Breaking in the bike--my brand new R1200GSA in the Shenandoah Mountains!
Starting the cross-country trip--east to the boardwalk at Ocean City, Maryland
It being March, the beach is completely deserted
Yup, this way too...
The first sign I saw for Route 50--the plan was to ride it all the way from Ocean City Maryland to California, weather permitting
Fast forward about 2000 miles to New Mexico. "Fly over country" was too cold, miserable, and ugly to take any pictures of...
An old gas station on Route 66 near Oatman
Joshua Tree National Park
Lots of beautiful wild flowers in JTNP
More of the same
Yup, still there
More wildflowers!
Up into the mountains near Idyllwild, lost of snow on the roadsides
Finally, the hotel in Malibu
Somewhere on Highway 1
Highway 1, with wildflowers
Highway 1, @ Lucia (?)
Ainsa
Torla
Nice lake south of Ainsa
Hilltop fortress somewhere in Spain
Lost in the mountains
Cool village with houses made completely with stone, even the roofs
Somwhere in Spain
Somewhere in Spain
Segovia
Toledo, from hotel next to Alcazar
View of lots of nothing, somewhere in Spain
Hilltop fortress in Spain
The walls of Avila
Avila
Cozy hotel in Sevilla
Before setting out on short trip from Benihavis
Gibraltar
Lighthouse at Gibraltar
Rainbow at Gibraltar
Ugly monkey at Gibraltar
View from the top of the Rock
Gibraltar, from the top of the Rock
Trafalgar
Cadiz
My hotel in Cadiz
Christmas in Cadiz (January?)
Spanish Christmas, Cadiz
A quiet morning in Cadiz
An olive grove somewhere in Spain
Funky art in Sevilla
A rainy night in Sevilla
Sevilla at night
Sevilla
Sevilla's back alleys
In front of hotel in Jerez de la Frontera
Jerez
Beautiful church in Jerez
Jerez de la Frontera
Just before leaving Jerez, about 5 degrees Celsius
Leaving Jerez, toward Ronda and clouds...
Road closed, had to take detour
Somewhere near Ronda. Found the clouds, snow
Survived the icy pass, descending towards the coast
Alhambra, sunset
Alhambra sunset
Another Alhambra sunset view
Fountain in Granada
Night in Granada
Night festivities in Granada
Night procession in Granada
Alcazar
Somewhere in Spain, March 2010
Ronda
Bull Arena in Ronda
View from balcony in Ronda
Ronda self portrait
Just some typical scenery
In some national park in Spain
Nothing special, one of few places to pull over for pic
Olive (?) grove
Somewhere north of Estepona
In the mountains north of Estepona
Part of a group of 50 biker cluttering the road
Black tree
Green tree
Near Estepona in March...gotta be Russians
The beach somewhere near Estepona
The bike warehouse in Estepona...dreary place
At the ferry terminal in Tarifa
Pulling out of Tarifa on the first ferry in the morning
Somewhere on the Atlantic coast of Morocco
Essaouira
The fortress at Essaouira
Hotel Miramar in Essaouira
The beach at Essaouira
Tree-climbing goat south of Essaouira
More tree-climbing goats
The tree-climbing goats' shepard
The beach north of Agadir
Cafe owner near Tizi-n-Test pass
Said cafe
In the High Atlas, heading toward Marrakech
Village somewhere in the High Atlas
Typical road in the High Atlas
The mosque at Tin Mal
View from the mosque at Tin Mal
Village somewhere in the Atlas, descending toward Marrakech
Another village...
Finally arrived in Marrakech, parked bike on "garage" (presumably former camel stable) on Djemaa el Fna (main square)
Here's a view of the square from the roof terrace of my hotel (CTM Hotel)
Same view, as darkness falls...
A lively, chaotic, scene down in the square, with lots of Moroccan story-tellers, dancers, musicians, snake-charmers, henna tatoo artists, and various other exotic characters
Djemaa el Fna at night
Fruit/nut vendor in Djemaa el Fna
My favorite seafood vendor in Djemaa el Fna...ate here twice
A tea vendor in the square
The next day, into Marrakech's legendary souk
Nightime in the souk
First tiem I ever found cats sleeping on my bike
A rather deserted Djemaa el Fna at 07:00, as I am leaving Marrakech
Telouet
A view from the castle in Telouet
The interior at Telouet
The ruins at Telouet
Still in Telouet...
The piste from Telouet to Ait Ben Haddou
Further along the piste from Telouet to Ait Ben Haddou
Still further along the piste...
OK, same piste here...
You can probably tell I really liked this piste...
The chubby little kid in front of Dmitri's while I was stocking up on wine
Tamnougalte
On the piste between Tamnougalte and Zagora
Another from the piste between Tamnougalte and Zagora
One more from the same piste...
Stunning terrain on the road between Ouarzazate and Zagora
A fake "Timbouctou" sign in Zagora
Cool old fort near N'kob
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
At the hotel in Merzouga (Dar el Janoub); nice place!
Psyche!
zzzzzzz......
This time with camels
More dune action
OK, last one
My trusty mount in the dunes
One of my favorite shots--near sunset in the dunes
The closest you'll get to seeing me on a camel
Yes! More dunes
Almost over...
Not yet...
A retro shot
Visiting the famous Source Bleue de Meski
The Source Bleue de Meski itself
The obligatory dinosaur shot at a museum near Erfoud
Just past Todra Gorge
Heading toward Agoudal in the High Atlas
Somewhere near Agoudal in the High Atlas
Field of wild flowers during descent from Atlas Mtns
More wildflowers
I was completely lost at this point, but I liked the shot
Between Azrou and Volubilis
Roman ruins at Volubilis
Mosaic at Volubilis
More ruins
Another mosaic
One more mosaic
Somewhere in Fez...
Another dark alley in Fez
Man and cat in Fez
Fez
Beautiful flowers on the "road" (and I apply the term loosely) between Fez and Ouazzane
Also somewhere near Ouazzane
Some French bikers I met waiting for the ferry in Tanger...didn't speak any English, but we tried to chat a bit
Waiting for the ferry in Tanger
At the beach in Estepona, before heading to the warehouse
Cabo de Roca
Moorish Castle in Sintra
View from Moorish Castle in Sintra
View from Hotel in Zaragoza
Zaragoza
Boring Square in Zaragoza
Fountain in Zaragoza
Pedestrian zone in Zaragoza
Carcassonne
St Tropez
Monte Carlo
Near Monaco
Some town in the mountains
Orta San Giulio
Lago Maggiore
Cannobio
Ferry on Lago Maggiore
Parked by hotel in Lugano
Rainy morning in Lugano
Parked in front of Hotel Metropole in Bellagio
View toward Como from hotel balcony
Como ferry
Nasty weather at the point in Bellagio
More of the same weather...
Bellagio
Hotel Splendide in Bellagio
Bellagio ferry dock at night
Early morning ferry on Como
Sunny morning, from hotel balcony
Vie from balcony
Morning ferry ride to Como's western shore
Bella Bellagio from ferry
View from Como ferry
View from the point in Bellagio
Leaving Bellagio on an end-of-season ferry
Lago Iseo
Verona at night
Verona's Roman arena
Verona
Verona's market square
Verona's market square at night
Bergamo's old town
Fountain in Bergamo's old town
View of Bergamo's old town from castello
Park on ruins of Bergamo's castello
View from Bergamo's castello
Sculpture Gallery, Florence
Cafe, Florenc
Florence
Choir, Florence
Florence, view from Ponte Vecchio
Florence, musician on Ponte Vecchio
Florence, Ponte Vecchio
Florence, view from hotel roofdeck
Florence, view from hotel balcony
Florence, Cathedral
Florence, dinner
Milan, cafe
Milan
Milan, cathedral
MIlan, cathedral
Milan, castle
The route for this year's Border Run
A tank monument near Belgorod
Same monument
Belgorod's theater
Windmill near Prokhorovka
Landscape near Prokhorovka
Monument to Battle of Kursk
Same monumnet
Battle Museum, Prokhorovka
Recipients of Hero of Soviet Untion Medal, Prokhorovka
Landscape around battlefield
Village near battlefield
Ruined grain facility
Landscape heading back towards Moscow
Small road, trying shortcut to Moscow
XChallenge in its native habitat
Trying out a load plan
The monastery in Rostov Veliky (again)
Uncrating the bike, Irkutsk
Had filled up and ready to hit the road by noon
Nice view over Lake Baikal
At the eastern end of Baikal, electrical problem strikes!
The tour base where I pushed the bike
Zorig soldering the ignition wire back on
For some reason a large group of Chinese tourists decided to stay at the same tour base
This car was driving from Northern China to Murmansk, or somewhere
Pedestrian zone, Ulan Ude
Giant Lenin Head, Ulan Ude
In front of the Giant Lenin Head in Ulan Ude
The river near Ulan Ude
I just wanted a few patties of butter, but...
Lunch stop somewhere east of Chita. Chips and a coke.
Clouds ahead...
Discouraging news from Zumo as I look for a hotel; it lists "Barn", "Hunter's Shack", etc...
About 100 meters from the turn-off the main highway to Yakutsk. 1156 km; gravel starts right by triangular sign.
Finally, near Tynda, I got a range to Yakutsk from the Zumo
Typical shot of the road, ho hum
Another shot of the road, didn't realize that there were mountains here, with snow!
Another view of the road, much like the others
Another shot, at least sunny this time
Found a hotel in Aldan, about 400 km from Yakutsk; store next door had Bud, I couldn't believe it!
Verkh Amga, a fairly picturesque spot on the river.
Shortly after Verkh Amga, trouble! My first flat tire, ever. Within a few minutes Pavel stopped to help!
Pavel drives trucks along this road, so he says he gets lot of practice changing tires. He was incredibly helpful.
Finally, the end of the road, on the ferry to Yakutsk
White Nights on the Lena River
Another White Night shot
White Nights on the Lena
Same time as previous pic, opposite side of sky!
Lena Pillars
Picnic break at the Lena Pillars
Same...
Our boat to the Lena Pillars
Passengers
It's not a trip without a sticker
Here's the route from Yakutsk to Magadan
Here's some kind of lodge in Yakutsk
Intricately-carved mammoth tusk at the lodge
Close up...
Meeting some Yakutsk bikers in Chicago, Yakutsk's one and only American bar
In the garage of Yakutsk's theater, with the Moscow riders
In the parking lot of the hotel in Yakutsk before setting out
Doug summoned a priest to bless his Harley
Blessing accomplished, Doug gets ready to go
Doug contemplates the big trip during the ferry across the Lena
Hans-Jorg, an Austrian also on the ferry
A rustic building on the first day out of Yakutsk
A horse pasture on the first day out of Yakutsk
The XChallenge loaded for the trip
Some guy carved a bunch of figures out of wood, pretty impressive
Same place...
Again...
More
Yura and Igor, friendly guys waiting for the Aldan ferry
In the morning at the Aldan ferry crossing
On the ferry across the Aldan River
The Aldan Ferry
Big Andrei's bike under repair in Khandyga
Khandyga
The other Moscow guys riding into Khandyga
We couldn't find the Gulag museum, the best we could do was the geology museum
With various mammoth bones
Finally, the road east of Khandyga
Max, loaded with rations for the barren wastelands east of Khandyga
An first view of the mountains
Closer to the mountains
Closer, but the weather is not looking good
Trying to catch the rainbow at the top of the hill!
Another rainbow...
Just another shot of the road
Some kind of holy spring where the water never freezes...
Che taking notes near the holy spring
Finally right in the mountains
Raining now, but still pretty scenery
Still beautiful!
Campsite on the river near Razvilka
Dinner at the campsite on the river near Razvilka
Our campsite in the morning light
A bit later in the morning
Just a shot of the road
Typical scenery
More mountains!
This is a pretty good stretch of the road
One of many abandoned bridges
Another shot of the road
Quick pit stop
More road
On the riverbank near Kyubeme
White rock almost broke my leg
The old bridge at Kyubeme
Kafe "Cuba" at Kyubeme, a very welcome sight!
Somewhere along the road...
More scenery
Ust Nera
Happy to reach Ust Nera
Our hotel in Ust Nera
Ust Nera gas station
Water-crossing
Deep water-crossing
Looking for a way across
Crossing an old bridge
Same old bridge
Doug across the bridge
Another old bridge
Another ruined town
An abandoned village
Escaping the PSA
Some pilots who died during WWII
Abandoned city of Kadykchan
Kadykchan
Road view
Artyk
Taking a quick break
Garage in Susuman
Yagodnoye
Kolyma River
Toward the end of the road
Front wheel of moto...
Cold Bud in Ortotukan
In Magadan
Magadan
Mask of Sorrow in Magadan
Mask of Sorrow
Fog in Magadan
Hotel VM in Magadan
Dinner at the Green Krokodil after the ride
Dinner at the Green Krokodile
Bikes parked at the hotel
Spirit of St Louis clock in Magadan airport
Santa Margherita
Portofino
R1200R
