6-9-2010

It was a Saturday when I left the hotel and headed north. I came through a little town and there were hundreds of cars parked every which way. I found a place to park the bike and walked down a passage way to a big market that was being held in this little street. I really liked this guys collection of different kinds of stuff.

I really liked these copper backpack sprayers. Oh, talking with the owner of the hotel and he said almost nothing is grown organic here. Humm, chemical companies must be doing well here eh? Now I see why there are few weeds in the fields. I thought it was the hoe….

stoves

lots of kids and parents looking over the selection here.

the first Smart car roadster I have seen. Looks like fun eh?

garlic from a pickup vender

spuds and wow, are they tasty if they are like the ones I ate at the hotel.

Those little Fiats are rather small for a big guy but they do fit. Taken at a stoplight.

it is hard to see here but there must have been twenty or more switchbacks going down this hill to a little town below. Notice that there is a small castle on the hill. There are lots of these castles on hills but most are now abandoned.

there are lots of these towns just stuck on the side of a mountain. It sure seems like a strange place to have a town but maybe back in the middle ages they were better protected being up high? Long way to go for farming land to grow food.

I could tell this was a busy tourist area but the road was just wide enough for me to stop and take a photo or two.

BIG rock pile behind the fence.

It always amazes me how much work that each stone must take to make it fit so perfectly. Oh, and with hand tools.

There was at least a mile of this stonewall that I rode by. I am not sure how high the wall was originally but it is still eight high. I can’t imagine how long it must have taken to carve out each stone, transport it there and then stack it. They must have had a lot of time and labor available.

I was going along the coast and noticed a familiar scene. It was a forest of Eucalyptus trees planted along the road for wind protection. Wow, it was just a quick hit of Australia right here in Italy.

The bad news starts here. I had been noticing a sudden slowing of the bike and attributed it to the bad fuel I had been getting down here. I usually only turn on one gas tap and that fuel filter was becoming very black from the shit in the gas that I have been getting. I thought I would finally have to start to use the other fuel tap as I thought I was just starving the bike of gas using the dirty filter. Then as I was going along I heard a loud screeching sound and knew right away that I had some very serious problems. I was coming to a road construction place where I had to slow down and when I shifted down there was a series of howling noises coming from under the seat and then no power. I coasted to the side of the road. Dead transmission…..

I started pushing the bike and after maybe a quarter mile I came to this SOS station. There is a call box and I called someone and told them I needed help to tow my motorcycle. Amazingly the guy spoke sort of broken English and said help was on its way.

Just across the little valley was this castle that I had been seeing as a historical landmark and major tourist spot. The thing that really distinguishes this for me is that here these grape vineyards and orchards are all planted on the contour like they must have been for hundreds of years (maybe thousands?) almost all the new vineyards and orchards down in the southern part of Italy are grown going up and down the hills. I am sure it makes it a lot easier to grow them that way with mechanical tractors and harvesters but the erosion factor must be enormous down there. I guess it is like the rest of the world that they think of the short-term investment and not for the long haul.

The bike being unloaded at the car repair garage. I went across the street and got a room at the hotel. I called Jorg and told him the situation. The word transmission doesn't translate into German evidently, and finally when he asked if it was the 'box of gears' I understood that is what it really is.  what a wonderful little bike this really is. There are a lot of BMWs on the highway but everyone I saw was a new model and this is the only 'airhead' BMW i saw on my travels other than JayJay's bike. I am not sure where all the old bikes went. 

I rented a BMW van and the guys helped me load the bike in the van and put a few old tires under it for protection and actually it made a really good ‘bed’ for the bike on the trip. It didn’t slid around and was stable. Caught in traffic I see Gregg Frazier has made a big impression here with his featherhead motorcycle helmet.

I finally got a photo of one of the commuter trains while stopped at this crossing. It was really amazing was I waited I could hear noting, and then some sort of beep like a Fiat car horn. Then this train zoomed through with almost no sound. Wow, what a difference between this and the coal trains booming and blowing their horns through Miles City.

nice resting place.

The Mercedes Benz van I rented. A diesel and it had six speed transmission. Wow, what a nice rig for sure.

I headed to Rinefelden where JayJay lives and was very lucky to find his place. I called Jorg from a neighbors and he came to get me and take the bike to his groups motorcycle shop.

I should have had access to my camera as I just flew across the Alps. I noticed that they were some nice mountains but from the air….AMAZING!!!

It was almost worth it to fly across them but at the cost of flying around Europe…. No.

I am sitting at the Zurich airport and enjoying the tall blond long legged women. Wow, what a difference from Italy especially southern Italy. Jorg should be here soon and we will try to get my ticket back to Montana changed for a day soon.

I just ran across this description of what it is like to drive where I have been.

The next level of awareness, focused awareness, is like driving in hazardous road conditions. You need to practice this level of awareness when you are driving on icy or slushy roads — or the roads infested with potholes and erratic drivers that exist in many third-world countries. When you are driving in such an environment, you need to keep two hands on the wheel at all times and have your attention totally focused on the road and the other drivers. You don’t dare take your eyes off the road or let your attention wander. There is no time for cell phone calls or other distractions. The level of concentration required for this type of driving makes it extremely tiring and stressful. A drive that you normally would not think twice about will totally exhaust you under these conditions because it demands your prolonged and total concentration.

Taken from an interesting website that sends out weekly info on world events. They would like to sell you a major service but they will send a free weekly outlook on world events for free. Here is this weeks.

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100609_primer_situational_awareness?utm_source=SWeekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=100610&utm_content=readmore&elq=5e7b1d29ef3a45b1b5c7f96ad334788a

I like that description of what level of concentration it has been for me while riding mostly in Italy. Even on the ‘freeways’, which are not free, I had to be totally concentrated on the road with very few times I felt that I could look off the road and enjoy the scenery or any activity that was along side the road. I would have loved to stop and look and maybe take photos of things along the way but I just didn’t dare take the chance of not having total concentration on bike riding. There were few places that I would have been able to get off the road even on a bike.  I guess that is one of the reasons I like eastern Montana and other straight road country. I then feel comfortable to enjoy my surroundings. I guess lack of trees so I can see distances makes it easier for me too. When I was riding with that Austrian motorcycle group, it was very stressful. They rode very fast over some very curvy roads and some places where it was raining, the road conditions were for more caution I felt, but had to keep up or I would for sure get lost up there. This focused awareness level is not what I had in mind when I decided to come to Europe and ride. I am actually very pleased to be coming home where I will not have to be at that level constantly. Oh, sure there are times like when I ride through Billings or any other town, but it is not all day long.

I actually got to where I was getting into the riding habits of the Italians but there were a few times I made mistakes. I will have to say that they are very courteous in their driving even if it does appear to be fast and furious. When I would make a mistake in a roundabout I would get a little short bip with a horn to let me know I had not done the right thing. In a lot of places in the US, Australia and South America the offended driver would get on the horn and try to blow your ears off with finger waving and all. Down in Sicily I was amazed at how five lanes of traffic would merge into two lanes with no problems. That includes trucks, busses, cars, vans, motorcycle and the ever present zooming scooters looking for a tiny space to ‘scoot’ through. Oh, I forgot the bikers. They are everywhere too and sometimes in packs. They all wear the fancy skin tight riding gear that advertises. No one seems to get pissed off that they will be riding two abreast on a little narrow road and traffic has to almost stop while they wait for a chance to pass. It is such an amazing difference than a bike riding in the US where the drivers almost seem hostile toward them.

Jorg picked me up at the Zurich airport last night and brought me to his home. I don’t know the name of the town or even if I did, I probably couldn’t pronounce it, or spell it. He works 11 hours a day as someone who runs a major truck transport companies repair department. I can hear Roger saying that he is a real slacker for only working 11 hours when he works 12, and I guess he would be right as Jorg only works 5 days a week and not six like Roger. Jorg has more time with his three kids and I think his job is a high speed stressful on too. His home here is in his wife’s father’s home and it is very old with three stories. The walls of the home are three feet thick, not sure of what but probably stone and brick. He will take me to the airport on Saturday and I will get home Saturday night. It will be a long afternoon on three different planes.   Zurich, London, Denver, Billings. Is anyone going to be in Billings Saturday night and be able to pick me up at the airport at 11:01pm and take me to Miles City? Let me know asap otherwise I will take a cab to a motel and catch the bus to Miles on Sunday.

From Verona, Italy I took a plane across the Alps to Munich, Germany and from there to Zurich. On the first flight I had a nice window seat but the I couldn’t get up to get my camera out of the overhead bin to take photos. The Alps are totally amazing mountain range. There are so many people here that they are well populated at the lower levels. It was very cool to be able to look down and see the many roads that cross and go up to very high places. It does look like wonderful bike riding place. I was actually going to come back and spend a few days riding in them as my friend Colorado Ken advised. Ken used to be in the Ski business and spent a lot of time in Austria, Germany and Switzerland on business trips. He had actually given me several suggestions on where to go. I wont be doing those trips now, but never say never eh?

On the flight to Zurich I asked the big guy sitting next to me if it was possible I could sit by the window. It turned out he spoke very good English, as most Germans do, and said that would be fine. It turned out that he was a wealth of information on the area. He lives in Munich and he says it is the most beautiful city in Germany…… well, maybe? Anyway he said it is very expensive to live there. He bought land and built a house about three clicks from town. He said the land for building a little house on will cost a half million Euros that far out, but with the economy down it might be possible to get the land for three hundred thousand. He said one of the old houses in the town would be millions!!!  Anyway I got a few photos Germany on the way to Zurich. Maybe a few Switzerland too?

Evidently they have a short cold season here and the crops are mostly corn, hay and grains.

little villages surrounded by farmland

he said this was a very fertile river valley.

I could just see the Alps in the far background.

They do a very intensive forest cropping too. He said that the government finally had to get involved and make the people replant trees when they harvested the forests. There was intense farming over in Italy on the south side of the Alps and the further you got up in elevation it turned into grazing land or possibly hay production land. The mountains are so darn steep it seems like only way to really harvest it would be animals.

the little towns are maybe three to five miles apart. One interesting thing I found was that there was no grid like farm system like we have here in the west with section lines. I guess the land ownership goes way back before land surveys and was more defined by trails and rivers.

a river town. The german guy said that having a place on a river or lake was the ultimate in places to live and totally unaffordable.

Jorg’s father in law has a small garden out on a patio beside the house. His potatoes are really looking good as was the whole garden. it is a small garden but what a wonderful place here next to his kitchen and in town. I really like the way these Europeans utilize almost every space for their gardens.

old galvanized bath tub

This is a radio controlled model of the Porche tractor that Jorg owns and I took a photo of. It is very cool little tractor and has a switch on it that makes the sound of the one cylinder 800cc motor. He said it sounds just like his tractor.

ok, these are out of progression, they are from Verona where these guys were taking up the paving bricks and they were going to have to raise them as I think they had settled from driving on them. They were a friendly bunch of guys but no one spoke any English so not sure exactly they were doing but I think I got it right.

I had to take at least one photo of a Ducati for Micah. I sure got passed by a lot of them. The guys are all hunched over with a little gal on his back. It seems like it would be hard on the arms but maybe going that fast it is ok.

I went in a specialty store and found these hams hanging above the counter.

a clothing store display. The Italian boyz like to be dressed up all the time. I am about the only ratty looking guy around. Wow, the price they have to pay for a pair of Wranglers…. In dollars that must be close to a hundred bucks.

Italian style helmet at a specialty store at the airport.

I think I have seen this in an email notice before but here it is in real life. I tried to piss the fly off in this urinal but they are stuck on there to help you improve your aim. Every urinal had one in it.