bigalsmith101
11-05-2009, 02:54 PM
This previous Monday night, Nov. 2nd, 2009, I had the pleasure of hosting Gabe and Charlotte, of the UK, for a night on part of there long journey around the world.
Gabe has been traveling via motorcycle for just over 7 months now, riding his personally modified 2008 Honda XR650L. Charlotte has just joined him in the states for the remainder of the journey to follow. She is riding a 2005 XR650L with similar mods as Gabe's bike.
After Gabe's trek across Europe, the Stan's, Russia, Mongolia, and Siberia, including the Road of Bones, he arrived via plane to the United States only to have to wait a month or so for his bike to arrive via a Cargo ship. He and Charlotte spend that time traveling a bit, down the west coast and back, via greyhound bus and motorcycle, (They bought and sold a KLR650, and XR650R in the time period) and were graciously supported during that time by a BMWMOA member in Snohomish, Washington. (I don't know his name or member id). Little did I know that they were staying 5 miles from my parents house in Lake Stevens.
Statdawg, the ever present, well connected, and informative guy that he is, let me know that Gabe would be in my area and that I should try to meet up with him. Of course I was interested, and after a few emails, explanations of how I was able to contact him, and who I was, Gabe and Charlotte arrived at my apartment Monday night.
They were happy to have a place to sleep that night, and after a questions, and general "get to know each other" conversations, we were off to the grocery store to peruse the humongous beer and wine selection.
We returned from the store with some wine and beer, and I proceeded to make "the most hardy meal" that Charlotte said either of them had had since entering the states. The meal, you might wonder, was simply chopped potatoes, carrots, and onion cooked via a pan, and pan seared, chopped pieces of $2lb London broil, accompanied by a huge pot of rice. They loved it, and we stuffed face.
My awesome roommate, a fellow student and friend of mine, a girl to boot, made the suggestion that if they were going to be around a while, while we were both in class, that we could leave them with the spare key that we have. It never came to this, but I'm telling you, my roommate rocks! I inherently trusted a fellow rider, but Phoebe, my roommate, didn't know who they were from a stranger on the street.
After dinner, we connected Charlottes battery to my battery tender, as her battery had gone dead from using her heated jacket liner. Gabe also sent off a few emails as well. Charlottes rear tire needed replacement, and some fellow ADVriders in Bellingham, had offered up their used ones for free. We sat around a while longer, and then off to bed we went. Gabe and Charlotte spent the night on some camping pads in my living room and slept in a for while while my roommate and I headed to our early morning class at 8am. I aced my Economics of Regulation midterm (or so I hope) and then headed home to meet up with Gabe and Charlotte again.
That day, Gabe ordered an upgraded stator for Charlottes bike. The output of a standard stator is a measly 186watts, and the new stator, by ElectroSport, puts out 260 watts. This should be good enough for her heated grips and jacket. Here's hoping. He also ordered a replacement cord for his Garmin GPS, and we went to the local Hardware store to buy some electrical connectors that Gabe had noticed were shearing off at the battery terminal on her bike.
Soon after some slight mussing around, Gabe and Charlotte packed up there things and headed to cross the Canadian border to visit their friends, only 40 miles north of my place.
http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/picture.php?albumid=64&pictureid=240
http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/picture.php?albumid=64&pictureid=241
http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/picture.php?albumid=64&pictureid=242
http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/picture.php?albumid=64&pictureid=243
Since they arrived in Canada, an ADVrider member contacted me via Gabe's previously sent email, and I picked up the tires for Charlotte's bike. Needless to say, I plan to see them Again. It's been a good time so far!
--Alex :bikes
Gabe has been traveling via motorcycle for just over 7 months now, riding his personally modified 2008 Honda XR650L. Charlotte has just joined him in the states for the remainder of the journey to follow. She is riding a 2005 XR650L with similar mods as Gabe's bike.
After Gabe's trek across Europe, the Stan's, Russia, Mongolia, and Siberia, including the Road of Bones, he arrived via plane to the United States only to have to wait a month or so for his bike to arrive via a Cargo ship. He and Charlotte spend that time traveling a bit, down the west coast and back, via greyhound bus and motorcycle, (They bought and sold a KLR650, and XR650R in the time period) and were graciously supported during that time by a BMWMOA member in Snohomish, Washington. (I don't know his name or member id). Little did I know that they were staying 5 miles from my parents house in Lake Stevens.
Statdawg, the ever present, well connected, and informative guy that he is, let me know that Gabe would be in my area and that I should try to meet up with him. Of course I was interested, and after a few emails, explanations of how I was able to contact him, and who I was, Gabe and Charlotte arrived at my apartment Monday night.
They were happy to have a place to sleep that night, and after a questions, and general "get to know each other" conversations, we were off to the grocery store to peruse the humongous beer and wine selection.
We returned from the store with some wine and beer, and I proceeded to make "the most hardy meal" that Charlotte said either of them had had since entering the states. The meal, you might wonder, was simply chopped potatoes, carrots, and onion cooked via a pan, and pan seared, chopped pieces of $2lb London broil, accompanied by a huge pot of rice. They loved it, and we stuffed face.
My awesome roommate, a fellow student and friend of mine, a girl to boot, made the suggestion that if they were going to be around a while, while we were both in class, that we could leave them with the spare key that we have. It never came to this, but I'm telling you, my roommate rocks! I inherently trusted a fellow rider, but Phoebe, my roommate, didn't know who they were from a stranger on the street.
After dinner, we connected Charlottes battery to my battery tender, as her battery had gone dead from using her heated jacket liner. Gabe also sent off a few emails as well. Charlottes rear tire needed replacement, and some fellow ADVriders in Bellingham, had offered up their used ones for free. We sat around a while longer, and then off to bed we went. Gabe and Charlotte spent the night on some camping pads in my living room and slept in a for while while my roommate and I headed to our early morning class at 8am. I aced my Economics of Regulation midterm (or so I hope) and then headed home to meet up with Gabe and Charlotte again.
That day, Gabe ordered an upgraded stator for Charlottes bike. The output of a standard stator is a measly 186watts, and the new stator, by ElectroSport, puts out 260 watts. This should be good enough for her heated grips and jacket. Here's hoping. He also ordered a replacement cord for his Garmin GPS, and we went to the local Hardware store to buy some electrical connectors that Gabe had noticed were shearing off at the battery terminal on her bike.
Soon after some slight mussing around, Gabe and Charlotte packed up there things and headed to cross the Canadian border to visit their friends, only 40 miles north of my place.
http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/picture.php?albumid=64&pictureid=240
http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/picture.php?albumid=64&pictureid=241
http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/picture.php?albumid=64&pictureid=242
http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/picture.php?albumid=64&pictureid=243
Since they arrived in Canada, an ADVrider member contacted me via Gabe's previously sent email, and I picked up the tires for Charlotte's bike. Needless to say, I plan to see them Again. It's been a good time so far!
--Alex :bikes