Clancy did not have much to say about North Dakota, other than he and Allen had passed through it. As we too passed through it I also had not much to say, as most of the road from Bismarck to the border of Minnesota was description less, other than to note mile after mile of nearly flat green fields with a few brown smudges and water spots.


The flat green fields reminded me of a pool table top. As I conjured this at 70 mph I made the gray matter comparison with a pool table I had once seen in a restaurant and bar located in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Not the most upscale bar, the pool table, although green felt, had some brown spots from unknown sources, possibly dirty hands or a dropped slice of pizza. There were wet spots too, those attributable to spilled swill.


What was significantly different from the pool table in Phnom Penh and the fields of North Dakota were the several Khmer working ladies that brightened the scenery by leaning over the table trying to make a distant eight ball drop. The pool table like flat green fields of North Dakota had no two-legged dears upon which to focus, and the four-legged North Dakota deer were sleeping deep in the grass as we passed.



The first photograph below shows how the flat green countryside of North Dakota reminded me of a Cambodian pool table in the Walkabout Bar.


One of the things Clancy did note as he traveled was the character of the people he met. In the spirit of that Clancy element and engaging in conversation with local peoples, today one of our team did the same, had a roadside verbal exchange. The second photograph below captured his adventurous roadside moments.


The third photograph shows how beneficial it was for Ronnie Weinzapfel on his BMW R60/6 (converted to a 750 cc’s) to be traveling with our team members on their BMW 1200 Adventure models with their 33 liters of gas and 100 Horse Power of grunt. Weinzapfel’s 1974 BMW was gulping gas while fighting the head winds across North Dakota. His 5.7 gallon gas tank ran dry at just over 160 miles, 300 yards short of a gas station. One BMW 1200 Adventure rider offered to let Weinzapfal suck some gas through a straw out of the Beemer tanker’s gas tank, but Weinzapfal wisely declined. Instead, he asked to be towed to the gas station. The third photograph below shows the 2013 BMW Adventure towing the 1974 BMW, adding a new element to the 1200 Adventure sales pitch: “Can be used as tow truck-like motorcycle.”

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Sun Chaser, or 'Dr.G', Professor of Motorcycle Adventure at SOUND RIDER magazine. Professional Motorcycle Adventurer/Indian Motorcycle Racer/journalist/author/global economist/World's # 1 Motorcycle Adventure Sleeper & Wastrel
Soul Sensual Survivor: www.greataroundtheworldmotorcycleadventurerally.co m