Frequently Asked Questions (And Answers!)
Why did you ride in the middle of winter? Are you stupid?
No, we’re Australians!
Which means we’re tough, real tough!
Seriously, we only had a limited opportunity to get to the States and winter it was. The weather, apart from being quite cold, was fantastic.
Because we had good cold weather gear, we were fine.
How far did you travel?
We ended up doing just over 5,000 miles (8,000 kms), in 23 days through 17 states (on the motorbike).
What was the average price of fuel?
Expect to pay about $3.25 a gallon (which is 87 cents a litre – so about half the price in Australia).
Anything special about getting fuel?
Yep, you have to pay for it before you start pumping it.
Many (about 80%) of pumps ask for your 5 digit zip code associated with the billing address for the credit card you’re using.
Because we’re Australian and we only have a 4 digit number, most times I’d have to go into the Gas Station and swipe the card in there and sign.
You guess how much fuel you need. If you guess $15 and you only need $12, the $3 gets credited back to your card.
What surprised you about the USA?
What surprised us most was how friendly the people were. Super friendly.
Who is better looking – Brendon or Harry?
Easy. Brendon is very, very handsome. Harry not so much.
Who controls what gets said on this web site?
Ummmm, Brendon. Thought that would be obvious from that last answer!
If you had your time again what would you do differently?
- Win in Vegas ;o)
- Stay a night in Monument Valley
How were the roads?
The roads were great.
We used a cheap ($70-100) GPS (this one has a wide screen and was a breeze to use) to get into and out of cities.
We used a Road Atlas the rest of the time (Rand McNally Road Atlas) to find the smaller and less used roads.
It was a great way to get around and saved us a ton of time.
Any trouble with speed cameras, police or rules?
Nope, hardly saw a police officer on the road.
It’s not like Australia where every police officer is trying to book you for speeding or some stupid infraction (not that we were speeding).
Any rules that are different from Australia?
Apart from the whole driving on the other side of the road thing, the big 2 I found were:
- you can (almost) always turn right on a red light (after giving way)
- at an intersection where there’s a Stop sign, the first person stopped is the first person to go
Both rules work beautifully and make for much better traffic flow.
Any tips for general riding?
The best bit of advice I got from a mate before I left Australia was with staying on the correct side of the road when turning corners.
Tight right, loose left.
When you’re turning right, it’s a tight right.
If turning left, keep it loose and go out wide.
I found myself saying “Tight right, loose left” a lot when I was turning. Worked well.
Where are the best looking women in the USA?
No contest – South Beach, Miami.
Favourite city?
Not so easy.
- San Francisco
- New Orleans
- New York
- Las Vegas
- Miami
We much preferred the small towns.
The best riding you did?
Easy – the Ozarks, coming into Arkansas from Missouri.
The best views?
Monument Valley. Amazing and gave me goosebumps.
Monument Valley – Beautiful
Most surprising place?
Arkansas.
Place is beautiful. People are friendly.
When in Vegas, should I put my money on red or black?
Black.
Trust me 🙂
Best hotel/motel?
Best value, by a mile, was the Super 8 motel in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
The town’s pretty ordinary, but the motel was great value.
Other than that, most of the hotels were all the same.
We loved the Flamingo in Vegas. Really cheap, great position.
Funniest moment?
Some old guy explaining what rain was to us – because we’re from Australia he thought we’d never seen it before.
“Rain is moisture that drops from the sky…..”
Any thing you didn’t miss?
Yep, at this time of year in Australia you’d be harassed by flies and mosquitos. Nothing like that here.