Today is the day Dave steps on the gas and the journey begins. For all Dave has been through for all the time, money, and effort it comes to today. None of us had a good nights sleep, there was a lot of things going on behind the scenes that I have not mentioned with this filming. There were many challenges for me to even finish this.
The one thing I can tell you if it is going to go wrong, it will. Dan caught the camera on me having a moment in the parking garage that, well summed up the trip. Webster University puts out students that can work on the fly in video production, it's the practical experience you have learn on your own.
In starting the race I will cover the inspections, and few small interviews, and a lot of bikes. For all the time Dan and myself had up to this point, it was over in less than 15 minutes. The experiences that both of us had where nothing compared to what Dave was going to go through for the next 7-10 days.
I am sure the experiences Dave is going have could be a full length movie, but that's for another time and place. I hope you enjoy these clips...
Well I have tried to save three times the dialog for this blog. You tube has screwed the videos and I have a final in an hour. I have spent almost five hours putting this blog together and you know. I am done with section.
You can at least see the videos. This is where Dave is leaving his house and leaving for the trip. Maybe two paragraphs will save... "Let's see"
So coming into blog 15, I took the direction of interviewing a pair of riders from South Africa that Dave met the night before at the dinner. These two gents where a pair. They both ordered the same bike, one lives in Florida now, and the other lives in South Africa. Their story is very simple, they both ride a lot, and both grew up together dating the same girl out of high school. They were the best of friends in school, and the still the best of friends when they get the chance to ride together both in the United States, and in South Africa, the only difference is the size of the road kill along side the highway.
Here's Dave's interview with Toto... "Frank and Rich"
The interesting point of these two riders they didn't finish. Frank and Rich only made it about half way. Rich wiped out on curve, fell asleep at the wheel, totaled his bike and Frank would not go on with out him. It is my understanding that both bikes where shipped back to Florida and they would take another go at the challenge in 2018.
Welcome to the Pala Casino and Resort. Sitting right in the middle of an Indian reservation, about a 60 miles outside of San Diego heading north east off the 5 hwy, going in a round about way to L.A. this complex is big lots O space, lots O getting lost trying to get in the front door.
I needed a map to find a map of the property. Dan and I came out of the garage trying to find Dave. Some how Dave slipped by us when we were trying to find a place to park. Fortunate for us we had Wifi and was able to call him to locate him inside on of the side doors off the main casino floor. Take a peek at what we saw.
As we went around the room we met a lot of really nice gals and guys. The room was full of more seasoned veterans of previous challenges than new faces from what I understand. All I know is my perception of this event is a lot different than what I heard coming into this. I was looking for an Indian tribe in the desert, I guess living in the wild went right out the door when I saw the buffet table and cash bar.
I felt like this was some kind of movie, there was a lot to take in. The faces all seemed the same but I understand the commodity of the riding community now. Everyone seemed to be everyones brother or sister. You get this real sense of ease when you talk to new faces, it is more like a family banquet or get together at Christmas.
After the newness wears off we got a chance to talk to some of the riders and get a few stories of the trail. In this clip you will get a chance to see the prize and hear what some of Dave's new, and old friends have to say...
After all the goodbyes, all the hugs and kisses, a break down not more than 200' out of the driveway in Saint Louis, were here. Big old California, picked the right time to be in San Diego, 110-115 degrees the first day, wild fires burning all around us, smoke in the valleys. What a wonderful time of year for a 28,000 mile ride on your bike.
San Diego was having some of the hottest weather they have had in a long, long time. It was just plain hot when Dan and myself got off the plane. I felt like the desert was in the terminal getting our bags. Going outside was almost unbearable in the desert heat. The sun beat down so hard on my skin it was hard to breath, and you felt like getting sunburn even in the shade.
After we got our bags and car we headed from the airport about 100 miles into the desert to the indian reservation and the casino where the challenge was going to start. In the mean time we got there a day early and stayed with a close friend of Dave's about 30 miles from the reservation at his friends house.
Along the drive you could see the smoke starting to drift into the valleys from all the wild fires burning around us.Fortunately, we never came to close to any of the fires around us. As we drove through the mountains and hills, you could see where the fire had burned in the past leaving a reminder that fire travels fast in the dry grasses and trees in this part of California.
After a little small talk, some camera work and me being stupid we headed to the Pala Casino and resort. This clip passes a little time.
The hotel complex is huge its blocks and blocks of garage, hotel, and casino. We are heading for check in, and a dinner for all the riders. I am going to get my first look at what the Hoka Hey looks like in the eyes of all the riders, and what the Challenge means to them.
Dave is heading into the final chapters of this journey, from here on out the saga is about to be lived. I am hoping this will turn out with a great success, and great stories...
Up till now we picked cameras, talked technical, had some fun with a few things. Dave's leave'n for the trip soon. Dave managed to pick up some friends along the way, and got luck in the big STL for a change for a freebee, and has found another rider from Saint Louis, to piggy back on. He has a truck and trailer and it's saving Dave major money on the trip to California, and gas for the pony.
Dave kept telling me about this guy who was loading his bike on a trailer to take it to the start in California. One day it was on, next day it was off. This went on for weeks. I remember the day it went from pipe dream to, we gotta hurry. Dave put all this together in less than 24 hours. When we got into that window, Dave lost his mind...
I have seen the walking brain dead but this beats all. Dave literally, I think forgot were he was, what time it was. and was in his own time warp. You could talk to him, and it was like he had this force field around him that filtered only certain words to his brain.
I still have not asked him, what was going on in mind during this period. It in some ways he reminded me of the movie Home Alone, where the family over slept and the taxi cab was honking his horn. I know I talked to him for periods of time and there was either very little or no response to anything I said. I can imagine the pressure that he must have been having at the time.
As the set up, video clips are going to be short and fruitful. I tried to piece together portions so you could get an idea of the sheer unreality of the moments that followed. I think Dave finally realized it's go time but the plane wasn't fully fueled to take off.
As this went...
The day started for me at home at 0600 hours, in between phone calls, the garbage man, and some dumb robo call from some idiot machine selling life insurance... Like duh, your a machine on the other end and you won't hang up, that kind of day, I was having. As the morning moved on Dave and I where playing phone tag, Daniel was still at Webster University, and the whole day was just a dream, at that point.
At one point I wasn't sure that we where even going to shoot. Well that ended pretty quickly when Dave and I got hooked up. My next issue, was Daniel. I needed a camera man that day because I was interviewing Dave, and his ride, Which really did not materialize due to Dave's purple haze. I really mean it, for a while it was like, talking to a guide that just lost his map, and your stranded in the middle of the desert with no compass.
I think we tied up with Dave around 1200 hours. I know it was close because I saw the paint peeling off the street when cars went buy because of the heat that day. It was extremely hot. We got some shots outside and then met Dave at the door way to his house. Dave looked like he just got up. As we went in I could tell he hadn't packed yet. Dave had that far off deer in a head light look in his eyes.
I think Dave working all his jobs and not sleeping or eating right caught up to him. He only gave himself two days off work to get ready for this trip. I will say that when planning something this huge, you have got to start packing like two weeks before you leave to see what your unpacking the night before you leave.
From what I hear, most riders over pack for the trip, and never use half of what they pack on their bikes. In Dave's case he just didn't pack until that day. That might be the right way to do it. It leaves fate to chance, meaning you will pack less, because you don't have a list of junk to pack weeks before.
Getting through the day was in my opinion like waiting to see Santa Clause at the mall. The anticipation, and the wait seems like days, and then its over in five minutes. That's how today is going. Hurry up and wait!
Going through all the pre curser we have been through on this adventure, I realize that with all the footage I have, I don't have enough. I have realized that I should have moved in with Dave the last week to cover a lot more of the Dave dialogue than what I did. I feel depressed and part of me says I failed with my coverage to tell a complete story. To late now.
Going back to Dave and his bike. So we know that Dave's trip is a long one, 28,000+ miles or so. You can't leave with on a trip like this without changing the oil... "And rebuilding the bike." Dave got a new sponsor that carries a lot of weight. Surdyke Harley Davidson, in Festus Missouri.
Dave put a lot of time and effort into this relationship. Dave had to work very hard just to get his foot in the door. There we a lot of doors closed in the beginning, but Dave pushed on, and stayed with his gut and kept calling and showing up at their door, it payed off in the end.
So I met Dave at Surdyke on a Saturday afternoon, and Dave arranged some service on his bike before the trip. As we were there the conversations got a little more in depth with the staff and after a while we met the marketing department for Surdyke.
Dave made a final pitch, and before you know it, they had his bike in the service area and rolled out the red carpet. I was very impressed at the service that Surdyke offered Dave. Dave had his whole bike gone through from top to bottom. The key to this is, the service area drop everything they were doing and got him in and out in a little under 4 hours.
I was amazed at how they would come out every few minutes and explain just what they were doing to the bike to Dave. Dave had a few issues that might have cost him on the road with a break down. They went from top to bottom with a fine tooth cone on his bike. Surdyke made some recommendations on fluids, and grease points, and most was just basic check points on Dave's bike that was being over looked with another shop.
Don't get me wrong, Dave is smart when it comes to his pony. He does a lot of the work himself on his bike, but some times another pair of eyes helps out every once in awhile. Again, I was very impressed with the way the service was done. Someone was checking with us on a regular basis. We had a table and refreshments, television, music, and they had BBQ that was there to pick from.
Dave and myself both commented that this was above and beyond the call of duty. We were off in about 4 hours, and had an invitation to come back and shoot Dave at the dealership.
So a couple of days later, I took the camera, my cameraman, a line of notes and did an interview with the dealership and Service Manager, and staff. We laughed so much during the shoot that I was crying a couple of times. There were some priceless biker stories, and just a great time
In the mean time Dave got dealer sponsorship dollars, and a huge discount on the work on his bike. This alone was big dollar savings, considering what was done to his bike in a afternoon. The service was unheard of. I would like to give a shout out to everyone at Surdyke that helped Dave, and was so nice to both of us. I would highly recommend this Harley dealership to everyone I know.
If you are around the Festus Missouri area and you have a bike. Make sure you stop by and say hey! Tell them your reading the blog and mention "Hoka Hey Dave", you should be in good hands at the end of the day. Even if you stop by, there is so much to look at, the staff is super friendly, and they are all just really good people in general at the shop. Can't say enough good things about this dealer.
Speaking of dealers, your going to get more technical information out of this video, that your head will spin. I got Dave and the Service Manager in front of the camera. Dave is in the background and the rest is up to the service manager. Take out a note pad, once it starts it just keeps rolling.
So check out this video clip, lots of details, and I tried to make it short and sweet...
