01.17.08

Siracusa, Italy

Okay first things first Rome to Sicily…Holy Cow what an adventure.This is what you have to look forward to in this issue:dirty beaches, rain, trash piled as high as the Alps, lawless streets,rain, being rear ended on my bike, top of a volcano, rain, bottom of a volcano and what it looks like after it erupts, breath taking coastline and twisting road along the edge, rain, ferry boat ride, SICILY, rain, breaking down on the road, rain, getting fixed, finding a room for the night oh and last but not least RAIN!

So boys and girls put your seat belts on or helmet and enjoy the ride because I sure as hell did even though it was like a roller coaster, rather like a roller coaster in the rain.

I can't even begin to tell you how miserable; no annoying it is to be riding in the rain.It seems like since I arrived in Italy it has rained.It is not so much the rain, but it is having to get geared up for the rain.Once you are in it, its fine except having to be extra careful on the slippery roads which makes some of the most amazing riding roads the most treacherous death traps.So every morning so far I have had to put all my rain gear on before I even started.Of course it has rained and then stopped and then rained again so fits and spurts, but the gear must go on and does not come off until the end of the day.Life must go on rain or shine!

I left Rome only by a miracle.I am not sure if I have mentioned yet or not, but Italy is the worst country for road signs.You see one sign and then five turns later maybe another if you happened to take the right series of turns.Maybe this is why I like the coast so much.As long as the ocean is there, I always have a reference!I made my way down the beach and was expecting to not see much as I always speak to people about the next legs of my trip to see where to stop.Sperlonga was the first stop and although I was invited to stop by and see some amazing beaches I saw what amounted to a small strip of sand that sat by what looked like a dilapidated Myrtle Beach minus the big hotels.Not very impressed!I did find some other neat towns along the way, but Naples was the biggest attraction.

Naples!The only word that can truly describe Naples is CHAOS!I have never in my life been in a city and feared for my life.As I approached Naples I started to pass mounds upon mounds of trash piled up on the streets.Apparently there is a trash strike and it hasn't been picked up for a while.Wow.When you see it piled on the street it makes you wonder about all the things you put in that little trash can under the sink and then where it goes.Not only was the trash piled high, but the odors where starting to pile up also.The trash piling up must have set the stage for all hell to break loose or maybe that is just how Naples is on a daily basis.

It was strange to be driving past huge piles of trash and then see every one just hanging around on the street corners and outside shops.I have never seen so many people just
"hangin around".Do people in Naples work?Not only are they just hanging around it is like they are all giving you the eye when you drive by.But of course I could not focus too much on that because I was too busy fearing for my life on the lawless streets.Driving in Naples is like driving in a bumper car arena except you have to miss everyone by centimeters.It is every man for himself in Naples. The name of the driving game in Naples is "Who has the biggest balls".Excuse the expression!I have made it a lot (see picture to guess) of miles, driven through nightmares like London, Paris, Rome but nothing can prepare you for Naples.I saw many traffic lights, but not many of them were switched on so it was just push your way through, but watch our for the other idiots who are just pushing their way through.Everywhere else in Europe it is acceptable for motorcycles to move over in the oncoming lane to move to the front of the line, well cars do this in Naples!Wrong way signs mean nothing, there is not a spec of paint on any road, no dividing lines, no stop lines nothing you just drive as fast as you can without getting hit.Now you might be thinking oh Marcus you are exaggerating again…ahhh…I got rear ended! Luckily there was no damage except maybe the years that have come off my life.

Not only do you have to watch out for all the offensive drivers, you have to be careful not to hit the million stray dogs that are just roaming the streets and maybe if you do there might be a police officer around, although I can't say that I saw very many of them and if I did they were getting passed by other cars…no kidding.Naples is like a city on the verge of complete lawlessness.I promise this is not an exaggeration.Helmets in Italy are required, but not in Naples.This is the only city in Italy, in Europe that the majority of scooter and bike riders are helmetless.So be sure to skip Naples unless you want to practice making your heart jump.

So if you are poor and can't afford a car to join the herd and maybe don't have a home either, that's okay because it is acceptable in Naples to scrounge up wooden bits and build a scrap house of your own along the road way, oh and be sure to have a chair outside so you can sit and hang out like everyone else because you definitely don't have a job…no JOKE…I SAW THIS.

If you have some extra change though you can hit any street corner and see an army of street venders and their blanket of goods piled around.Now I have seen these street venders with their blankets on the ground scattered with cheap knock off goods, but nothing like Naples.It is as if Morocco landed in Naples and instead of building a mall they just invited everyone to use the sidewalk…free!

I left Naples as fast as I could although it goes on for ever and takes forever to get out, but I made it alive and only hit once.I headed for Mt. Vesuvio, my first volcano!The drive up was eerie.Hotels and restaurants all along the road on the way up the curving mountain road where all abandoned and falling down.It seemed that this was recent maybe a year or two recently.I did not pass any cars and didn't see anyone except some of those stray dogs wondering about.I felt like I was in an episode of the twilight zone.I got to the top of Vesuvio where a park entrance has been erected for the last couple of walking only steps to see inside the crater and it is closed, closed from 10.2007 to 10.2008.All the buildings and signs have graffiti and no one is anywhere oh except a bus load of French children.This is where it really felt like the twilight zone.The park which really was just a gravel lot, was closed yet there was a bus of French kids hanging out throwing snowballs. Hmmm maybe there is something else going on in this mountain.

To get to the top I did have to trudge through snow and ice which was interesting on two wheels.The road the last mile or so was nothing but slush and ice and let me tell you my heart was already in my throat from driving and being hit in Naples and now I was imagining sliding down the mountain like the lava flows did 50 years ago!

Speaking of lava flows, I stopped in at Pompei and viewed the ruined city from the outside deciding not to pay the entry fee and move on.Now this is something some would say, come on stop and take in the sights.Well, Pompei made me realize something important about this trip.It is not so much about seeing the sites as it is about geography.As long as I can remember I would sit and stare at maps and trace the coast line of the worlds countries and wonder what was their, how do those people live, how are their lives different from mine.This is what I want to see.I am not interested in history at this point and that is what Pompei is, history.There will come a time that I share the history part of it with my family.Go back and see the museums and say hey look at this and look at that.Sit and have tea and cake and then spend the rest of the afternoon in an art gallery.So with geography and the freeing feeling of being not only on the open road, but being on the open road on a bike (I think bikers are the only ones who can truly understand this) I headed to Sorrento the jumping off point for the famed amalfi coast and far enough from Naples to not be chaos.

The amalfi coast is spectacular and it is a toss up between Rapallo and Cinque Terra and the amalfi coast.The amalfi coast, towns like Positano and Amalfi are like Cinque Terra on steroids.Just a little bigger.The coast roads were beautiful, and trust me at 30mph max and mostly 20mph because of all the twists and turns I saw every bit of it in slow motion.I finally figured out how they built those houses at the top of all those cliffs.You will have to see the picture of the two donkeys getting loaded down with bricks…that's right 2008 and donkeys are still being used in Italy to build houses!Amazing!

Sicily was calling my name and everyone that I spoke with and still speak with said there is not much to see in the very bottom west side of Italy so I took off and drove through some spectacular mountain scenery and made it to the ferry over to Sicily.Now this is something that interests me and maybe someone can give me a good reason, but why did they not just build a bridge.The distance between Sicily and Italy proper is less than the width of the cooper and wando river in Charleston and some parts of the mississipi and we have bridges over those!Instead the Italians decided to use ferries back and forth.Literally the trip takes 30 minutes and that is because it takes so long to load and unload!The good thing though is it only cost 6 euros…pretty cheap boat ride in my book.It was pretty nice though to feel the waves under me again.This is something I dearly miss so live it up if you can!

So far there is nothing overly spectacular or different about Sicily except maybe that Sicily broke my bike.Well let's be fair it probably started to go somewhere else, but Sicily got the repair bill.I left Taormina where I stayed for the night in the craziest hostel yet and headed for historical and world heritage site Siracusa.I was just outside of town and stopping for some bread for lunch and my bike would not start.Now that is the worst feeling ever when you just hear click click click!Good thing I was not at the top of some mountain somewhere!But of course the big man upstairs looks out for me for some reason, maybe it is all that praying in the mountain top churches or maybe he just loves me the same as everyone else.I think it is probably the latter, but either way it is amazing to see how it all works out when you just walk forward.

I got a jump and made my way into town and stopped at the first motorcycle dealership I came to on the hunt for a new battery which I though was the culprit.The dealer was very helpful and happened to have the right battery in stock so after a little waiting for the 2 hour lunch to pass I was pushed to the front of the work order line and got a new battery.Well, not so easy!After a little testing it was not just the battery, but also the voltage regulator that was faulty.

Now lets rewind a little bit here so you can truly get a picture of how the good Lord works.So before I bought my bike I was speaking to a bike geek about BMW F650's which is what my bike is and he mentioned to me that the Aprilla Pegaso is just like the BMW F650.They share the same engine as they were built in a partnership which is very unique for BMW.Also, several weeks ago I was reading about a couple who are in the Guiness Book of World Records for most miles covered on a bike by a couple and they just so happen to be riding a 1996 and 1997 BMW F650 (my same bike).Their journey talks about loads of things but one of them is how their voltage regulators seemed to go out every so often and for those traveling on this bike to make sure to have a spare.So I had this in my head and was hoping to catch one the next shop I happened to stop in.Needless to say that had not happened yet.But never fear, have faith!The dealer I just so happened upon was an Aprilla dealer and had an Aprilla voltage regulator in stock! I just started laughing at this point with almost tears strolling at how this worked out and I just so happened to stop at an Aprilla dealer and trust me this is probably the 3rd I have seen the entire trip. Not only did he have it and was able to fix the bike I am sure the $180 euros I paid for the parts and labor was half of what a BMW dealer would have charge me.So I am always amazed!

So here I am in Siracusa with my bike ready to go and a king size bed calling my name.Yup, no hostels so I had to make a deal with a hotel.I hope you all appreciate your towels when you shower in the morning because man am I glad to have a towel for my morning shower!Using a chamois really gets old!

I should not go to long between blog entries because really the above is only the half of the craziness that has happened in the past couple of days!Oh did I mention I hit 20,000 miles on the tach yesterday!!!!!Amazing!