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Each journey begins with a single step... Two kiwis escaping from the island to explore strange new worlds and boldly go where thousands have gone before... . .

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NEW ZEALAND | Sunday, 7 July 2019 | Views [484]

In 2 weeks time I head off to the USA again for a month, two trips in one year wow! This trip has been in the planning for a couple of years. I am riding over there with my friend and her partner (he's on the back) we are riding LA to South Dakota return. Funnily enough I wasn't going to go, originally there was a group of us all riding to Sturgis, a huge motorbike rally. But as time passed one by one for one reason or another life took over and right when I thought I too would pull out I realised there was only me left and I was worried that if I didn't go my friend wouldn't have the trip of her life, the one she had planned and worked towards for so long. So I stayed in the mix. Now it's just 2 weeks away. I'm excited, glad I didn't pull out after all, a little nervous too.

Now I'm thinking you are wondering where Kent is in all this  :)  Well he is staying back here and continuing to work, he's so good at his job that no-one can replace him now and they can't do without him for too long either. He is going to fly right to Sturgis and stay with us there for the event and then fly home, so he's not missing out on it all. I will miss him as he is the practical mechanical one, hoping I have no issues with my bike lol.

This time when it came to hiring a bike I discovered that things had certainly changed from our Route 66 trip 5 years ago. The hireage of Harley Davidsons is now all sown up by Eagle Riders now and it is impossible to hire a Harley at a reasonable cost any more. Last time for 5 weeks it cost us US$3,000 this time it is over US$5,000 for 4 weeks. With the conversion rate for our NZ dollar at the moment it's plus one third so over NZ$8,000. My remedy for this has been to hire a Triumph Speedmaster 900cc cruiser in LA. It is less powerful than my Harley but is also 100kg lighter so hopefully will still have enough power for those long fast highways. We've ticked the USA by Harley box and I'm actually really looking forward to riding a Triumph. My friend has bought a beautiful Harley in LA and will ship it back home after the ride, with a bit of luck if she can sell it for her costs the equivalent hireage cost will be nothing.

Next adventure on it's way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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