It has been an odd week with little achieved, due to problems with the bike and the weather. We ended up in Jackson, Mississippi for 4 nights while Dave sorted out a change of the steering head bearings and we waited for thunderstorms to pass. We moved from the scary downtown area to a posh part of town to the north and got a good deal on a hotel suite where we could cook. We watched lots of TV and cooked lots of curries and got a lot of sleep.

Dave did well with the bearings, sourcing a similar bearing  that is used in a Toyota car from AutoZone and changing it on the carpark in the pouring rain. He managed to get it in with the help of a shed load of grease.

We moved on to a wonderful campsite on a lake in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in northern Mississippi.

This must be the furthest away from traffic we have camped the whole trip. There was no distant car noise and at night the place was truly magical with only the sounds of owls in the trees and fish jumping in the lake.

It was also a great place for yoga.

We managed out cheapest day of the trip at $37, including the cost of doing the laundry.

The next day we travelled via Tupelo to visit Elvis’s birthplace. Tupelo is now a huge town and it was hard to get a feeling for what the area would have been like when Elvis lived there but is was good to see the shack he grew up in and get a feel for what his life was like as a child.

I particularly enjoyed reading accounts of people who knew him back then, describing him as shy and also recounting how, when he received his first guitar for his birthday, he really wanted an air rifle. We both got to sit on the swing on the porch. I am sure it is not the same swing but it was still fun. 

Unfortunately, the weather turned bad again and we had to seek refuge in a hotel for the night in Huntsville, Alabama. The rain poured down, in a tropical fashion, while we stayed cosy indoors and ordered takeout food from the local Chinese restaurant. I love the fact that it is the normal thing here to order food into your hotel room. All rooms also have microwaves for heating leftovers.

This dog enjoyed barking at us as he drove past

Yesterday we left on the final leg of the journey to the Great Smoky Mountains. The bike has been “surging” for a few days and Dave has been trying to sort it out (suspected transmission problem of some kind). After 40 minutes on the road, he decided it was too serious to continue and we had to head back to Huntsville and check into another hotel. Another takeaway meal, a few episodes of Masterchef and a bottle of wine helped to ease the disappointment. So today, we have to make a decision about whether we are going to make it to the mountains or not. The journey back to Houston (where both us and the bike depart from), via New Orleans, is about 800 miles but if we head to the mountains and then back it is 1600 miles. The weather is set to be great for the next few days and whatever decision we make we will try to make the most of it. Just 17 days till we fly out.

Of the three days we spent in Dallas, we worked for two of them and at the end I delivered 47,000 words to my two thesis supervisors.  I am now applying for permission to deliver my thesis early. Fingers crossed this is granted. On the third day, we went to visit the assassination site of JFK. This was one of only two things that Dave specifically want to do in the whole of the USA. We had a lovely lunch in a great New York style deli and then wandered over to the site. On the way we passed the memorial to JFK. It felt underwhelming.

The first thing that strikes you about the assassination site is how much smaller, closer and compact it is than it appears on the footage. The Book Depository and the “grassy knoll” are just a few metres away from where the bullets struck.

The Book Depository

Neither Dave nor I are supporters of the “single gunman” theory or the findings of the Warren Report. For this reason we agonised about whether to go into the museum on the 6th floor of the former Book Depository which, apparently, fails to mention at all that there may be other theories about how the President died. Some campaigners on the internet ask you to boycott this museum. In the end our minds were made  up for us by the long queues (even on a Monday).

The road where the assassination took place

It is very sad and moving standing there looking at the piece of road where JFK was shot. I don’t automatically feel sad at these kinds of places but I did here. I wondered whether the world would be different now if JFK had lived and likely served two terms. We will never know.

The grassy knoll to the left under the trees

The site of the assassination with the Book Depository in the background on the left

The centre of Dallas reminded me a lot of Manchester close up. There are quite a few redbrick buildings,  very reminiscent of the town centre around China Town in Manchester and they have the same tram system. The skyline is quite different though. I found it to be a low key place. We enjoyed our few days there.

We have had to be flexible since we left Dallas as there has been a lot of bad weather which we have successfully dodged. We don’t mind a bit of rain or even a light thunderstorm but we do not want the tent to be blown away in a tornado and we have managed to avoid the worst of the weather using the internet. We did see a great couple of dust devils on the road though.

We are now out of the desert and cannot believe how green it is here. The landscape is just like home. The grass pollen is very high, however, and I have suffered a bit with hay fever.

Over the last three days we have passed through Louisiana and Mississippi. It is very interesting here. There are lots of shacks. Many sell crawfish, catfish and jumbo shrimp but many are also lived in by poor people, mostly African-Americans. The poverty is more akin to what you see in Asia and I have certainly not seen anything like it in western Europe. It is very sad. The people are amazingly friendly though. Everyone is interested in us and I come  out of every shop or gas station with a huge grin.

One of the two highlights of the past few days has been Natchez. This is a town on the banks of the Mississippi. The motto of this state is “The Birthplace of America’s Music” which is reference to the blues which grew out of the Mississippi delta.

We crossed the Mississippi back in August when we left Memphis and it was good to see it again.

Natchez was once one of the richest towns in the USA and there are more plantation homes here than anywhere else in the country.

The centre of town is very Georgian looking and I kept thinking I was in Leominster or somewhere similar in the UK.

We had a great night out there, met a few other travellers, had a few beers and a Thai meal. I am very interested in architecture and wanted to visit some Antebellum homes, from the 1830-1860 period but when I researched them I felt a little uncomfortable to see how these houses are visited just for their beauty with no reference to the historical context of slavery, the exploitation from which this great wealth developed. Sadly this has put me off wanting to visit any of the big plantation homes. I did learn in my research that the British were mostly responsible for bringing slaves to the USA, firstly to support tobacco production in the Virginias and later with sugar cane and cotton in the Deep South. The biggest slave owners were mostly of British descent, some owning over 1000 slaves. Three quarters of people who lived in the south did not own slaves, however.

Our best day this week was yesterday, as this was the only day we have had guaranteed good weather and been able to camp. We passed through a town called Waterproof. There was a prison there and the whole scene was reminiscent of The Shawshank Redemption. The area was quite poor and very remote and I was a bit concerned about staying there at first but the campsite was stunning and well used.

We had our own little part of the lake to look out on.

We saw quite a bit of wildlife, including large egrets, red and yellow birds, squirrels and anole lizards that puff their throats up red like they are blowing bubbles with gum. On the road today we also helped a terrapin, the size of a large tortoise that was stranded trying to cross  (in British English we have three words-tortoise, terrapin and turtle, whereas Americans seem to only use turtle). I also saw a large dead armadillo being eaten by vultures.

Dave enjoyed the break. Reading his book in various positions.

This campsite is owned by Louisiana state parks and includes electricity at each site, your own water tap, free WiFi and a laundry-all for just over 20 quid a night. We loved it there and felt very happy to be back sleeping in the outdoors.

So finally, we are today in Jackson, Mississippi. We need steering head bearings for the bike and managed to source some here but they will not arrive till tomorrow so we had to stay overnight. The people are lovely but the whole place is slightly scary. Two locals advised us not to stay here, including one skinny guy wearing a camouflage jumpsuit who looked like an archetypal methhead and chatted with me for quite a while outside AutoZone. So we are ensconced in our safe chain hotel the Comfort Inn, with our takeaway food waiting for tomorrow to arrive.

Our plans for the next few days are loose because of the weather but we are heading towards the Great Smoky Mountains. It would be good to be there in three days but who knows?

We spent 3 days camping in the desert at two locations in Arizona. First at the Lost Dutchman State Park near Phoenix. This is right next to Superstition Mountain, so called because of the rumours, going back more than 100 years, of gold in them there hills. Gold has never been found. The Lost Dutchman apparently got lost searching for it.

The area was beautiful, especially as the sun was setting.

It was only 15 minutes ride from the outskirts of Phoenix and we were able to visit the cinema to see Midnight Special. If you have not seen it, I thought it was a very good film. Not life changing but it kept me enthralled the whole time.

We moved on to a very remote location called Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. This is only 7 miles from the Mexican border at Lukeville and it felt strange being so close to Mexico again.

We passed through a tiny town called Ajo (garlic in Spanish) but decided to wait till the final town of Why before getting food supplies. Big mistake as Why had only one gas station and nothing else. We decided to ride on to the campground and found it to be very remote and beautiful but we still had no food. We headed to Lukeville at the border, 5 miles away. There was again only a gas station but we did manage to get ice cold Heineken and Doritos and (oddly) cups of instant oats (the perfect camping breakfast for vegans). No dinner though, they only had Spam and Pot Noodles.

After a few beers, we dipped into the food bag and came out with some red lentils and half a bag of wholewheat fusilli. An odd dinner seasoned with some Cajun spice mix but enough to soak up the beer.

We soaked up the beautiful, desert atmosphere. It was very reminiscent of Baja California. Many of the saguaro cacti are in flower. You can see the buds in the silhouette below.

On the way into the campground there is a sign that says “Illegal immigration and smuggling takes place in this area. If you see anything suspicious report it to the Visitor Centre”. No wonder the campground was half empty. On the way back to Tucson, we encountered three road blocks/check points manned by scary looking US agents and about ten different patrol vehicles, hiding in the bushes (it was like an episode of Breaking Bad). We saw nothing like this when we crossed at El Paso a month ago but this area is much more remote and perfect for smuggling. We were glad we had decided to move on.

Today we begin the long journey east. We plan to be in Dallas for Saturday, in time for the Everton v Man. Utd. FA Cup semi-final, being played at Wembley. We have 1000 miles to cover before then. We will go via Roswell, New Mexico.We will spend 3 days in Dallas before heading towards New Orleans. We wanted to see Santa Fe and Taos but it is too cold up there for us and we also need to make progress and zig zagging north to south when you want to go east, slows you down. We will be sad to leave the desert but we only have 4 more weeks before the bike goes off to the shippers and we need to get to the Deep South and see something new.

On our last day in Moab we decided to forgo Arches National Park, as it just seemed so congested when we rode past and instead we went on a fabulous ride on Highway 128 to Cisco. This is one of the most stunning valley rides I have ever experienced.

We had the road almost entirely to ourselves. The red rock landscapes just went on and on as we followed the river through the valley.

We thought we would stop for a coffee at Cisco at the end of the ride. We were shocked to arrive and and find it was a ghost town.

There are many of these scattered across the country but I have never come across one quite like this.

It was a major water stop for steam trains in the past and then became abandoned following the building of the interstate highway nearby which bypassed the town.

It was pretty spooky with rotting cars lying around. We had the feeling a few people still lived there and did not want to risk getting off the bike to wander around.

We rode from Moab via Page to Flagstaff, Arizona. It is much colder up in the mountains and we got caught in a full on hailstorm on our way into the town. We loved it there and ended up staying in a motel in the centre of town for three nights. We got lots of work done (I am up to 45,000 words!), enjoyed the local health food supermarket and had a couple of trips out-one for beers and burgers and the other to Lowell Observatory. This is one of the most famous observatories in the world, where Pluto was discovered. We waited for a clear night and were treated to views of the moon through a small telescope and views of Jupiter through the huge, historical Clark telescope. We could see four of Jupiter’s moons and brown stripes on the white surface of the planet. Very cool. We saw a skunk on the way back.

We rode to the famous meteor crater nearby. This is apparently the finest preserved meteor crater in the world. The meteor hit about 50,000 years ago and created a hole a mile across.

Research taking place here has enhanced understanding of meteor craters across the whole solar system. Although this is in the middle of nowhere, the visitors centre is really state of the art.

We had an amazing ride down off the mountain into Sedona from Flagstaff. Oak Creek Canyon is really very special. The atmosphere in the canyon was amazing. It reminded me of the atmosphere at Big Sur.

It was wonderful to be back in pine tree country after a week in the desert. The air smelt amazing. We saw a coyote cross the road in front of us.

The red rocks of Sedona are extraordinary but I really felt the town that they have built and the widened road to serve the tourist industry were  big turn offs.

We stayed away from the main tourist area and stayed instead in the Verde Valley on a nice campsite. We got raided by racoons in the night who ate EVERYTHING, including a whole, raw, sweet potato and a pound bag of ground almonds. Lesson learned.

We had a great ride out to Jerome. This was once a thriving copper mining town and then became a ghost town around the 1950s. Fortunately, it has recently experienced a revival being adopted by artists and other bohemian folk and is now a popular tourist attraction. We were lucky that we arrived early in the morning and avoided the crowds which were building up as we left.

We rode through the nearby Mingus mountains, enjoying the winding roads and we both agreed it was the first “real ride” we had experienced in months. There were a lot of other bikers around, mostly on Harleys and the area seems to be a popular bikers meet point.

After two nights in the Verde Valley, we left for the Lost Dutchman State Park, east of Phoenix. I must admit that I thought the ride and campsite would be humdrum. I could not have been more wrong.

The whole route was stunning; mountainous and green at first and then mountainous and desert with huge saguaro cacti everywhere-very reminiscent of Baja California. It was very windy though, making the air dusty and riding and camping a challenge.I was kept awake last night by the coyotes howling but the bird song this morning was wonderful. The desert is so green and full of wildlife at this time of the year.

We are now enjoying a second day on the campsite. I will share some photos of the site next time as it is extraordinary. We will head back to the Mexican border tomorrow to Organ Pipe Cactus National Park. We have come full circle in the last month since we arrived in the USA. Once we leave Arizona made week, we will then start heading east to New Mexico. The USA really is the gift that keeps on giving.

For the last few days we have been staying in Moab, Utah. This is at the heart of red rock country and the base for visits to Canyonlands and Arches National Parks. The best thing about Utah at this time of the year is that, while the skies are blue and daytime temperatures warm (ish), you are surrounded by views of snowy mountains. We loved the ride here as the mountains got closer and closer.

Despite what you hear, Utah has bars and they are open on Sundays. We tested this and met a very nice barmaid who has moved here for the outdoor sports (like most people here).

Everyone here looks very fit and the place is full of rock climbing and mountain biking shops, as well as places that rent all terrain vehicles (like a cross between a quad bike and a jeep). The Americans love their outdoors like no other nation I have experienced. Yesterday, we went for an amazing visit to Canyonlands National Park.

This is the least visited national park in Utah but has views better than the Grand Canyon. It was really, very beautiful. It was also pretty quiet.

We had some views to ourselves.

Dave enjoyed scrambling up rocks.

And sitting on the edge (he then went home and played with his train set).

There are steep, dirt roads here that were trails used by native Americans and then used by drovers. It would be great to have a 4X4 to get to the valley bottom and look up at the canyons from below. You can drive from one side to the other.

It is still pretty chilly on the bike, even though it is really sunny so thermal underwear and down jackets under the leathers are still necessary (Michelin Man style), which makes hiking quite tricky.

We managed to walk a mile. It would be nice to camp closer and walk from the tent but the campgrounds in the park are booked until the end of June. On a clear day, you can see for 100 miles apparently.

Nearby is Dead Horse Point. This is where the final scene of Thelma and Louise was filmed. There is a narrow road about one car wide, where they used to corral the horses into the “point” which is now a car park. They would then choose which horses they wanted and leave the rest to die (!). Hence the name. If you have already been to Canyonlands, then I would not recommend paying the extra to go to Dead Horse. It is just a different and less impressive view of the same canyon system. We were not tempted to drive off the edge.

We will be here till Saturday. Tomorrow we will visit Arches National Park and do a short hike and we then head to Sedona in Arizona, where we hope to spend a few days before heading to New Mexico. We booked our flights to Hong Kong this week, for July 24^th. I have also been working slowly on the thesis. I hope to be up to 40,000 words by the end of the week. We have 6 weeks left of the trip but time seems to have slowed down for us and each day is a gift.

We have had such a great few days, marred only by terrible internet that has made it impossible to post to the blog about all the amazing things we have seen. We came down off the mountain in Idyllwild just in time before the snow came in.

There was very low cloud on the way down but the desert is never far away and it warmed up pretty quickly.

I love that about this area you can go sand to snow in less than an hour.

We had a great day in Palm Springs looking at modernist architecture, drinking beer and eating Vietnamese food. We saw the house where Elvis and Priscilla spent their honeymoon.

It took us two days to ride to the Grand Canyon. It ranged from fairly chilly to very cold. Actual daytime temperatures ranged from about 4-14 celsius but there is a wind chill of minus 15 on a bike travelling at 60mph so we have really felt it as we do not have winter bike gear. We have also ridden across a lot of very exposed landscapes at a pretty steady 2000m altitude. On the first day we rode through Joshua Tree National Park.

It was  amazing but the empty vistas outside the park were just as beautiful in my opinion.

Our visit was short because of the cold but I would like to return here when it is warmer.

We spent the rest of the day riding slog the old Route 66. I thought Wyoming was vast and empty but there really is nothing in this corner of the California high desert.

We camped overnight at Needles, CA where locals drive a 30 mile round trip to the supermarket. The campsite had great facilities bit was right on the highway and even Dave complained about the noise and fumes.

There was an amazing sunset (no photoshop).

The next day was much colder. I was riding with thermal underwear top and bottom, fleece trousers and a down jacket under my leathers plus a hat under my helmet and tow pairs of gloves and I was still frozen to the bone. It started to snow as we waited in the queue at the Grand Canyon National Park. You know you are near hyperthermia when you start to tremble badly. Fortunately our room at the lodge had a bathtub and excellent heating and we managed to warm through. We spent the evening drinking craft beer (yuk) and eating pizza.

It was no problem for us to get up for sunrise as we are early risers and we were awake and raring to go by 4.30am. We walked along the rim for a couple of miles at dawn expecting to find crowds. There were none.

Very few people seem to get up to watch the sunrise ever the canyon (at least at this time of the year when it is minus 4).

It was wonderful.

Later on we rode out of the park via  the Desert View entrance win the east and were treated to some amazing sights.

We did not even have to get off the bike for some of them. We also saw elk and mule deer.

The ride across Navajo land to Monument Valley was again vast and fascinating as the landscapes changed constantly. We stopped at an old trading post for lunch. I balked at paying $400 for a Navajo blanket.We arrived in Monument Valley on the border with Utah to thick cloud, again freezing cold.

We stayed at Gouldings Lodge. This is a former trading post on Navajo land run by the Navajo and with amazing views across to the tribal park of Monument Valley. The trading post was set up by Mr. Goulding in the 1920s and in the 1950s he wrote to John Ford, the film Director with some photos of the area and invited him to make a film there. The area was used for making many, very famous films, including Stagecoach and She War a Yellow Ribbon, both with John Wayne. There is a great little museum that displays many fascinating photos from the time and you can see the cabin that was used on set by one of John Wayne’s characters.

We were assigned an odd little room next to the car wash.

In the morning, we were treated to some wonderful views as we rode out of the area.

Although it was cold, the stunning blue skies and amazing scenery kept us cheerful. Including snowy peaks in the distance.

We are now in Moab, Utah for a few days of exploration in the red rock landscape and on empty roads.

Our main goal on leaving Arizona and arriving back in California was to retrieve the tent and other equipment and get back to camping as soon as possible. We spent our first night in California in Indio, near Palm Springs in the California desert. It was a pretty uneventful stay in an Airbnb, marked by more gorgeous weather and a visit to Trader Joe’s grocery store to shop for some long awaited home cooked food. On leaving the next morning for a short drive up Interstate Highway 10 we were shocked to be caught in the middle of a dust storm.

This is not the worst dust storm we have encountered. Back in 1997, in Iran, we could not see more than 10 metres ahead but we were the only vehicle on the road and it was much more scary this time, being blown across the path of trucks in a three lane highway. Later on we were reintroduced to the terrible traffic in LA. Fortunately, we were going the other way. It was interesting to note that the electric train/tram goes down the central reservation, allowing train passengers to feel extra smug as they look out at the car drivers stuck in a traffic jam.

We left our camping gear with the parents of a colleague and friend from Berlin, Heather, who live in Pasadena (which is part of the LA conurbation, East of the city, near the mountains). We booked into a Airbnb nearby in Eagle Rock and enjoyed a lovely couple of days there. We have not experienced many walkable neighbourhoods in the US so far. “Shops nearby” usually means 10-15 minutes drive but Eagle Rock really was walkable and within 7 minutes our room we had a supermarket, cafes and restaurants and…a motorcycle shop that sold tyres to fit the Triumph. We invested in two more new tyres for the bike,  a decent hair cut for me-the first for more than 5 months- and a pair of new bike gloves for Dave, as his old ones wore out.

New Gloves

Our Airbnb was in one of those typical Spanish-style LA homes, like you see in the films.

We had a lovely visit with Sandy, Heather’s mom, to collect our things. It was great to chat for a couple of hours and see where Heather grew up. This is a stunning neighbourhood and somewhere I would love to live.

The tent zips had failed on us before we left for Mexico, back in October and we knew we needed to repair them. We were quite chuffed that having unpicked the zips, removed the zip sliders and replaced them with new ones, the zips were like new. This meant we were able to head out straight for our favourite USA campsite in Idyllwild, the last campsite we stayed at in October before we left.

The campsite is a 6,200 feet and so we had to be sure we could stay warm. We invested in a pair of fleece trouser each (sexy, not) and hoped that with the thermal underwear, down jackets and sleeping bags this would be enough to stop us from freezing and keep us camping. You can see us modelling our new trousers below.

The ride up to Idyllwild was the best riding we have done for months and months. Winding, smooth roads, beautiful temperature and great scenery. It felt so good to be back.

After I had finished stitching up the tent.

Dave put it up.

And we celebrated with a couple of beers (European beers). As you can see we are the only people mad enough to camp in a tent in March and the campsite was empty (bliss).

I love this campsite because you have great facilities like a lodge with Wifi and a laundry but it still feels like a wilderness, right on top of the mountain.

I have never see pine cones this big anywhere in Europe. The squirrels are even bigger but there are no bears here, only rattlesnakes and tarantulas (apparently).

So we have spent a couple of days, trying to stay warm (mostly successfully), pottering on the campsite and in the village, doing some work on the thesis and on the bike. The bike has some new brake pads but we are still grappling with how to get all of the camping gear on (how did we manage it before?)

We are both extremely relaxed and happy with a lot to look forward to. We have decided not to go to Vegas as it is too expensive. We are heading to Palm Springs to see Elvis’s honeymoon house and other modernist architecture. We then have a lodge booked in the Grand Canyon National Park for 30th March. After this we head to Utah for Monument Valley, Canyonlands and Arches National Park.

The goal was to be back in the USA in time to celebrate Dave’s birthday and we made it. We set off super early to the border, having checked the waiting times, online, at each bridge going from Juarez to El Paso. We had a bit of a shock when, after passing through immigration to exit Mexico, we were informed that the correct office to cancel our bike permit was 30km away on the road to Chihuahua! We should have done it on our way to Juarez. So few overlanders come in this direction that it was impossible to find out the correct procedures, even after hours of research on the internet. So we lost our deposit and may risk not being able to ever bring a vehicle into Mexico again (well not in Dave’s name anyway). We decided to forget about it and focus on getting into the USA.

The internet said the wait was 15 minutes at the Zaragoza crossing and it was pretty accurate. There were hundreds of cars, but with 6 lanes open, we were soon at the front of the line. Almost everyone who crosses here is either a US or Mexican citizen so the immigration and customs officers were a little bemused to see us. They were very friendly and welcoming and walked us through the whole process. At the immigration centre, where we were taken to complete the paperwork, we jumped the queue, much to our embarrassment as about 20 Mexican people in front of us waited patiently. The whole thing took about 90 minutes.

We were so relieved to be allowed back in and to be able to relax after several days (or weeks depending on your perspective) in less safe places. Northern Mexico seems pretty developed compared to Central America but it does not prepare you for the level of development in the USA. There are just so many cars and shopping malls and restaurants and everything everywhere. It can feel a little overwhelming.

We were once again in the middle of a classic US road trip, riding through miles of emptiness.

Staying in old school, mom and pop motels.

And enjoying the crazy place names so now you know where to find him).

We spent 2 nights in Tucson, Arizona at an Airbnb. We celebrated Dave’s birthday with a cinema trip to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens, followed by a visit to the Pima Air and Space Museum. There were literally hundreds of planes. They all looked the same after a couple of hours (at least to me they did). Dave loved it though. He had his picture taken with a WW2 bomber.

And the Top Gun plane.

And a helicopter used in the Vietnam War, similar to that featured in Apocalypse Now.

The guide was ex military and there were a few ex military personnel on the tour with us. Although they spoke quite neutrally about the “kills” achieved by some planes and “successful missions”, I felt uncomfortable and I know Dave did too. US society seems so much more militarised than we are used to. I guess because they have been at war pretty much constantly since WW2 and they have troops risking their lives on a constant basis. We both felt it was appropriate to keep our mouths shut and only voice disquiet to each other.

There were also some motorbikes at the museum on special display courtesy of Vietnam Vets who I guess must have shipped them home. Urals made in Russia are still quite commonly seen in Vietnam and available for rental. That would be a crazy trip and easily doable from Hong Kong. I am not sure I fancy sitting in the sidecar though.

Arizona is a crazy desert place and we enjoyed Tucson. We will return here in a couple of weeks with the camping gear.

So we are now en route to Pasadena, L.A., to collect our camping stuff from Heather’s parents, who have been looking after it for us. We have spent a lot of time on Interstate Highway 10 in the last few days. It is not bad as far as motorways go. It is free (not like in Mexico) and the views across the desert really don’t seem to get boring.

We have seen many “snowbirds” in their RVs on the highway and have also had a few strike up conversation with us. I have every admiration for these retired folk who spend the winter in the warmer climes of the southern USA in their huge camper vans, some the size of coaches. Some are even permanently mobile, spending the year in different parts of the country. What a great way of life. It is quite common to see them towing a car, so they can use it to get around to the shops and sites, but we saw one today towing both a car and carrying a Harley. I can see this in our future (not with a Harley though, obviously. It would be a Triumph).

The weather at this time of the year is amazing. Just the right temperature for motorcycling and endless, clear blue skies. In the next couple of weeks we will spend some time camping in California and then head to the Grand Canyon via Las Vegas. We will probably go up to Monument Valley in Utah but it is a bit cold up there so we have to keep an eye on the weather as we do not want to be caught in snow. It is really great to be back in the USA. To have access to great food and supermarkets. To be able to communicate freely with people in English and to have so many great places to visit.

So we have finally arrived at the Mexico-US border. We first arrived in Mexico in October and spent 2 months here, later returning for another 10 days. It is not enough time to scratch the surface of this stunning country. I will do an overview later but first some pics of our last day riding through the desert.

We were thrilled to have another stunning morning, with deep, blue skies and an open road. It has been pretty remote the last two days, even by Mexico standards. Not the kind of place that you want to break down.

We diverted to Ciudad Juarez, rather than ride the extra two hours to Agua Prieta. Although Juarez had a very bad reputation between 2008-12, with over 3,000 murders a year (!) things have improved here , due to the presence of the military in such vast numbers.

There is a much better infrastructure than the smaller border towns. Most of the hotels and malls here service Mexicans applying for visas to the USA. Getting our own paperwork in order has made for a stressful day. We have been waiting for the vehicle insurance to arrive for the bike and digging out other documents that we have not seen in months. We also have to have copies of onward flights tickets from the USA.  It is always nerve wracking entering the US, as immigration officials have total discretion as to whether they let you in. So fingers crossed for tomorrow.

So back to Mexico. This is country I have long wanted to visit. I have not been disappointed. It is sad that the country is so marred by drug related crime and violence and the “war on drugs”, meaning that we were not able to go to all of the places we might have enjoyed most. Getting deep into the mountains, controlled by the cartels, where marijuana and opium is grown, can be risky, especially if you are caught out after dark and tourists have been murdered recently when driving at night in remote areas. Although we have a policy never to ride at night, this has meant we have had to be careful about where we go, which is a real shame. Having said that, there is more than enough to keep you busy for months, if not years here. It is certainly somewhere I would live, if the security situation improved.

So the highlights have been …well Baja California is still high on the list of the best things I have ever done.

The colonial cities have been another highlight. If I had to choose just one, it would be Guanajuato, second would be Oaxaca, third Zacatecas and fourth San Miguel Allende. There are many others. The Spanish knew how to build cities. They are all so different and so spectacular and really do match  those that I love so much in Spain like Salamanca, Segovia and Granada.

We loved the Pacific coastal town of Zipolite, with its easy vibe and beach bars.

And we have loved the northern deserts.

I hope we come back to Mexico.  The country is vast with an enormous amount to offer.The time has gone too quickly.

It has been 3 weeks since we left Panama City. The time has gone very fast and we have ridden 17 days out of the last 22. We have crossed 14 borders so far on the trip and we only have one left. We are just 2 days ride from the USA border at Agua Prieta, Arizona.

Returning to Mexico has been wonderful. Getting in was a little tough as the Guatemalans did not want us to leave. When we arrived at the Guatemalan side of the border, they told us we did not have the correct papers to bring the bike into the country (even though they allowed us in twice). We were left to wait for over an hour, staring at the window of the customs office, while everyone went to lunch and wondering what would happen.

We wondered if we could just leave without having the bike stamped out as we do not wish to return with this bike in the future. The answer in retrospect is yes, we could have done that and no-one would have been any the wiser. However, we ended up paying a bribe to the customs offer of about $12 and hey presto, we were out. The Mexico side is a lot more professional, fortunately, but you have to leave a bond on your credit card of about $200, which is returned when you take the bike out of the country.

We ended up at a hotel on a retail park for our second night, where there was a cinema. We went to see Deadpool and had the whole cinema to ourselves.

We then spent 2 days in the wonderful city of Oaxaca. We shopped at the market for veg and pottered about. Mexico has so many extraordinary colonial cities, each with its own style and atmosphere. It was very cloudy and rained a bit and we did not manage to get out with the camera so no pics. We had to wrap up really warm as we headed to Puebla and then to Guanajuato. We saw some snow on the top of the volcanoes as we left Puebla. It was too cold to take my gloves off to take photos. We enjoyed the stunning, deep blue skies and the huge open spaces. It was a worthwhile trade for the colder weather. Such a change from the stifling humidity of Central America.

We had a great ride on some lovely mountain roads en route to Oaxaca where we enjoyed the bends.

After Guanajuato the landscape becomes semi-arid and reminiscent of Wyoming or Texas.

The roads are mostly excellent and very fast, although not cheap as you pay tolls, and we have covered a lot of ground each day ,with only brief stops for fuel or to check the football results. Yes Everton are through to the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

We spent a wonderful evening and morning in Zacatecas, another stunning colonial city and one of my favourites. This is deep in cartel country and not somewhere frequented by many tourists, which is a shame but it meant we had it all to ourselves.

I enjoyed an amazing early morning walk through the town with my camera. It was pretty empty except for the road sweepers and the temperature was only 2 degrees celsius. At 2500m you get a bit more puffed out when walking uphill than usual.

I was on the doorstep of Starbucks when it opened and walked back through the deserted streets to the hotel with two big cups of tea. Starbucks is the only place you can get real tea here in Mexico, the kind you can stand your spoon up in, courtesy of the biggest teabag known to man and proper boiling water (not boiled and left to go cold or just tepid). Essential before a long day on the road.

We are now in Torreon and heading for Chihuahua tomorrow and the border the day after. We are seeing a lot of police and military on the roads, as we approach the US border, usually in open backed trucks with big (sometimes mounted) guns and there are quite a few checkpoints. Fortunately, the preoccupation with the cartel means that no-one is interested in us and the roads are excellent. We seem to be able to ride as fast as we like (safely of course) without being stopped. In Nicaragua we were stopped frequently for crossing the hard white line when overtaking (although never ticketed) and in Costa Rica we had to ride at a snail’s pace to avoid the $600 fine. We were ticketed in both Panama and the USA and in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras the roads were just too poor to make haste, so we are enjoying the freedom of the road before we get back to the US.

We are very excited to get back to the USA and to our tent but also a bit nervous about the border crossing, in case they don’t let us in. I am trying to get all of the paperwork in order, including our onward tickets to Hong Kong and proof of shipping for the bike, as well as the insurance and roadside recovery. Our next report should be from Arizona, fingers crossed.