Mongrels sign off in Dallas

Well its finally come down to this. Four Aussie blokes sitting in a motel room waiting for the flight time of two of us today, and two more tomorrow morning.

We made it into Dallas, returned the rental bikes. Not one of these bikes were dropped or scratched after doing 5 weeks, 13 states, and 5,738 miles. As much as we enjoyed it, it is always some what of a relief to hand over the keys and know we are all safe. The ride into Dallas was the usual mad scramble on busy freeways at speeds that seem like a little too fast but being passed by all and sundry. The fwy sysem here has to be seen to be believed. Spagetti is one word I can think of to describe it. Yet it works, fast and furiouis but it works. However with out a GPS it would be impossible and is difficult enough with one. And the way they are building more fwys around it, you would need to updagte your GPS each time you come.
Ken has done a magificant job of driving the van and lead navigator. He has taught us some new rules or reinterpreted old rules, like the "Wrong Way go Back" sign does not apply for the first 120 meters.But all in all Ken has done a great job and we would not have been able to achieve our trip with otut him.

Thanks to Gerald for igniting the idea and inviting us along. Gerald managed to engage each and every person we dealt with in some form of conversation, and usually they both came away laughing together. He also negotiated most of the motel prices and managed to get a discount most of the time. Probably most amazing was his ability to find a Starbucks on his GPS whilst riding and still get us to a Starbucks coffee even if it was maybe 12 miles off our route.However he did not manage to get a good soda, lime and bitters once, despited language problems, he persisted for five weeks.Well done.

Hugh has been the treasurer for this trip. He updated the ledger each evening and gave us a weekly report on how our individual contributions were progressing. Well done Hugh.

All in all it has been a great trip, not as scenic as the 2010 trip, mainly due to the topography being mainly flat. We would like to have seen more agriculture, although we got to see a variety, from fields near Kansas City ready to be planted, to citrus trees in Florida, to cotton fields being planted in Texas along side a winter wheat crop being harvested, and oil jack pumps rocking up and down. We probably saw more road side mowers cutting the verge than tractors in fields. Most of the country we passed through was covered by trees. I did report on rain occasionally but it really was not a big issue.

Coming from a large country of 24 million to one of almost 400 million, we were constantly overwhelmed by the heavy traffic between cities on interstate freeways. The number of trucks is simply amazing. This country is not too depressed or hurt by the GFC. Sure there were dying towns out in the boondocks but plenty of new shops in the larger centers. Banks with 2 acres of car parks, 20 acre car yards, truck yards of 80 trucks in the one orange color.We are left with our memories and experiences ans we take them with us back home to our families.

Probably the most outstanding thing in my mind was the courtesy shown to us by the drivers. We tested them time and again, and they would hold back, wait and if necessary go around us with out so much as a gesture. They are extremely polite people.  And they don't have all the speed and red light cameras driving them nuts.
What a trip! What an experience!

Gerald on the new victory. I am sure he will be terrorizing the residences of Colville and St Andrews Terrace by Christmas.

The final night in Dallas. Where were we? At the Outback Steak House of course.