We have lots to do - vaccinations, malaria prescriptions, passports up to date, International Driver's License, bike preparation, route planning, making spare copies of all of our documents, deciding what gear to take, what tools to take, what spare parts to take. We have to do some planning for the care of the wives we are leaving behind - pre-booking the propane gas, make sure we know how we are paying the bills, winterizing items around the house. Both of our motorcycle registrations expire while we will be gone and the license commissioners are not being very receptive at the moment of allowing early buying of tags. We need to study a little Spanish. Me hablo poco espanol! (ever try to cross the Honduran border and not speak Spanish - it takes about 4-5 hours.)
Roger and I have decided to go with the minimalist approach. We have watched others go on this trip and viewed other blogs about the trip and there seems to be a common thread with them. They all packed too much crap, hoping to be prepared for every continguency. Many of them eventually realize this and begin shipping items home or abandoning them while others continue on their overladen beast. We think this overloading of the bikes causes many of their travel problems such as broken shocks, tip overs and unexpected wear and tear on the bikes not to mention contributing to general poor handling characteristics.
We are taking only a few spare parts - extra chain and sprockets, headlight bulb, fork seals, hand levelers, spare fuses, spare clutch cable, spare brake pads, short pieces of wire, and oil. We are splitting the tool load between us and each will have an air pump with flat fixing supplies, a multimeter, duct tape. Then there are the personal items each of us will carry, toilet paper, OTC medications, toiletries, cameras, first aid kits, baby wipes, tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, mosquito net, clothing and riding gear, cook stove and mess kit. We know camping in Central America is very limited, but camping is more common in South America - and we are cheap.
My bike prep. I have installed a new chain and sprockets, a new sealed battery, a new Progressive shock and front fork springs, beefed up the hand guards for more weather protection, installed a throttle lock, installed new tires (hope to buy tires on the road when needed), changed the oil, adjusted the doohickey balancer (a KLR thing). Still have to adjust the valves and install a chain oiler.
Have not been able to alay the family's fear of us riding through Mexico.
Gary
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Ah! The prep for the ride to Tierra del Fuego and back
I met Roger Dabbs in 1988 in Naples Italy where we were both assigned to the NATO staff. Roger had a map of South America posted on his wall and told me one day he was going to ride a motorcycle to South America. Short version is that Roger convinced me to buy a BMW GS in 2001 and start riding with him with the eventually goal of riding to Tierra del Fuego together. Since then we have ridden to Panama and back, to Copper Canyon Mexico and back and each has ridden to Alaska and back - not to mention countless rallies we have attended together.
Roger and I have been planning this trip for several years and have had to delay for one reason or another. First there was my crash in 2004 - broken leg; then Roger inherited the care of his mother while his sister lived in England; then there were other trips and family obligations. We have set a date to start - 8 October 2010.
Which bike do we go on? We both own big BMW R1150GS's and I also have a R1100GS. I also have a KLR
650 which I bought with the thought of maybe it would be a better bike for the trip. Roger bought a Vstrom 650 with the same thought. Now the dilemma. Bigger BMW's which are really durable and easy to work on and one heck of a lot better riding, or the lighter bikes which we don't have as much experience with the mechanics. We decided on the lighter bikes.
Now I gotta clean up the KLR.
Since we have previously ridden to the Panama Canal and back, we know the hassles of crossing the borders in Central America and we really wanted to avoid that experience again. We investigated flying the bikes from Miami to Bogota Colombia (riding through Central America requires shipment from Panama to South America - the Darien Gap thing, look it up.) Turns out the shipment from Miami may be as much a hassle as crossing the borders and we have had one of the airlines we were dealing with to declare bankruptcy. Not to mention the added expense of flying from Miami. So we have decided to ride the approximate 20,000 miles.
Gary
Roger and I have been planning this trip for several years and have had to delay for one reason or another. First there was my crash in 2004 - broken leg; then Roger inherited the care of his mother while his sister lived in England; then there were other trips and family obligations. We have set a date to start - 8 October 2010.
Which bike do we go on? We both own big BMW R1150GS's and I also have a R1100GS. I also have a KLR
650 which I bought with the thought of maybe it would be a better bike for the trip. Roger bought a Vstrom 650 with the same thought. Now the dilemma. Bigger BMW's which are really durable and easy to work on and one heck of a lot better riding, or the lighter bikes which we don't have as much experience with the mechanics. We decided on the lighter bikes.Now I gotta clean up the KLR.
Since we have previously ridden to the Panama Canal and back, we know the hassles of crossing the borders in Central America and we really wanted to avoid that experience again. We investigated flying the bikes from Miami to Bogota Colombia (riding through Central America requires shipment from Panama to South America - the Darien Gap thing, look it up.) Turns out the shipment from Miami may be as much a hassle as crossing the borders and we have had one of the airlines we were dealing with to declare bankruptcy. Not to mention the added expense of flying from Miami. So we have decided to ride the approximate 20,000 miles.
Gary
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