Tomorrow will probably be the last day of riding in the US. I'm now in a hotel near Cleveland, a city on the shores of Lake Erie. I'll take HW 90 all the way up to the Niagara Falls, where I'll be crossing into Canadian soil.After leaving Madison and Savaş behind, I headed towards Chicago. I was coming close to a crossroads where a few phone calls were waiting for me. Ada's birthday, mom and dad, then finally an old friend who lives in Indiana. Fırat and I have known each other since we were little boys and somehow grew up to be very similar people. That rarely happens with childhood friends. Normally, when you look at the face of an old friend, you see the how they'd been 20 years ago. There usually isn't much to share other than old memories. That's not the case with him.I had to ...Read More

Salsa and phenomenology

The day started with quite a scene. Bintuğ took off for Los Angeles in the morning. No actual tear drops were shed, but we got as emotional as two biker dudes could get. Wind and cold made our eyes a bit wet but all was fine. Knowing that we would not be seeing each other until fall, we hugged, and of course tapped each other on the shoulders for what appeared to me as 48 times... This is a good indication of the inability of Turkish males to communicate emotions. It gets the message through without making a big scene.[gallery type="slideshow" ids="1226,1227,1228,1229,1230,1231,1232,1233,1234,1235,1236"]At that point we were quite sure that we made it to the other side of the Rockies. We couldn't be more mistaken. It took more than a few more hours to get to the summit. Road conditions were OK, but everywhere was covered in snow. It'd been a ...Read More

Fertile desert

I'm looking for a word... It's not exactly 'geography'. It's more like the movement of it. Not just the tectonic movements over a given time, but also the movements on the surface of it. Water, wind, roads... I feel like the roads we're riding on are prerecorded movements mimicking those of the land. Highway 70 goes through the Rocky mountains following Colorado river. For about 4 hours, we rode along the river following every curve of it. This must be a motorcycling dream.Today was our last night with Bintuğ. Tomorrow morning, he'll be returning to Los Angeles. His companion made this transition much easier for me. We had great time together.Surprisingly, I'm having a hard time catching up with the documentation of the trip. I think all of these habits will settle in a week or so... Here are some recent photographs:[gallery type="slideshow" ids="1239,1240,1241,1242,1243,1244,1245,1246,1247,1248,1249,1250"]And here is a short video preview ...Read More

Becoming a river

I'm beginning to get mileage anxiety. I will need to be in Toronto in 10 days due to shipping arrangements. The weather is not at its best. Surely, we are not in California anymore... The more we approach the northern inland states, the colder it's getting... I can't imagine what it will be like in Chicago or Toronto.Today, I did some of the best riding I've ever done so far. Wrapped in our warmest layers of clothing, we crossed the indian reservation between Grand Canyon and Monument Valley. There are strong winds all around the place. On a bike, you need to arrange your lean angle correctly. At one point, I found myself trying to read the geography ahead to judge the direction and strength of the wind i was about to face. It felt very 'real'.[gallery type="slideshow" ids="1266,1265,1264,1263,1262,1261,1260,1259,1258,1257,1256,1255,1254,1253,1252"] Read More

Geography is sex, cartography is pornography…

We are leaving early tomorrow morning. Evren arranged a perfect bon-voyage party yesterday afternoon. Most of our friends came together to say goodbye. I had an unforgettable day. Seeing so many friendly faces, witnessing the looks in the eyes of loved ones, effected me deeply in a quite unexpected way. A very popular aspect of motorcycle riding is the romantic ideal of the solitary individual. I love too many people to get carried away with such a feeling. It feels like I don't belong to myself. There is so much in me that I owe to others. Seeing how they 'allow' me to go, gives me all the more reason to be careful and take good care of myself.[gallery type="slideshow" ids="1270,1271,1272,1273,1274,1275,1276,1277,1278,1279,1280,1281,1282,1283,1284,1285,1286,1287,1288,1289,1290,1291,1292,1293,1294,1295,1296,1297,1298,1299,1300,1301,1302"]Thanks to everyone coming... Special thanks to Ozan for his brilliant photography. Read More

Saying goodbye

I haven't felt this much excitement for a long time. Less than a week remains now. I come across the bike every day when I park the car behind it. A rush of fear and excitement fills me as I look at it. I don't see a 1000cc class M vehicle... I see the journey that lies ahead and it's too much to take in. Within a few seconds, I get overflown by this feeling and decide to attend some of the preparation intricacies. Focusing on details helps when you want to get away from the big picture.Three weeks ago, I received an e-mail from a friend of a friend in Turkey. He was asking about the paperwork required to ride a foreign bike in the US. I answered with the best of my knowledge and asked what his plans were.That same guy is now sleeping on my sofa as ...Read More

Excitement, fear, love and some other things I’ll be taking with me…

When I arrive at a campspot, I look for a fireplace. Fire is like a piece of old furniture at your home. It's a familiar element that doesn't change, wherever you go. It behaves and looks a certain way. Once you have it going, and the daylight goes away, all you see is the fire and each others faces. Darkness becomes like a wall around it. And you arrive at the same place, same site everywhere, every night.Camping gives me time after a days ride. Time to absorb everything I had seen thru the day, remembering the day, relocating everything I collected on the road. And fire brings that necessary silence. Most of us can't stand silence. It feels wrong. We break it with words and meanings. But fire utters just enough to keep us listening. It eases us to silence.After a night like this, one has very little left ...Read More

Fire-place