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The Harley
Cant have a blog about traveling on the bike without a shot of the bike. So my day started off with finally getting my motorcycle license and then I was able to begin my trip a little late but still able to start.
It was a nasty day to be riding a motorcycle heavy rains and all that, but a spot of rain wont stop me. Besides I expected to get rained on, after all it is a 30 day trip across Europe. I decided to use the autostrada because of all the rain and felt it to be safer for the first day of travel. I had never used the autostrada before so I was a bit confused at the concept of tolls, and there were no people in the booths and no motorcycle lanes either. So i got there and pulled a ticked and the gate opened up and I figured "eh whatever maybe it is free on Fridays or something". I had my handy dandy GPS holder mounted to my handlebars and it is waterproof, (which I was at the current moment rather glad I went with) and it was leading me all the way to Nice France. Which I had learned through various movies that it is pronounced niece so I
The Sea
Some random island in the sea just looks cool sounded less ignorant about where I was headed when I talked to people.
I finally got to the sea around mid-day and it was clearing up, the rain had stopped and the clouds were lifting, I was so happy for this because I was starting to get cold. My gear had kept me dry but nonetheless it was about 50 deg with a 70mph wind chill factor. So I decided to drive along the coastline and enjoy the views. All it took was a simple unchecking of a box on my GPS and I was off to the side-roads. There was a good bit of traffic in some of the cities I came through and I was doing a bit of lane splitting but on a Harley it gets hard sometimes with the narrow roads so I had to stop and wait for traffic to go. But then I noticed the locals driving their bikes in the middle of the road or on the opposite side of the road right past cops and no problem so "do as the locals do" became my theme. It was fun driving like a mad man, weaving in and out of traffic, dodging
Not used to such narrow roads and such tall buildings on that road.oncoming cars, good times. And as I always say I do some crazy stuff when I am driving, but I always stay in a zone I feel comfortable in and don't stray from my safe zone.
When I was nearing the France border I decided to get back on the autostrada because the clouds were moving in again and I was supposed to arrive around 1800 and it was closing in on that time. I got some euros ready for tolls and had my passport handy for the border and... nothing just a sign saying i was in France now, I wanted a passport stamp!! But whatever life goes on. I got to Nice almost exactly on time and found where I was to stay. I used couchsurfing.org and a guy named Oliver who is an aspiring actor, said I could crash at his place that night. This was my first experience using couchsurfing so I was a bit on guard for anything. But he was cool and welcomed me into his home and we went out for a bite at a nearby restaurant. I had some rather good salmon and Oliver got steak tar tar. I always thought steak tar tar was just really rare steak. But no, it is a chunk of raw ground beef, (about 1/2lb) formed up into a cube. FREAKING RAW! I mean really who eats raw ground beef? The French apparently... After dinner we went back to his place and i pulled out my sleeping bag and crashed on the floor for a good nights rest after a long day of riding.
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Dorothy
non-member comment
Glad you stayed in your safe zone.