Diary & Travel Report by Simon Milward

Tucson AZ. See you south of the border - 12th October

 

Hello Everyone These are my last few hours in the USA. Tucson Arizona, about 60 miles north of Nogales at the Mexican border, is really not the ‘one horse town’ you may think. A lovely ambience, very friendly people and is the fastest growing community in the USA. Cactus plants of all shapes and sizes replace the roses and pansies.

It’s a desert here, and Tucson is surrounded on all sides by mountains that turn red at sunset. I was last here in 1984 with my brother hitch hiking when we got a lift with a cocaine smuggler who was on his way back to Nicaragua to get some more!

BIKE
I’ve been fettling the bike a little more by mounting Metzeler tire number eight on the front, fitting a new speedometer and a replacement Scottoiler (the wonderful automatic chain lubrication system), and getting the rear wheel aligned properly. My wheels were recently inspected and the front was rebuilt by the kind people at Buchanans before I left Los Angeles last week. That was the same day I picked up a new drive chain donated by Glendale Harley Davidson. There are three small cracks in the rear wheel that I am not worried about since there was one in Australia and I have covered 50,000 miles and some very tough terrain since and only two more have appeared. I’ll keep my eye on it. Goodridge gave me all new brake and oil lines with fittings. Progressive Suspension very kindly replaced my rear shock absorbers too, the damping had disappeared in the last set, no wonder the rear end was behaving like a pogo stick! En route to Tucson last weekend I got my first punctured tire since Russia and am glad to say my compressor is still working.

FUNDRAISING
I spent much of the week at Iron Horse Motorcycles here in Tucson who gave me the run of the workshop. Marty signed this BMW dealer up as a corporate sponsor too in between local TV and radio coming in and out to interview me. Some of the time I spent at Foothills Community Church modifying my powerpoint presentation so that it can be given by a third person. Kim Brown will very kindly offer the virtual world tour to audiences in Tucson over the coming months. I tell you what this is really absolutely super and very kind of her. If anyone else out there is competent and prepared to donate time and effort in doing likewise please let me know, since we are still looking for that further $65,000 to run the Flores Project for the full term. I landed at Foothills through Lisa whom I met in Nepal two years ago.

I have put little effort into fundraising but still some very kind groups have donated including $500 from ABATE of Ohio, $500 from Richard Sorensen at Inn Management, and a further $200 from the Airheads Ontario Canada, Top Cats the motorcycle club in Chicago and Lake Chapter ABATE in Minnesota.

I don’t normally do this but I feel compelled to mention my big disappointment with the Japanese motorcycle producers/distributors in the USA. I don’t mind that none of them made a direct donation to the Flores Project, using motorcycles to save lives, even though it has been high profile here. It is the way I was treated. Despite a full year of trying to get through to them there was not even a ‘thanks but no thanks’. I only asked for the opportunity to show them what we are trying to do. I’m so glad the Motorcycle Industry Council was not so arrogant and introvertish.

OTHER PREPARATIONS
Aerostitch the adventure motorcycle outfitters sent me a large packet of goodies. I bought some new jeans deciding on 30 waist since I’ll start to lose weight again now. Today I made photocopies of all the essential documents like passport, new vehicle ownership document (since my engine number changed with the new one), carnet des passage the bike passport and a host of others.

On the communications front I am sorry if you did not get the last update or if you haven’t had one for a while. It’s a long story I won’t bore you with it. I have decided to stick with the Psion and Motorola for Central/South America, though British Telecom are proving as difficult as ever to work with in getting my SIM card replaced. So I’ll be back to paying too much for sub standard service. I left my laptop with Dave Scoggins in LA and the digital projector has gone back to CTX who will send it on somewhere else for me in the future.

I flew up to the Meeting of the Minds at the end of September in Michigan state, the premier annual event for bikers rights activists organized by the Motorcycle Riders Foundation, and supported by both the American Motorcyclist Association and the Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations (FEMA). It was a special weekend, seeing all my friends making new ones and meeting Antonio Perlot who is my successor as General Secretary of FEMA. I was also able to further the cause of the Flores Project and Motorcycle Outreach which will hopefully lead us to that $65,000 and further.

So, with the bike in top condition, paperwork organized, things mailed off everywhere, I am free to get back to my adventure. Thanks again America. See you south of the border.

Simon Milward, on the road

www.millennium-ride.com
A solo fundraising round the world ride on a handmade motorcycle. Help us help motorcycles and motorcyclists improve the health of fellow human beings.