Early '97 I found a german travel agency, specialized in Motorcycle Vacations. And they also offer the service I've been looking for: they fly bikes from Germany over to the US. Some phone calls where made, a few faxes went back and forth, and finally I booked, what was going to be the trip of my life !!
The final flight schedule was : May 29th 1997 Duesseldorf to New York JFK , July 8th 1997 departure from Atlanta back home to Duesseldorf. Yep, six weeks of vacation, just my bike and me, and all the folks I hoped to meet somewhere along the road!!
The last weekend before takeoff I spent working on the bike, changing all the fluids, checking everything and most important, get her spotless clean !! Not that I'm very nitpicking about the bike being dirty, but the guys at the travel agency gave me the advice to wash off every little trace of soil or dead bugs. Otherwise I could get into trouble with US customs, them being afraid of foreign diseases I could bring into the country...
On May 27th I dropped her off at the Duesseldorf cargo center, shiny and clean like she hasn't been since she left the factory. They flew her over a day before me so by the time I arrive at JFK, customs stuff should have been all set and done. At least, that was the plan....