Road Home, day 11

We make it to Arizona by Tuesday morning. We pick up the van and spend an hour and transferring all our junk into it, and cleaning up the RV a little. At the rental place, we present a list of all the problems the RV gave us and how much time we lost waiting for it to get services. At first we think they are only going to refund $250 dollars, but after a little convincing, they refund $1600! Allright, so Cruise America comes through after all.A funny note about the rental place. All the signs are in English and German, and they have a freshly imported German girl working at the main desk. Obviously, it’s because Germans are their primary client. I lived in Germany for a year, plus i have traveled all over the world, and renting an RV to drive around the US is a German standard. Elsewhere, they take bus tours. Anyway, I quiz Steve as to why he thinks the signs are in German. Steve speaks German as well, and yet, he said he did not recognize the written language as being German! I found this strange, but maybe he speaks and doesn’t read it? Still, my husband can recognize written German and he is the worst person at learning/speaking foreign languages I know. But I digress.

Back in the van, we drive through Arizona, stopping at the rest stop on the 10. Yes, you know the one I am talking about if you have driven the 10 in Arizona.

Mike is tired

We are getting stir crazy from driving 48 hours straight

We stop at another that has a lot full of tanks! I have been to this stop yet I never knew about the General Patton tank museum.

US tank named Sluggo

Czech water tank for crowd control

It also had some Israli tanks and some others i could not identify. Cool place, check it if you are driving through. Its the same stop that sells the date shakes.
Finally, we make it to Mikes house in LA around 7pm. I help unload and transfer my junk to my truck. Drive home, eat horseradish pretzels to stay awake. Make it home before 10. Trip is complete! Some hell parts of the trip but overall, worth it. There will be other things that come out of this even if the pilot never airs.

Now it’s back to my day job, for now.  I’ll be posting other clips as Mike edits them!

~Britt

Road Home, day 10

We basically drive non-stop all the way back to Arizona to return the RV. Steve and Mike take turns driving, I drove a few times in the early morning when both of them couldn’t stay awake. I still had to work from 8-5 California time on Monday and Tuesday, so my driving availability was limited. I hate driving with all of my being anyway.

From Jennings, we make it to Texas by Monday morning. It rains most of the day driving through Texas.

It rains so hard the RV leaks water through the bathroom light and practically floods the place. Then the light in the kitchen area fills with water and starts leaking. Like I said , this RV is a pile. I rig the shower curtain up so that most of the leaking water is redirected to the shower drain.

Mike makes breakfast in the moving RV.

Toward the afternoon, it stops raining. We stop so I can get on a work conference call.

Later still we get to clear skies. Texas has great rest stops. Note the Texas flag is the only one flying in the photo.

We stopped at a lot of rest stops.

And kept on driving through the night.

Jennings, Day 9

I wake up with Steve driving the RV to the track at 6:30am. Actually it was 7:30..the time had changed the night before. We arrive at the track and plug into some power, unload the bikes and sign all our forms. It was cold!

Before we knowit, we hear an announcement for a riders meeting. Steve films it and Mike takes some photos.

A few of the guys offered at dinner last night to change my tires with tire irons, since there would be no trackside tire service today. They put the bike on tire warmers and the new tires on warmers as well, to make the rubber more pliable. Here are my tires on their handlebars:

I help remove the wheels and Steve films the tire change:

Before getting on the track, we had to film several interviews. It was too bloody cold to ride in the morning anyway.

Me interviewing Pete, my voice is off camera

More of Pete’s interview

We also interview a guy named Tom. He is 70 years young and the nicest guy ever you could ever wish to meet. He has friends everywhere and is manic about riding, racing and motorcycles in general.

We rig a bike up and I film Tom and Pete for a session. Tom is just ripping! He is just an awesome guy.

Gary from BMW arrives and rides the 2nd Honda. I film him for a while. Then Pete films the both of us riding together (footage didn’t turn out, Pete’s suspension was so stiff the camera shook too much). Finally I get cut loose and can ride a few sessions. I have a blast running around with everyone.

Steve gets to ride later in the day, it’s his first time on a 600 and second time at the track. He does pretty darn good considering. Pete leads him around and I film him for 4 or 5 laps, just so he can see himself and critic his own riding. In the last session of the day, he gets his knee down for the first time ever. He is ecstatic for the rest of the trip.

We ride until the very last session, then pack up and hit the road for home.

Daytona, day 8

March 8, Daytona 200 race day

We originally were supposed to film the BMW FX team efforts in the paddock and on the track - Nate Kern is a Kushitani rider. However, Daytona Raceway would not give us press credentials to film, and BMW could only give us one paddock pass. So, while the filming part of going to Daytona was out, we still got to meet with several different companies regarding support. If the show is a go, there is a lot of interest.

Since the earlier Texas trackday we planned on attending had rained out, we needed to find another trackday that fit our schedule and route for more track footage. Earlier in the trip, I found two trackdays in a row at Jennings GP in Florida. Mike contacted the organizer of X-Act trackdays and told him what we were doing. He invited us to attend his day on Sunday, March 9, the next day.

This meant today we either could watch the races, or fix the bike I crashed so we would have two bikes to film with, return the last scooter, and drive the three hours to Jennings. We fixed the bike. Freddies School had sent bodywork, a lever and footpeg to the campsite.

Mike returned the scooter and met with more people at the track. Steve and I picked him up in the RV and we headed out to Jennings. I am really sorry we missed the Cole Slaw wrestling that Bike Week had to offer: Coleslaw wrestling lives on during Daytona’s Bike Week

We arrived at the track around 4 in the afternoon, met everyone, walked the track, took some photos. While Florida was round 75 degrees when we left, Jennings was around 60 degrees when we arrived and getting colder. The track had great runoff, was really safe (all those trees are not near impact zones) and was quite pretty. NOw I know tracks out East all look better than our West coast desert tracks, but this was particularly picturesque.

We joined 12 other people for dinner at a Japanese Hibachi restaurant. Being a small town, the only thing to do on a Saturday night was go out to eat, so we had an hour and half wait. Most racetracks in the US are in the middle of nowhere, so this is pretty standard for a weekend track event.

The best part of the evening was the party bus that sat at the two adjacent grills around us. 25 drunken overdressed 22 year olds out for a night on the town. It was interesting to note the hairstyle trends the girls were sporting - popular coor stripes that went out on the West coast 5 years ago were the hot ticket. That, and either a smokey, smokey eye, or blue (??) eye shadow. Oh, of course the lower back tattoo was still being displayed, whereas on the West coast most of those are already regretted and ignored. I’m sorry I dont have any photos of the party bus crew, only ours:

Mike, with Pete and Anna, the track day organizers.

These guys changed my tires the next morning with tire irons

Steve and a sunburned dude out from Chicago

Daytona, day 7 continued

Friday evening

So, you last left me with a brand new rain-soaked scooter that wouldn’t start. You made me walk-in the rain- to the hotel where there was some BMW shin-dig that we would be schmoozing at. Well, I did get there, and it didn’t take long either.

The Marriot hosted a BMW pool party, but since it was pouring rain, it was held inside. There was a mexican food buffet and a dessert table complete with a chocolate fountain and cubes of melon to for chocolate fondue. There were cups of toothpicks, but no one seemed to recognize the fondue fountain for what it was. I saw people with plates of un-chocolated melon. I also so people stick spoons in the fountain, cups…but no melons on spears! c’mon people, FONDUE - learn it, love it.

But I digress. I arrived and found Mike, discussed the scooter and what to do with it while I heaped some Mexican food on my plate and dug in. We decided to call John Stoddard at Kymco to come pick it up, in addition to the scooter Mike rode over, since it was pouring and we weren’t riding the 5 miles to the RV park in the rain (although we did have waterproof jackets!)

The place filled up, I mean really filled up, and the BMW Formula Xtreme race team members Nate Kern, Brian Parriot and Richard Cooper signed spanky new BMW hardback books on BMW racing. Earlier, Nate joined us at our table and discussed attending the track day at Jennings in two days to get some onboard footage of him for the show (but that didn’t pan because he crashed and broke his hand the next day.) I think Coopers bike was in the room, but I honestly can’t remember which number was on the bike.

BMW raffled off a bunch of stuff. I joined a table of three older guys and they all had winning raffle tickets. In fact, they had a fourth ticket they gave to me, which also was a winning ticket. I won an XL BMW polo shirt, which I promptly gave right back to them.

Simultaneously, the AMA supercorss was being held in the raceway stadium. Evidently it was the muddiest supercross to date. We could see from outside the track was just a quagmire of goo. Ask Chad Reed about it, he’ll tell ya.

When the supercross was over, Kymco came to get the scooter Mike had and I met them over at the misbehaving scooter, which mysteriously started with no problems. I didn’t care we couldnt figure out what was wrong before (it wasnt me, I swear) as long as I didnt break it, I’m happy. I went back to wait for over an hour and a half for a taxi. The hotel receoption desk called our cab three times and finally called a different service. It was 11 at night and I was fed up with waiting. Mike tried to tell me to be Zen about it but I wsaid Zen doesnt get you anywhere, and walked out into the rain to the main road. Immediately two empty cabs drove by and I hailed us one. Ha, zen indeed.

Back at the RV, Steve hadn’t wanted to ride nor drive through the rain so he stayed at the RV by himself for 8 hours and cooked, cleaned and cleaned some more. We came back and drank beer, then went to sleep. It rained all night and the RV leaked everywhere.

Daytona, day 7

Friday, March 6

This is no longer “the road to” since we have been here for two nights already.

Today we filmed more on board and point of view scooter stuff for Kymco. (Kymco sponsored this trip in return for lots of film footage). We rigged a helmet cam and went to some nearby neighborhoods to shoot.

Kymco also sent us reflective, waterproof jackets:

We film for around four hours, riding around. I start riding over lawns and driveways for giggles. We head to shoot under the bridge, where we chat with some funny old dudes while Steve films. Then Mike cuts loose for more meetings at the track, Steve goes to the RV with plans to meet Mike at the track later, and I take a scooter ride out past the racetrack to the beach and further North. It starts to DOWNPOUR when I am farthest away from the RV park. I wait it to lighten a little bit then start heading to the track. Of course, it starts pouring again. I have a t-shirt and my new jacket (waterproof!) no gloves, and a dark shield on my helmet. I can’t see a thing! I pull into a gas station to wait it out and meet up with around 10 other riders getting out of the rain.

There are a few girls there, all young-ish, alll on the back of cruisers, all drinking beer. One overweight girl has jean shorts on that are 2 sizes too small, so her thighs we squeezed out the bottom and her gut was in danger of flopping over the top. I swear, why don’t girls just get clothes that FIT? You can be chunky, more power too ya, just wear clothes that don’t make it look bad.

I did talk to a few of the guys there while I waited, the older guys weren’t so bad. I waited about a half hour, until 3:30pm.

There was going to be a party for BMW closet o the track somewhere, starting around 5:30. I couldn’t get hold of Mike to meet him at the track, so when the weather lightened up a little I headed to the mall right next to the speedway.

I got a pedicure at the mall. Living in a small RV with two guys, an uncomfortable bed, minimal privacy and not much time to take care of myself I felt like I needed it. Mike called and told me where the party was while I was in the pedicure chair.

I went to jump on the scooter and it wouldn’t start, wouldn’t even crank. I tried everything but no turn over, thought the lights did work. Fortunately the hotel the party was at was basically across the street, so I left the scooter in the parking lot and walked to the Ramada in the rain.

To Be Continued…

Road to Daytona, day six

Day 6

Today we move the RV to its “permanent” spot. We are right in front of the laundry area and showers, so there is a lot of foot traffic here. Subsequently, the people watching is great.

Rigging the cameras at our campsite. Note laudry do-ers behind.

Steve and I film onboard and point of view stuff on the scooters. We head to the main drag of Daytona beach, where all the hotels are to film. We are surrounded by belching, flatulent Harleys. I do have to admit that there are far fewer people here than when I was here last, two years ago (or was it three?)

Mike is at the track talking to Ralph Shaheen about voicing over the show. He views the little clip that Mike has created and likes it, agrees to help out with the show. Mike gets back to the RV right as it is getting dark. We are running low on food so I take Steve on the back of one of the 250 scooters to the store down the road. Steve has a list for himself and Mike so I split off and I get me some pretzels, Fresca, balance bars and cottage cheese. This is what I am living on, plus whatever Steve or Mike may cook or if we go out to dinner. I did notice that food in Florida is far cheaper than in California. Back at the ranch, Mike cooks us tacos. As soon as we arrive back at the RV it begins to rain, and continues to rain all night.

We work on editing for a while, I watch more Long Way Down, put the earplugs in and go to sleep.

Road to Daytona, Day five

Day 5

I wake up with gravity pulling my body to the left. We are at a rest stop in Florida with the RV parked sideways on an incline, 200 miles from Daytona. I get up to check it out since there is a big body of water on one of the borders of the stop. Quite a few people are fishing, and a sign says No Swimming with an image of an alligator. I wonder if this is real or to tease the many tourists who stop at this rest area.

It takes a few hours but we get to Daytona. We go straight to the track to film Kymco scooters and the rep talking about them and other stuff. They give us three loaners for the week. Then we go to BMW to film them talking about the track, bikes, etc. It all takes around 3 hours, then we head out to the RV park.

We get hopelessly lost, and finally find the the RV park after following what seemed to be two different sets of directions. When we get there, there are no reservations for us so we have no hookups. They will have water and power for us the next day. After much cursing and screwing around with filling the water and empty the black and gray water, we figure out that Mike has actually booked and paid for a different campground! This is because Mike is hopelessly disorganized, losing his phone and ear piece multiple times an hour, along with everything else he is supposed to keep track of. I find trip receipts in the sink, money on the floor, random tools in cupboards or drawers. His notes are just as bad, hence following directions to the wrong place….

We park the RV and Steve gets to cooking. This campground is full, and I mean FULL, of drunk old dudes on cruisers. Music is blaring, campfires are going and much beer is being swilled. There are guts a-plenty, on every man, woman and child. Awesome mullets are seen. Most campsites are a mess.

I take a long overdue run around the neighborhood as it gets dark. After dinner, we are exhausted and decide not to go to the BMW press release back where ever near the track. I watch an episode of the Long Way Down and pass out.

~Britt

Road to Daytona, Day four

Day 4

I wake up at 8am and the RV is just outside Houston, Mike and Steve took shifts driving all nigh. This morning we go to another service place to fix our electrical stuff. It didn’t take long and I am not sure exactly what the guy did, but our electrical stuff is fixed. We are back on the road.

We drive all day through Louisiana, stopping to have dinner at VooDoo BBQ, in the garden district of New Orleans. I walk around for an hour and try to take some photos of interesting architecture. I love the garden district with its giant, historic homes and vow to come back and spend more time. It’s evident how wealthy this whole city once was was.

We leave and drive all night again through the rest of Louisiana and Alabama.

Road to Daytona, Day three

Day 3, El Paso Texas

Today we arrive bright and early at the truck repair place that will fix our electrical problems and our generator. They tell us they won’t even get to the RV until around 1pm. Fortunately, there is a lounge with tables and nice couches we can hang out in. It’s Monday, and I have to be working anyway, Mike needs to edit the stuff we shot the day before, so we get comfy in the lounge with my computer and settle down to wait. They also have hook ups for the RV while we are waiting, so Steve finally gets to cook his eggs and toast his bread in the RV.

We basically wait all day. I took a walk. We make some food. Steve took a nap. We watch Americas Funniest Home videos on TV. At 5 we roll out with the generator repaired…and still none of the electrical outlet working! I don’t even think the place looked at the electrical problem. We need to get to Daytona by Wednesday evening, so we have to leave. We drive all night again, almost all the way to Houston.