photograph of the famous Hollywood sign in LA?
Well I wish someone had told me it was not because I rode all over town (parked in the No Parking zone) and got entangled in traffic to get this photo.
From there I set out to ride along the coastal Pacific Highway and took the wrong off ramp (a mistake to be avoided on these big highways and busy traffic) and soon found myself heading out into the desert. Eventually made it back to the coast and onto the right highway. It is an excellent road with amazing turns perfect for motorbikes. It took restrain to hold back the desire to touch the foot pegs on the road around the corners. I kept reminding myself that this was the last stretch of this trip and to be careful.













In Santa Cruz I met up with a SA friend, Tony, who now lives here. We grew up together back in the teenage/surfing days so you can imagine how the conversation was dominated with stories of times gone by.

Have a Great Day
Ricky

Aviation Museum

More Weird and Wackey signs

Pacific Pond

Made it to the Pacific

LV TO LA
USA

Los Vegas was really worth the visit if not only to see the enormity or extent of extravagance that we are capable of. Every part of that city is fabricated, completely unnecessary and does not fulfill any basic human needs other than for pleasure. It is amazing how much we are prepared to spend on pleasures. And why not?

The desert heat was already setting in when I left early in the morning for Los Angeles. It was a straight forward ride along highway 15 through the mountains afterwhich the temperature dropped dramatically and I was into the flow of the LA traffic. I had been warned about the traffic but it was not bad. Yes it is very busy but the drivers are disciplined and things work well. I am staying with friends in LA and enjoying a bit of luxury before heading North on the final stretch to San Francisco.

Today I met up with Todd from Honda USA who was in Buenos Aires at the same time as I was there. At an evening diner in BA we promised to meet in LA and that I would bring a mate' gord (bowl) and he would bring the mate' and enjoy an Argentian specific drink. Today, to his surprise, I arrived with the gord that I have been carrying for over 22 000km and we did our little ritual.

Tomorrow it is off to Santa Cruz to visit an old South African friend and the next day to San Francisco where a few friends have planned to meet me at the Northern end of the Golden Gate bridge with beer and champagne. Now all I have to do is not fall off the bike on the last stretch to the end.

Hold thumbs. (if something I fall off it will be because you didnt hold thumbs. No guilt trip intended. )

Have a great day
Ricky

What a name for a business?




The past and present image of USA

Mixing with the right crowd

Its important to be seen with the right crowd

They Cubans think they have it bad?

They Cubans drive in luxury.

A Time and travel Warp

12 June 2006
Howdy from Cowboy Country

Today was a weird and wonderful day.
I rode along part of Route 66 which had that feeling of a time warp. Passed lots of very old cowboy towns with their original buildings, wagons/carts and real cowboys too. Added to this time warp was a travel warp which took me over the original London Bridge and then the Eiffel tower.
No! I am not loosing my marbles.















I left the quaint little town of Seligman with it's route 66 memorabilia and rode into a small town called Kingman and stopped at one of my favourite Subway grub stops. Sat down to have brunch and read the postcards next to the table. There was one with a photograph of London Bridge in the USA.
Yes! That is right!
The London Bridge that was built in London in 1824 is now in the USA.
I checked out the location and headed South, way off track, to go and see this bridge. It is at Lake Havasu City in the middle of the desert on the Colorado river. The ORIGINAL London Bridge, spanning across a section of the Lake.
It was bought by McCulloch Oil Company in 1968 and was dismantled in London, each piece numbered, shipped and trucked to Lake Havasu where it was reassembled and completed in Oct of 1971.
If you don’t believe this I can’t say I blame you but I saw it, rode over it, touched it and everything else to confirm that it was real and it is.

There it is. The original 1824 London Bridge





Together with the British flag















At the tourist information they recommended I visit a town on Route 66 called Oatman. It was backtracking from where I had just come from but was a bit further North. I rode there and “blow me over with a feather” there was this very old cowboy town with the original pub, hotel and supplies store with cowboys wearing guns and all. It was like being in a time warp.
They got touchy when one of their local pony’s took a shine to mine and threatened to shoot me if I didn’t leave town soon.
















I left in a hurry and continued North and found myself riding passed the Eiffel Tower, Venice, Luxor in Egypt together with a massive glass pyramid and several other world renowned sites. I am in Las Vegas.














It is absolutely amazing and soooo real. They have taken this desert town and turned it into a massive gambling mecca. Each casino is built as some famous part of the world.
I visited various casinos and was gob smacked to see the extent and detail of the buildings. It is super impressive. And all this from gambling? They got NONE of my smackeroos. I am too much of a Potgie.

Ciao
Ricky

Roadkill

This is a bit of a rough menu.

For breakfast, lunch and supper.

Route 66