RTW with Noah on a KTM 690

Merry Christmas Noah and safe travels in the new year.

+1

Merry XMAS!

Thanks everyone! Merry Xmas!

I hope you are as well fed as I was! I got adopted by an amazing Greek family in Larissa Greece. I even got to play legos with the little ones

Just found your trip reading the morocco report

74 pages of reading planned for today then

Been reading all along and really enjoy the pix and commentary.
May you have the right spares all the way down and around.
great camera work.
degeezer

Noah: I am enjoying your blog, Question, I have a 2010 KTM 690 Enduro R and getting ready to do some long miles on it & see that you started out with aluminum panniers and because of the theft of your bike switched to soft panniers with a rear fuel tank. Now that you have used both which do you prefer & why. Bruce

I switched panniers before the theft. I do not want a broken leg. If I was only riding tarmac.. I would always ride with metal boxes. but offroad.... metal boxes break legs. No now i use soft luggage. I strip my bike every night unless i know it is secure. (like a locked garage)

WOW...marathon read! Just like a book that you can't put down, but better because it involves bikes and travel!!
Excellent RR. Epic by all proportions. Hope you have a great rest this winter and continued fun. Your ride went ride through my province in Alberta. Nice to see you liked our roads too.
I know in my life I could never go past 2-3 weeks bike travel due to commitments and work.

Noah, your choice of bike has intrigued me, but me being short of stature, I'm not sure if I fit that KTM. How tall are you if you don't mind me asking?

Keep the rubber down and the throttle on "site seeing" ... haha

Rod

Thanks Rod.
I am 5'9" (175 cm). I'm pretty short also. I can barely touch on each side. I have to be on one side of the fence or the other to be flat foot. I have to "ninja kick" to get my leg over it.

How happy are you with soft luggage instead? What brand are you using?

Giant Loop Great Basin for tools, spare parts and camp stuff. SeaLine roll top duffel for cloths/computer. Giant loop dry bag for tent and other jacket. I am super happy with the soft bags. Especially in Morocco when I left most of my crap in France.

I have been chatting with Giant Loop about the new saddle bags. I am thinking about trying them in Siberia next spring. The Great Basin is almost perfect except for you cant carry a passenger. No matter how cute she is.
Siskiyou Panniers

Still reading....Just got to the Italy section, those gravel roads look amazing, looks like I could be heading there soon

keep going !

Dec. 10 Siena to Florence. 79 km
My brother and wife landed around noon. Around 1:00 I met up with them at the hotel. Since they were jet lagged with thought the best plan was to go get pizza. We climbed the "el Doumo" tower around sunset. By 8:00 they were in bed.


Brother Craig and sister-in-Law Ellen


The tower we climbed. I used to climb wind towers that were about the same height but i was a bit nervous up there.


Who says its impossible to take a "nice picture"


El Doumo






I guess we are all children.


Ha.

Dec. 11 Florence
We woke up early and caught a bus to Greve in Chanti. Craig and Ellen had been there 4 years earlier and they have been raving ever since about a restaurant there that has amazing wild bore pasta. It was good and live up to the hype. That night we when out and tied one on. Hilarity ensues.


My brother is older.. but we tend to act very young when we are together.


Wild boar. It was tasty.


Cool old truck for the butcher shop.


Walking to dinner.


This was later in the night after a few drinks and finding a shopping cart in the street.




El Doumo at night.


Best creme brule i've ever tasted. It had a hint of lemon. But the bastards charged us 3 euro a piece to sit down. Pretty lame.


Very late in the night.

Dec. 12 Florence
Craig and Ellen walked around the city and I slept in and ran some errands. I needed to print more xmas cards. We had another good meal but none of us even had wine that night. The spaghetti carbonara was quite good.

Dec. 13 Florence
I was very glad when Ellen and Craig wanted to take a train to Siena. We spent all day walking around the walled city. By the time we were back on the train going back to Florence, it was getting dark. We all passed out for a nice nap on the train.


No pole dancing!


We got photo-bombed by this guy.


Everywhere in Siena there are these. I'm not sure if they are for horses or what. But you can tell they have been there for a very very long time.




Urinal on the street?


Yup.


Lots of woman were wearing wreaths on their head for a festival or something.




Ellen is short so she had to jump to ruin this picture.


Its a cross between a lion and a tiger. its like my favorite animal. Gosh.




Dec. 14 Florence
It was a bit rainy so we went to the Uffuzi and Accademia Gallery. I am not one for art museums but it was cool to see the David. We ate dinner at a restaurant called Coquinarius and it was amazing.

Dec. 15 Florence
The last day in Florence with Craig and Ellen. We did a test fit of the snowboard stuff on the moto and we figured the best way to carry it would be across the back sideways. No more splitting lanes
I later realized I could connect it to the tank in front and the Giant loop. It has enough room for my leg to fit between the seat and the board. It is now no wider then my handlebars and doesn't act like a sail.
That night we went back to dinner at the same restaurant Coquinarius.


This guy remembered my brother and his wife from 4 years ago when they were in Florence. He was so fun to talk to.

Dec. 16 Florence to Ancona. 305 km
Craig and Ellen were up at 5 to get to the plane home. I slept in till 10 then rode about 300 km to Ancona to catch a ferry. There was no ferry till the next day so I got a hotel room


Don't tip over. don't tip over. don't tip over...
You can see how much more crap i have now that I am carrying my snowboard, boots, and equipment.

Dec. 17 Ancona Italy and Ferry to Split Croatia
There was a ferry to Split croatia boarding at 9 that night so I paid for a late checkout and hungout in the room all day. It was rainy crappy weather so good to get caught up on stuff. I paid for my own room on the ferry so I could get some sleep. I thought my Minnesota plate got a lot of attention. Now with a snowboard I get even more questions.


Cabin on the boat.

Good pics and enjoy the new year

Nice!!

How long does that ferry ride take, Noah?

Here's one shot from a Split ferry, but not going that far away..


Ferry by Cortez_CRO, on Flickr

Looking at it now.. it doesn't shot the ferry well.. or Split.. or anything.

I've seen you carry that small pelican case which I assume has your valuables in it (wallet, passport, etc). I'm curious how you're mounting it on your bike or if you just drop it in a tank bag. Thanks.

oh ... and love the idea of riding w/ a snowboard! Great stuff!

Its my camera. I keep my valuables on me. And this case fits in my tank bag.


I found a better way to carry the snowboard. Now I can split lanes again and I don't have that "sail" effect.

I'm in Istanbul now. I have a lot of catching up to do over the next few days.

Like the new carry method....also means you can hit cars while filtering (lane splitting) and not catch anything

then you need to try harder...there is ALWAYS a way once you consider ALL the angles - happy new year from columbia