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 Monday-Thursday, June 15-17, 2004
Today's statistics:Total Distance: 181.0 KM This is our first day on the bikes since October of 2003. During that time we spent two and one half months teaching computer classes on a cruise ship traveling through the Panama Canal 6 times and traveling to Hawaii and back to the U. S. mainland once. We also spent 5 months working of the remodel Verna’s parents home. After arriving in Frankfurt, Germany on June 8th we spent 4 days trying to get our bodies adjusted to a new time zone where we are awake during the hours we had been sleeping for the past 8 months. It is much easier to travel slowly and adjust time zones once every few days rather than trying to do 9 in one day. We are finding that this is getting more difficult for us as we (gulp) get older. Jim spent one morning working on the bikes getting fresh motor oil and filters into the bikes and we made a 30 kilometer test run to the eis cafe (ice cream parlor) in Runkel yesterday. Almost everything on the bikes works. Today we rode south to Karlsruhe were we will be spending the next few days with our friend Sascha Leitz. The bike have been left at a local BMW dealer for service work and we will spend tomorrow trying to get caught up on email and other things. We did not plan to spend this much time at Sascha’s but, once again the BMW bikes have caused us a delay. The good news is that the problem was found before we were left by the side of the road with a bike that would not run. And Sascha was very kind to provide us with a place to stay - Thanks Sascha!!!! Verna’s bike had been running a bit rough at times when we arrived in Idstein last October. It never did it long enough for us to diagnose the problem. ON the way to Karlsruhe the problem became more pronounced and we asked the dealer to see if they could find anything. Verna’s bike now has a new fuel pump. This is the 3rd fuel pump to be put in the bike by BMW. We had to pay for this because the bikes are out of waranty and it has been more than two years since the last fuel pump was installed. See the Equipment Report Card 2004 page for more information. Friday, June 18, 2004Today's statistics: Top of PageTotal Distance: 317.7 KM We headed south for Touratech. We needed some odds and ends and Jim wanted to look for a water carrying back pack that he can use when on the bike. We were successful in our quest and were able to purchase everything we needed. And, the gentleman who helped us managed to get 4 of the bolts that secure the crash bars to the engine where the skid pan is mounted under the oil sump. The item is aluminum and it screws onto a steel stud. This is the third time JIm has found one of these stripped when removing it to change the oil. Seems BMW mechanics like to twist things until they are past the point of being tight.
Saturday, June 19, 2004Today's statistics: Top of PageTotal Distance: 170.9 KM We decided to head south this morning and ride some of the passes in Switzerland. Unlike yesterday the weather today was a bit dodgy and we had overcast skies all morning and after lunch we had scattered rain showers. We continue to suffer the effects of the worthless US dollar. Our costs this year have gone up 45%. Here in Switzerland we are really finding things very expensive. For lunch we each had a small salad with two small drinks - $22.50! Ouch. We are spending the night near Aare and will continue our journey in the morning. There is a possibility that we may work our way east to meet with some fellow riders in Trento, Italy next week. Sunday, June 20, 2004Today's statistics: Top of PageTotal Distance: 161.4 KM We wound our way through Bern and west to Murten, a lovely medieval town above the Murtensee. There we stopped to wander the streets and window shop (as it was Sunday, not much was open). As we parked the bikes, several passersby stopped to find out what we were about. One couple was Swiss-Canadian and rode bikes, so we had a good long conversation with them. The others spoke only German or French, so our conversations were quite brief. After lunch we continued south past Fribourg. As we got to the Gruyere Lake, we could see the weather moving in and were sure Tomorrow we head south east for more passes, weather permitting. Monday, June 21, 2004Today's statistics: Top of PageTotal Distance: 220.2 KM The passes: Juanpass Col du Pillon A great day where we just rode in beautiful weather and rode over two passes. We ended the day in Grindelwald (at the base of the Eiger) after stopping for lunch in Interlaken. Tuesday, June 22, 2004Today's statistics: Top of PageTotal Distance: 280.2 KM The passes: Sustenpass Gotthardpass Nufenenpass Grimselpass - Both ways Furkapass
The weather did not cooperate today. Lots of rain drizzle and overcast skies. This kept the speed down but we had fun just riding up and down the mountains with lots of stops for pictures. While Verna was taking some photographs a gentleman on a red R80GS came over and started to talk with Jim. It turns out Lars Swartz is Swedish, and on holiday. He now lives in the San Francisco Bay area (Sunnyvale, California) and we know some of the same people - all from the BMW Club of Northern California. Small world, eh? If you’ve been following along you will notice that the name of this page changed today. We now have a destination for this segment of the journey - Trento, Italy where we will meet with other like minded souls who will be traveling north to Zwartesluis, Netherlands where we will attend EP9. Wednesday, June 23, 2004Today's statistics: Top of PageTotal Distance: 271.3 KM The passes: Oberalppass Lenzerhiede Albulapass Passo del Bernina Welcome to Italy! That’s where we are after today’s ride. Tomorrow we will cross the border and enter Switzerland again. The highlight of toady’s ride was the wonderful road that led to Albulapass. There was a bit of road construction that caused a long delay while we waited for the green light for our direction of travel. When we arrived at the stopped traffic we just rode around the cars to the head of the line. This not only put us in front of many cars but also put us in front of a group of eight bikes. We spoke with two of the gentlemen on the bikes while waiting for the green light. Then we were off - they went past us after we cleared the construction zone and we did not see them until we reached the summit. We had a nice chat with the same people at the summit. The group was from Motorrad Click here to see the Switzerland passes slide show. Thursday, June 24, 2004Today's statistics: Top of PageTotal Distance: 113.3 KM The passes: Passo di Forcango Passo di Eira Passo delia Stelvio Today was the day. We found blue skies and sunshine greeting us when we got up this morning. Not what we expected. A huge storm had been forcast for all of Europe. It looks like the storm remianed north of us. We rode to Livigno this morning. Livigno is a small isolated area and is well known as a shoppers Mecca because things can be purchased there duty free. While the prices are good compared to what you will pay in the other parts of Euorpe, they are rediculously high when compaed to the prices for the exact same item in the United States. Why? It amazes us how much more expensive things are in Europe. We have yet to find any competition based on price. Amazing.
We stopped at the summit (2760 meters; 9055 feet) for a bite to eat. Just as we were getting ready to head down the mountain Lars arrived. We spent a bit of time chatting and then headed off. We found several hotels near the foot of the mountain and the second one we stopped at had one last double room available. As we were unpacking the bikes Lars rode into the parking lot. He got the last single room. Now, after a few beers and a good dinner we have a new best friend. We are sharing the hotel with 60 other motorcycle riders - all German. The hotel caters to motorcyclists - proof of this being the beer dispenser in the bar which is made from a Honda four cylinder engine (photo above right). But wait, there is more. If perfect weather, great roads, spectacular scenery and new friends is not enough for you, add this. Thanks to our friend Alessandro Zorat we have two sets of new tires awaiting our arrival in Trento, Italy next Monday. Life is good!!! Friday, June 25, 2004Today's statistics: Top of PageTotal Distance: 236.2 KM The passes: Passo dal Fuorn Passo di Resia Passo delle Palade
We are now three - Lars rode with us today and it was most enjoyable. The photo at right is of Lars and his R80GS this morning before we left the biker hotel. We stopped for a baguette for lunch in a small Ice (Ice Cream) Cafe and were lucky enough to pass through a portion of Austria where we filled up with fuel - about € .10 per liter less than in Germany and Italy and € .20 less than Switzerland. We are back in Italy tonight and continue to work our way east to the Dolomite Mountains. Saturday, June 26, 2004Today's statistics: Top of PageTotal Distance: 176.9 KM The passes: Passo della Mednola Passo di Costalunga Passo di Sella Passo di Gardena Passo di Camolongo DOLOMITI We have found motorcycle nirvana! The Dolomite Mountains are without a doubt the most spectacular we have seen and contain the best motorcycle roads we have ever been on. The Rocky Mountains (both American and Canadian), the Sierra Nevada in California, the Pyrenees in Spain and the Alps all have their individual personalities and have great motorcycling roads but none can compare with the Italian Dolomites. The mountains are spectacular but the roads are superb for motorcycles. This has to be a must visit for anyone who rides. Each of the passes were spectacular in their ow Jim and Lars are seen in the picture above as we started our way up to the Passo di Sella. Sunday, June 27, 2004Today's statistics: Top of PageTotal Distance: 184.4 KM The passes: Passo di Giau Passo di Fedaia Passo di Croci Passo di Pordoi DOLOMITI We have a new favorite word - tornante. But we really like the plural better - tornanti. Below is a picture from the top of the Passo di Giau. The picture does not do justice to the beauty of the scene.
It was a great day riding and it was nice to be able to do so without all of the “stuff” we normally have on the bikes. This is our second night in the same hotel so we were able to leave some of the things we lug along at the hotel while we were out riding today. Monday, June 28, 2004Today's statistics: Top of PageTotal Distance: 126.3 KM The passes: We bid good bye to Lars this morning - we headed for Trento and he headed north into the mountains. Lars took a third night in the hotel where we were staying so he could ride some more of the roads in the area. It was fun riding with him and we will miss him. Thanks to Lars we have lots of photos from our travels with Lars. Click here for the slide show of Lars’ pictures. We arrived in Trento just after noon. Checked into the hotel, made contact with Alesandro Zorrat, got some lunch and then took the bikes to the tire shop. Alesandro met us at the tire shop and after two hours we were back at the hotel with new tires. Now we will have tomorrow as a rest day while we wait for our companions for the ride tot he Netherlands to arrive tomorrow evening. This concludes this portion of the adventure. Stay tuned for further adventures... |
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We feel sorry for anyone who was not on their motorbike riding in the Schwartzwald (Black Forest) today. A beautiful day with perfect temperatures and road conditions. We were a bit surprised that we kept on riding until 6:00 PM. Time does fly when you are having fun! The photo at right was taken after we left the Schwartzwald, as we came over the hill and through the wheat fields toward the next small town.
we were about to be wet. We only rode in the rain for about 20 minutes before finding a hotel in Broc, home to the Nestle factory (but closed today!). Our room had a lovely view of the Gruyere castle sitting on the hill top with the high mountains surrounding the verdant green valley (right). 
The road to Grimselpass is probably the most photographed in Switzerland (right). It is usually shown from the top looking down on the road as it winds its way up the mountain. We have that picture too but thought we would present a different view here. This picture was taken near Furkapass. The road in the foreground is on the way up to Furkapass. The road to Grimselpass is shown winding its way up the mountain on the opposite side of the valley.
Magazine and the chap we had been chatting with is the editor (pictured at right with Jim). He told us that they were on an evaluation ride for each of the bikes - one of which was the new BMW R1200GS. He had his photographer take a few pictures of us and the bikes and he invited us to visit him at the headquarters of the magazine in Stuttgart, Germany. We think we can visit in the later part of July - we are looking forward to it.
Another day of great weather. We had one rain shower - but we rode through the last bit of it; just wet roads. And, the roads to day were also wonderful. We rode through the village of Ardez so Verna could see how much the village had changed since she spent a week there in 1980 at the summer home of a friend’s grandmother.
n right, but the Passo di Sella and the Passo di Gardena seemed to have the most spectacular views. We stopped a lot for pictures, but they cannot do justice to the actual panorama. Many times we were tempted to just gaze at the view while riding, but the road (and traffic) demanded our attention. Saturday was not the best choice of days to ride the three passes, but we were here and the weather was fantastic so we did it. There were lots of motorcycles and bicycles as well as a good number of cars and tour busses. A very busy day, but well worth it!