Everything and more, a RTW.

SO NO SHIT THERE I WAS

Incredible, I wish I knew where that was

i have some idea :) bring it on home my friend

Great start! Come on with the rest!

more please

Now let's get started...

funny intro. All Army stories start out that way.

IBTL!

Oh, wait,

this isn't JM.

Well, subscribed anyway!

In.

Yes, there I was at work, making my office mates look at pictures of the world from many; but mainly Maciek, Sambor, and of course Walter Colebatch. I was doing what we all do here; dreaming of the most beautiful places, of being one with the machine we love, of communicating with waving arms and a smile, of the most aesthetic line, of testing ourselves on every level, of not knowing what today, tomorrow or anything after will bring but being sure it will be awesome.

A broken off engagement made me brave, corporate burnout made me resolute, a solid year end bonus and some equity in my house made it possible. I quit, started applying for visas, and tore apart my trusty 640a with a blown motor and everything else.

Bike build here:

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=579143&highlight=640a+prep

I had booked the flight for the motorcycle from NY to Berlin a month in advance. Problem is the Icelandic volcano was in full swing and I was in limbo, I couldn't book my own flight until I knew. I'd planned on spending 2 weeks to ride from my home in Bozeman, Montana to JFK in New York. This was scuttled for a few reasons, constant issues with the engine build, complete underestimate of time to rebuild/modify the entire bike, snow in Montana. As it was I got the bike together, rode it for 25 miles between snowstorms, changed the oil. I got the call to be in NY with 5 days to be there. I left at 6 p.m., rode all night to a friend's in South Dakota. I left on a bike with 25 miles on a new motor, tranny, all new bearings, heavily modified electrical system, and just about everything else completely untested. Lucky for me it all worked...

In!

I decided to drop the bike right away in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere.



Riding I-90 across the states is not too interesting. Fortunately my mind was exploding with way way too much to process so it went by pretty fast.



I'm listening to Pearl Jam- "i know I was born, I know that I'll die, the in between is mine"

I'm in. This looks good.

I'm in.

I said goodbye to my best friend in South Dakota, she's headed to summer camp surveying rivers in New Mexico.



Picked up some sweet ear plugs in Chicago



Checked out NY for the first time and decided I wasn't that interested in visiting big cities



And dropped Trusty off at Luthansa air cargo with all the other vehicles to be flown to Germany.

I arrived in Munich and rode Trusty out of air cargo. Easy. At my hotel a large group of German BMW riders showed up one morning. I walked out with my gear, was excited to say hello to the first bikers I'd met. Not one of them would more than barely acknowledge me and my KTM! Hmm. BMW riders.



Thanks to the bike build thread I got in touch with motorcycle obsessed, encyclopedia of obscure mods and parts, lady killer, and all around great guy and inmate Lukas in Vienna. He invited me to stop by, drink beer, and talk shop. Lukas has a great pad in the center of town with an even better shop down the road. The hospitality was amazing. Restaurants, clubs, and an opportunity to fix an oil leak. Still waiting to repay the favor.

One morning Lukas says "so there's this other biker coming through in a day or two, Walter Colebatch, ever hear of him?" "I think so, doesn't he do a lot of ride reports?"

great thread
can't wait to read and see MUCH MORE

thanks for sharing

Classic

Pamir Highway, definietly. Near Murgab I presume?