Simon and Deb's Excellent Adventure ........

[simon kuether]

Until we stepped out of the terminal in LA , we could've been anywhere in the world . Except for the USO announcements over the PA . I've never been anywhere else that does that .
Step through the door , and there it is . USA at 10.00am on a Sunday .

Everyone talks funny .
Everyone is really polite and helpful . The nice lady with the gun that showed us where the shuttle was , The Rasta dude that got us on the right one , the driver and the receptionists . Everyone .
Weirdest thing .
As soon as we spoke , everyone twigged that we were Aussies . We had all these new best friends . Lots of "Steve irwin" and "Crocodile Dundee" going on . (Maybe i can fiddle this a bit ?) . Gave us a good "vibe" , straight up .

Tips ....................................
"Always be good to your Mum".
We don't tip in Australia .
I "understand" about tipping and don't have a problem with it . The worst service we got from anyone , anywhere , in the States , was better than we get at home . So , it works . We just had trouble with "How much" and "to whom" . I think we overtipped but ......... , no problem .

We decided to stay "awake" and try to get back to normal sleeping before Dayton , so we left the Wiltshire Grand and wandered down the road . Sunday arvo , so not much going on .



Found an Irish Pub that had 48 BEERS ON TAP . Food . Football . Sounds like us . A bright , bubbly chicky babe takes us to a table , takes drink orders and tries to explain the food .If there hadn't have been pics on the menu , we wouldn't have known what to order .
I had some sliders and Deb played safe with the calamari . Couple of beers (Fat Tyre (Tire)) and a couple of wines (Yellow Tail - Aussie - surprise, surprise - Deb's happy) , and we're starting to "settle" .

All around the top of the bar are TV's , heaps of them , all showing different games of American football .
There's a group of about 8 "young folk" next to us , eating , drinking , laughing and generally enjoyong life . They were all watching different games . Everyone was enjoying the conversation etc around their table , when one of them would jump up and yell "Yes , Yes" and pump their arms and dance around , and none of the others took any notice at all . They don't give a rat's arse about anyone else's team .Old mate would settle down and join back in and another one would leap up and go off .
Funny stuff .
At least to us .
Nuther coupla beers ...........
SLEEP .................................

Breakfast and a tour of LA .
Downtown , Olvera Street


China Town , Hollywood ,



Beverly Hills , Rodeo Drive





Farmers Market , Melrose Avenue , Motel .

Holy $hit ........................

Caught the Metro to "Union Station"


and walked through Olvera Street and China Town .
The Aussie thing is still working .
Weird .
We haven't got an accent , everyone else ....................

Oh that's right . Something else happened . We waited at an intersection for the walk sign . Get the light and off we go to the other side . BANG . SCREECH . BANG . Old mate has run a red light , hit another car , and ended up where we'd just been standing .

Jeez , that was lucky .

Back to the Motel , eat , sleep before a 2.30 start to Dayton .
The adventure's picking up pace .

To be continued ..............................

Cheers , Simon and Deb .

[cowboyup3371]

Simon and Deb, please understand those folks out there in California are just plain weird and don't represent the rest of the country. Please come back here to Colorado and we'll show you the real side of this country.

It's been three hours though...I can't wait for the rest

[Redman]

....
....All around the top of the bar are TV's , heaps of them , all showing different games of American football .
There's a group of about 8 "young folk" next to us , eating , drinking , laughing and generally enjoyong life . They were all watching different games . Everyone was enjoying the conversation etc around their table , when one of them would jump up and yell "Yes , Yes" and pump their arms and dance around , and none of the others took any notice at all . They don't give a rat's arse about anyone else's team .Old mate would settle down and join back in and another one would leap up and go off .
Funny stuff .
At least to us . ...
....
....

Simon,

Interesting social commentary.
Around here I would expect that in a group of people that a large portion would be fans of a local team and another large portion would be fans of another team from maybe the next distance city (such as Detriot and then Chicago) and then be only a few fans of other teams. Maybe your observations are particular to southern California. Perhaps I will need to go to a local sports bar here Sunday afternoon to do some observation of this.

I have told others of your comment about the armed guards at airport as you were entering the land of the free.
I will also tell you, for your reference, that that has been that way only the last few years.

Keep the installments comming, with the pictures.
Liked your photo with the mo'cycle cops.
(although that not really a police bike was it?)

.

[Matchless]

Simon,
Fantastic! I am extremely jealous! Keep the pictures and commentary coming, I am enjoying it.
SBTT - Suzuki, beer and Tim Tams!
Keep well old mate.
Andre

[Zooks]

PMSL. Good onya old mate. I haven't been on the GSR for many, many months (work problems). I log back in and find this thread.

Of all the Aussies to go over and visit Uncle Sam it had to be you didn't it. Very jealous mate. I plant to ride from LA to NY one day - coast to coast baby, oooh yeah!! When I can afford it that is.

Anyway, back to the story - more pics. Keep 'em coming.

[simon kuether]

G'day there Zooks old mate . Long time , no hear .
We had the BEST time . Great people . Lots of laughs .
If you're planning to head over , JUST DO IT .
Way cheaper than we ever thought .
Can't wait to get back again next year .
It'll take me a bit to continue the saga as I'm back at work and don't have access to photobucket (interweb police) so it might take a day or two . Lots of pics and less dribble from here in . The adventure REALLY begins from here .
Good to see you back . Quite a few people over there were asking about you , and where you'd gone .

Cheers , Simon .

[Ghostgs1]

Simon, What a great start to your story, looking forward to the rest of it. If you make it out West on one of your treks, you need to visit Colorado. There are quite a few of us old gsers around this part of the country so, if I am still in traveling condition by then, I would like to show you a bit of the Rockies. Keep the installments coming. Regards, Ray

[Colin Green]

Thanks Simon. Real nice hearing about the States through the eyes of someone a bit closer to home. Sounds very cool.

[gs scott]

Simon,

This is great!! Thanks for sharing. Glad you could visit, and the master of story-telling has reeled quite a few of us in! Keep it coming!

[simon kuether]

Sorry about that, work..............

We were up and gone at 3am. Motel to LAX, in a shuttle, with a "famous person?" I asked who she was and she got offended? No media frenzy. Bummer. Was looking forward to that and may have been "discovered".
LA, Detroit, Dayton. 5 hours. I hate planes. Interesting though. I had a window seat and almost wore the glass out. Leaving the west coast the country appeared a bit arid. I'm thinking, ' a bit like home'. Dry, sparsely populated, spectacular, hard country.
Then you cross the Rockies......
Nothing like home at all. Farms. Lots & lots of "farms". Shoulder to shoulder for a thousand miles. Unbelievable. Towns and cities "everywhere". We have "patches" of agriculture (cropping) and cities close to the coast and basically the rest of the country is "empty". The scale f the agriculture was staggering. Flew over (could see) Denver, Des Moines, Chicago and Detroit. Changed planes at Detroit and off to Dayton to meet up with Josh and Rose.
You need to know what's going on here. We don't know any of the following people. Only via the GSR. Unbelievable.
Frank, I like your work.

Josh is picking us up from the airport, then motel, then his place. He's sorted the bike and organised a ride to "show us around" the Blue Ridge Parkway, for 4 days. Unreal.
Josh (TheCafeKid) and Steve (MrSteve) got us installed and off to see the bike.
Met Rose (Kinnet) and Hootch (their dog- the only American with the good taste to appreciate Vegemite Toast).



Then this.....


It's love at first sight.


Met Rob (Kparkfan) and Heidi and Bonita (Mrs Steve)
Lasagna and salad, beer (or wine) and laughs. Good stuff. This is going to be good fun.
Steve and Josh fitted a back rest/rack for Deb, and a screen. I had to restrain Steve who was keen to carve up the tail piece with a grinder, to fit the rack. "Luckily", Josh had 4 more so one of them was used. The original was too pretty to hack. Masterful work there Steve, old mate. Looked like you'd paid money for it (not much though).





Unbelieveable. Everyone's so friendly and helpful. Unreal. Good honesty, happy people with a shared passion. Great stuff. Individuals, one and all.I think that's why I've always enjoyed bikes. Only ever really met "good" people.
Back to the motel at midnight (thanks Josh) and sleep......

Cheers , Simon and Deb .

[Steve]

Hey, I have NO problem hacking away, ... as long as it's not mine.

.

[ddaniels]

Glad you and the wife had a good time. Maybe next year I can get to meet you.

[Baatfam]

More...give me more...

Why oh why are you dragging this out....

[dardoonk]

Kangaroo Two??.... just name the time & place.. I was so glad to be part of ride & have an opportunity to meet both of you. Now.. get back to the story tellin'

[TheCafeKid]

Kangaroo Two??.... just name the time & place.. I was so glad to be part of ride & have an opportunity to meet both of you. Now.. get back to the story tellin'

Workin on it....