Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB - Egyptian around 30 states

First Please note that i am a very bad writer, usually i only take notes for my travel diaries, but this is the first time i try to document something i did, and i am alone so will not really be able to write and take many good pictures, so lets see how it turns out. if below is too long and boring to read just jump to my website for the gallery to see the pictures heesopedia.com - Every Day is a Riding Day

California

Well, it all started after the success of the revolution in Egypt, after we finally kicked out the president, things started to settle down and everyone was happy, I left to the United States to figure out some stuff that I do not know what they are, so a bike journey around the states was my first goal. I arrived at new York, spent there a day just to see times square and what it is all about then flew to los Angeles. Where I planned to settle for a while. So..
Journey Kick off was from Los Angeles, Hollywood destination East coast Atlantic ocean, city Key West and the route is not preplanned, I only have a list of stuff and places that I must see along the way I pinned them on my map and every day I check and plan the route to my next destination.
I spent in LA almost a month. I bought the bike from there, ordered some accessories and prepared my new baby for the trip.
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LA is really nice as everyone already knows but maybe for a few days only. If you get deeper in the city you will find that it is not really what it seems to be. People are different. Yes all of them are different. During my whole stay there I did not have the luck to meet one normal person. Everyone is from somewhere else, everyone is there for a reason and everyone is working really hard to make his dream come true there. The greater Los Angeles region is maybe nice, different people from LA and there is a lot to see over there orange county Huntington beach, Newport, in new port I probably had the best burger of my life in a place called Rudy’s

While I was there I had a 2 day trip to San Diego , and I liked it very much, small city, less traffic, nice chilled out people. And the city offers a lot of things to see and do. And of course the San Diego Zoo was amazing.

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May-08 From LA I head north on the famous Pacific Coast Highway or “Highway 1” one of Americas most beautiful rides. To goes along the pacific ocean, there is much to see and visit along the way. Too many beautiful beaches. This is the weekend ride for all the local bikers in the area. I kept riding till it got dark then went off to the interstate to San Francisco, bay area.

San Francisco is great city, very beautiful, reminded me of Europe cities, not sure why exactly. So many things to see over there and people are all down to earth there and they are all obsessed with baseball. I am staying in Lombard Plaza Motel, very good location rooms are clean, but not really a good motel and had very strange guests but let’s skip that

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Nevada

May-10 I left San Francisco to lake Tahoe. One of the most beautiful lakes I have seen. But it is so beautiful that all around it was occupied with hotels , resorts and campsites. Which did take away the natural feeling it should bring. I was planning to camp there but all the campgrounds were covered in snow. The ride around the lake was very nice but I was freezing, I almost had everything from my bags on me.
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From Lake Tahoe heading south to Las Vegas. It was a long ride and I moved late so I had to make a stop on the way. The whole road goes through Nevada deserts and forests and there was almost no one else but me for many miles, unfortunately I did not see most of it because I was riding at night. But I had good company on the road for a while, the wild rabbits, every rabbit sees me come out running and they run next to me, it was really dangerous because I don’t think they realize I could run them over. They were running so close to the wheel. I had to slow down on this road to avoid stepping on them.
After about 250 miles I stopped in the middle of the night in a very small town called Tonopah the only motel that was open I stayed in, had to wake up the nice lady to give me a room.

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The next day May-12 I was in Las Vegas, everyone knows Vegas, but if you have never been there, it is much more better than you can ever think, the gigantic hotels, casinos, architecture, the strip, everything was beautifully engineered and into very deep details, of course lots of people from all over the world, all going as crazy as human can. Still Many gamblers which doesn’t really make sense to me that people are still gambling, looking on casinos how big they are and how much they are expanding and getting bigger everyday it is pretty obvious that they are not losing any money at all , yet people continue to gamble in hope to one day win.
I went out to the suburbs of Vegas to see how the locals live being the whole morals for my journey, and I was impressed that people there are nice and friendly. No one is originally from Vegas but they have been there for many years living a nice quite normal life. And they have a great burger place called Charlie’s. One of the best burgers I had in the states.

Arizona

May-16 out from Vegas on a nice sunny day onto Arizona desert highways, all the way to the grand canyon, on the south rim It was actually really crowded considering it is in the middle of nowhere. I was also planning to camp on the canyon, but camping was only allowed the designated camping areas. I checked out the campsites and they were all very busy, and not all have a view on the canyon. And they were really fancy with toilets and showers and electricity and people put their tents really close to each other.

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It was not my type of camping so I went out east trying to circle the canyon on a trail road in the Kaibab forest, it started to get dark and impossible to reach the north rim. But this area was exactly what I was looking for, no people at all, because there are no roads. It was as wild as I wanted, I heard of mountain lions there and several wild animals so I based my camp in the middle of nowhere hoping that I will get in touch with any wild animal, unfortunately I was out of luck.
The next day I head south to the famous historic route 66. Where bikers come from all over the world to ride, the road was busy with many bikes. It is still a nice ride on the wild side.

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New Mexico

It took route 66 on and off till I crossed to new Mexico, and once I entered new Mexico I felt the scenery has changed, the desert isdifferent, new different colors all the way beautiful mountain running along the road. I like that. I kept enjoying my ride till it got dark and I stopped in a small town on route 66 called Grants. It was a fun old town. I have seen there my first American bar fight. Where a man calls the other guy to step outside, went out punched him he fell and everyone was back in to enjoy the rest of the night.

Next day May-18 I continue riding to Santa Fe, weather not really good, some rain and very strong wind that is blowing me off the road.
Arrived safe, Santa Fe is a very beautiful little city. It is all Adobe. All as in everything, the whole city streets architecture interstate bridge too, and that makes it very special and very artistic.

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Local People there are very nice, met there a very nice group who took good care of me and gave me very good advice. Not many tourists but mostly older couples. There are no clubs or big parties in this city, only a few bars downtown. But they are really nice, good food, Mexican food of course. One of the best bars there that has most of the locals my age generation is called The Matador, surprisingly it stays open until 3 am and was crowded with some people. the owner is really a great guy most of the time he works there, he is a motorcycle rider too. I had fun in Santa fe although the weather was really bad and too much rain.

Texas

May-20 from Santa Fe I head out south east to Texas. It was about a 460 mile ride it started with cold temperature 35 degrees and ended with 95 degrees. Had to stop every hour to take off something I was wearing, till I ended up with a cut shirt.

My first goal in Texas is to see real cowboys. I heard of a Rodeo contest at a small town called Vernon, I head out there but unfortunately I arrived too late after the show. The next day I went to the rodeo ground in Santa Roasa Vernon. Where I met real cowboys from the country. Very nice people, they were all very friendly and very happy to have me there. I watched them practice for the rodeo show and a nice chat about horses and cows and how they live and I told them much about Egypt that they didn’t know.

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May-21 From Vernon I ride to Dallas, in a very hot and windy day. Dallas was not really what I expected. I actually expected more. There is not a lot to see there, and people are not very friendly. And in addition the weather was really bad, very humid very hot and raining almost all the time, so I guess I was not really lucky there. I still need to go back there and give it another shot coz I know this city has more to offer.

May-24 I left Dallas and a storm hit the city a few hours after I left so I guess I a bit lucky after all.
Then heading south to Houston. There I have a cousin I haven’t see here since maybe 5 years. I wanted to see her and her husband and new baby.
Houston was even better than I expected. It is a big city with many things to do. Not very touristic so not many attractions. Most important for me was the NASA Johnson space center. It was the first time for me to see a real rocket that did actually go to space. It is a very nice experience to see how all this history was made.
I had to stay in Houston for more days due to bad weather conditions in Louisiana.
I was surprised of how many Arabs are in this city they are everywhere. I have enjoyed the stay in Houston very much, met nice people. Surprisingly also they have a wild nightlife everyday in the week.

Long time I am spending Houston,,,,,

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Louisiana

June-01 leaving Houston finally, going to Louisiana, people have warned me a lot about Louisiana, and the police there so I am a bit cautious. First I drive through Lafayette a big city there, then on the Atchafalaya river I head south, to the Atchafalaya Swamps, the biggest swamp area in Louisiana, I wanted to camp there and explore the wild life I always hear about. I arrive there at 7PM, the time is changing in every state now one hour less. So I had lost one hour of my day. And I find the whole area is blocked and rangers are all over, they are closing this area because they are directing the flood water from the Mississippi to here so this area is flooding for the next days and no one is allowed. Bad luck for me that day, I go look for a motel then and spend the night next city about 3 miles away, Baton Rouge strange city too but I did not have time to explore it really, only visited the BMW shop there and had some advice from the beautiful places in the area. Over the night I was grabbing all the maps and trying to figure out which area I should go see the wildlife I came for, was not easy, I pinned a few locations on my GPS and head out the next morning, circling around south central Louisiana from the Mississippi to the Atchafalaya area. The Rivers and swamps are really very beautiful, the Nature is wonderful and well maintained, but there are people everywhere, literally everywhere where there are no roads. I had pinned some locations on my GPS deep in the forests around the swamps where there are on trail roads or none, every location I go I find settlements and houses over the water or on the shores. This is not the wild life I am looking for!!
The day is almost over, I quickly head east around to the north side of lake Pontchartrain I heard of some good wildlife parks there, I visit the first one “Madisonville” not really what I want, the ranger there, a cute young girl told me I will not find what I want there in Louisiana and I must go further north to find it but my next stop will be better, Fontainebleau park and she know the guy there so she called him and asked him to wait for me coz it is late now.
I went there in the middle of the dark, the guy was nice enough to wait for me in front of the park.
I went in there are also people inside and also fancy camping area, but whatever I I picked the most remote location. I saw a wild Deer there OMG wow. And maybe 3 million mosquitoes were feeding on me only during the time I was setting up my tent. but I must say I liked it, I enjoyed the clean air and the quite time.

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Next day I take the easy way, the tourist way, I went to swamp tour office, they took me on a boat, a normal boat even not an airboat. And they tour the swamps, the honey island swamps they call it. There I saw Alligators, many of them, the tour guide has names for all of them and they feed them Hotdogs and marshmallow. Actually once the alligators spot us they came to get some. It is a nice experience and I figured enough of the wildlife search, lets go get crazy, I head to New Orleans it June-03 I arrive there, with no plan I know nothing about the city ( only about the music I knew) and I have no idea where to stay. In addition people warning me all the time about this city and the high criminal rate. And once I arrived , it was Friday afternoon, strange people on the streets, they all look like drug addicts and robbers. I found some motels I check them out, the areas are really bad,, and these same strange people are staying in the motels. And all the motels look really disgusting. I was considering leaving the city. I start cruising around, and found a direction sign to the French quarter, I remember I heard about this from someone before. I ride there, now the city starts to be normal and more beautiful. People changed to normal and nice. Everything is suddenly clean. I make a stop in a gas station in this good area to think what I will do. I find many people starting to talk to me, all very nice. One Guy a Tattoo artist there gave me very good advice, for a hotel in this area, the gas station shop owner is a nice old Lebanese Man. I went to this hotel, it was cheaper than some of the motels and in the French quarter area. I was glad and happy. I put down my stuff and then I ask for the action here in this town. Everyone guided me to Bourbon street in the French corner, which is 5 minutes walk from my hotel. But they told me to see things I have never seen before in my life. So I took a walk in this nice French quarter neighborhood, very quiet and dimmed lights no one on the streets beautiful old European style houses. And bam suddenly lots of light, loud music, lots of people, dancing, jumping, naked, crazy, throwing up on the street. Bars, clubs, strip clubs, anything and everything was there and all ages, styles. I kept going from a place to the other and they are all the same, enjoying the wild life also that I was searching for and having lots of fun.
In New Orleans I also had to try the famous Cajon food. It was alright my favorite is still Burgers. http://heesopedia.com/chronicles/American%20Burger.jpg

Alabama & Mississippi

I only drive through southern part of these states, didn’t really make a big stop there only for gas and food.

Florida

June-05 leaving New Orleans to panama City, or panama city beach, which is a famous destination for many people from the mid east states.
June-06 on my way to Orlando Florida, I experienced all season weather on that ride, started very very hot. Suddenly clouds covered the sky, then heavy rain, then only clouds warm weather, then suddenly very cold and hale dropping on me then I arrive to Orlando and the weather was actually good and normal, Orlando is a very beautiful and clean modern city, it is also very active city. Very similar to LA for the night action. People all over downtown.
I am staying in a nice cheap motel between downtown and universal.i am not planning to visit any of the amuzement parks here i will only hang arround and socialize with the locals.

I still don’t know exactly where will be my next stop. But I am going south.

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Riding all the way from California through 8 states and the first time the police stops me was in Florida in a small village I don’t even remember its name. The cop was very nice too. He stopped me because I have no license plates on my bike. After checking my documents we had a nice chat and he was pretty cool.

I am really surprised of the people here. So far I have not met one person that was not nice. Everyone of every race and culture and religion has been treating me very good . It is amazing, such hospitality and kindness was not expected at all.

Back to the motel subject and how fascinated i am with this idea, tonight I am taking my baby with me in my room.
Apparently this area is not really good to leave the bike out alone. I may also use the company

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June-12 I head south through back country roads destination everglades. Unfortunately suddenly and for the first time this year, severe rain hit me on the road, I kept riding until the water was high to my boots on the bike, visibility was very bad and it started to get really dangerous I was in the middle of the big cypress forest. With nothing around but the forest. After a while I found a bar on the road with some bikes parked outside. I stopped I went in and found some bikers stuck there because of the rain too. The owners were extremely nice and kind after a while they needed to go so they closed down and left us the place to stay until the weather gets better. I waited there for a while until the sky started to clear in the direction I was going. Then I continue east of course going camping was impossible, I stopped at a strange motel near Miami. I am spending the night here, and tomorrow will figure out where to go.

Due to non official conditions I have to make a short trip out of Florida for a few days then I will be back to continue as planned.

June-20 I am now in a motel in south Florida 30 miles from Miami. I got back from the thing I needed to do it was 1250 miles away, I did each leg on 2 days, about 600 miles a day, I got dead tired, I was riding in extreme heat, rain, hail, and even through smoke from forest fire. Anyway I made back here in south Florida. But I have to change my rear tire coz there is no more tread on it.

I changed my tire and did all service for the bike. Got some new parts too, I installed the headlamp protector and highway foot pegs. I wish I had those before going on the 600 miles a day rides. I also got the hand guards but didn’t install them yet.

June-21 I woke early and head out to the big cypress/everglades national preserve, it is a huge forest, divided in many sections with much to see, animals and plants, and more insects also big swamp areas. I have already set my destination over there for a trail road that I checked out last week. A good trail about 15 miles goes across the forest. So I went there, unfortunately the trail road turned into a river. The rain season started so it has become an airboat trail now. I was no very happy about it. So I started to cruise around the forest and every trail I find I just jump in and explore, I have seen lots of beautiful nature. But unfortunately most of the trails either lead to private properties so no trespassing, or fancy camp grounds, then I went to the other side of the forest where there should be some primitive campgrounds according to the map. I head out there first spot was primitive but not that beautiful. Then I took a trail road for the next spot. And as I was ridding suddenly a dear just jumped in front of me and kept running till the camp ground and then went in between the trees into the forest so of course I follow this dear until it disappeared and I couldn’t move further between the trees so I decided that this is place to camp for the night.

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I went out again to check the camp site, there is absolutely no one. And I guess no one was there since a long time. But they had many pictures and announcements for the Florida panthers, what you should do in case you come across them and if they attack you. So I liked the place more and was looking forward for some adventure. I went back inside the forest to setup my camp, although I am not allowed to drive the bike there. I went back to deepest spot I can get to through the tree and set up my camp. I liked the place it was what I was looking for since I got to the states. Ground was a bit wet but not a big deal. As the sun got down it got really dark, I couldn’t even sea my hands. I didn’t want to turn on much lights not to attract more insects. It was dead quiet I could even hear the water drops from the tree leaves and all the bird sounds. Every now and then I hear something moving around in the trees I turn on the light and grab a stick and my camera waiting for a panther to show up but no luck at all. I still enjoyed my night over there.

Next day I woke up early and ride out south, on highway 1 direction Kew West. It was a nice slow ride top speed 55 mph. goingthrough all the keys, keys are some small islands hanging down from south Florida. It is like paradise. Beautiful small islands in the middle of the ocean some of them are busy with people some are not at all. I arrive at key west, the most southern place in the US. It is a nice small city, many tourists from all over the world. I cruise around until get to the most southern point of the United States. I was very happy to get there. I just had to wait in a line to take a picture with this point. Then I head out to try the best burger place in Key West, it is called cheese burger, I had my regular double mushroom cheese burger, it was really good. Anyway my mission is completed and I am very happy about it.

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And that was my trip from California to Florida. I made it from the 2 southern corners of the united states from coast to coast. Now I am heading to Miami Beach to have some vacation from my vacation.

I know that many people already did this trip many time before but still it was hard for me to plan it, so if anyone has any question please just ask me anytime

Stay posted for the next ride through the website below

The Atlantic Coast Trip is going to be a quick trip; I am not going to spend as much time as I did from Coast to Coast. I have not many places to visit and the way is not that long. I will be going through the Atlantic Coast States, sometimes I will be riding on the Ocean coast and sometimes I will go halfway through the States.

Florida

After Key West I went to relax in Miami Beach, I was renting a room in a Family House in south beach Miami Beach City. I enjoyed my stay there very much, it was a cool family who helped me get around and understand the city quickly, and still remain surprised of none ending nice people I am meeting everyday like this family.

I have to say that Miami does not really deserve the publicity it has from TV and movies, it is not as beautiful as I have expected. There are lots of other much nice and more beautiful places.

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June-29 I left Miami and on the coast I head north to Daytona Beach. The very famous race tracks and speedway.
The City has a very nice beach it is not really a big city so less traffic and people more chilled out. Nightlife I found there was mostly teenagers and in the morning all tourist are at the racetrack tour. I was not able to explore the city more coz I plan to waste much time, but I guess the city has no more to offer.

Georgia

June-30 I leave Daytona and go to Savannah, GA. Unexpected Savannah was a lot nicer that I have imagined. City is very beautiful cute little beautiful houses. People are very nice again over there. They have a famous river road where most of the attraction is restaurants bars and a great view on the other side of the river. The city has a lot of interesting history and things to see and enjoy.

South Carolina

After Savannah I decided to skip South Carolina, I didn’t really have anything on my list visit there and I was very excited to go to the smoky mountains of North Carolina.

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North Carolina

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So I kept riding north west to the great smoky mountains through South Carolina, it is a long way and very beautiful scenery everywhere, I was stopping many times to check out the scenery, my destination is Deals Gap, where tail of the Dragon is, this is a very famous Bikers destination, the Tail of the Dragon is an 11 mile stretch, very curvy road. All the bikers go to make this 11 mile stretch and then down the hill they get the Dragon tattoo to show off that they did this ride.http://heesopedia.com/gallery/USA/At...eals%20Gap.jpg

I stopped at a motel 40 miles south of Deals Gap. And the next day I went there, I was surprised of the many bikes I have seen there, maybe more than 1000 bikes in just one hour.

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Over there I met these very nice guys who were very kind to show me around and introduce me to many more people.
The ride on tail of the dragon was a lot of fun, I did it 4 times, trying to master the curves on my bike with the heavy load I am carrying. Halfway on this road are several photographers, who just shoot everything that passes through then they publish it on a website and anyone can buy it online, I got some of the great shots from their website Killboy.com, the owner is a very nice cool guy, I was lucky to meet him and had an interesting chat with him. He told me a lot about that area and how he and many others moved to this area just for the fun of riding on these hills.
I wanted to spend the night over there and enjoy the bikers excitement but I had to leave and continue on my journey.

Virginia

I left Deals Gap there very late and continue north to Virginia, I have an uncle living there I have met many times before so I was excited to meet him and get know him more and his family.
I reached his house the next day. Right outside of Washington DC. I had a good relaxing Family time with him and his family.

Washington, DC

July-04 I went to watch the Independence day celebration at Washington DC, and of course the fireworks. Most of the people I saw there were not Americans, yet they were all enjoying the local Holiday.
Washington DC has people from all over the world, mostly they are nice people and also many students for the Georgetown university.

July-05 I continue on my journey next stop Philadelphia…. http://heesopedia.com/gallery/USA/At...iladelphia.jpg

Maryland

No stops scheduled here, only a drive through Baltimore going north to Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania

In a Hurry I reach Philadelphia, the city is more beautiful than I expected, it is somehow relaxed, considering it is in busy location on the east coast. Of course over there I had to try Gino’s Philly Steak that is always on TV and everyone is talking about, it was not really as good as I expected and doesn’t really deserve all of this glamour, I had many better Philly steaks, I think the subway one is even better. From Philadelphia to New York City.

New Jersey http://heesopedia.com/gallery/USA/At...es/NYC%201.jpg
No stops scheduled here, I only stopped in a park where I had a nice view on NYC

New York
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Once I reached the island I don’t know what went wrong with all the drivers, suddenly the stronger survives was applied. Crazy drivers, lots of horns, lots of traffic, people and cars mixed together. Kinda reminds me of home. So anyway I just cruised around. Took some pictures and left, remarkably English language is not very common over there and my accent was better when I came across anyone who speaks it. I had been in new York for 2 days when I first arrived to states so there was nothing really that I want to see or do anymore. I went to visit a cousin of mine who lives in Ithaca, NY. To spend a few relaxing days.

Massachusetts, New Hampshire

I Left NY, to Massachusetts, planning to stop in Boston, but 50 miles away from Boston all the interstates have lots of traffic already, it is getting busier and busier as I get closer, till I couldn’t take it I skipped Boston and continued north, I was tired from the many people and didn’t really have anything on my list to see in Boston.

From Boston I continue riding north without stopping through New Hampshire all the way to Maine.

Maine

Once I entered Maine things started to calm down again, Nature started to take over once more and I started to enjoy my ride again.

First stop Portland which is the capital of Maine, I didn’t really go downtown there, I wanted to visit there the Fort Williams and the famous light house.

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From Portland I go north to my main destination “Acadia” I have been hearing so much about this place from the beginning of my trip. Everyone has always stressed that it is a must see in the US. And in fact all what I heard is true and more.

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The Park is on an Island in the ocean. The island is big and has rivers and lakes within the park. It is all green , rivers, lakes, sand beach, beautiful weather I felt I had reached paradise. Everywhere around the park has a beautiful scenic view, went on top of the mountain where I can see everything and it is all breath taking beautiful. I couldn’t finish the whole park in one day. But what I have seen in this day was the most beautiful on all of my trip.

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And that was my final destination on the East coast. Now need to relax and plan what is next.