We arrived at the docks early in the morning, excited to be reunited with our bikes. A very long taxi ride brought us to the security gates, a quick introduction and an explanation of our intentions to collect the bikes led us to one significant problem, we didn't have a union card so we had to be escorted into the docks. We secured ourselves an escort or rather two and headed in. the shipping and customs were as helpful as you would expect from an officials who were entrenched in the unions. Lunch breaks and coffee breaks meant we spent the whole day filling in forms and waiting in queues. We finally got to see our bikes at 2.30pm. Both bikes had flat batteries and the 1200 had various bits missing, i.e. waterproofs out of the panniers and the spot lights off the front. After getting the bikes started with a jumper pack we exited the docks and after a quick repack of kit we embarked on our first ride on US soil. Taz was very nervous but did fantastic. We headed out of Baltimore to find a motel, where we bumped into Chris, a random bloke who was interested in the bikes and our trip. Chris Winger of Baltimore was our first encounter with the locals and we couldn't of done better. He went out of his way and showed us to a decent motel at a reasonable price and even helped me to replace my bulbs that had blown (both probably due to the jump start) We chattered for an hour or so and then he left, and we settled into our motel. Total miles that day 44 by taxi 10 by bike... doh!
picture will follow shortly
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