Yeah, I'm definitely the planner. Jess can attest to that. We've got every weekend from now until late Sep booked up. Life gets busy.
Thanks. We just did a 4 1/2 day ride up to central BC for the Horizons Unlimited Meet. The post is here: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?p=10651317#post10651317 Everything worked well. The Alpinstars kept me very cool. I need better, waterproof boots & gloves but I knew that. Also, the Thor pants I got which claimed to be waterproof aren't. I'll have to see what I can spray them down with to improve that.
NIKWAX http://www.nikwax.com/en-gb/products/productdetail.php?productid=4 wash it then use the waterproofing. the best i've used so far !!!
Thanks mate. I'll try that when we get back from vacation. Heading back to IN where I grew up to see the family & go to the MotoGP Indianapolis race.
Thanks mate, it was a great bunch of races plus Jessica got her picture taken on Rossi's old machine & we watched Toseland's band Crash play. I caught him up with something I yelled just before they covered AC/DC. Lots of fun.
This looks like an awesome plan! I am also planning on doing something similar but starting in the US in Summer 2011 and then over to Europe for a couple of years before making my way back for South America over 3 years or so. So I will be paying much attention to your story. As far as your ideas for work go I also plan on doing a TEFL course before I go. In case you have not seen it yet check out http://www.wwoof.org/ . I met a girl from Utah when I was living in Ireland who lived and worked on Irish farms for about 8 months and it worked well for her.
"The masses lead lives of quiet desperation" Keep me on your list for a place to stay or a meal and some help wherever I'am. Great thoughts and a great adventure. Take care of your basic needs of health and logistics then at some point leave the rest to chance! Rely on your social and mental skills to get your thru the unplanned and unexpected. I've been all over the world and still haven't settled down at age 52 (does your girlfriend have an older sister?) Thru all my trips...travels and adventures I've sought out the older and wiser ones along the way. NOBODY!!!! ever said they wished they worked longer in the office or traveled less! Make the best of the short time we are here Be Well Adam
Hey, thanks guys. Good advice. Sorry, no older sister. We've heard of WOOF & were planning on trying it out in Chili or Argentina, maybe elsewhere. When Jess went around the world she used Globalfreeloaders.com & Couchsurfing.com for places to stay. Well definitely use that & the tent space thread extensively. I'll be getting a lot of practice training here at work in the next couple months as I have to teach about 115 people in our new software. It looks like Jess will be able to continue her editing gig with Hasbro while we're travelling so money issues are looking better. Picking up some new goodies for the bikes. Got a fork brace for the KLR which was highly recommended & HID lights, progressive fork springs & higher windscreen coming. All in all things are progressing on schedule. We've been looking around at all the stuff in the house we've got to get rid of. It's amazing the amount you accumulate in a short time. We'll still be in the US until 2012 riding so maybe we'll see you out there. As always if anyone's in Seattle we've got an extra room until June.
Things are going well. Put in progressive front fork springs & steel braided brake lines yesterday. A few more bits to add later in the week. Jessica finally bought a new digital camera. The housing market is starting to pick back up here in Seattle so we're going to put one of our houses up for sale soon. When that sells we'll be on the road. We've already started selling all of our books, CDs/DVDs, and clothing. Getting down to just what we can carry on the bikes & a few other boxes in storage.
i'm impressed! i don't know if i could sell off all my records/CD's. BTW i'll be in Seattle next Wednesday Jan 20-27. i'll text you and we'll and :slurp !
Heck, everything is online or digital these days. I'm taking a small laptop & Zune & jess has a Netbook. Drop me a text & we'll meet somewhere in Georgetown.
Things are cranking along. We've decided to put Jess's house in South park on the market (http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/reo/1602124150.html) and move into my house in Georgetown. The FAA is giving me all new windows, doors, & insulation as part of the Sound Insulation program. That construction starts Mar 1 so my tenants are moving out. Also found out that the mother-in-law is collapsing because of a rotting base so that's being repaired. Jacked back up, new foundaton, frame, etc. Seems this stuff never ends. We've created a Facebook group page so people can keep track of us there. It's called The Big Trip & has a black & yellow world map so you can just search for it. I've been doing some further mods to the bike in preparation. The gang got together a couple weeks ago & we installed progressive fork springs, fork brace, steel braided brake lines front & rear, rear brake cylinder guard, & an upgraded gear shift lever. After much work I also installed a Phoenix fairing with twin HID lights from Britainnia Composites (http://www.britanniacomposites.com/phoenix.html). Here's the pics: Bike stripped down & new wiring harness installed The new harness Me getting everything hooked up. You can also see the new fork brace. Here's a close-up of the side. You can see where I had to cut off some of the original mounting bracket which I did not expect. Not as plug & play as advertised. Hooking up the lights. This is where the problems began. While Jess & I were getting it in to place I popped one of the ground wires. Of course it took 2 days, 1 friend with a volt meter, and his pair of eyes before the he said "What's this wire?" I must have looked right at it 20 times. Finally it's on and the lights work The finished product with adjustable windscreen installed. Getting ready to take it for a spin with my nephew's Flat Stanley. It works great and significantly less wind & noise with it on. That's it for now. I've got to head out of town for a week to support the 747-8 Freighter flight testing. Back in time for Jess's parents to show up & help us move & get more stuff out of the house. Then clean like hell & hope the place sells soon. Keep your fingers crossed & we may get out of here by June
the fairing looks great. those are spendy. was that wiring harness part of the Brittania fairing ? i'll be back up in Seattle sometime in April.
Yeah the wiring & lights all came with the fairing. Pricey but being able to upgrade was one of the reasons I went with the KLR. See ya in Apr.
Best of luck on this fantastic trip! I'm currently saving money and job hunting to teach English in Asia then go on from there. If you can earn the money to keep living then you may as well see plenty of the world rather than just staying in one country
Subscribed!! This is an epic trip you have planned, I hope it all goes well. If you guys get to Baltimore you have a place to stay. I will be looking for the FB site as well. Best of luck to you both!