In July I found out that I would be moving to Germany in September. I opted for a stay of two years rather than the normal three. The drawback was that I wouldn't be able to bring my family if I elected the shorter stay. Given my wife's career, I thought it would be unfair to ask her to put her work on hold to follow me on yet another move. She, and my daughters have already endured eight moves in the last 17 years so this option made more sense.
I delivered my 2003 BMW F650 GS Dakar motorcycle to the port of Baltimore in August where she began the long journey by ship, and then truck, to Grafenwoehr, near my home in Trabitz. I checked the ocean carrier's website with great anticipation every day to see how long it would be before I could ride again.
On October 4th I picked up my bike at the shipping yard only to put her under a cover. I wouldn't see my bike again until after a short trip to Tucson for my niece's wedding and my daughter's birthday. When I finally made it back to my new home I was excited to take my first ride.
My first ride was a short trip to Nuremberg to see how the roads felt and to see how the drivers compared to my experiences on the beltway in Washington DC. After hearing horror stories of the German drivers and their fast cars and flashing lights, I'll admit, I was a bit nervous.
The roads felt different. They seemed more coarse and I seemed to have better traction in turns than I was accustomed to. The drivers weren't anything like what I expected or had heard of. It was strange! The drivers used their turn signals, stayed in the right lane except to pass, and generally were polite.
The roads though, are great, here. My last two adventures have taken me to the Czech Republic where I concluded that I am very clad that I ride the GS because the roads aren't quite the same.
