Embedded Files
I Spent much of the last year studying and developing a Scooter route plan across the USA. Now it is time to go out and proof ride the route.
The Route Development Ride is complete now, below you will find the story of our ride.
If you want to join us on the ride next year (2015) signup on the following link: Scooters Across America 2015
We will be carrying a Spot GPS tracker, so if you like you can visit the tracking website and get an update on my progress. Yes kind of cool, you can find me on the map
Where is gpsKevin and Jeffrey Now?
Comments from people watching us make this adventure and cheering me on!
First the Buildup and decisions before the ride begins
Before 5/20/2014: My plan is to ride the route by myself on a small motorcycle in order to understand the route and refine the route and activities each day. I have chosen one of my favorite bikes 'Mrs Centers"
Yes ride the route on a WR250R this should give me some of the small bike experience but I will have the freedom to explore and discover options along the way. gpsKevin
Weekend 5/23/2014: Jeffrey came home from College for the memorial day weekend and wants to join me on the Scooter Pre Ride Trip. Great news decision made! Now what bike should he ride?
5/25/2014: It would be great if people could find a cheep scooter to use on the ride. It seems to me that all over america you can now buy a cheap Chinese scooter new for a $1000. But I wonder if they would be just a bucket of problems? OK so this morning I am looking in Craigslist and I find a 150cc Chinese scooter with 3700 miles advertised for $200 (does not run). I am thinking the best way to understand if Chinese scooters can go the distance is to go buy a worn out one and "Study it". So we go to Ocean Beach to look at the scooter. I take the key and try to open the gas cap and it breaks off in the lock. Ok now I can't even try to start it or look under the hood because there is no key to open anything. So I tell the person no thanks I am not interested. As I am walking away he say to me will you take it for $100. I am feeling a little guilty for breaking the key so I agree to take it.
BMS 150 scooter not running
5/26/2014: We get the scooter home and I pull the broken key out of the lock and solder it back together. The beach weather has been bad to it. There is lots of rust and corrosion all over the bike.
The battery is dead, so I install a new one and tried to start it. According to the old owner it has not run in a long time. After a few minutes of cranking it started! WOW and runs just fine!
5/29/2014: Been riding the chinese scooter all over, I have now been to the top of Palomar Mountain and I have logged 300 miles on it. No problem it is running perfect. Just turned 4000 mile on the speedo. This begs the question: Should we attempt to ride this worn out scooter all the way across america?
6/18/2014: Got a new Chinese copy of a Honda Mini Trail 70, yes a CT70. Wow is it kind of cool.
Yes so we will no longer be taking the WR250R Mrs Centers. OK so that means no good backup bike. We will be on our own on two cheep Chinese bikes. Wow why would we do this?
Jeffrey will be carrying all the tool and backup parts that we will need
Jeffrey made a Video to explain the bike change. 1 minute long. Were sure this makes since
OK this all seems like a "GOOD IDEA"
We start this Saturday morning
Next the Ride to San Francisco, just to get to the start of the ride
6/21/2014: Started our ride today. First we will ride from San Diego to San Francisco for 2 days and then we will start the trip across the country. Loaded with all the gear we will need for the entire trip, mom took our photos as we departed. 7:30 am, Look we still look happy, as if we do not know what we are about to do.
Rode up over the Ortega highway and even passed some bicycle riders.
Going up hill or into the wind we are down to 30mph, Jeffery was bored so he took this photo as proof!
Stopped in Huntington Beach and said good bye to our buddy Gary and had an awesome lunch, THANKS
Gary thought my scooter was no so small
Lots of stop and go traffic all along the beach. Rode 294 miles with an average speed of 31mph.
At the end of the day we could not find a motel, who would have thought it is hard to get a motel on the beach in CA in the summer on a Saturday night. After about 20 motels with no vacancy we found a smokeing room with one bed. so Success! I guess.
We stopped about 50 miles short of our goal.
Check out our Video from the Day
6/22/2014: Destination goal for the day was San Francisco. Going to be another long day We still have 50 miles undone from yesterday. Started in the damp and cold. We had several layers on and our rain clothes.
The weather did turn nice but it was still cold all day. A little while later we saw some Zebras along the road. Yes this is the California coast.
Zebras have migrated here.
Highway 1 along the coast is spectacular, and yes the speed of traffic is just about our 35 mph.
HEAD WIND WARNING: For a couple of hours we fought terrible head winds. Now with the wind slowing us down to crawling speed, then add a hill to it and it can be bad. Oh and it would try to blow us all over the road so people could not pass us. But, But I made my first pass of the day. Yes I was able to overtake a guy in a VW micro bus.
He pulled over for us because I was being an aggressive southern CA driver
We logged 320 miles today. And we have managed to pick up our average speed to 32 mph WOW were moving now.
Alright late in the day we made it! Yes 8:00 pm we rolled into our hotel in San Francisco. Kind of a dump for a motel but the room had a closet that just fit my bike.
Then it was late and Jeffrey looked up Chinese Food in San Francisco and found a 4 star rated place in walking distance. What are the chances of that? Ok the chefs special was Jalapeno Chicken. So I went for it.
Great way to end a day
Now the Ride Begins (NYC or Bust)
6/23/2014: OK after all the planning the ride really begins today: We are in downtown San Francisco and will be headed to Sacramento today.
The day started through Golden Gate Park and through the city. Jeffrey stopped at a city shop for some bananas
Then came the crossing the golden gate bridge. See our video to see how funny we look on the small bikes as we run wide open across the bridge.
We took a side trip through the back streets of Sausalito, cool homes back here
Then we headed north through the Golden Gate Nat'l Recreation Area. Very beautiful back here, and cool windy and steep roads.
Then came lunch in Petaluma at the: 4th&Sea Fish & Chips, awesome mom and dad type shop.
You guessed it we had the Fish and Chips
After lunch came the start of hot weather, I hope these little bike can take it, and us too
We rode along the Sacramento River for about 50 miles as we headed up into Sacramento.
Ok, Day1 complete, everything went well, and the bikes still seem to be fine. Although my CT70 seems to be shifting hard, and it even jumped out of 2 gear once. I hope it makes it, only 4100 miles left.
6/24/2014: Today was to begin in Sacramento, CA and work our way through the mountains today and dropping into the desert going through Carson City and along highway 50 to Fallen, NV.
The morning started out perfect waking up in Sacramento to perfect riding weather. Left the city headed out into the mountains
We worked our way through the city streets on our way over to the mountains and the beautiful countryside of northern California.
Had a great time winding up in the mountains through the forest roads. The tree canopy engulfed the road and just gave us a great shaded, remote country road to take in with all the miles. Continued through the trees wrapping along the hills to our first gas stop which happened to be this little country store and restaurant.
Continued to play around in the hills on awesome roads that brought you back to your childhood, just having fun cruising around with your friends, weaving in and out of the forested corners. Then I got him and he got me back.
That is I got a squirrel and he got me. I think I ended up with the upper hand since I wasn’t killed. We then continued on and worked our way down into Tahoe after overcoming our biggest obstacle.
We worked and worked the bikes were full throttle and were working as hard as they could to reach the summit. They kept Klim-ing up to the summit and reach the highest we have ever taken them, 7382 ft. Then we dropped down into Tahoe. Just an incredible view on the lake from the highway.
We went down to town and had a great lunch at BOB DOG Pizza, It was a great end to the first half of the day. Next we went down into Carson City and then worked our way across Highway 50, “The Loneliest Highway” towards Fallen, NV.
6/25/2014: Today we began in Fallon, NV and work our way across the desert floor and over some mountains towards our final destination Wells NV.
The morning started out bright and early leaving from Fallon at 6:45 since it was a long day ahead of us of some 397 miles. We started out on the loneliest road in America traveling across the desert.
This section was long and very flat but not as boring as you might think. It had some interesting scenery changes and even quite a few hills.
We had to work at having out scooters climb any and every hill along the day so, when there was a sign showing the pass we had to take a picture. There were a total of 9 passes so that shows that it isn't just a boring, flat old desert road. It had some nice scenery changes. The highest pass was at 7600 ft which is our new record for these little scooters and they just kept motoring along smoothly. We came to a couple old mining towns during the day.
These little old towns, such as Eureka, had just that great old time American mining vibe and just these very cool and authentic mining culture bestowed in them. We also went over the one of the famous trails that lead to the west.
Thats right the Pony Express Trail, we even found out that my dad could imitate a old cowboy. We continued on putting more and more miles under our belt until we had the first major failure.
Thats right we had a footpeg failure on the little 70. Okay, so it isn't as bad as you think just the little rubber cover came off. This was bad news for us though because we had to spend an hour looking back and forth on the highway for it.
We found it a 100 yard back from where we stopped and were able to hit the road again and motored on for our last 100 miles. This is also when we ran into our first rain of the trip. It happened to just be a little sprinkle and was a nice way to cool off.
6/26/2014: Today we began in Wells, NV and were headed towards Rupert, ID.
The morning had a little bit of a late start due to the fact that we were up till midnight working on the bikes. We were able to fix the scooters problem it was just the belt. put the old belt back on the bike and it ran fine again. That is why you shouldn’t change parts on the bike dad. He has always said don't take apart more than you have to so we should have listened to his own advice.
Started out a little cold and looked as it was going to be a cold rainy day. We each started with just an sweatshirt and our klim jackets. As the day progressed the weather turn worse and worse mile by mile.
We finally reached the end of the Nevada and got to Idaho.
Yeaaa, we finally made it across the nevada deserts and the little scooters are making it closer to New York. Once we crossed the state line the weather was looking really bad so we decided to put on all of our rain gear; waterproof gloves, boot covers, rain pants, and our jackets. Then we motored on and in about 2 miles we reached the rain.
We keep on seeing the sun off in the distance and hoping that we were leaving the storm since we still had 80 miles to travel. We got really close 10 times and every time we were close my dad’s route decided to turn and head right back towards the center. For the next hour we battled the rain and the tractor trailers flying by us and blinding us with all the water they threw up. We even saw some lightning off in the distance. We got off the main highway and hit some of the back roads and then in typical roulette fashion we came to a dirt road.
Now it was interesting going down a dirt road covered with gravel and ruts as well as having mud laid over the top. The little scooter didn't really like it especially with its tiny 10in tires and the suspension being only springs. This reminded me of riding a mechanical bull just hang on and hope you stay one. We worked and worked and finally made it the 7 miles down the dirt road and reach the pavement. Since we were back on hard stable ground the rain now decided to stop and we continued into town. Today we battled the elements not the distances like the day before, traveling a total of 170 miles. Let hope that tomorrow is not the worst of both having 220 miles and looks like it is going to rain.
The Story of Jeffrey's Scooter
6/27/2014: Today
The day started out at a reasonable time since it was all going to be highway and only a little over 200 miles. As we were starting we were scared about what the weather would do throughout the day.
It looked like it might turn out nasty. We started with these great farm roads which show us small town America and where all of our food comes from.
We continued and wrapped along I-80 on a frontage road and next to this incredible. Had little showers in the morning but today we were headed for the sun not the rain.
We continued towards our first gas stop and in my dad’s typical fashion his route ended on being tougher than he thought. We ran into a gravel dirt road, it wasn’t too bad since it was fairly well maintained and only 5 miles long but the scooter doesn’t like any dirt at all.
By now the sky was turning awfully dark so we decided to just have a quick snack and skip lunch in order to beat the rain. We made it to another dirt road that we though was only dirt up through the canyon but 10 miles later decided that it must continue all the way to the next gas which was another 50 miles. We turned around and had to reroute but by now the storm caught up with us. For the next hour we battled our way out and finally made it to the clear. Good thing we made it out of there in time.
We had a long 40 mile to our next gas stop and then yet again we had to get ready for the rain to make the last 40 miles into Wyoming. Ten miles into the final section we had to stop at a construction zone and then somebody got out of the car behind us and wanted to talk to us about our journey. We then continued up the road another mile or two and decided that the rain was going to get worse so we were going to put more clothes on. The same couple stopped and offered us to stay at their house. We battled our way up the hill and into Wyoming.
Half way up the hill we entered Wyoming and had to have a quick stop and get a picture. We then continued up the mountain. This was our hardest climb yet, it was a 10-15% slope in the middle of the pouring down rain on the worst gas that they have had, 85 which was the only gas at the last stop, as well as being over 7000 ft. It was a long and hard climb we dropped down to 10-15 miles per hour and still we being passed by fully loaded semi’s. We finally made it to the top and there wasn’t even a summit sign. We dropped into town and got to stay at this amazing guest house right on the river. We went out for dinner and it is time to call it a day.
So we had a get dinner and it is time to hit the hay today was a long day covering 250 mile with 5 hours of that being in the nasty rain. Our rain clothes worked great and we stayed dry which made the whole lot more bearable. Tomorrow we are making the journey through Yellowstone and then staying at the other side so it should be scenic and slow moving mile perfect for the scooters.
6/28/2014: Today we began in Jackson, WY and were to make the journey through Yellowstone to Cooke City, MT.
The morning started out bright and early in Jackson, WY in this beautiful cabin that we stayed in thanks to Guy and his wife. We were located right off of Fish Creek. It is amazing how much water was flowing through the river, coming from a Californian.
It was a damp and COLD morning we passed by the bank and their thermometer said 430. We started out with all of our cold weather gear since we knew it was going to be 50 miles of highway to the park. Got all ready and hit the road and traveled by this incredible antler statue.
Got a quick pick and then hit the road across the valley and towards Yellowstone. There were spectacular clouds that were forming in the mountain so we had to stop to warm up a bit and get a pic.
We just having a great morning so far, just a little cold for us on the scooters we are wanting a bike with some nice fearings like the Tenere. We continued on and with our luck the last couple day hit some more rain. There is nothing, nothing worse that 400 and raining.
So again we battled the rain but the cold is what really got to us. We had to stop and get hot chocolate in order to warm up and then we continued on our way to Yellowstone.
Decided we need a good father and son pic so we snapped this one and then continued on to Old Faithful. On the way we ran into some snow and it even resulted in getting the scooter stuck.
We continued on an by now the rain was nice enough to let off for a little while. We had a great lunch at the cafeteria and then we there at the perfect time. We were able to watch Old Faithful go off and it was just amazing how high the geiser go off.
We then continued on and crossed out highest peak and at the same time the continental divide. The scooters made it all the way up to 8400 ft in the cold, wet, and rain.
We continued on seeing some of the beautiful mountain countryside in North America. We also finally figured out why their rivers are so full and their forests are so green. It is because of all of the rain that we keep getting dumped on us. In the park we ran across 2 moose and a ton of buffalo. It is great seeing them come back.
If you look closely there is a whole herd of buffalo on the hillside. There were just specular views of the entire forest. This just shows one of the amazing valleys in the park. So we finished off our day and ended in Cooke City, MT. tonight we also finally changed the rear tire of the scooter. It was a fairly long day with 215 miles traveled and many hours of rain mixed throughout the day. It ended with a nice dinner at the Beartooth Cafe, just a great way to experience Yellowstone at 35mph.
6/29/2014: Today we began in Cooke City, MT and was to go over the beartooth highway and end in Sheridan, WY.
Today we decided to start a little bit later due to the fact that the previous morning was really cold so we did not set off until 8am. The route started with a few miles of this neat back highway leaving town. We saw a couple deer and even bambie crossing the road.
Then we worked our way across the valley and headed up for the morning climb. There were astonishing view that lied ahead throughout the day but first we had to go up and up and up, without balloons though. This marked the start of the beartooth highway.
By now we had slowly climbed our way up to around 7000 feet. It was also quite chilly had to be in the low 30’s. We continued on our way climbing up the mountain we ran into some incredible waterfalls and lookout spots along the road.
Keep going full throttle at 20 mph seeing all of the extraordinary view of the mountains and valleys below. We also had started to work our way up to all that rain from the previous day that was littered along the sides of the road.
We made it across the snow covered valleys and up to the summit some how. At the top we reached 11000 ft a new record for the scooter, they didn't really like it either. The temperature had also dropped and the wind had picked up which made it way colder. At the peak it was in the low 20 or high teens and with 25 mph wind gusts. It made it for a COLD ride even at 20 mph. At the top they were running a ski lift and the were skiers going down the mountain, kinda weird to see at the end of June.
We now worked our way down off the mountain and were able to warm up and stop at our first gas stop. We had an uneventful ride across the valley towards our lunch stop. Had a quick bite to eat and they headed back up into the mountains.
This was another challenging climbs for these mini bikes in went up 3,600 ft in 10 miles A very steep climb going up to 9,400ft another high pass for the scooters.
Went down the mountain and then hit a dirt road for a while. This was one of the best maintained dirt roads that i have ever been on just perfect. We ran into a buck of cows and even some longhorns. Had to stop and ask if he wanted to donate them to the scooter and snap a picture.
The day had lead us back and forth between Wyoming and Montana several time so we ended up with a variety of entrance signs to each state. This was a reasonable day with about 240 miles traveled and A lot of good times ranging from the 11,000 ft peaks to the 3,500 ft valleys and everywhere in between. We finally got a day without rain and just had an enjoyable experience and the new tire on the 70 works great. We were wishing for the heated grips and jacket in the morning. We we ended up in Sheridan and got to blend in with the local harley crowd.
6/30/2014: Today we began in Sheridan, WY and worked our way across Wyoming and towards “biker heaven” aka Sturgis, SD.
The morning started out just perfect weather with the sun out and wasn't too cold or windy just a slight breeze. Rode out of town and on some back farm roads. We even ran into a pack of chickens and boy were the rowdy, fighting chickens.
Okay, maybe they are rosters. There were lots of other figurines which was really neat. Next we continued on across the farmland and had to reroute due to another dirt road. Wish we had our wr’s with us would have been a lot of fun on the dirt. As we were going along today we ran into some deer.
We ran into a mom with her to little ones off to the side of road got a pic and headed on. Throughout the day we ran into more and more deer, last one that i counter was 49. That is a ton and 15 of them were all within 3 miles. Have to pay attention so you don't run into one. My dad paced one and figured out that a deer is as fast as a scooter. We continued on and ran into a construction zone.
In the middle of farmville, Wyoming we ran into traffic, is this the city or something? We waited for 20 min and then work our way following the pilot car. There were quite the ruts from previous cars which made it a little bit difficult for the scooter. Worked towards our lunch stop and had a quick bite to eat and headed out to catch the tail wind towards Sturgis.
Next we worked our way through some of the town and got gas. Passed by a bunch of trains and railway yards. Then we found a huge mining operation and figured out what all of the trains were therefor.
We continued on and then the road turned and we had to fight a head wind for the next hour, it also dropped the scooter speed down to 20 mph. It felt like we were barely moving and not getting any closer to Sturgis. We finally got there and the wild Ct70 had to get a picture by the sign.
Continued into town and were embraced with harley culture. The town is scattered with it and everything is biker this or biker that. We stopped in to the harley dealership and they all got a laugh about what we were doing but, really there were jealous.
That was it for the day we covered 230 miles mostly through farmland however it wasn't all that boring because there were rolling hills. Tomorrow we are headed to Interior, SD. Feels like we are almost home to SD.
7/1/2014: Today we had a late start due to the fact that it was raining when we got up. The goal however was to leave Sturgis, SD and work our way through the Black Hills and Badlands to Interior, SD.
It had been raining a lot over the night and was still raining in the morning. Does the weather not know we are from Southern California and don’t know how to deal with the elements? Okay, we sat around for a little while hoping for it to clear off and then left.
We got all of our things together and then tried to get down some miles and work our way towards clear sky’s. We first headed though the Black Hills in the morning.
Got a picture at the sign and continued along the ride. We came to numerous historic little towns in the morning. Lots of them were set up as old mining towns and for tourism. One of the old towns we came to had an old Hudson dealership. Kinda cool, since they are not around anymore just show some of the american car history.
We continued through town and ran into many historic car mechanic shop and stores. Really brought you back in time and no it was not Radiator Springs. Ran across a couple stores with a bunch of antiques.
We flowed through the hills on our way to Mt. Rushmore. The are some gorgeous rocks and forests throughout the Black Hills. Did the name have some influence from the black clouds that sits above them just looking at you? Ran into some of the local logging trucks running up and down the road. Finally we arrived at our first destination and looked around for a bit and continued on.
Worked our way to our lunch stop and then towards the Badlands. First we covered miles and miles of rolling hills and farmland in order to arrive at the Badlands. It is really crazy how they are just formed in the middle of nowhere and the weird shapes that these hills formed.
Continued through and there were some spectacular formations in the hills. Worked our way around and rerouted since my dad choose another dirt road and ended up in Interior. We got here around 2:00 pm so we had a short day but it worked perfect.
We changed oil in the scooters and did our laundry. Even though we finished early we still cover 175 miles and had lots of great times. There were some cool curvy roads through the black hills and I even ended up dragging the scooters belly in a corner. For once even though it started out looking like it was going to rain it turned out to be a dry day. Tomorrow is back to being a long day with 300 miles to travel.
7/2/2014: Today we had a late start leaving Interior, SD and the goal was to travel across the farmlands and indian reservation to Yankton,SD.
Yesterday was the tuned up the scooters by doing an oil change and tightening the chain on the Ct70. We then went out to dinner and came back and went to bed. So this morning we get ready to leave and my dad notices that his axle nut is missing. What are we going to do? We don’t have a spare one of those and Steve isn’t here to help us. We searched around town asking everyone and finally get to the town mechanic and finds a nut. So because of all this we got a late start. We started by finishing our way through some of the Badlands.
Saw a few more spectacular hills and then we started our way through the indian reservation and the farmlands. There were lots of hay bales and even some chicken coops.
Ran into a small chicken farm, well it wasn't that small there were like 15 buildings. It looked like it was abandoned which makes sense since there was not a horrific smell. We continued on the boring flat farm roads but, we found a couple of hills after our first gas.
It was really nice having a change for a couple of miles and having some turns again and some hills. We worked through the hills for 15 min or so and then were back to the plains. We ran into an enormous amount of cattle throughout the day.
There were tons of them and they were all standing there in a big group. Temple Grandin could have told me why they were all together, but hey we are on an adventure of our own. We continued on and reach our third time zone just one left.
We made it just a little further to NY. We have made it most of the way across so far and the 100 dollars scooter is still working even though it makes a nasty sound when it is starting. We also passed over the Missouri river today as well.
We made it across our first major river just the Mississippi left and then we are on the home stretch. We worked our way into town and had our final gas stop. Then we decided that we needed a ice cream break before we finished our last 100 miles. Sitting there drinking our milkshakes we were trying to figure out why the phone says phone from car?
Anyways we continued on and finished our last 100 miles and made it town Yankton, SD. today was a long day leaving a little after 8am and not getting in till 8pm, that was a full 12 hour day for us. We cover 320 miles today making it one of our longest days. We both wish that tomorrow was going to be a short day but, it should be another 300 mile day and hopefully it is full of clear sky’s again.
Sidebar: Scooter Noise update: Thanks for all the help and advise, we see the prevailing thoughts is that it is the starter. But we think that it is the warn out belt and we are hopping to get on in Chicago in two days. So other then the noise it is starting just fine and we will just hope to continue.
7/3/2014: Today we had a late start leaving Yankton,SD and were working our way across the farmlands to Marshalltown, IA.
We had a late start since we got in late the night before and that we didn’t really get used to the central time zone yet. So we left Yankton and headed out across the plains. The weather was looking like it was going to be perfect. We finished off South Dakota early and entered Iowa.
We continued on through the farms and watching all the small town living. We ran into someone who hit a deer. They told us that their car was white underneath. Glad that i don't have to clean that up, doesn't sound like fun to me.
Okay this guy had to be a character with a car set up in his front yard with a deer coming out of it. Wish we could have talked to him and figured out why he put that up in his front yard. We continued on through the farms and my dad decided to stop and talk to the cows. I guess he is a scary guy.
They all ran from the fence and across the river. I like to think that it is that they were scared of the Ct70’s power. We also found out that the scooter catches all of the buzz from the locals. I ran into quite a few bee’s throughout the day and 2 of them ended up getting me. One got my through the jeans and the other got trapped in between my jacket caller and my helmet. I now have to enormous lumps thanks to the bee’s. If that isn't enough I had to battle with thousands of their cousins every time I stopped. There are so many bugs here but, it still isn’t quite as bad as the level of mosquitoes in B.C. I would have to be a native in order to survive here. We also ran into one of the most well known natives in history.
We didn’t really see Pocahontas but i was surprised that there is a town named after her and had to take a picture. By now we have covered 170 miles or so and we getting anxious to get to our destination especially because of the boring farm roads. The only way to judge how bored you were was by the number of songs that you can make up in you head throughout the day. We finally ran into something that cause me to enjoy the roads again, hills.
It was great having a change and not continuously seeing the CORN,CORN,CORN. We ran across some nice curves and hills however the scooters were not that thrilled about the hills. We continued on and got closer and closer than we began seeing lot of trees knocked over and buildings flattened.
There was even a barn that had its side ripped off. There must have been quite the storm that passed through here recently glad I wasn’t here. We continued into town and made it to Marshalltown and we got back onto the famous Lincoln Highway.
We made it to our destination for the day and were glad and wanted to get some quick food and then go and relax. We stopped by a chinese restaurant on our way into town and then found a hotel and called it a night. Today was a long day taking 10hr and covering right around 300 miles. The scooters are still doing great I am just wondering how happy they will be at the end of the trip. Tomorrow’s goal is to cross the Mississippi river and make it to Chicago.
7/4/2014: Today we left Marshalltown, IA and were headed across the farmlands and little farming towns on our way to Chicago,IL.
We left at our normal time right around 7:45 and were headed east towards chicago. We were to cross the famous Mississippi river on our way. The morning had perfect weather with us just wearing a light windbreaker. We worked our way through the town’s city streets and then got on to the back highways. Leaving town we ran into a couple road closed signs due to flooding so we decided to take a look.
After we saw that there wasn’t flooding on the roads we worked our way around. After looking for a while we decided the right option was to figure out how to work around the trucks since the flooding had receded.
After getting through the road closed section we continued along our tracks. Went up over some hills and across the plains. Saw a buck of farmland that was still underwater and their crops were not able to grow. There were several driveways leading off the road that were completely underwater and the owners could get to their house and they were probably destroyed by the water. There was only one house that we could see from the road and it was just barely in the water.
Again we continued on and then passed by a park that had been flooded and I never thought it would be so easy to dunk a basketball. I am pretty sure anyone could as long as they could swim.
There was quite a bit of flooding throughout the eastern parts of Iowa. Every river was extremely full and could not get rid of the water fast enough. I bet they were wishing the rain would stop even more than us Californians riding little scooters through the area. I just can’t help but think why did they build their homes on such low lands that flood so easily? Why didn’t they at least build a mound of dirt and then build their homes on top? Here is a picture to show how flooded the rivers are this year.
That tree is not supposed to be under water at all and the is quite a way up the trunk. Hopefully the water recedes soon for these poor folk. Traveling throughout the day we ran into numerous town having a little fourth of July celebrations. We drove by many groups of people having little parties on their front lawn. Every house was hanging an american flag. It was just great to see how patriotic the small towns are still. we even drove by a house with a bunch of college students partying and hanging out on the roof. They all had closed a couple of the main streets for their celebrations making us have to reroute.
Here is one of the great historic little towns. Being the 4th made it really hard for us to find a place to get lunch. But after a while we stopped and grabbed a bit. Then we continued on and crossed the infamous Mississippi river.
We have made it across the river now only having the Ohio river left. I feel like the Mississippi means that we are basically on the east coast with only 4 days left till we are in New York. Okay there is still a ton of miles left but it feels like we are close now. Crossing the Mississippi also marks us entering Illinois.
Continued across the farm lands, looking at more corn and made our way to Chicago. We got into town and realized again why we like the little back towns, no traffic. We got to our hotel and grabbed some really good Pakistani and Indian food. Had a great dinner and watched the fireworks. A great way to end our day. Today 297 miles were traveled and we made it to Chicago. Our next big city is New York. Our scooters are still running and taking us the miles with easy. The scooter is still making its starting noise but not as often. Everything is working great just a few miles left.
7/10/2014: Today we were able to leave Chicago,IL and get back into the ride headed towards Coldwater,MI.
This morning we had an early start and were wanting to work our way through the city early. Who thought of that no we are stuck in the traffic and can’t split lanes since we aren't in California.
We discovered the best way to get into the local area. Get stuck in traffic because you are able to experience everything. See the bus stop, the people walk to work, the trashman pick up trash and the police and fireman driving through with their sirens. We ran into tons of people riding their bikes to work and we were enjoying doing the same. I also think my scooter is quite a bit more powerful than theirs.
My dad is looking at him, are you really trying to compete with me. We both blow him away leaving the next light. We keep working our way deeper into the city and the bicyclists start to be able to keep up and even sometimes beat us through the traffic.
We are now getting right into the heart of town. My dad is giving me one of those lectures, “we are getting into town...be careful...watch out for everyone…”. After his words of wisdom we work our way into the chaos.
We are mixed in with everyone and looking at the amazing buildings in the city of Chicago. We are right on the Chicago river waiting to get through the traffic and work our way out back to the little towns. We left the city and headed out around the bottom of the lake and through Gary,IN.
It was a little scary as we were entering one of the worst cities in the US and running into a tank at the outskirts. We entered with the assumption that it was going to be really bad. Continued to get deeper and deeper in the poverty and had more and more people walking along the street.
We thought it was going to get worse but we were able to avoid lot of the poverty by working our way along the BP plant. We never felt threatened just did not want to have to stay there for a long time. We started to get a couple waves and then started waving at everyone and they we all happy and waved back. Scooters are loved everywhere from the high end cities to the poverty strained communities. Next we stopped and had lunch at this local Gyros stand.
Had a great little lunch and then worked our way into Michigan. 3 States in one day? Thats right the scooters made it through 3 states in one day. In Michigan we worked our way back into the farmlands and back into the spectacular tree covered roads.
Traveling through the farmland we ran across this guy who was a collector of all sorts of antiques. He had a awesome little vintage gas station with the pumps and signs, so we took a picture and continued on along our route. Finally got into Coldwater and wrapped up our day. We traveled 225 miles and work our way through downtown traffic as well as a crime stricken town and farmlands to our destination in 8 hours.
We ended up taking apart the scooter again and today went into the started motor.
We found out that the starter itself had been bad so we put so grease in it and it will work a quick fix but it really needed a new bearing. Since it has undergone so much damage now we probably will just replace the starter motor for the next ride. We didn’t think it was the starter before since we pulled it out and tried it and didn’t make any noise. So we replaced the starter clutch instead which didn’t fix the problem. Anyways it is fixed for now so we can keep on going.
7/5/2014: Sad News, The ride is on hold for us. We have just learned that my wife's Father has died. The funeral will be here in Chicago next Wednesday. So We will be here in Chicago to help support the family. Maybe we can get back to the ride starting Thursday 7/10, but for now we don't really know what will come. Thanks for your support gpsKevin and Jeffrey
7/11/2014: Today we left Coldwater,MI and were headed across Michigan and around lake Erie towards Newton Falls, OH.
We had a little bit of a late start today but the scooter started right up the first time without any noise. First we left Coldwater and headed east towards through the farmlands towards the great lakes. We ran into a cool little store that used to be a gas station and took pictures.
We have ran into many of these old roadside stores throughout the journey that were abandoned and just left to rot away. They are all really cool and have way more character than the new gas stations. This is when they were owned by individual trying to just make a living instead of big corporate businesses. Anyways we continued on to our first gas stop and a little while after ran into a fellow scooter.
This is what scooter used to be like when they were more mini bikes put together by a young kid. Using an old lawnmower engine and a few other bits and pieces to make your own mini bike. This is also a lot like the old cushman scooters from back in the day. Anyways we continued on and made our way to another forgotten building.
Whoever owns this land however still cares about it since they went through the effort to mow the lawn. It was a cool old building the still looked pretty sturdy but we didn’t look around too long since we had a long way to go. Our next stop was lunch at this cool little dinner called Blondies.
This was our lunch stop was a little dinner and drive-in. Just one of those cool old styles dating back to the 50’s where everyone would want to hang out at the local fast food joint. Sorry McDonalds but I don’t really want to hang out there, the drive through is enough for me. Our lunch stop was also right at the border and we have now entered Ohio. Next we began to wrap around lake Erie.
We were traveling along looking for a great view to take a little break but there was not any place that was right on the water so, we decided to stop at this lighthouse and check it out. My dad went back to his childhood of trying to not get caught by the cops as he snuck over by the lighthouse for a picture. We continued on a found a better place to check out the water.
We were able to ride right along the coast for miles and miles. This reminds me of the outer banks in North Carolina as you are just right on the edge of the water and for as far as you can see there is nothing except the beautiful blue water. It was amazing to me that there wasn’t more of a tide like in the ocean and how perfectly still the water was since the lake is so massive. It also would be incredible to see in the winter when it turns into ice. We continued on through the tree canopy and rolling hills and entered Amish territory.
We didn’t run into any Amish today but tomorrow i am sure we will as we cross through Pennsylvania. Today was a long day covering some 310 miles and takes us right around 10 hrs. For this scooter thing you have to be tough and able to do 10hr days back to back otherwise it is impossible to make it across in such a short time frame. We are almost there just 2 days left and we should arrive at the Statue of Liberty in NY. Ready to be done with the riding thing for a while at least on a scooter need to get back on a real bike and out on the trails.
7/12/2014: Today we left Newton Falls, OH and headed towards Pennsylvania and the Amish country to Shamokin Dam, PA.
We started out the ride this morning REALLLY early we left the motel right around 7am. I don’t know why he wanted to leave so early since the day was about 30 miles shorter than the previous 2 days. So we got started and leaving town ran into the glimpse of our future.
We are getting really anxious to finish and get off these silly little bikes so, we stop at every chance we get and act like we already made it but, no there is still another day left. After passing by some New York sights we continued on and were looking for a donut shop to get some breakfast. After my dad passed a couple I thought that he had given up the idea and we weren’t going to stop but he proved me wrong.
We stopped at this little bake stand on the side of the road and picked up some cinnamon rolls. They were really good and then we asked her what it was like to be Amish. She said they weren’t able to use electricity and had to drive little buggies instead of cars. She wasn’t very descriptive so we continued on along the route. We drove for another 30 miles or so passing a bunch of Amish and then ran across a sign for another for a bake shop and we had to stop at this one since there were like 20 buggies and a large crowd of people there.
We got more cinnamon rolls but these weren’t nearly as good as the first ones. The lady explained that their mom had passed away and they were having an action of the belongings. This is why there were so many Amish in one area. We left the Amish community and continued on our way came up to a little town that had a couple awesome murals on the side of the buildings.
We continued on and made it to our lunch stop and had a great sandwich from this local sub shop. We continued on and ran into some fabulous roads that had great tree coverage and we really flowing and fun.
We work our way through miles and miles of these flowing roads. Having a great time and flew by a couple of deer off to the side but you have to look out so you don’t startle on and send them bolting across the road. Continued on just having a blast and then ran into another dirt road.
This was quite a well maintained road just a little bumpy for the scooters springs. Was a nice way to get off the main road and know you are remote since there is a town every 10 miles or so but you were able to find the only dirt road in the area. It also wasn’t bad since it was only a mile section and then back onto the winding roads. We continued on and then ran into forest gump.
He was walking and running across the entire US. He is a little more hardcore than we are even on the scooters. Maybe I should crawl across the US? Yea right I would become soooooo bored. His name is Zachary James and if you want you can follow his journey at compassionrun.org. He was a great guy and just wanted to talk but we still had a bunch of miles to travel so we continued on. On the way into town we ran into some redneck fun.
Nothing better on a summer day than tubing right? I guess in Pennsylvania you don’t need water to enjoy this. Probably would be too much fun falling off the tube. We made it into town and finished off our day covering some 310 miles and it took us a short 8 and a half hours. One day left and hopefully the scooter will make it since it has been leaking so much oil recently. We will just have to wait and see only 200 miles left and we should be in New York. Watch out for these little motorcycles making it across America.
7/13/2014: Today we left Shamokin Dam, PA and headed across and through New Jersey towards our final stop the Statue of Liberty in New York.
The day began with us leaving town early because we wanted to finish the last leg. We started through some amazing forests and wound our way in and out of little farming towns and through Amish country.
We found these amazing back roads through Pennsylvania which seemed to be abandoned since there was no one on them. The continued on and wound through the trees just having a blast and chasing each other in and out of corners. The benefit with the little scooters is that you can go as fast as you want and you can’t get into trouble since you still are not speeding. On these remote roads we ran into some farm lands once in a while.
Some of these farms have awesome view of the hills and mountains surrounding them. This is one of those places where you would not mind doing a little manual labor in order to live there. We continued on and again were working ourselves along the Pennsylvania bicycle route.
The bicyclists really know some of the best routes through the area with incredible roads and views. They also were quite remote without running into another car for 10-15 minutes. They worked their way in and out of little town and just continued on. We also crossed quite a few large rivers, including the Delaware river and work our way into New Jersey.
Welcome to the garden state and the mark that we really had a shot at taking this 100 dollar scooter from coast to coast. We continued on nearing ourselves closer and closer and then decided to stop and take out last lunch break.
This is our final lunch stop of the journey at this little hole in the wall italian restaurant that was quite delicious. We had a wonderful lunch break and were quite anxious to get back on the road and finish our journey. By now we were getting really close to the city so we stopped and my dad decided to break out the victory cape.
We were down to the last 10 miles and boy were we getting the looks. Here is a note to all the harley guys if you want people to look at you instead of spending all of your money on exhaust and chrome buy a little cape. Everyone was looking at us and cheering us on almost like they were all reading our blog. The little kid all had the biggest smiles as we rode by them. We worked our way deeper and deeper into the city and then reached the last bridge.
This was our final water crossing of the journey. We were so close we could see our destination and knew that if anything happened now we could still push the scooters to the end. We now entered liberty park and work our way to the parking lot.
We made it to Liberty park, the scooters had made it from coast to coast. Now you know that a CT70 and a 100 dollar chinese scooter can be reliable and be used on an epic adventure. Our journey had taken us 16 days to travel from the Golden Gate in San Fransisco to the Statue of Liberty in New York. We traveled 4,685 miles on two little motorcycles and made the impossible possible. These little bike were able to manage averaging 32.3 mph for the entire journey. Our trip had finished. What do we do now? How do you go back to ordinary life? Guess we have to ride the bikes back home anyone want to join us?
People watching us and following along on this ride
Wow we did it and we have been able to build an awesome route across america for scooters.
Join us in 2015 for America Up Close!
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