Motards Nomades Autour du Monde

[Statdawg]

In February a Parisian was inquiring on Horizons Unlimited Bulletin Board about obtaining Motorcycle Insurance in North America as a foreign visitor. The information was intended for a friend of his that resides in southern France. Through emailing I was able to get more needed information and I contacted a fellow Brit adventure rider that has a bike stashed in North America. He was a retired Insurance Broker Banker type and astute in playing the game of foreign registered bike on North American soil. I sent the needed information back as a reply. In closing I asked if there was anything I can help them with in North America please contact me.

A week later Alain & Chris Arnaud contacted me thanking me and they sent me a link to their web sites that were all in French. Going through some of his pictures of his Club activities I recognized some of the members that were riding in the thin air of the Alps. Some of them are adventure writers with blogs to poster's on Adv Rider , and others attended the same Rallies as I. Through further correspondence they told me they were coming to Montreal in April and will be riding their motorcycle to Key West hugging the east coast. They said a friend was going to help who resided in Montreal. As a backup our very own Redrider greeted them and made sure they were taken care of.

Alain & Chris were going to contact me when they were arriving in New York City to say hello. But, first their plan was to travel scenic Quebec in spring. Not too unusual for this couple because their first motorcycle trip together was the 1982 Elefantentreffen ( Elefant Rally ) that is efficiently held annually by the Bundesverband Der Motorradfahrier. (http://www.bvdm.de/index.php?id=47) In the spirit of the Elefant, Quebec was true to form and provided them with 8 feet of snow in the open campsites. Alain & Chris camped 10 days since their arrival in North America with the exception of their first night in Montreal waiting for their bike. Their travels and camping took them to northern Quebec, Maine, Vermont, Cape Cod, Boston and they even camped in New York City. I guess owning a BMW makes you some sort of tough guy ?

Here they are long ago at the Elefant Rally traveling on a Honda. I think you have to own a Honda in your life to qualify for a Club President position.

[R80RTJohnny]

Well there was no word from them for days so I figured hypothermia set in and they became part of the perma frost in Quebec. I was not sure how to send out the Mounties or which direction to send the search dogs...........then again maybe this is just a dream.

On May 2nd I received 1 of 10 emails sent saying they were in Cape Cod and will be in New York City in 2-3 days then silence again. Well I do not need the Mounties so I tipped off Bubba Z who can find anything out of place in the City. I tried contacting them by email and settled on contacting a French BMW Club member would have better luck. The problem was their Internet provider. When they came to North America they changed their billing information and like this country the provider just canceled the service instead of switching to the new payment process.

Anyway it is possible to camp in NYC one just needs to go to Jersey City then take the Ferry across to the island. I guess you learn something new everyday.

With tent and GS in the background I would suggest that this become a picture of the week.

I wish them well.

[redhot]

It was GREAT meeting them!! We met last night for pizza and had a very nice visit. At the VERY LAST minute - I sent out an email to 400+ of my club members to see if we could find some escorts/tour guides/hosts/ etc... Within minutes, I had offers of help so - I had arranged for them to meet Ben Ricci and his wife Kelly in PA and then Ben would escort them down to Ashburn, VA where they would meet Ken Price and his family. Ken offered them a place to sleep for Saturday night. So Ken drove everyone over to the pizza place where another club member - Moses (who speaks French) met them and then I FINALLY showed up (yes I was a little late). But it was a great visit!!! I am planning on meeting Moses and Alain/Christie this morning in DC to show them the Monument and some other sites quickly. Then I have arranged for them to go south and meet another club member Anton Largiader where they will spend the night before heading down to NC.

It was great to see our club come together and help these folks out!!! I LOVE the BMW community!!! THANK YOU CHRIS DAWE for contacting me and giving us this great opportunity!!!

If you guys get a chance to connect with them - I'd take it - they are very nice people. We paid for their dinner last night and Ben paid for their lunch - but they kept saying how amazed they were with the generousity of the people here!!:clap

I wish them luck on the rest of their journey and hopefully I can make it to their country one of these days!!

Take Care,
Tina Fraembs, President
BMW Bikers of Metropolitan Washington

[redrider]

When I met with them in Montreal they were a little concerned as they spoke very little English. reading from all the posts,they need not have worried. I'm sure they are very grateful for all the help. :clap

[bricciphoto]

My leg of Alain and Christie Arnaud’s trip began in Littlestown , Pa. at about 8:45 a.m. It was raining cats and dogs, but nonetheless my wife Kelly and I saddled up and headed about 100 miles north and east to Hermy’s BMW in Port Clinton. Fortunately the rain subsided about 40 miles west of Hermy’s and once there we met Chris (Statdawg) and the Arnauds.

After a few minutes of catching up with Chris and greeting the Arnauds we headed south to Reading , Pa. , then on to Lancaster . The Arnauds wanted to see the Amish. Despite knowing better, Kelly and I decided we would just brave the heavy weekend tourist traffic in that area to “see what we can see.” Fortunately on the way to Stroudsburg , Pa. and Paradise , Pa. we encountered many Amish in their buggies, some hitched at local businesses. Alain commented to me that he was surprised to see the Amish living so close to and among the rest of society. He had envisioned them living a more isolated lifestyle.

We stopped to chat and coordinate our plans for the rest of the day at The Red Caboose Motel--a typical Amish country tourist trap. This was near the Stroudsburg Railroad, another sight to see. Alain and Christie found it “interesting.” On cue a steam locomotive passed by giving Alain a perfect opportunity to snap some trackside shots of its billowing plume of smoke.

http://bricciphoto.smugmug.com/photos/294618128_GprpD-O.jpg
Kelly, Alain and Christie explore the wonders of Amish country tourish at the Red Caboose Motel outside Strasburg, Pa.

After leaving Lancaster , which created about a two hour detour, we headed west to York , Pa. where we would break for lunch. The Arnaud’s enjoyed seeing the Harley-Davidson assembly plant, although we didn’t stop for a tour. Ultimately we stopped for lunch in downtown York at a typical neighborhood bar/restaurant so Alain and Christie could experience lunch in a small city on a lazy Saturday afternoon. They were surprised to learn American restaurants would be open at 2:00 p.m. In France they said, “We eat at noon and everything closes after that.” We discussed the day’s plan and mutually decided to take the back roads to Ashburn , Va. rather than slab it. I had assumed Alain and Christie had spent a majority of their trip so far on interstates and major roadways. Fine with me, I thought. This is my riding country and the Arnaud’s could see Pennsylvania , Maryland and Virginia as most of it is: small towns nestled among rolling hills and farmland. From this point on, we didn’t hit any interstates or highways until reaching Ken Price’s place in Ashburn , Va. —100 miles of scenic riding on what Rand McNally considers “Other Roads.” We departed at York at 3:30 p.m. The weather broke and it was a cool, but beautifully picturesque sunny afternoon. Perfect. Unfortunately, I stowed my camera after stopping in Lancaster because of the imminent and constant threat of rain while there, so I have no pictures from this leg of the trip—but trust me, this was as good as riding gets: sparse traffic, twisty, hilly, scenic, cool and sunny.

http://bricciphoto.smugmug.com/photos/294618367_URbpF-O.jpg
Alain and Christie are greeted by the Price's dog Sparky on their arrival in Ashburn, Va.

Our ride to Ashburn was uneventful. There isn’t anything specifically to see along our route except the beauty and bounty of the bucolic setting of three states. I’m not in the habit of stopping very often when I’m riding; typically only for gas and other necessities, and I had forgotten to mention this to Alain during lunch. We rode straight through and I wished I had mentioned this to him in the event something caught his eye so we could stop. I would have been happy to wait for him to snap a few pictures as he saw fit.

http://bricciphoto.smugmug.com/photos/294618870_Q9kDN-O.jpg
Alain greets his Virginia host Ken Price.

http://bricciphoto.smugmug.com/photos/294618480_xQZ44-O.jpg
The BMWBMW gang enjoy pizza and buffalo wings with the Arnauds. From left to right: Ken Price, me, Kelly, BMWBMW president Tina Fraembs, Moses Ling, Alain and Christie.

http://bricciphoto.smugmug.com/photos/294618425_dWwBb-O.jpg
Alain makes an enthusiastic point about his travels.

Kelly and I are glad to have met and ridden with Alain and Christie. We enjoyed their company and learned a little bit about their country and home city. We even picked up a bit of French along the way. Looking back I have only three regrets: I didn’t give Alain a heads up about stopping, despite being an avid photographer I didn’t take many photos, and I didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to use what little French I know from high school saying at the very least “Au Revoir!” to the Arnauds as we departed.

[Burnszilla]

They will be staying at our place tomorrow for 2 nights. Thanks Statdawg.

[Burnszilla]

We are eating well.
Tarte de Moutarde...
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3196/2754209214_af5db9ebeb_b.jpg

[Burnszilla]

C'est bon! :eat
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3037/2754209746_8b8d97896f_b.jpg

[Holly]

Merci beaucoup, Statdawg. Je doit essayer cette tarte--délicieux!

Holly

[Burnszilla]

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UWj0-fckaYU&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UWj0-fckaYU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Alain watched the video and said, "that man does not know what he is doing!"

[Burnszilla]

Last night... Pommes des terre au gratin
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3033/2757538700_e032b024ec_b.jpg

Au Revoir! Rendezvous en Sisteron!
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3017/2757539072_34f9b6ab7e_b.jpg
They are on there way to Yosemite, Death Valley, Las Vegas, Southern Utah to meet up with Beemerchef, Arizona, Baja, ferry to mainland Mexico and south...

[Holly]

without recipes!

OK, Burnzilla, how did Alain make the tarte? How about the recipe for the cheesy potatoes? It is totally unfair posting those pics without the recipes. :eat

Holly

[Statdawg]

In December they made it to TDF. Then returned to Buenos Aires to see the Dakar final.

[Statdawg]

Dakar

[Statdawg]

They are now in OZ and have another great place to see. Alain et Chris are to travel over to Adelaide to visit a friend of mine who stores a bike at my garage for his US travels. More photos here http://www.motards-nomades.com/index.php?option=com_datsogallery&Itemid=2

[Statdawg]

With tent and GS in the background I would suggest that this become a picture of the week.

I wish them well.

Sorry it was deleted earlier, here it is again. " Camping in New Jersey".