Across America by Motorcycle - Illustrated Travel Book | Adventure Motorcycle Journeys & Road Trip Stories | Perfect for Riders & Travel Enthusiasts

I arrived in New York from Canada, I purchased a motorcycle and set out to cross the continent to the Pacific, and I have it on the best authority that my ride was the first time an Englishman had ever accomplished the trip on a motorcycle across the United States of America.The whole trip, which covered just fifty miles short of 5,000, was undertaken quite alone, and although spread over about three months, constituted a day or two short of a month of actual riding. For the benefit of brother and sister motorcyclists who may be interested in such details I may add that I dispensed entirely with the use of goggles from beginning to end, and except at stops in large towns on the way I wore no helmet. I think that when the motorcyclist gets accustomed to doing without these encumbrances he will find the joys of motorcycling considerably enhanced. The total number of replacements to the engine alone comprised the following: Five new cylinders; three pistons; five gudgeon pins; three complete sets of bearings; two connecting rods; and eleven sparking plugs. The machine was entirely overhauled on four occasions between the Atlantic and the Pacific, and on three of these by the recognized agents of the manufacturers. The engine cut-out switch was the only part of the machine that did not break, come loose, or go wrong sooner or later. I was thrown off 142 times, and after that I stopped counting; apart from that I had no trouble.