Bonnie Does Hokkaido

[B06Tang]

Alright ladies,

The excitement is high and the anticipation is building! I am a little kid once again waiting for the big day to arrive. At the end of the month, a couple of us are heading away from the safety of the AF base and heading to Hokkaido, Japan...the Siberia of Japan. A couple hour ride up to Oma Japan, hop the ferry for two hours and land in Hakodate. Then we head east and for five days ride the entire coastline! Five days of biking and camping away from everything and everyone. I'm getting so amped up on this that I decided to start this thread up and will have it as a buidling thread so I can track it for everyone.

The first step was to ensure I continue to have some kind of power as we might be doing some roadside camping and I will want to keep the phone and camera charged up so I put this on yesterday:

Tonight I had to get the girl loaded down; who said that you can't tour on a Bonnie? Whoever said is full of shit. Left saddle bag already has all my camping gear and the right side saddle bag and luggage rack back are still empty...I will have plenty of space for this trip. Oh yeah...minus the three year old boy...he's not getting packed up for the trip either but I can't do anything on the bike without his help (and that is how I like it)!

Finally, here is the route: "A" is Hakodate...we arrive there from ferry and ride Hokkaido counter clockwise. Only planned stops right now are Abashiri prison which is the hardest prison in Japan; opened in 1890 as the government used prison labor to clear Hokkaido in fear that the Russians would cross over onto their land and claim it. Has a museum and can even have an authentic prisoners lunch. What a way to spend your money!!! Anyways...here is the route if you care to check it out:

http://maps.google.co.jp/maps?f=d&s....370987,142.053223&spn=7.444712,22.412109&z=6

as I said...this is a building thread so there will be much more to come...

 

[mark66]

Sounds like a great time ahead for you guys. Looking forward to pics and more reports.

 

[Ninja K]

That sounds awesome! Keep us updated if you can!

 

[Kirkus51]

I love the Japanese Google map!

 

[B06Tang]

I will definitely be keeping this updated and glad to see there is interest as I am super stoked. It has been almost two years since I have taken some time off so this is VERY needed for me. One thing of interest that I have recently discovered but Hokkaido is a huge motorcycling spot for Japan...I guess a lot of people make the voyage to the northern island to do ride it. From what I was told, there are a network of homes all along the island that are owned by avid bikers; these houses are opened for only the bikers that are touring the island where you stay in for no charge and they usually just ask that you eat at their restaurant that is next to them. Sounds like a pretty good and we plan on hunting at least one of them down. I imagine there will be at least one night that we will want a bed and not mess with tents...who knows...

 

[D9]

Great pics... looking forward to updates!

 

[B06Tang]

Less than a week away and I already have Bonnie all packed up!! I'm not the best packer when it comes to motorcycle travel so I like to do it on the early side so I can over stuff everything and then start pulling back the shit you actually don't need. Amazing how what you think you need while you are in your house is suddenly changed when you are standing over your bike. Oh well...this is all part of the fun for me though. I love every aspect of taking long trips on a bike like this.

I arrived in Japan a year ago; coming from England and had the creamsicle with me. I had plans to ride the bike down on a special temp tag to get the import test done in Tokyo and needed to hook up a GPS. Our very own D9 provided this beauty to accommodate and best yet...sold me his prototype one as I needed it badly. Unfortunately, the suck hole shop I worked for wouldn't let me take the leave and the trip never happened. But now it is on the silver Bonnie and I wanted to throw out some props to D9 and let him know that his product is going to be buzzing around the most northern part of Japan next week and helping me find my way home eventually! Thanks D9 for this and how you helped me out.

If there is anyone on this forum that isn't actually aware of this then D9's products are top-notch barred none. Fits absolutely perfect, well made and solid. Plus his customer service to me was beyond fantastic. Buy this from him...it is handy as hell especially with all the things you can get from RAM mounts. Yet another case in point to my argument that the Bonnie is an awesome touring bike! More to come ladies!!....

 

[B06Tang]

Day 1

And the journey begins...

Meeting my buddies at 2.30 in the morning so that we can make the run north to Oma, Japan. The furthest northern point of mainland Japan so that we can catch a 2 hour ferry into Hakodate, Hokkaido. The hour was early and the traffic was non-existent...a 3.5 hour ride to the port took us 2 hours.

The three culprits arriving at the Oma port:

The ferry that will take us across the pond and into Hokkaido:

The after-effects of leaving at 2.30 in the morning...

Bonnie Hokkaido bound:

Hokkaido full steam ahead!

 

[B06Tang]

Day 1: arrival

Oma, Japan in the rearview:

Hokkaido!

The parking lot at the port in Hokkaido and ready to start ripping!

But first some breakfast at the universal arches before leaving civilization

Some Hokkaido country side:

We ended up getting our directions screwed and landed in Sapporo...a city we did not intend on hitting at all. We would have to recover on Day 2 and get back south as the ride was going to be the entire coastline of the island. Rained on...never ending fog....and now a fuck up on road signs set us behind and starting to beat the shit out of us

we pushed down to a park site through the JASDF and found out it was empty...camped for free in the rain and had the bathrooms to pull the bikes into. A boost to our already beaten down day

 

[B06Tang]

What was covered on day 1

http://maps.google.co.jp/maps?saddr...3,0x5f9f59209f6c888b:0x1c3cc3564fce038f,0&z=9

 

[Bonafide]

Very cool

 

[strokerlmt]

Great photos and cool trip. I really like road trips with the friends, camping, early morning coffee, being bone tired at night, cold brew, pit stops stretching water break kick the tires and .......
"Press on"
I am jealous...have fun
LMT

 

[B06Tang]

thank you....it was one hell of a trip that covered five days. I have more to post up but there is a lot of photos/videos. We covered a lot in a few days...hitting our goal and covering the whole coastline in one big circle. Hokkaido is an amazing place to ride a motorcycle

 

[mark66]

Thanks for updating us. Looks like one hell of a good run. Looked like it might have been a little cool way up there. What were your average daytime temps like?

 

[B06Tang]

Thanks for updating us. Looks like one hell of a good run. Looked like it might have been a little cool way up there. What were your average daytime temps like?

That was one of the wildest part of the trip Mark; temperatures were all across the board but nothing severely cold. I have a heated vest and gloves that plug into the battery but it did not get that cold to use that. Rain gear was used on a few occassions for the warmth factor. We got rained on during the first day but then that was it...we were beyond lucky when it came to the weather.

Running the coastline of Hokkaido was one hell of an experience. For example, the second day we pushed real hard to make up lost time and covered the southern all the way up to the eastern coast of Hokkaido. The roads literally ran right on the Pacific ocean...so much so that there was a good portion of the day where the mist of the Pacific was in my face and I was wiping off my goggles to see. The most unique experience was on the eastern coast, coming off the mountain and back onto the Pacific...there was a real brief of time where the right side of me was cold from the ocean breeze and the left side of me was still warm from being inland...a hell of an experience. Day 2 posts are soon to come

 

[B06Tang]

Day 2

I passed out in my tent about 8.30 and slept until 4 in the morning. I woke up refreshed and to the sound of the water falling off the trees...the rain had stopped and it was a start so I rolled Bonnie out of the bathroom and started getting ready...I knew we had a lot of ground to cover on this day to make our schedule back up:

Off we were and the weather began breaking as morning came on and the further south we pushed:

A stop for a five star breakfast:

It wasn't long before some of the wildlife known in Hokkaido started appearing from the roadside: this is a big deal for Japan as most of the wildlife on mainland is pretty much gone:

 

[B06Tang]

Day 2: Southern Coast

The weather got better the more we pushed. The roads were twisty and non-stop, the view was too much to take in for any mere human and the bikes were running like raped apes...the day was quickly evolving into an epic experience. The roads ran down and right on top of the Pacific and many times the three of us damn near lane drifted because of mother nature's beauty. The ride was on...we were back on track and we were doing it!

At one point we came to a red light after about two hours of straight riding and we had to stop...we had to stop to laugh and howl like little kids in the middle of the road. The riding never stopped in those two hours: the twisties, the sweeps, the straights, the views...it was non-stop with virtually no traffic whatsoever. The three of us had to stop and erupt in laughter as we couldn't process anymore. We laughed through at least a dozen light changes and not one car came up behind us.

After the fit of sensory overload laughter, we realized that we had been riding for eight hours and decided to turn off the coast and get to a restaurant:

And then it was back on to the coast and the jaw dropping views. Riding with the mist of the Pacific in my face, I didn't want the day to end. We finally stopped on the southern-eastern part of the island on a shoulder to get some photos because we quickly realized that we haven't stopped after a day of riding to get any of these shots:

And a video for that stop on the ocean:

http://s759.photobucket.com/albums/...kaido/Day 2/?action=view&current=MVI_4380.mp4

 

[D9]

Enjoying the journey... thanks for taking us with you!

 

[B06Tang]

Day 2: Eastern Coast

We finally made our destination and were on the eastern coast of Hokkaido. We pulled up for the night at a place called a rider's house. Motorcycling is so popular on Hokkaido that it is actually a component of its annual economy where bikers from the mainland make it a point to ride this island and the season usually is in the month of August. We were doing the ride during the off-season but the rider houses were still open. these were basically hotel and bed & breakfast owners that opened their doors at a VERY cheap rate specifically for bikers. We pulled up to one on the very tip of the north-eastern corner of Hokkaido because of the reputation it had. For 1,000 yen (about $10), we got a loft to sleep in, laundry room, bathroom and shower. Additionally, we were the only bikers there this time of year so the lady offered her garage to us so the bikes were covered. This was a very sweet lady and I quickly received the impression that her husband was a hardcore biker but was not with her anymore. She enjoyed checking out our bikes and asking us question.

We found out that one of the reason this rider's house was so well known was because a bear broke in a couple of years ago. It went through the kitchen and then proceeded to go up the stairs to say hello to the sleeping bikers. We thought that was pretty cool and started laughing as the lady pointed to me and said that we shouldn't worry though as she didn't think was quite as big as I am

some souvenirs from breaking into a home that doesn't belong to you:

And here is the route for day 2:

http://maps.google.co.jp/maps?saddr...3,0x5f6dbe8831af5767:0xb52ff6439e68bdfa,0&z=8

 

[hankmarx]

Thank You for the trip.