The good news is that the temporary cast was removed from John's foot on Friday and there is no need for another one. The foot is still swollen but the advice is to keep the foot raised as much as possible and not to do too much walking.

To round off our blog we thought we would list a few facts that maybe of interest to all the motorcyclists that have followed our trip:

Bike air-freighted byAir Transat
from London Gatwick to Toronto
& return:                                             £2574.00
Customs clearance/cargo handling
 in Toronto:                                        CAD$122.00
Customs clearance
which included Agents fees/cargo
handling in Gatwick:                          £149.00
Bike arrived and returned with no damage.

No need for UK residents to obtain ESTA prior to travel. When crossing from Canada to US we paid $6 per person for 90 day visa on the border. Its a more pleasant, relaxed experience than flying into America.

We used Motorcycle Express, based in New Jersey, for the motorcycle insurance, and they also arranged the air-freighting.

Total mileage covered:                       13752 miles
Total US gallons consumed:              283.77 galls
(litres used in Canada converted
 to US gallons and included)
Average cost per gallon in US:          $3.98 per gall (used premium 91/93 octane)
(large variation between States
- most expensive: California)
Average cost per litre in Canada:       CAD$1.44 per litre
Fuel consumption in US gallons:       48.45mpg
Converted to UK gallons:                  58.10mpg
Total top up of oil between services: 0.5 litre

Bike serviced twice: 1st in San Diego at 6,300 miles and 2nd in Manhattan, New York after another 6,200 miles.

One rear tyre ( a Metzler Tourance) after 7,300 miles.
Front tyre never replaced and still has a couple of thousand miles left in it.
No punctures or mechanical problems.
One headlight bulb was replaced.
I'm pleased to be able to say the bike performed faultlessly.

We have had a fantastic trip which has enabled us to experience the diversity of America which has included some great motorcycling roads and wonderful scenery. The peoples of America are very different but the one overwhelming similarity is their friendliness which we found everywhere we travelled.

Thank you for following our adventure and we are now planning our next trip to keep the winter blues at bay:-)

We intend to place this blog on the HUBB (Horizons Unlimited) which is indispensable for any motorcyclist that intends to travel anywhere in the world. On there you will find hundreds of people's travel stories which will whet your appetite for travel and give you tips and information.
Link below:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/

We have plotted our journey around America/Canada on google maps and the link is below:

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msid=212728613291214459406.0004c5db653005f93efc8&msa=0&ll=42.032974,-108.808594&spn=36.07526,93.164063

 

Last night our son, Ross took us to Gatwick to collect the bike and I'm glad to say it came back in one piece with no marks, so that's a relief.  As you can see the swollen foot turned out to be a broken bone not a sprain, so have a temporary plaster on until Friday when I go to the fracture clinic to find out what they are going to do, hence I couldn't ride the bike home. The main thing is I managed to ride the bike for the 3 days without having to visit a hospital in America. More information on the trip to follow.

.....and with the bike back home safe and sound.

 

Our last day in Toronto and all our belongings are laid out on the beds ready for packing into our luggage which at present is the sealed package lying across the two beds. All our clothes were rolled up and carried in the black waterproof/dustproof bag on the left bed. Three hours until the shuttle takes us to the airport, so we better get packing!

 

Bike washed down this morning and taken to the Cargo Handlers ready to be flown out on Sunday.  Fingers crossed now that all goes well and we pick it up from Gatwick on Monday.  Tomorrow we pack for our flight home

 

Well here we are, back in Toronto!

We only had a 100 mile drive in today but the weather still managed to throw everything at us. We left wearing heated jackets in 4C (36F) temperature with sun and blue sky and 25 miles from Toronto, the sky turned black and the heavens opened.  The rain bounced as we manoeuvred our way between all the trucks as they hammered along the highway covering us with spray. Just as we arrive at the hotel, the rain stops!

We have now completed our loop of the Lower 48 and what a fantastic trip it has been!

 

The view from our hotel window - a golf course with the airport just behind.

When we left 3 months ago everything was green and now we see it in the autumn colours.  We have just collected our luggage from Chris, who is the mother of our neighbour's friend and lives just outside Toronto. She very kindly stored it for us for the last 3 months and to be honest if she hadn't been so kind enough to do that we would have had real problems. So thank you once again, Chris!

 

 

And now a foot-note:-)

We omitted to tell you that we had a stationary tip-off last Sunday. Whilst riding through a village, we came to a halt behind a car and as John put his foot down, the road wasn't there. He had stopped and put his left foot down, then when his right foot went down, the road was a few inches lower so by this time the bike had leant too far to the right to retrieve it, so over we went. Luckily only a couple of minor scratches on the bike but John's foot got trapped under the cylinder head. It hurt when he stood up but decided not to take his boot off to look as he knew it wouldn't go back on. Two Americans and one British guy came running over and helped us lift up the bike which weighs a ton fully loaded!

 

This is now Wednesday and it is still swollen but the bruising is now coming out. Its been very difficult and painful for John to get his boot on these last few days but fortunately it happened at the end of the trip and not the beginning. And for all the motorcyclists out there now smiling, as you know, you have all been there:-) 

So, tomorrow we start the preparation for home! We have been keeping a record of different things such as miles covered, fuel used, and costs which we will put on the blog when finalised.

 

Yesterday, en route from St Johnsbury, we stopped for lunch at Montpelier which is the capital of Vermont. The state building was not so big as others we have seen but had a striking gold dome.

 

The city is more the size of a town in the UK and it seemed to have a bohemian feel about it. Lots of art students wandering the streets.  Today we had a cold ride to a town called Belleville which is now just 100 miles from Toronto.  Thank goodness for heated jackets as the temperature was down to 5C (38F). 

Yesterday we crossed the border into Canada. Very quick and easy, didn't even have to get off the bike. The border guard just looked at our passports and asked for the registration number of the bike. Very different to the entry into America although that wasn't bad compared to entering through an airport.
For some reason the blog will not upload any photos so will try again tonight.
We have looked back at our route and can see that we rode through 34 of the lower 48 states. Will have to come back another time to do the other 14:-)

 

Just a short trip from Portland, Maine to St Johnsbury in Vermont today. We rode through the White Mountains of New Hampshire in the cold and rain for the most part.

Low cloud covered the top of the above mountain, which was a shame as the view would have been stunning in the sunshine.

 

The foliage is now past its best but again would have looked so much better in sunshine. Hopefully a better day tomorrow and we will be on our way into Canada.

 

We rode into Providence, Rhode Island on a sunny but very cold day. The State Capital buildings are always very impressive.

 

 

We were riding around the historic part of the town and noticed the tents and soldiers in a garden and wondered what was going on. When we walked up to the house we found it had been built for John Brown who was an American merchant, slave trader and then Statesman in the 18th century and it was the first mansion ever to be built in Providence.

The 'soldiers' were doing a re-enactment of the 1812 war with Britain. We had quite an amusing conversation with them. 

 

The house has been turned into a museum and as we were the only people walking around at the time, each guide in every room gave us a very full description of its contents and how life was lived there. It was fascinating and John especially enjoyed looking at all the guns and as you can see above decided to enlist and swap sides:-)

 

Today we rode 115 miles from Seekonk to Provincetown on Cape Cod, which is famous for the landing place of the Pilgrims in 1620. Although the day started bright by the time we reached Cape Cod is was raining and down to 8C (44F). At the tip of the peninsula it is just a mile wide between the Bay and the Atlantic.  Provincetown is small with a very narrow one way street running through it. There were quite a few tourists today when it was very bleak so we cannot imagine what it must be like in the summer.

 

 

The monument to the Pilgrims which stands at 252ft. It is the tallest all-granite structure in the United States.

 

As we are only a couple of weeks away from Halloween we have been seeing all sorts of things outside peoples houses but today we had to stop and photograph the above/below house as we haven't seen anything quite so elaborate.

 

 

Woke up to brilliant sunshine and blue skies today. Chilly start  but warmed up during the day.

We only had about 180 miles to cover today so took our time and found some good back roads. We came upon Jamestown, Rhode Island, so stopped for lunch by a lovely marina, before crossing the above bridge.

 

We sat watching boats being lifted from the water, I guess for the winter clean up.

 

Idyllic setting with the sun warm on your face - what else can you wish for on a chilly autumn day?

We had to drag ourselves away to ride the 40 miles to Seekonk which took us over the border into Massachusetts.

 

Rodney, the Service Manager phoned us at 09.30 to say the  bike was ready for collection after its service.  Lovely chap and very helpful.

 

Riding through the streets of New York we noticed how the NYPD have

been reduced to driving round in golf carts:-)

 

 

A bustling Times Square with yellow cabs everywhere.

 

 

Riding through the back streets of China town and little Italy, looking at all the old buildings where in places time seems to have stood still. 

 

Looking at Ground Zero you can see Tower One on the right being built, which was originally known as the Freedom Tower but will now be known as One World Trade Center. When completed it will be 1776 ft high and will become the highest building in the Western Hemisphere and the third highest in the world.  The significance of the 1776ft is that it is the year of American Independence.

 

 

The new One World Trade Center. 

 

Partially built Tower 2 next to the start of Tower 3 which will be offices and part of the World Trade Center complex. Looking at how close everything is, you cannot begin to imagine how it was on that fateful day.

  

 

Riding out of New York along the River Hudson, we spotted the above which is open to the public.

 

Fortunately we got chatting to a guy from New Jersey this morning who had just travelled down from New York on a BMW R1200 and was on his way to Florida. He recommended catching the ferry from Lewes in Delaware to Cape May in New Jersey as this would cut out a lot of riding round Washington and Philadelphia. As the weather was still wet we decided this would be a good idea and set off about 08.30. It was a gloomy ride to the port but the rain had stopped by the time we arrived. We had an hour to wait for the next ferry which was a roll on roll off type and as we were parked at the very front which was totally open, John decided to put his bike cover over the bike to stop it getting covered in sea spray. We ended up spending the one and a half hour crossing leaning on the bike to stop it being blown over. The captain said the crossing would be medium to rough and he was right! 

 

Here we are outside the Holiday Inn, Manhattan after a very long and very wet day. I have to say, riding into New York was a new experience! Every few miles you are stopping to pay tolls and they are only $1.50 or 75 cents but it was a pain having to take wet gloves off and delve into my purse and then try to put wet hands back into gloves. The traffic is horrendous with no quarter given. At one point we were going over a bridge with 8 lanes going forward and we could see either side had 4 lanes each going back the other way. Have never seen anything like it especially with the rain pouring down.

When I checked in, I was not very happy to be told that we couldn't park the bike in the underground car park next door as they were only insured for cars. This is now 4pm and what were we to do with the bike? Our only hope was that the BMW dealer down the road, where the bike is booked in for a service tomorrow, would take the bike in tonight. We rode down there and the Service Manager couldn't have been more helpful. He told us to go back to the hotel, unload the bike then bring it back and they would keep it overnight and service it first thing in the morning. He even offered us a Tetley tea bag from the pack he keeps in the drawer. It seems they have an English guy working there whose Mum sends over supplies and he now has a liking for it. It was the first cup of tea we have had in 10 weeks and it was lovely! 

 

 

View from hotel window - nothing exciting but we are only 3 blocks from Times Square. Luckily I booked this a few nights ago on booking.com for $189. We had decided to book a second night but when I looked at it the next night, if I wanted 2 nights it would cost $600 - so no way, we will move on tomorrow night out of the city.

 

Fortunately after a day's rest, John's wrist had eased enough to be able to ride the bike. It was raining slightly when we left Richmond and was only 11C (50F). What a massive drop in temperature from only 2 days ago.  En route, we stopped off at a place called Colonial Williamsburg. It is a very interesting place where buildings have been reconstructed as they were in the 18th century, under British rule.

The Governor's Palace

 

All over the town you can talk to people who are in period dress and discuss what is happening at that point in history. Each day they have different programs such as the American Revolution turning from political debate to armed combat. They are trying to portray how all this affected the ordinary person in their everyday life. It was a shame we couldn't have spent the day there as there is so much to see and learn.

 

The Gunsmith & Foundry.

 

 

The Courthouse.

 

From Williamsburg we decided to cross the Chesapeake Bay on the Bridge/Tunnel to work our way up the Eastern Peninsula to Maryland. This bridge when built in 1964 was selected as one of the 'Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern world'. It was interesting to cross. Above you see the bridge we have just crossed from the mainland. Just before it goes down into the tunnel, there is a restaurant so we stopped for lunch and watched people fishing off the side in the Atlantic!

 

This is the view from the restaurant - just before you go under the tunnel and you can see a mile in the distance where the road comes back up and carries on to another bridge. You carry on for a few more miles and go down under another tunnel and again back up on to a bridge to finish the crossing. The total length is 23 miles. It was just a shame it was raining. As there is a naval base nearby its not unusual to see a warship or aircraft carrier passing through this gap.

 

 

After a day's rest the wrist is still aching but easier than yesterday. Hopefully it will be ok to set off tomorrow as we have to be in New York now on Tuesday evening as the bike has been booked in for a service on Wednesday. I had hoped to get home first but as we have now covered over 12,000 miles, the service needs to be done. Fortunately the BMW dealer is in Manhattan so we can spend the day exploring.  Being laid up today hasn't been too much of a drag as its been raining and much cooler so its given us time to catch up with things.

 

 

We are now in Richmond, Virginia and spent an interesing day walking round the sights. Above is The Capitol which is the Virginian Parliament. During the Civil War years of 1861-1865, Richmond became the capital of the Confederate states. Interestingly, the Parliament still runs on the British system and they also use the Mace to open sessions. 

 

Outside the Capitol stands a magnificent statue of George Washington.

 

This building was very interesting as in 1837 the owners brought over engineers and foundry workers from the town of Tredegar in Wales to construct the furnaces and rolling mills and in their honour named the foundry after their home town.

Later on the foundry would become the major Confederate munitions supplier.

 

Just behind the foundry is the above building. This was of great interest to John as it is the HQ of the company that he worked for, for 33 years.  It is locally called 'the White House'.  Ethyl Corporation bought the land from the owner of the foundry in 1957 and then helped with the restoration of the foundry buildings.

We should be moving on tomorrow but John took a fall today and has sprained his wrist so its now wrapped in an ice pack and hope he is ok to ride tomorrow.  We had 27C (82F) temperature today but the forecast for the next few days is a lot cooler and rain so Autumn has arrived!

 

 

Always happy when the hotel has a luggage trolley otherwise it is a couple of visits back and forth to the bike with all the bags!

 

We got back on to the Blue Ridge Parkway today for another 225 miles through the beautiful scenery of North Carolina. At 11am we stopped at a Visitor centre which was still covered in cloud and only 12C (52F) but by the time we came out, the cloud had cleared and the sun had come out showing the beautiful colours up the side of the mountain.

 

En route we came upon Grandfather Mountain which has the above Swinging Bridge which is a mile above ground. Fortunately the gorge below was only a couple of hundred feet down and not a mile which was a relief!  Being so high up, the view was wonderful.

 

View from the Swinging Bridge. You can see why they are called the Blue Ridge Mountains, as you can see all the ridges in the distance and they appear to have a blue hue over them.

 From here John continued to enjoy the wonderful twisty roads which had very little traffic on but we can imagine what it would be like in the summer.

Below is the video we took while riding the 'Tail of the Dragon' in Tennessee.
Please excuse the inane chattering at the beginning and the end which we have been unable to edit out so far. Hopefully when we have time when we get home we will manage it:-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-5QQte4FW8&feature=plcp

 

After waiting long enough for the sun to burn the mist away, we were very fortunate to ride back over the Cherohala Skyway and see it in wonderful sunshine with just a hint of mist left in places over the treetops.

 

Whilst riding over the Skyway we came upon groups of cars on the side of the road with boxes on the back, carrying dogs. We stopped to ask one group of men what they were doing and they told us they were hunting bears and that they use the dogs to flush them out. 

 

From the Cherohala Skyway we then rode about another 30 miles and joined the start of the Blue Ridge Highway which runs over 400 miles from North Carolina to Virginia. The Fall is starting here with the temperature ranging from 12C - 26C, depending on elevation, which reached 6000ft at its highest point. We travelled about 90 miles on this road today and intend following it most of the way to Virginia as the scenery is spectacular.  John is especially enjoying the twisty roads!