Tim Notier's Blog, page 5

A Series of Crazy/Incredible Events (Part 2 of 2)

The Notiers Notes Our Sunday Scoop Our trip to Florida was supposed to be just a family visit, but it quickly turned into so much more than that. Last time, I mentioned how we were able to have lunch with Mike from Road Dog Publications, and then we met up with our old friend who we'd traveled around Africa with - Leo. And we would've been completely satisfied with all of that, until we realized we had enough time (and some very good luck) to be able to squeeze in a few more adventures - one to the Florida Keys which has the southernmost point of the continental United States, and the other aboard a small six-seater plane to the Bahamas! There's nothing better than meeting up with motorcycle friends such as Mike! Riding the Keys Ever since I heard about their beauty, and their ocean vistas, the long string of islands trailing out from the tip of Florida known as the Florida Keys have always called to me. Mostly all connected by roads and bridges, they also create what is undoubtedly one of the world's most unique roads on earth, which includes something called Seven-Mile Bridge - an engineering marvel that as you ride it, you feel like you are just floating over the water. This is an outline of our travels by motorcycle through Florida, including our ride to the Keys. There are a couple problems with visiting the Keys though. The first of which is that by their nature of being tiny little islands, there's very little land, and so prices for accommodations are high. Even camping spots are usually fully booked months in advance. And so this meant that if we wanted to ride through the Keys, we were going to have to do our best to see it all in one day. Luckily, we were able to stay at Leo's place in Miami as a jumping off point, but considering it's a nearly four hour drive from there to the farthest island (Key West), that makes it a very long and hot eight-hour day.

The other problem (besides the heat of Florida) is that there's really only one road, and it can get congested. So as we geared up and got ready before 7am, we headed out from Miami with high hopes for the best, but with a few worries that things could go terribly awry. I love the early morning sunshine. Between the metropolis of Miami and the islands of the Keys is the Everglades, or the "River of Grass" as it's often called. There's also a Florida panther preserve nearby, and as we took a rest stop at one of the pull-offs, we found ourselves in a gorgeous marshy landscape known as Alligator Alley. And although we didn't see any alligators (Tim did see one from the bike as we rode by, but I missed it), we did see lots of cool catfish and beautiful birds such as eagles and egrets. The Everglades Can you spot the catfish? The first of the Keys was Key Largo, aptly named since it is the largest. We took a side road through it called Card Sound Road, which followed the mangrove forests that lined the ocean. Periodic thunderstorms of miniature proportions speckled the sky, and were refreshing to ride through even during the cool of the morning. We stopped for coffee and snacks at a little Cuban place that served tamales and something I'd never had before - croquetas, which are like mozzarella sticks stuffed with fish, pork, or other savory fillings. They were the perfect snack to keep us going from island to island, from one bridge to the next, riding high above the ocean with turquoise blue waters surrounding us... until we reached our destination - Key West. This is a croqueta. The ocean views throughout the Keys were gorgeous. Key West is an extremely popular tourist destination, and has its own tiny airport to accommodate the flow of people coming and in and out who don't want to drive the whole way in a vehicle. It reminded me a bit of the crazy spring break spirit of Cancún, but without the sprawling beaches. But Key West had its own unique historical flair.

There's a special Key West architectural style to the buildings there - all clapboard houses painted in pastels with expansive porches and surrounded by picket fences. It's here on Key West that you can find Ernest Hemingway's house which still has a population of six-toed cats! There's also the Harry S. Truman Little Whitehouse, as well as a butterfly conservatory... and although we didn't have the time to delve into these things, it was still a pleasure to ride around the island, gazing at all the architecture, and being able to officially say that we have ridden the bike to the southernmost point in the US! The marker of the southernmost point that you can get to by road in the continental US. Our way back up through the Keys was not nearly as enjoyable as the way down, mostly because we were hot and tired at that point, and all the refreshing storms had let up. Also, there was a lot of traffic leaving the Keys, but we were fortunate in a way because somehow we avoided the worst of the traffic when coming back into Miami. So overall I will call the day a win, especially when taking into account all the incredible things we had seen!
​ The Bahamas As you may remember in the previous blog, Leo had asked us if we wanted to join him and his family in a small plane to an equally small island in the Bahamas called Bimini. And we realized that even though we were motorcycle travelers, we could not pass up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

So we had our passports overnighted to us (because who rides a motorcycle to Florida with their passport?), and we packed our bathing suits, and the next day boarded a little six-seater plane, put on our headsets, and watched the city of Miami fade into the distance. The flight to Bimini only took 20 minutes, but because of the intimate experience of being in such a small plane, and the low altitude, it was one of the most magical flights of our lives. Once the islands of Bimini appeared in the distance, the waters around them were so crystal clear that we could see the white sandy bottom, rippling in waves like the sea itself. The most incredible colors of aquamarine greeted us, but it didn't really dawn on me how small this little island paradise was until we came in for our landing, and nobody was responding from the air traffic towers. That's because this airport didn't have an air traffic tower. The runway barely had tarmac as we skidded in, and the customs building consisted of just a few staff members.
I'm not sure why I thought Bimini would be just like any old beach resort in the US, full of tourists and commercialization. And even though the northern part was a lot more developed than where we had landed, I was very happy to find that along with the new stamp in my passport, I got to experience a new culture. The accent of the Bahamian people we met was lovely, their smiles were bright, and the Caribbean look to their colorful buildings on stilts reminded me of Belize, but with an even more laid-back feel to it.

The fried fish, and fried conch we had, as well as a delicious conch salad that was like ceviche, was all so good... but the part that impressed me the most were the beaches. Now in all of our travels, we've seen a lot of impressive beaches. From the Costa Rican whale tail of Playa de la Ballena, to the exotic shimmering coastline of Tanzania. But for me at least, the beach we went to on Bimini was the purest, most stunningly blue beach I've ever seen in my life. Is this not the most jaw-dropping water you've ever seen? It certainly was for me. I gasped as we approached the white sand shores where the water tenderly licked at my toes. The sea was like a glittering sapphire, so crystalline blue I can't even describe it. Even pictures don't do it justice. It's something that has to be seen to be believed. We spent a night there on the Bahamian islands of Bimini, and then took our little plane back to Miami, where we got an aerial tour of the city. I had never been to Miami before, but had always wanted to experience its blend of Cuban and American cultures, and see its pastel Art Deco architecture. And as we flew by Miami Beach and soured over the skyline, I felt like a VIP on a private tour, or like a celebrity, or perhaps I was just the luckiest person in the world. It was indescribable. And once we landed, Leo took us to see the sights from the ground, and drove us around the city. We got to eat at Versailles, a.k.a. "The World's Most Famous Cuban Restaurant" (where we had HUGE pieces of cheesecake), and we visited Little Havana. We drove through parks and mansion-filled neighborhoods that looked straight out of a Malibu Barbie dreamland. Even though the experiences from the past couple of days had already made me feel like I was dreaming, I certainly had to keep pinching myself. I never in a million years thought that this was how our little expedition into Florida was going to end up, but somehow the fates had blessed us. And a personal connection that we had made long ago in Africa, had brought us fortune here in the States. We can never truly express to Leo and his family how grateful we are that we were given this opportunity, and if it wasn't already set in stone, our friendship is certainly life-long now.

​We simply cannot wait until our tires get to touch the pavement again together and we all ride off into whatever adventures await us once more... Tim and Leo with their trusty steeds. But all good things must come to an end. Because in our next post... disaster strikes, leaving us in a bit of a predicament now.

Until next time, stay safe and happy riding! Subscribe to Our Blog

A Series of Crazy/Incredible Events (Part 1 of 2)

The Notier Notes Our Sunday Scoop There was a snake in the elevator of Tim's mom's condo building a few days ago. It was a small snake, but still. Welcome to Florida.

So yes, we're in Florida now, and at first, I didn't expect a motorcycle trip here in the heat of the summer to be a very good idea. And to be completely honest, I was kind of dreading it.

Tim and I have ridden through hot weather before - the type where you're already sweating through your underwear by the time you get on the bike. Nicaragua, Botswana, Death Valley - they all have their different types of heat, but each one can be equally unbearable. My waterproof boots quickly became like sauna chambers around each foot, my legs got scorched from the heat of the bike's engine radiating against them, and with the helmet on, I could feel my breath steaming against my face, seeming like it's suffocating me.

So in general, motorcycle riding and extreme heat don't go together very well. And even though all of that has been true as we rode through Florida, this trip has surprised us and brought smiles to our faces around every turn in surprising and incredible ways. I love the Spanish Moss that grows on all the trees here. The first strange and crazy event that happened to us I mentioned in the last post - when we met "Joe the Truck Driver" at a random Wendy's in Georgia, and realized that he had also met Leo. Leo is our Cuban/American friend from Miami who we travelled with in Africa and lived with for nearly half a year in Uganda as the pandemic started. But Joe the Truck Driver randomly met Leo in Washington D.C. when Leo flew his bike back to the US, which seems just like the most mind-boggling coincidence I'd ever heard of.

But then the second weird thing that happened to us was when Joe said, "Here's what you're going to do. You're going to go to Miami, and then you're going to go to the Bahamas." When he said this, all I could think of was that he has no idea what he's talking about. Fine, yes, the Bahamas are close to Miami, I get it. But we were on a motorcycle on a road trip to Florida to see family, and just hopping over to distant islands isn't the easiest thing to do on a motorcycle. We didn't even bring our passports because well, we were going to Florida.

But Joe was insistent that we were going to the Bahamas. "Seriously, I'm tellin' ya. That's what you're gonna do."

​Tim replied, "Ok, well, we'll see," and then gave me a crazy-eye glare that Joe didn't notice. Joe the Truck Driver So we continued our way down to Sarasota, Florida where Tim's mother lives, and reveled in the glory of air-conditioning. And then in true Florida fashion, we immediately hit the beach, and I was surprised to find that almost no one else was there! The bathtub-warm crystal waters, along with the fine, powder-like white sand that looked like flour... I was beginning to think that this place was perfect. Until I got some water in my throat, or at least I thought it was water.

I kept coughing, and coughing. Then I started to think, "Oh no, what if I got COVID?" Florida has become a hot-spot for the Delta strain... but it wasn't that either. I later found out that it was the red tide - a poisonous algae bloom that's a natural occurrence but is exacerbated by human development, pollution, and toxins that we leach into the oceans. Red tide kills marine life, but also can be toxic to people, some of the symptoms of which include respiratory problems.

Luckily, we had only been exposed to a very little bit, and unlike the dead fish, I'll be fine. But the experience made me realize just how fragile the ecosystem is here, and how important the ocean waters are to the people who call this region home. But I also discovered that riding through Florida on a motorcycle during the summer, and therefore the rainy season, actually isn't as bad as I had feared. We visited a fellow motorcycle-riding friend, Mike, who runs Road Dog Publications and lives in central Florida, and went on a glorious ride with him and his wife through the local twisting roads. And I learned that I shouldn't fear the rain here. Because every once in a while we'd ride through one of those appears-out-of-nowhere tropical rain storms and we got immediately cooled off in the shower. I'll tell you, it's a lot better than riding through Death Valley!

A satellite image of the rainstorms here looks like Florida is wearing a polka-dot dress - each storm is a tiny blip of a cloud that just brews and fades aways without any rhyme or reason to it. And when you're going fast on the bike, you can easily just ride through a storm in less than 10 minutes, and then boom, you're back in the sun on the other side, and have the hot wind to blow-dry you off. No need for putting on rain-gear, it's kind of perfect. But it's not always so nice. Here in Sarasota, we made the mistake of riding through a rain storm to visit another set of friends who live here. And like all the other storms, we just thought we'd ride through this one too, but this was different. I noticed that the clouds looked particularly menacing, the thunder seemed to rock the earth more than usual, and the lightning was unnervingly frequent. But seeing as we were only going a half-hour away, I didn't think it'd be necessary to put on rain gear.

I thought wrong. Because this was the Mother Of All Storms.

As the wind picked up, and palm leaves were being ripped off the trees and flung across the streets, and the rain started to slash down against us, I started to think, "Is this a hurricane that no one told us about?" The bike was being batted around by the wind like we were in Argentina again, and my jacket immediately soaked through. Then my pants drenched, and then my boots started to fill up with water. Tim rode through the wrath of the gods like a pro, and by the time we reached our destination, I had to dump out a quart's worth of water from each boot. And of course, the storm immediately let up.

I shook my head at Tim, and shouted, "This was very poor decision-making on our part!"

"Yup!" he agreed. Tim got off the bike, and made puddles everywhere as he dripped over the floor of our friend's garage. These majestic egrets are all over Florida. But besides that one particular storm, and the red tide at the beach, we had been quite lucky, and the luck wasn't done yet. First, we were visited by our good friend Leo, the very same motorcycle traveler whom we had spent time with in Africa. It was wonderful catching up across continents, and bouncing back and forth ideas about overlanding and which roads were the best to take. Since Leo was from Miami, he knew the region and its roads well.

I told him that I was particularly interested in riding to Key West, which is at Mile 0 of US Route 1, and is the southern-most point of the continental United States. Not only is that a cool milestone in and of itself, getting to Key West crosses lots of gorgeous islands and bridges, including Seven-Mile Bridge, which gives the illusion that you're just riding over the ocean in all directions.

Leo agreed that it was a great ride, and recommended that we stay with him and his family in Miami as a jumping-off point. We couldn't have been more grateful for the invite... until we had something to be even more grateful about.

"Have you ever thought about going to the Bahamas?" Leo asked us nonchalantly.

Tim and I had to laugh. "I didn't think that was going to be practical for us," Tim replied.

But as fate would have it, Leo's family had access to a small six-seater propeller plane, and his dad could fly it. And apparently, a little group of Bahamian islands called Bimini was only a twenty minute flight away from Miami . Leo said, "You want to go? You know, we could stay overnight, or just for lunch. It's up to you."

My jaw dropped. I turned to Tim and we just stared at each other wide-eyed. I muttered, "I suppose we could have our passports overnighted here." And then we both smiled.
​
To Be Continued... Florida has turned out to be full of surprises... Our adventures here in Florida continue in next week's blog post, so stay tuned!!!

From Great Lakes to Bayous

The Notiers Notes Our Sunday Scoop It might seem crazy to want to visit Florida in the middle of the summer, but Tim and I never shy away from doing something a little crazy. And so when the opportunity arose to take a long ride from the Midwest down to visit family in Florida this past week, of course we couldn't refuse.

We started our journey up in Michigan, visiting friends who have a house on a gorgeous little lake there. When we left Chicago, some grey and threatening storm clouds hung around the skyscrapers, making the whole place look like Gotham City. But by the time we got to Michigan, the skies had cleared and we were able to enjoy ourselves to the fullest on the lake. We went wake boarding and wake surfing for the first time (and I have to say, it was super fun, but my whole body was sore afterwards from wiping out on the water). The pine trees surrounding the lake gave the place a deep northern feel, like bits of wild Canada were draping down into the state of Michigan, bringing with it cool breezes and cormorants. Chicago / a.k.a. Gotham City From Michigan, we headed south, stopping by a relative's house near Carbondale at the southern tip of the Illinois. Although most of Illinois is flat, having been steamrolled by glaciers in ages past, the bottom of the state has rolling and sweeping hills, creating little nooks of rivers and lakes around every corner. We started to feel the humid heat of the South, and the loud sounds of the insects at night gave it a jungle-like feel.

After a wonderful stay there (at the same place where we saw the total solar eclipse back in 2017 and started our great global journey on the motorcycle), we continued south in a more-or-less direct line to Florida. But instead of taking the main interstate highways, we decided to take the back roads through the countryside, passing by vast farms surrounding old farmstead houses and barns, and zooming along twisting forest roads engulfed in chirping birds. The beautiful forested hills of Tennessee. I love taking these country roads for several reasons. Even though it takes more time overall, we get to go at a slower pace and really see a side of the state that we would miss on the highways. When you're on the interstate, you'd be forgiven for believing that the whole of the USA is just one big strip mall of junk food franchises, gas stations, and every once in a while, little oases and parks.

But once off the interstate we got to ride through the little towns that actually make up the beating heart of America - the small mom-and-pop stores that have been there for decades, and the unique restaurants serving everything from local Southern cuisine to the delicacies that working immigrants have brought to the area. Plumes of spicy-smelling smoke would billow out of barbecue smokehouses, bringing the scent of whole hogs being roasted, or a slab of ribs. People fishing could be spotted along the banks of the rivers, or hanging their lines down from boats, trying to catch catfish or "mud bugs". The picturesque silos and red-sided barns of Kentucky gently turned into the crests of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Tennessee, looking like still waves of the ocean rippling off into the distance. We camped at a free campsite near Chattanooga, deep in the forests and surrounded by friendly campers in RVs and vans, who had big bellies, big smiles, and lovely sing-song accents. We spent the evening cooking up chicken sausages and watching the fireflies dance and twinkle through the trees.

After a good night's sleep of listening to the humming of bugs and night frogs, we crossed into Georgia in the morning, a state I'd never been to before. And even though you'd never assume that things would change once across an artificial state line, Georgia felt immediately different from Tennessee. Mostly it had to do with the trees, since many of them were covered in Spanish Moss, and some people even had banana trees growing in their lawns. These signs of the sub-tropics were reinforced by the increasing heat and humidity as well. Georgia was a joy to ride through, and all those quintessential "Georgia" things were actually all present on our ride - perfectly historic churches in a Federalist style lining the town squares, the laid-back slow walk of the locals, and the peaches, all the peaches! We passed orchard after orchard of just peach trees.

We spent a night camping at an RV park south of Macon, and even though it was right off the highway, I was very pleased with its great showers, electricity, and a pool and mini golf course. Finally, the next day we crossed into Florida, and once again, everything changed. Peach trees turned into palm trees, and the gentle Southern vibe of casual politeness disappeared as it seemed that everyone from across the States has converged on Florida for fun in the sun, creating a traffic-filled race to the beach. We stopped for lunch at a Wendy's, and as we waited in the long lines, we watched a woman park in a handicapped spot without a handicapped sticker, then get out of her car and throw a slushy onto the ground, along with some other trash from her car. She was not even three feet from a garbage.

I went out and picked up her trash, but the experience left a sour taste in my mouth, that is until we met Joe the truck driver who counterbalanced this woman's lousy actions. We often get questions about our motorcycle and where we've been, and Joe said he'd met someone else who'd also flown his bike from Africa during the pandemic... and I thought there is only one person like that. I asked him if he knew Leo, the guy from Miami who we traveled with in Uganda and Rwanda, and sure enough, it was him! What a strange, small world we live in!

We headed down the Gulf coast to Sarasota, and had to pass both Tampa and the turnoff to Orlando, inevitably hitting a bunch of traffic. It was hot, muggy, stop-and-go, bumper to bumper, with a bunch of people from everywhere, some of whom didn't quite know how to drive. It was a torturous mess, but once we got to Sarasota, the ocean breezes brought the salty smell of the ocean to our noses, and we happily pulled up next to the small brackish water bayou where Tim's mother lives. We've been here for a couple days now, and one of Tim's brothers has come to visit, so it's been great to see so much family on this trip. It's also been great to be in air conditioning, because it is certainly hot here. But there's something to be said for having some sunshine and ocean breezes, along with great company. And it's good to be on the road again, 

I hope everyone out there is well. Until next time...

Book Launch!

Tim has finished his latest book early - Blood, Sweat, and Notiers! And it is now available for purchase! Both paperback and Kindle versions can be found worldwide here.

I'm so proud of all the blood, sweat, and real tears he's put into this, and it covers a time in our travels that was some of the hardest and most rewarding days we've experienced so far. South America was a continent of both extreme weather and road conditions, from very high altitudes to lowland rainforests - we experienced it all. But it was such an incredible cultural immersion as well, from the friendly smiles of the Colombians, to the stoic grit of the Andean Quechua people. And as we barreled towards Ushuaia at the "End of the World", we started falling apart both emotionally, and when it came to the bike, physically.

It was a true adventure, and Tim's beautiful descriptions, and often witty humor, really do bring it to life on the page. So if you're interested in our journey, you might just love Blood, Sweat, and Notiers. In other news, we'll be heading off to the Southeast next week (finally on the road again), and we're hoping to be able to also dip into Canada to visit some friends (who you'll meet in the book) before coming back down into the States so that we can go to three Overland Expos this fall. We'll be presenting at each of them, so if you are in the area, we'd love for you to go and we can meet up!

The following are the Overland Expo event dates and locations this summer/fall:

Overland Expo Mountain West - Loveland, Colorado
     August 27-29, 2021

Overland Expo West - Flagstaff, Arizona
     September 24-26, 2021

Overland Expo East - Arrington, Virginia
     October 8-10, 2021

​We hope to see you there! If you do purchase the book Blood, Sweat, and Notiers, let us know what you think with an Amazon review (we read them all), and also you can message us anytime on social media.

​We really hope you enjoy it!

Blood, Sweat, and Notiers!

The Notier Notes Our Sunday Scoop Happy 4th of July! We hope you have an amazing and safe day. You may have noticed that we haven't been doing as many blog posts and videos as of late because we've been hunkering down in order to finish some of the things on our to-do list. And one of those things is something we've been working on for a long time and I know many people have been waiting for...

I'm super excited to announce that Tim's latest book, Blood, Sweat, and Notiers , is complete and will be hitting the shelves by August 1st! This book is the third one in our series of autobiographic travels, and it covers some of our most memorable and adventurous moments as we rode through South America. I just read the book again, and yeah, I know I'm a little biased, but it's amazing!!! Tim has been working so hard on this book (he's definitely put his blood, sweat, and tears into it), and getting it finished was quite a struggle for him. But now that it's done, we are feeling very celebratory and I'm super proud of his latest and greatest accomplishment. Congrats Tim!

We haven't delved into the preorder thing yet, but once we get that figured out, I will let everyone know.

So this isn't exactly a proper blog post, but I hope everyone finds themselves well today, and for all you Americans out there, happy Independence Day!

Adventures at Home

The Notiers Notes Our Sunday Scoop For us, there's nothing better than crossing some border to a distant land and discovering unique cultures that welcome us to their awe-inspiring landscapes. But sometimes that's just not possible to do, and we occasionally find ourselves back in the Midwest. Back at home.

Some people are fortunate enough to have mountains and fire roads and heart-pounding twisties right at their doorstep. But here in Chicagoland, that's not really what we're known for. More like flat, flat, and more flat. Corn, corn, and more corn. That's the type of nature you find out here.

But since we both grew up here, we've discovered that being stuck in the Midwest with a motorcycle doesn't have to be a drag. And pretty much anywhere on earth you can find beauty and fun roads to ride. So this week, we'll introduce you to our two personal favorite spots just an hour and a half from Chicago, both of them free to visit. Starved Rock I've been coming here since I was a child and always thought it was pure paradise. And I still think so. The views from the cliffs overlooking the Illinois River from "Starved Rock" itself are pretty impressive by themselves, but then you throw in the beauty of the canyons, and Starved Rock becomes so much more than just a pretty view of a river. It takes you into another world. The heat and buzzing humidity of the forest faded away as we entered the sandstone cliffs of the canyon, and listened to the echoing trickles of water dripping down the rock faces. In the distance, a waterfall slowly came into view, and the sloping curve of the beige-colored rock walls unveiled a peacefully falling cascade of water that spilled into a glittering pool beneath it.

As we entered LaSalle Canyon, reflections of water danced on the rocks surrounding us, creating twinkling diamond patterns. Children played on the natural slip-n-slide rocks that the stream flowed over, and their voices carried across the stones, melding with the chirps of swooping sparrows.

Sand filled the banks alongside the lazy stream that created the canyon, and the walls were pocked with nooks and caves to explore. It's not just a perfect playground for children, but a peaceful retreat for anyone to go to. LaSalle isn't the only canyon at Starved Rock. There are several more, each with its own shape and character. It's a bit of a hike to get to these canyons, but that just makes the destination that much more rewarding. 

And the road to Starved Rock isn't half-bad either. It may be one of the only places in the area that has a few real twisties, cliff edges and all. Plus, coming from Chicago, you can take rolling country roads to get there, some of which pass through quaint historic towns such as Ottawa. Matthiessen Matthiessen is one of our secret "hidden gems" of the region. Most people flock to Starved Rock because it is so well-known. But as stated earlier, most of the canyons are a long hike to get to, and once you're there, they may be filled with people. But Matthiessen doesn't have these problems.

Paths from the parking lot lead straight down to the main canyon (you can also hike around in the forest as well), and from there you can go on personal adventures where few others venture by following the river to ravines that branch off from the main one. Sometimes you'll find waterfalls around every turn, sometimes not. But you'll always find a waterfall at the main canyon where there is also a bridge that overlooks. We took two days exploring these sites, and camped at Starved Rock in between. It was a great introduction to our summer of adventures here the US (and hopefully Canada too). But most of all, it reminded us that we don't have to be in Africa or South America to have an incredible time.

Happy Father's Day everyone! And I hope you find yourself able to go out and enjoy the scenery with good company wherever you find yourself. I call these dragon/butter-flies. Subscribe to Our Blog And check out our latest videos!

Secrets of the Maya

The Notiers Notes Our Sunday Scoop One of the pleasures of being back home in Chicago is that it has given us the chance to take joy rides on the bike around the suburbs, which we do almost on a daily basis. It's been wonderful to just feel the hot summer breezes whip through our jackets, and not have to worry that a cow might just stray into the road. Or that we'll randomly hit a hidden speed bump going at full speed. African roads are amazing in their own ways, but American roads have their advantages as well. So whether it's through twisty roads along fields of prairie grasses, or forests of buzzing cicadas, or along strip malls and residential blocks, we've been loving it all.

​But another thing we've been doing is making videos about our journey through Mexico and Central America, and chronologically following the book 2Up and Overloaded. As Tim finishes up his newest book on South America, it's been fun to relive all our experiences as we headed into Latin America for the first time. And one of the things I wanted to share with you is our exploration of Meso-American ruins.

Visiting ruins on the motorcycle was a real highlight of the region for us, and the Mayan ruins of Central America truly captured our hearts and imaginations. And so the following is a list of some of our favorite ruins that we rode to on our motorcycle (doesn't get more magical that that!). And I've tried to pick ones that are off the beaten track, and a little obscure -  Xunantunich I know what you're thinking: I'm not even going to try to pronounce that. But luckily, these expansive ruins in Belize are pronounced similarly to "Tuna Sandwich". Located deep in the jungles close to the Guatemalan border, Xunantunich has an incredibly tall temple called El Castillo, or The Castle, which is truly terrifying to climb, but has rewarding views from the top, along with some incredible friezes and carvings. ​Uxmal Located in the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, Uxmal is not as popular of a site to visit as the famous ruins of Chichén Itzá, which are also spectacular. But what I liked about Uxmal was that the artwork of the carvings there are just head and shoulders above the carvings I have seen at any other Mayan site. Plus, the structures there are very expansive, so there's plenty of space to get lost and feel like you're exploring it on your own. Cahal Pech These are the smallest of the ruins on this list, but I think it's one of the coolest because there was really no one else there. Cahel Pech is found within the town of San Ignacio, Belize, and it's basically just a forested park with lots of Mayan ruins that you can explore at your leisure. Stone passageways, moss-covered rocks, and tree roots and vines eating away at the stone-work... it's like a lost city within a modern city. And there was pretty much no one else there, except we ran across some archeologists doing an excavation. They even invited us to watch them work! Lamanai Also in Belize, in my opinion Lamanai is one of the best ruins to ride to on a motorcycle. Not only does the ride take you through Mennonite lands (similar to the Amish) where you can catch a glimpse of them using horse-drawn machinery for their farm work, but then you enter the spectacular jungle around the ruins. Most tourists take river boats to the site, and are therefore stuck on a guided track in groups. But by coming on a motorcycle, we got to explore the site without having to be in a group, which meant that we basically had whole sections of it to ourselves, including the Mask Temple (pictured above). We even had a picnic lunch on top of the Jaguar Temple. How cool is that? Tikal For me, this is the mother of all Mayan ruins - Tikal. Located in the northern portion of Guatemala that is covered in thick rainforest, Tikal is truly a magical treasure of the jungle. There are several reasons why coming here on a motorcycle is better than any tour bus, but most of all it's because you get the opportunity to camp just outside the site gates overnight. This will mean you're one of the first people into the grounds in the morning (you can even take a sunrise hike in), but also you might just hear the howler monkeys in the night surrounding your tent, like we did. It was so eerie... Then to top it all off, you get to explore some of the most iconic and incredible temples that the Mayans ever built. it's one of the most memorable experiences of my life. All this reminiscing makes me excited to start traveling again. Even though we won't be heading back into Mexico and Central America any time soon, we are currently making plans for a great American tour this summer, hitting up all three Overland Expos in the fall (Colorado, Arizona, and Virginia, hope to see you there), along with checking out a few National Parks and seeing friends along the way. We'll also be visiting some spots we went to on our original trip across the country at the start of our trip.

So as always, we'll keep you updated. Stay tuned!

If you want to see us exploring some of the temples I mentioned above, check out the following videos. Plus, we'll cover even more in the next few videos that we'll be posting this week.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Traveling

The Notiers Notes Our Sunday Scoop Africa is a wild and unpredictable world. You never know what you're going to find out there. Coming back to a sedentary lifestyle has been wonderful, don't get me wrong.

It feels good to be back in a world of familiarity and predictability. Besides just seeing the people I know and love, there's a comfortable rhythm to life here that I missed. It's that sense that everything is under control.

I can eat the same thing for breakfast every day if I want. I can fill up a hamper with dirty laundry without having to worry that I'll run out of clean clothes in just two days. And there are some comforts of American life that I used to take for granted. I can turn on a faucet, and water will come out. And better yet, I can even drink that water. I know that the electricity will stay on because the infrastructure of the power grid is maintained. I know that if a fire starts in the house, I wont be trapped in a room with bars on the windows with only one fire escape through a padlocked door. Society more or less functions on autopilot. But while on the road, nothing is nearly as predictable. We certainly sometimes find ourselves in some interesting situations while traveling. When on the road, finding dinner is always a problem that needs to be solved. Same with doing laundry. Or getting gas, or having a shower. And it's not just travelers that go through this. After spending years in other countries, I now understand that there are places in this world where something as simple as getting hot water for tea or coffee is a luxury for the people living there. Sometimes just having water that's pure enough to drink is a luxury.

It really puts things into perspective of how lucky I am (as I type this in the basement of Tim's childhood home). Central heating and air-conditioning... ah, I've missed it.

​But it doesn't take long for me to forget how appreciative I am.

I wake up in the morning, put the kettle on a stove with gas that is connected to an unlimited supply from a utility company, and a stove that lights on its own without having to use matches. But I don't think about any of that. My mind is already elsewhere... maybe pondering over what needs to get done that day, or worrying about something I saw in the news.

While I drink my morning tea, I'm already caught up in the hustle and bustle of American life. And before I know it, the cup has been drained and stuffed into the dishwater. America feels so orderly in comparison to the chaos of Africa. But is that always good? I get comfortable, and I forget how grateful I am for the little things.

But I know that all it takes is getting on the motorcycle again, and seeing that open road in front of us. As we coast along the pavement, I watch the sunlight sparkle through the tree leaves, dappling the road ahead like it's sprinkling flower petals onto our own personal red carpet. Or I look out to the horizon to contemplate the vastness of the world, and to feel minuscule in the openness of the scenery. Like a tiny ant just walking along a patio, every crack between the wooden planks is a canyon, every puddle a vast ocean. I feel like a speck of sand on a massive beach.

And then I look to Tim who sits in front of me, steering us along our course into the unknown. And I can't help but smile as I realize that I don't actually need all those creature comforts that I've come to rely on. All I really need is right here - the motorcycle, our equipment, and most of all, Tim. He's my guide, my companion, and as he likes to say, "I'm just her chauffeur." It's a great feeling to know that everything pictured here is all we need in life. Since we've been quarantining and not traveling for the past couple of weeks, I'm just counting down the days when we can get back on the road and once again ride off into the sunset. Soon enough I keep telling myself. Soon enough...

Actually, despite being two jobless vagabonds, we've been keeping ourselves super busy. Our YouTube videos have been sort of "taking off" which is exciting, I'm always writing scripts and trying to get them out there, and Tim is finishing up his next book, "Blood, Sweat, and Notiers"! It's about our crazy travels through South America, and should be ready to hit the shelves this summer!!!

Lately our videos have been about us reminiscing on our times going through Mexico, and it's so exciting for us to live through all the incredible experiences we had, along with all the bumps in the road we came across. So check them out, and let us know what you think! Next week, we're planning on taking a little springtime adventure with the bike (yay!). So I hope you have a great week, and I'll see you next Sunday!
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Reflecting on Africa in America

The Notier Notes Our Sunday Scoop Please note that this week we've switched our email subscription service provider. We would love to hear your feedback on how it looks on your device! If you see any problems or glitches (screen width / color / font readability) please let us know at  notiersfrontiers@outlook.com.  One thing is for certain - traveling is not just a physical journey, but a mental one too. We've been on the road for years on end, but it still never ceases to amaze me how sometimes my worldview of what I thought was true can be shattered to pieces in a matter of moments. Or I realize that I had once been so naïve to think a certain way, and now a new place has taught me differently.

But perhaps the strangest of all these epiphanies are the ones that happen when I come back home. This is our first week back in Chicago after having been in Africa for more than a year and a half, and not only are things here strange due to the changes from the pandemic, but some completely ordinary things seem very weird to me now. For example, after successfully picking up our bike at the airport a few days ago (check out our YouTube video above for more on that), our first real "ride" was a forty minute journey to drop off our carnet, and it was a very normal trip that felt quite unusual for me.

First of all, if you don't know what a carnet is, it's an extremely expensive document that we used for the importation our motorcycle in Africa. And it just so happens that the carnet office for all of North America is forty minutes from where we live. So instead of praying that our valuable document would make it to its destination via FedEx or UPS, we decided to just bring it there ourselves, and also get the wheels spinning on the motorcycle again. It was a beautiful day, and a very pretty ride, and it was also the first day that I started to feel human again. We had been so jet-lagged, exhausted, stressed about the trip and the bike, that we spent several days just sleeping, eating, and being cranky (Tim was sleepy, I was cranky).

But I was finally feeling myself again as we rode all the way to the northern suburbs where the fields of tall grasses roll and tumble into little ravines and bogs, and clumps of Midwestern deciduous forests look bright and happy with their spring buds decorating their limbs. And then, shoved between these sections of nature is orderly modern development at its finest - fancy glass office buildings that sparkle in the sun, and artificial ponds with spurting fountains of water spraying into the air. Canadian geese graze through huge useless lawns that have criss-cross patterns from being mowed in just the right way. And then there's the housing developments, tucked away from the main roads but still just barely visible through the newly-planted trees that patrol iron gates and stonework signs, all with quaint Old World names like Whispering Oaks, or Silverdown Hills.

We actually couldn't find the carnet place at first, and accidentally turned down one of these McMansion roads, and it's not that there's anything wrong with these housing developments. In fact, they're the American dream, and a beautiful dream at that. And these affluent communities certainly made for a gorgeous ride, but the American lifestyle of large spaces and big cars and widescreen TVs was in stark contrast with the typical African lifestyle of tin-roofed homes, cooking on a coal fire, feeding your family rice and corn, walking around town to talk to the neighbors. This place was the perfect American dream. Things are simpler in Africa. You don't need child care because you just pack your kid up with a cloth tied to your back. You don't need shopping centers, because down the street there's someone who sells vegetables, a guy who fixes shoes, and a little shop that sews clothes out of all the brightest fabrics. When it rains in Africa and you have a motorcycle, just attach an umbrella to your bike! Some could view the African lifestyle as 'poor', but in truth, it's rich in so many ways. There aren't as many walls that separate family members. Technology still hasn't taken all of their attention from each other. And even during the pandemic, communities were still full of laughter, with children singing and music playing.

In America, everything feels a bit more sterile, but with that comes a sigh of relief for the wide open spaces, the cleanliness, and the order. It's wonderful to be back in a world of efficiency, and to be confident that people will stand in line and wait their turn, that the credit card machine will work, and that the electricity will stay on. It feels glorious to throw all our filthy clothes into a giant washing machine, and then even more glorious to put all those clean clothes into a dryer! Hot water comes out of hot water faucets, and we can go to bed without crawling underneath a mosquito net every night. Pure luxury! Remember when the sewage backed up and there was a river of feces water outside our front door in Kenya? That was not Africa at its finest. I kept thinking about these contrasts as we finally found our way to the carnet office, and then came the next cultural hurdle - we had to figure out where to park. And that parking lot... it was massive, and completely filled with cars. Sparkly, shiny cars, one after another, rows upon rows, all shades of whites or blacks, or other nondescript colors. And I realized that I hadn't been in a real parking lot in a long time. How did all those people in Africa park their cars without parking lots? Certainly there were cars on the road, but when they weren't on the street, they seemed to all just seep into the scenery, nudging their way into nooks and crannies, or wherever they could fit. But there weren't paved lots designated for cars with painted lines and... just imagine, handicapped spaces!

Luckily, we had a motorcycle, and were able to fit into a space up at the front. But I'm amazed that anyone can find their cars in lots like that. Maybe Google helps them find where they parked. And then Google probably helps them find their way out of the parking lot. Ahhh... this is America. Oh so many cars... It feels good to be back, for sure, but also a little strange. As motorcycle travelers, I would say that our minimalism lifestyle lends itself to being closer to the African way of life than the American one. Besides my motorcycle boots, I have one pair of shoes. I have one jacket, and I buy one bar of soap at a time. But now I have to get used to the idea that at Costco I can buy thirty bars of soap at once so I can throw the box in a closet and have a year's supply. Here in America, I can have a year's supply of almost anything, and certainly during the pandemic, that's how many people lived.

So it may feel a little weird for us right now, but when I get to take a hot shower with good water pressure whenever I want, I just remember that sometimes it's a wonderful thing to be back home. And other times, when we find ourselves in the hustle and bustle of everyday life here in the States, I yearn to be back in Kenya, petting our two kittens as we wrote books and played guitar to each other. I have come to fully realize the statement that the grass is always greener on the other side, but it is just as hard to mow.

Check out our latest videos below (An Ode to African Roads: Part 2​ is my personal favorite because of all the footage of our adventures with the Maasai people of Tanzania). And I'll be seeing you again next week as we hopefully get out on the bike again and test some of our new gear that we got!

​See you then! Subscribe to Our YouTube Channel

Coming Back to America

By Marisa Notier

The Notier Notes Our Sunday Scoop Getting ourselves from Africa to America during a pandemic is hard enough. Getting our motorcycle across continents is even harder. But we were fortunate with the people who helped us, even though the entire process really tested our patience, and certainly emptied our wallets.

Starting with the motorcycle, there's a lot of things that can go wrong. When it comes to flying a motorcycle via airfreight, you don't actually know how much you're going to pay until the bike is crated up, has passed customs, and is ready to go on the plane. This is because the cost is based on the final dimensions of the crate which is hand-built around the bike. So we could only get estimates beforehand, and the numbers that people were getting back to us varied by thousands of dollars. Sometimes even the same clearing agent would change his price by a couple grand overnight due to some "unforeseen" cost. Some airlines don't require motorcycles to be crated. But from Africa they certainly do. I think I overestimate people's abilities to do math sometimes. In the US, even the most math-opposed employee will be given a spreadsheet that calculates the costs of a quote for him or her. But in Africa, where these spreadsheets seem to be rarely used, people are doing all the calculations by hand, and after double-checking their work, we frequently find discrepancies. Normally I don't mind when our bill is off for a restaurant meal or grocery payment, but when it comes to spending lots of money, these miscalculations are very disconcerting.

After weeks of negotiating with different agents, all with different competencies, we finally found the right one - Godfrey (Godfrey the Godsend I like to call him). He was able to get us accurate prices, and was honest about all the fees right from the beginning. We did a high estimate and a low estimate for flying the motorcycle, and felt satisfied about paying anywhere between the two. Tim and Godfrey the Godsend Next was crating up the motorcycle and getting it cleared through customs. We brought the bike in days early just because we knew that these things would take a while, but we had no idea just how long they would take.

We figured crating up the motorcycle would take four hours maximum. It took eight.

We thought getting the bike through customs would be a two hour process. All in all, we were at the cargo area of the airport in Uganda for eleven hours. It's a good thing we brought the motorcycle in early! The carpenters were all using hand tools and used equipment. Why did it take eight hours for a team of people to build a wooden box around a motorcycle? Well, part of the problem was that the crate makers did not have proper tools. They had one hammer that was a hammer head welded onto a pipe. They didn't have any power tools, and only a hand saw to cut their wood. Plus, all of their materials had been previously used, from the pallets to the wood to the nails. Ah yes, and the nails... since they were used, each one was rusty and crooked and had to be straightened out before every hammer swing. These people were certainly resourceful and skilled, but everything they did just took much longer than expected. Pretty much every nail was crooked like this. But despite all the disadvantages these Ugandan builders had, they did everything with a smile, and they really enjoyed their work. Tim was very insistent that they had to make the crate small, since we were paying by the crate's dimensions, and even though these were tight parameters, they did exactly as we asked. By the end of their work, the crate was even a few centimeters smaller than we had specified! So the quality of their craftsmanship was worth every extra hour, as we ended up paying our lowest estimated price!

Finally, the crate had to be x-rayed and scanned, which is normally done behind-the-scenes, but this time, Tim actually got the opportunity to go back there and watch them scan the bike. This was a very cool experience since it was a bit like one of those cartoon x-rays where the person walks behind a screen and turns into a skeleton. They put the bike into the scanner and the image that was relayed back looked like an artist's sketch of a motorcycle.

The video of it is pretty impressive, and you can check it out, along with the entire crating process, in the video below. At last, the motorcycle was ready to fly out. We had done our mental checklist - windshield off, battery disconnected, practically no gas in the tank, all batteries and super glue taken out of the luggage... we were good to go.

And now we just had to get ourselves to Chicago as quickly as possible so that we could be there to pick up the bike when it landed.

We got another Covid test (this time in the throat as opposed to the nose, which was much better), and we said our goodbyes to the wonderful friends we had made in Uganda. Cathy, the owner of the hotel we were staying at, even drove us to the airport. Our friends, Saroush and Karen. Me, Cathy, and Tim at Entebbe Airport, Uganda It's always bittersweet to be moving on, but this early end to our Africa trip was particularly bitter in that we had originally aspired to get all the way through Egypt. But of course, now we were leaving from the middle of Africa, and we were traveling by plane as opposed to overlanding. There was something sad about it all, like I could feel the heaviness of having not completed our great African journey like a weighty failure on my shoulders. But with Ethiopia closed, and a pandemic still shutting down borders around the world, we knew we really had no choice.

​And so with a sadness in our hearts, and while trying to keep our chins up, we boarded our first plane that would bring us back home. Tim getting some shut-eye on our layover in Qatar. First we flew to Doha, Qatar, and that was a short five hour flight. But the direct flight from Qatar to Chicago was fifteen hours long! That's certainly the longest flight I'd ever been on, and we were extremely thankful that the plane wasn't completely full and we were able to have three seats to ourselves. We were even able to lay down (sort of) on the airplane! The view coming into Chicago was beautiful... the city skyscrapers looked like little lego pieces stacked beside the shimmering blue expanse of Lake Michigan. It was glorious, and it felt good to be home (though it's a little cold here for my liking). It's hard to see in this picture, but that's downtown Chicago down there next to the lake. Once on land again, we immediately got our vaccines, but have been feeling jet-lagged and fatigued ever since. We keep waking up at 3am, and then can't keep our eyes open after 5pm. Plus we're quarantining, which makes Mother's Day particularly hard since neither of us are going to be seeing our mothers today. We're so close, but still so far. But we know the time will soon come when we'll be able to see everyone without worry, and we're much closer to that moment than we were a few days ago from Africa.

We'll be picking up the motorcycle tomorrow! And then we plan on doing a few local adventures here in Illinois as the weather warms up, so stay tuned!

And check out some of our other videos from this week: Until next time! Subscribe to Our YouTube Channel Subscribe to Our Blog