Austin to Las Vegas

After sitting still too long still in Austin I was aching for getting on the road again. It’s funny how you have a really good time staying a place and don’t want to leave, at the same time it cracks you up to sit still too long. We were pretty much ready to really push on now and get done with the states.

From Austin to Vegas we really hauled ass and did the leg in 3-4 days, with the longest day covering close to 800 kilometers. As we travelled faster than lightning we were also able to squeeze in a visit to Grand Canyon, the biggest man made crater on earth. The Indians were doing mining here millenniums ago and dug out tons of buffalos and tipis, and left a big crater. When the white man came with his capitalism they turned the environmental catastrophe into a tourist attraction and covered the Indians ass once more.

The canyon was also a place where we got our infame confirmed. A Canadian couple on a bike came up to us and said they knew us from the paper Toronto Star. We hadn’t made their day, but we had made their entire trip. We’re now probably bigger than Jesus like Lennon said, so I’m really afraid it’ll go to my head soon.

When we hit the bright light city we came over the Hoover Dam, named after the American vacuum cleaner. The dam is also the state border between Arizona and Nevada, and the first thing that met us is a neon sign for a casino. Yeah, we’re in the right state.

Tyler Hahn was the Guzzi man in town. It was good to get back to the Guzzi guys, it feels like all of them are family for us. Klaus’ bike needed some attention, so Tyler’s garage was the place. Somewhat low compression, but the valves sealed perfect. The gasket had a minor blow out, so we ended up with planing the head and the block and put it back together again. Sounds simple and quick, but it took the entire weekend, partly due to many very nice people dropping by.

Tyler rode with us when we left town and rode with us to the outskirts of Death Valley. The conclusion was again simple, Moto Guzzi people is overall the most superb motorcycle community ever.

Tormod

Outside a typical Texas ranch, with the wind mill and steelgate. A mile or two the other direction was Juares, the murder capital in Mexico. Very popular place to play Mafia-Wars if you don't have internet or prefer the real thing.

"I'm thirsty" shouted the bike and just died.

In Marfa, Texas. Sort of a small artsy town in the Texan dessert, with incredibly expensive accomodation.

Who would not vote for this nice dude with a four-gallon Stetson? Make ready for justice as the Pharaoes said.

Prada Marfa, a permanent art installation in the dessert outside Marfa.

This train were parked along the road, they had stopped to fill water and re-load with coal, I guess.

The very nice e ngineers realized I was a heavy machinery junky and ivited me in. Talking about nice dudes. The max allowed top speed is about the same as on the Nimbus, but the Nimbus can haul a much bigger load.

Nearby Silver City, New Mexico

Alpine, Arizona. Altitude almost 9000 feet, below 32 Fahrenheit and still snow along the road. Exactly what most people associate with Arizona...

With a Nimbus it's allowed to park on the retard parking.

A blue-grass-rangers doing the ticketing for the national park.

The biggest man-made crater on the western hemisphere, made by the Indians when mining for buffalos and tipis. The buffalos got their wings brutally chopped off while at infant stage and sold to restaurants just for profit. Typically Indians.

At Route66. Some Norwegian tour company is selling Route66 tours with the slogan "For those who wanna travel a bit longer". So I guess now we can say we've travelled longer. Not sure how those guys get there though, didn't meet any of them across Siberia.

At the Hoover Dam

The Hoover Dam was initiated by the vacuum cleaner company Hoover, thus it's the namesake. Hoover early identified availability of electric power as a crucial factor for selling vacuum cleaners, and with this dam they would supply both Nevada and Arizona. As soon as the dam was finished their sales rose to new hights, and soon after there were no dirty vacuum left in the two states.

Tyeler BBQ'ing

Dana, an ace mechanical engineer helped us out with Klaus engine and plaining the head and the engine block. His knowledge about engines and bearings was incredible. I come across a lot of good engine dudes, but very rare to come across people of Dana's class.

Good bye Tyler, hope we'll meet again soon!