EPILOGUE: What We Learned

We have been finished long enough for all the caffeine and adrenaline to wash out of our systems, and to reflect back on the experience and what we learned. It will take some time to sort it all out. As time and reflection bring the picture into focus, I hope to continue editing this work.

In the meantime we know this:
1) If you take one-half as much stuff as you want to bring, you will still have twice as much as you need.

2) There is more than one right way to get there.

3) You will learn something new everywhere you go, and if you ask nicely people are mostly very helpful.

4) This is a big, beautiful country.

5) Balance the destination and the ride.

6) If you are lucky, the toll gate arm is made of foam and designed to break-way.

We haven't counted all the gasoline stations we visited, but I hope to some day. (I have pictures of all but the two I inadvertently failed to snap.) In one sense they are all very much the same (e.g., they all sell jerky inside), but in other ways they are all different. Pictures of the four corner stations are posted here. (I will be posting more in the future. ) You will recognize the similarities; the differences may be more subtle.

For example, in Oregon it is illegal to pump your own gas. The young attendants must handle that task. We compromised. They run the credit card and unleash the pump handing it to us. We actually fill up the tank and replace the pump handle. Filling a motorcycle tank is not like filling a car tank. The automatic shut-off generally won't work properly so one must manually monitor and shut off the flow. Getting the right level is important and may vary from bike to bike.

Near the Florida border, oranges are sold in open bins outside the station. In the Keys are vending machines in front of the station from which you can buy live bait.

In California, the Arco stations don't take credit cards! Vending machines between the pumps take currency like drink machines. Feed the bills in, enter the pump number, and the pump you selected will dispense up to the dollar amount of gas you prepaid.

In Maine, they don't just sell compressed air for your tires, they sell "Fresh Air." (Don't you just hate it when the air in your tires gets stale?) Some stations in the west and in California are unmanned. No attendant is available at all during most hours. You just use your credit card to fill up at the pump.

At one station in Montana coffee was fifty cents. At one in South Dakota it was one dollar. In California it is $1.59 but it is a "special blend."

In the plains and other less populated areas you can still get full repair service for your vehicle, but in the urban areas the closest you'll come to repairs and maintenance is a robotic car wash.

The pay at the pump machines will accept a credit card only once at any given station. The anti-fraud protection makes you go inside to pay after filing up one bike. East of the Mississippi this generally means that you must pre-pay inside for more than you expect to purchase. The attendant then inputs the prepayment which unlocks the pump. You go out and fill up. You return and they tear up the prepaid slip and run a new charge for the actual fill-up amount. Accordingly our routine became for one person to go inside and hand over the credit card for the prepaid charge to unlock the pumps. Actually when we do it they run two charges on the return trip because the system will only allow two pumps on one slip. So the third bike fill-up is on a separate slip. It is fastest if one person makes both trips finally going back inside to settle up when everyone is done filling up.

West of the Mississippi when you go in and hand them the card to pre-pay and unlock the pump they look at you like you are crazy. They don't want the credit card in advance. They tell you to just go out and fill all three bikes, then come back in and pay when you are done. The pumps are always unlocked! Well, who knew. East of the Mississippi they were all locked. Oh well.