Gettin' Our Kicks: Chapter 1 - And So it Began

A Road Trip on Route 66

And so it began - 2010

The Corvette
Tod Stiles (Martin Milner)
and Buz Murdock (George Mahris)
from TV's Route 66

"I really want to ride a motorbike on Route 66."

"What did you just say?", I asked.

Judith repeated it, "I really want to ride a motorbike on Route 66."

"Oh, that's what I thought you said."

We had this conversation back in late Spring of 2010, a month or so before I was taking off on my one month motorcycle trip back and forth across the U.S., which included Route 66 - or at least most of it.

I had no idea that the old Route 66 TV show that ran from 1960 to 1964 was so popular in Germany. There are several organizations in Germany that revolve around the history and visiting The Old Mother Road.

At this point Judith did not even know how to ride a motorcycle, but at the urging (or maybe on a dare) from her friend Klaus, she was signed up for motorcycle riding lessons in order to get a motorcycle license in Germany.

Fast Forward - 2015

Judith has a motorcycle license, she has her second bike (actually her third, but more on that later) and we are going to ride Route 66 (or at least more than half of it), plus a lot of other places, this Summer.

Now this might seem about as weird as Them, the Northern Ireland band from Belfast, singing Get Your Kicks on Route 66 back in the mid 1960's.

OK... maybe not that weird.

Logistics - that evil bitch

We kicked this Route 66 idea around for quite sometime and couldn't figure out how to get it organized. Judith needed time off, and we need two motorcycles in the U.S. and so on and so forth.

Time

Sometime early last year we figured out how Judith could get the time off.  A colleague of Judith's at Siemens suggested that she should take a sabbatical, not an uncommon thing for a long time employee at Siemens. So, in simple terms this was a no-brainer - take a three month sabbatical - time off problem solved.

What do we Ride

If you're going to ride Route 66 you need a motorcycle. And since Judith is going to ride Route 66 we need two motorcycles. In other words there is no way she going to sit behind me.

I looked into renting motorcycles. You can kiss that idea good-bye. Way too expensive.

OK, we have motorcycles here, let's ship them over to the U.S. and then ship them back. Sounded good at first, but this is mighty pricey as well, plus there is U.S. and German Customs to fool around with, a bunch of logistics, blah, blah, blah.

One day Judith says, "Let's buy two bikes in the U.S., ride them and then sell them when we're finished with the trip." It didn't take me long to realize this was a brilliant idea - as long as we could find two bikes at a reasonable price. Then we sell them later, with some depreciation, but less than renting or shipping our own. Well, at least this is the theory.

Searching for Bikes

We had planned to go to San Francisco over the 2014 Christmas Holidays. I figured I'd use some of the time to check with motorcycle dealers in the Bay Area and see what I could come up with. In November I got on line to locate possible dealers and look at their current used bike inventory.

Judith decided she wanted to find a Triumph Street Triple like she is riding now. The size is right, she's familiar with the bike and likes it a lot. I would settle for most anything BMW-wise. There a couple of BMW-Triumph dealers in the Bay Area, so I targeted them first.

It was disappointing. The used bike selection was pretty thin. But, what the hell, I figured I would stop in at these dealers and tell them my story so they could keep an eye out for the right bikes. Once the bikes were found we buy them remotely and have them waiting when we arrived end of May.

Eureka!

About mid December I extended my search for motorcycle dealers further out of the San Francisco Bay Area. I found A & S Cycles in Roseville, Calif., which is about 125 miles East of San Francisco. I actually knew the dealership, but had forgotten about them.

Their used bike inventory was far richer than any other I had found. Sure enough they had not one, but three Triumph Street Triples that were barely used. Plus they had several one and two year old BMW's that fit the bill perfectly.

Next Chapter: Buying the Bikes and Getting Organized

A Ride to the former DDR

Two weekends ago we had a nice motorcycle tour with Laura and Sean Ruddy (friends in the military), my wife (Judith) and three friends, Steffi, Wieland and Christian.

L - R: Steffi, Wieland, Christian, Sean, Laura and Judith: Photo by Sean or Laura

We headed North from Nürnberg and met Sean "Rocket" Ruddy and Laura "MacGyver" Ruddy in Bamberg. The meeting point was to be a Bäkerei (bakery) that turned out had closed in 1985 (thank you Garmin Maps for the up to date information).

Our Route

After we managed to connect at the non existing Bäckerei we headed out North towards the Thüringer Wald region. This is in the former DDR (East Germany), where we found some very nice roads and great scenery.

On the way, Rocket Ruddy lost one of the two screws holding his license plate on, and it was threatening to come completely undone (supersonic speed seems to do funny things to hardware). Between all of us there were no extra screws or zip ties (a very well prepared group - eh?). However, Laura MacGyver Ruddy came through with a roadside repair using an old keyring and a pair of pliers and some duct tape.

MacGyver at work

"I am going to get this thing on no matter what!"

After the repairs were completed we all got a little hungry, so we stopped at a Gasthaus across from the Basilika Vierzehnheiligen for coffee and cake. No... I did not take this picture. I stole it from the Web. The Basilika was covered in scaffolding undergoing a renovation.

The baroque Wallfahrtsbasilika Vierzehnheiligen was built by the famous architect Balthasar Neumann.
http://www.vierzehnheiligen.de/en/

Alter

Next stop was at Confiserie Lauenstein, where these two group photos were taken. The Confiserie Lauenstein make absolutely killer Pralinen, Trüffels and Schokolade.
 

: Photo by Sean or Laura

: Photo by Sean or Laura

I picked up some supplies there, as well as a set of tools in case another roadside repair was needed.

Supplies

More Supplies

 

 

Special Tools

Later in the day we also ran into a guy with a 1920's something DKW at a Tankstelle (gas station). DKW is an old German motorcycle manufacture located in the former Eastern Germany sector.
 

: Photo by Sean or Laura

An old DKW getting some modern Air

Old bikes have a lot more levers to make manual adjustments to ignition, choke and throttle position in order to get them to start within a reasonable numbers of kicks.

Sorry, but I did not get many pictures, as we didn't do much sight seeing standing still. A couple are from Laura and Sean.

It was a super tour even though Sunday turned into a fairly rainy day and we headed pretty much for home. There is another tour mid May with the cast of characters.

I'm Back...

It has been some time since I posted anything on my blog and it's time to fire it up again.

For the past six months or so I've been side tracked with a Deutsch Integrationskurs and now I am studying for the B1-Prüfung (exam) upcoming on May 9th. The Deutsch Integrationskurs is a 600 hour course for learning the German language, integrating into the German culture learning about recent German history and the Politics. The course has been pretty interesting considering we only speak German and there are people from Russia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Romania, Columbia, Venezuela, Brazil, Mongolia, Slovakia and Moldavia in the class. It's sort of like a movie we've probably all seen where the American guy is teaching English as a second language to a group of people who all speak a different language. We have had a few pot luck parties and the food is varied and pretty darn good.

At the end of the course I take an nine hour exam that covers reading, writing, hearing and speaking German. I took the A1-Prüfung about a year ago and passed with no problem. This one is going to be a little different I think.

So, if I pass the B1 exam what does that do for me? My Visa will be good for two or three years before I will need to reapply. If I don't pass then I will need to reapply every year until I do pass the exam - or - until I have lived in Germany for six years when the Visa automatically becomes permanent. Interestingly enough, if you hold an EU Passport all of this is not necessary. Fortunately, I won't get kicked out of the country.

Deport

I have to say the whole exercise is a bit frustrating, as I have no problems getting along on a day to day basis living in Germany, even with my limited Deutsch sprechen. I certainly have no problem ordering Nüernberger Bratwürste und Bier.

Nüenberger Bratwürste erobern die Welt
(Nürnberg Bratwürst conquer the World)

On the other hand, I of course understand the idea of being "invited" by the immigrations folks at the Ausländeramt to participate in the course and exam. Germany has been the go to country for folks immigrating (or Ayslbewerber, i.e. asylum seekers) from countries outside of the EU for some time now. Germany would prefer that people who are living here are able to contribute to the overall society. For those who need to earn a living that means speaking the language. Not such a bad idea.

BMW Motorrad Days 2013 - Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Deutschland

From the BMW Web Site

Judith and I received a super wedding gift. We were fortunate enough to spend the weekend in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GAP) at BMW Motorrad Days.  This was all thanks to some secret organizing by our friends Christian and Wieland, and donations from other friends (a Big Thank You from Judith and Me!).

Motorrad Days was held July 5, 6 and 7.  Here's a link to a video that will give you an idea of the event. BMW Motorrad Days 2013.  The video gives a nice overview of the event, but it doesn't (and probably cannot) come close to the real thing.

I took about 400 pictures on this trip, but edited them down to about 130.  You can see them here: Pictures - BMW Motorrad Days Tour.  Hope you enjoy them.

Christian, Yella (Christian's daughter), Steffi and Wieland also joined us.  A hotel (the Dorint Sportshotel) was pre-arranged by Christian.  The Dorint is a very nice 4 Star hotel not far from the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Ski Area.


The venue at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Ski Area is expansive.  Over the weekend there about 30,000 visitors, and it seemed nearly as many motorcycles.  The facility really does a super job in staging the event.

BMW Motorrad must have a monstrous budget for the event. The number of demo bikes for both Street and Enduro riding was huge. Every model was available - from the new C 650 Scooter up to the K 1600 GT and GTL.  The street demo rides were 90 minutes and went over some great Straße.  On Fri. they included the B11 over Kochelsee Pass, a very nice twisty ride.  The road is closed to motorcycles on the weekend, but we road in over the pass on Friday morning.

Here is a section of the Kochelsee Pass

An Enduro track was carved out on the event's grounds on which you could ride any of the BMW GS models for three laps per session for free, for as many sessions as you wanted or were able to do (OK, there was a 5€ charge for a Riders Pass that covered all demo rides).

The crowd on Friday was very large, but on Sat. it was gigantic.  We watched the mob riding in for awhile and were sort of slack-jawed at the number and diversity of bikes.  The Polizei did a great job keeping things moving and organized (of course it is Germany, it is expected).

Many, many, many interesting BMWs, including R90s and R80GSs, plus a good number of real "Oldtimers" both ridden in and on display. There was a large pavilion for the various BMW Clubs throughout Europe with museum quality examples of BMW Motorrad, including, but not limited to, an R32, R7 Prototype and display of the evolution of the GS.

Chris Pfeiffer as usual put on a mind blowing exhibition Chris Pfeiffer BMW Motorrad Days 2013.  The Original Motodrom (Wall of Death) was also as entertaining as can be.

Great Bier and Brots were in good supply as well, and at reasonable cost.

We were witness to one unfortunate event however. It was scene from the 60's Beach Party movies ( you know, Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello and Eric von Zipper).  There was a long row of bikes (mostly BMWs) parked side by side and pretty close together. They were on a very slight downhill slope, some resting on side stands and some on center stands. Some dude comes along and parks his bike at the high end of the row of bikes - puts his side stand down - gets off the the bike and starts to take off his gear. The bike falls to the right, hits the next bike, it falls and like dominos about a dozen bikes go down. Judith and I saw the entire thing unfold in front of us in slow motion.  And yes, there was some relatively serious damage to a few bikes.  A bunch of people all pitched in (including me) to untangle the mess and get everything back on two wheels.  Except for the guy who started the avalanche, it didn't look like any of the bike owners were around, so there will be some big (WTF) surprises, but no one was hurt.

To my amazement, all of this, except for Bier, Brots and 5€ cost for a demo Riders Pass, is at no cost.

This a good one for the Bucket List.

Great riding, good friends, fantastic weather, super nice hotel and lots and lots of motorcycles.  We had a really great weekend

"Please turn right at the next intersection..."

... says the voice in my right ear and then the drill starts again.  Look in the right rear view mirror... look over the right shoulder, and if it's clear turn on the right turn signal...  move slowly to the right hand section of the lane... making sure to brake with both front and rear brakes.  Thus goes the road test for my German driver's license (Führerschine) on a gray Wednesday morning last week.

Little Orange Cone Demo Team

Before being allowed out on the road by the Führerschine Meister from TÜV I had to run the little orange cone gauntlet.  Circumnavigate a circle painted on the ground three times and make sure you go fast enough to initiate some amount of lean on the bike (don't go more than three revolutions - you will get dizzy and fall down), then wiggle through a bunch of little orange cones that are real close together at idle speed, next run a slalom through some more little orange cones that are further apart, but make sure you're going at least 40 K per hour, and then finally three different emergency braking & obstacle avoidance tests.  If you hit a little orange cone on any of the tests you are toast.

So I watched how the youngsters did it and I managed to pass the first part.

Then, once it was determined I could go off to the strasse for Part Two -- the road test -- more fun.  I wound through a few villages, over country roads, through larger towns and then the Pièce de résistance -- the Autobohn --  all-the-while following the instructions from the voice I was hearing in my right ear.

I guess I didn't do anything stupid because at the end of the road test I got a thumbs up from the Führerschine Meister, along with a piece of paper that would prove to be my passport to legal driving in Germany -- that is once I made it over to the Führerschinestelle to pick up my drivers license.

Blacks out to protect the innocent

So, once again, I am a legal menace to the public roads both in a car and on a motorcycle, but this time in a foreign country.

Yahoo!

The Big Dig on Hochstrasse

Yes in deed, in normal conditions street parking is never easy to find on Hochstrasse.  Refer to my May 24th post "Major Milestone Achieved!! Second Sonderparkberechtigung Obtained"

It's been much worse lately since they have been repairing the street that the city tore up last year to put in new sewer pipes.  The street is cobblestone and the asphalt patches are finally being replaced with new cobblestones.  This is nice, as the asphalt does not quite have the je ne sais quoi as cobblestone.

This re-cobblestoning process is apparently a lost art that the city workers are trying to figure out.  First they put up "No Parking" signs on the street (a street that mind you already has limited parking), along with some red and white barrier things, steel plates and orange blinking lights to form an alter - so to speak - and then go away for a week or so.

After they come back, the offending asphalt is removed in a rather violent and noisy manner.  They leave again - I presume to get further instructions from some very all knowing person.

After some effort that takes many, many days, the "alter" is prepared for the new cobblestones.  This involves a lot more noise.  A large truck brings the stones and dumps them into a big misshapen pile.  Many layers of dirt are deposited on the alter and tamped down with gas engine powered tamper (I am sure this is not the correct name).

The next phase of the event involves the HMFDIC (you must know what this means, if not do not ask), who keeps picking up one cobblestone at a time and stares at it and turns it to inspect all sides and stares for awhile longer.  Often he will toss the stone aside and then start the process all over.

Once he and a cobblestone have a melding of the mind (this takes place all the while on bended knees in a praying position) he places the stone just so in the alter and then gently taps on the stone with a ceremonial hammer like thing, using some secret rhythm.  During this ritual another city worker is standing by admiring the Stone Whisperer's work. I guess he is an apprentice.  Very often there will be two teams working side by side, engaged in some type of slow race.

I have attached a picture of the ritual taken from a secret hiding place.  Be careful not to get caught with this documentation of the cobblestone ritual.  If you are found with it in your possession there will be a pox on your street for a minimum of three years.  The city will come and replace the sewer pipes, leaving the street surface a mess for at least one year.  Then there will be a new crew who will tear up the patched street and go away for several months before returning to complete the work.

Logic and the Führerscheinstelle im Ordnungsamt*

Logic teaches rules for presentation, not thinking. 

-Mason Cooley

Logic is neither an art nor a science but a dodge.

-Stendahl

Logic! Good gracious! What rubbish!

-E. M. Forester

Such is logic when it comes to obtaining a German Drivers License - especially with a Motorcycle Endorsement.

I may have mentioned earlier that there is a nice little "logical" agreement between many of the States in America and Germany, where your American drivers license is exchanged for a German drivers license with no need to take a written or driving test - just pay the fee. So happens that my PA drivers License is honored in the exchange agreement.  This makes one of the necessities when moving to Germany very easy.  

Oh yeah - hold on!  Not so if you also need a Motorcycle Endorsement.  

For some reason the Führerscheinamt (Department of Motor Vehicles) has it in their "logic" that it's OK to just give an American a German drivers license (provided you pay the fee) for an automobile with no written or driving tests required.  Mind you the driving laws and road signs are not insignificantly different here, but never mind that.

But, if you also want the Motorcycle Endorsement on your American drivers license to be transferred to your German drivers license - "Forgedaboudit" (this is not German, it's New Jersey-ese).  

You must take the theory (written) and practical (riding) test.  OK - so what's the big deal, other than an inconvenience?  Well, let me tell you...

TÜV administers the tests for all of Germany.  In order to be eligible to take the tests a Fahrschule (driving school) must recommend that you are ready to take the test.  This means that you need to sign up with a Fahrschule.  Fortunately, Judith knows some very nice people at Peppel's Fahrschule.

They organized everything and I was able to study the German regulations on line, which a good thing because there is no little Driving Test Study Book like in America.

Example of the On Line study guide - same thing as the actual test

But, the regulations are pretty different and there is a lot of them and they are really bizarre.  For example, can you figure this question out?

You want to turn out of a road with a sunken kerbstone into another road.  A car is coming from the left.  What applies here?

1. Whoever turns into a road over a sunken kerbstone must wait
2. The rule “right before left”
3. The sunken kerbstone is of no relevance for the obligation to wait

What the hell is a sunken curbstone?  No one knows...




After taking about 175 (no kidding) practice tests on line I felt I was ready to go to TUV and take the test.  The big day was this past Monday.  The test is given by a computer program.  So promptly at 10:45 on a gray and rainy Monday morning myself and about ten others gathered at TÜV for the test.  Most everyone was taking the normal driving test - not the motorcycle test.  I was of course the only American.  I did get to take the test in English at least.


Twenty minutes later I was finished and even though I know the answer to the "Sunken Kurbstones" question they didn't ask. BTW, the correct answer is number 1.

I did however Ace the test!!!

Now... the riding test is next.  Weave through little orange cones, go in circles, panic brake, blah, blah blah.  But the catch is there is also an on road test after the little orange cone test.

The test is in about two weeks - wish me luck!








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*License Office in the Clerk's Office