TRAVELING CHOPPER

           If anybody had any doubts about whether or not heaven exists, I can tell you with complete confidence that it does.  Turns out it is down here in Portugal along route N-2, north out of the coastal town of Faro. Its manicured roads dip and weave through rich corridors of wild flowers, broad leafed trees and rich soils in way that only a fine composer would lead a royal orchestra.  Oh wait, or was riding over Pas de la Casa in Andorra with its 9,000 foot snow lined, alpine roads? With bluebird skys, views for miles (from what felt like the top of the world) and crisp thin air it seemed a bit otherwordly.  I don't know, maybe it was riding through patchwork vineyards in southern France.  You get the point.  Finding an incredible stretch of road out here in the old world has certainly not been an issue.  I'm probably getting ahead of myself though.  Maybe I should back track a bit from where I left off in my last post here.            After exiting the ship and spending

              A feeling of both excitement and nervousness washed over us as we climbed aboard the Independant Voyager, a German built containor ship that would take us from Wilmignton, NC to Antwerp, Belgium.  As a new experiance for both of us, we truly had no idea what we were getting into.  What we did know was that the ship was unstabalized, manned with what we thought was going to be a German crew (turned out to be primarily Polish, Romanian and Russian) and was a true working ship.  Because of this we didn't anticipate much in the way of comforts, and not much is what we got.              Aboard the vessel was an 18 man crew and a total of 5 passengers.  The passengers consisted of Kayla and myself, a couple from Canada and a lone traveler from England.  All of whom were friendly, well travelled and consistently brought interesting and entertaining conversations to the table.  This was good because we spent a fair amount of our time around the table.  With a regular feeding

We made it to our ship about a half hour ago and are currently sitting in our cabin waiting to leave the port and embark on our 11 day Atlantic crossing. We port in antwerp, Belgium. Due to security on the port I was only able to sneak a couple of quick photos. The photos in no way do this ship justice. During this 11 day journey we will be off grid with no wifi or cell service so look for updates when we are there. 

                I was reminded yesterday as to why I enjoy travel and why I think it is impoprtant.  We woke in the morning excited to drop our motorcycles off at the shipping warehouse, the next big step towards our travels in Europe.  But what happened at the warehouse, the experience we had, was an eye opening one.  There we were, dropping off two expensive Harley-Davidsons, leaving on what most would consider a trip of a lifetime.  Spending an extravegant amount of money to, at the end of the day, take a vacation.  Though I do feel there is more to it than that, ultimately, that is what it is.  In this warehouse we were surrounded by luxury items such as riding lawnmowers, vintage cars and crates of Tesla motors...all of these items being shipped overseas to people with plenty of money.  What we didn't expect to see was three train cars, tucked in a corner of this monster establishment, packed full of bags of rice.  The rice was being shipped to Africa.  We inquired about this

          The riding through northern Georgia, Alabama and into South Carolina is hard to beat.  The roads are narrow, lined with plenty of trees, grasses and amazing flowers that send an unbeatable aroma through your nose.  Along the way we stayed with our friend Kevin "Mailman" O'brien, Kaylas' Uncle Tom and her brother in Charleston, SC.  I'd have to say that Charleston is one of the nicest towns I have been to in a while and it actually inspired us to stay for an extra day to explore the town further. With the cobblestone streets, buildings from the 1700's and the salty coastal air the town is full character and history.  Another noteable experiance in Charleston was North Ridge Custom Cycles.  We spoke to a fellow there by the name of Thomas Black.  He was kind of enough to let us use his back lot to drain the oil in my bike and adjust the clutch on Kaylas.  From Charleston we took our time, as we have been this whole trip, getting to Wilmington.  The rou