Give or take.....
It's been about a year since this whole idea was contrived. And I'd say its about the time it takes if you want to plan this kinda trip properly. I've heard of people just dropping everything but that takes major balls; for us not so well endowed folks, let me start you off with how it all began.
1: We had no bike experience, no license; just a will to do something insane. A good inspiration for me was the Top Gear specials, both the vietnam scooter a couple seasons back and the Bolivia special the season past. That and my inevitable love for bikes.
2: September 2009, Nik came up with the crazy idea, i told him off a few times as the idea just..didn't quite fit, but low and behold in October here I was standing in a fellows driveway, staring at his 2005 KLR650.
Thats my weapon of choice. I know there's better, I'm not gonna throw my loyalty to Kawasaki, but the reason I chose the bike for my trip was that it was cheap, reliable, and easy to find parts down south if ever the need to, and trust me, there will be the need to.
I sorta jumped on the sale before the winter here because the guy sold it to me for $3500.00 CDN. Alright I suppose? Well, it had 5,000 km on it, and INCLUDED the Aluminum Happy Trails Panniers. Basically, the bike alone cost me 2500.00, nearly brand new....really lucky!!!
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| Da Popper - two things to mind here: -the poor back tire has long been replaced (actually rode it down to the wireframe) and -the flakie box....yeah my poor-ass substitute for a tank bag (my map carrier) |
Bike upgrades? I'll get to that later. So from there we waited out the winter planning out the map and doing a WHOLE lot of research which i plan on sharing with you the reader. I made a whole lot of changes, it was really in depth before, but as the trip neared and the budget became clearer, things were taken out.
3: So by April I had pretty much enough money saved for the trip; I found this the easiest part. I opened a INGDirect account and just kept writing myself pogie cheques. In between we both got mour motorcycle licenses and took many a trip to get used to the idea of camping, riding long hard days, in all sorts of weather conditions ( a plus for Ottawa being able to experience -30 Celcius and +30 Celcius quite easily).
4: I took a huge hiatus in the summer, and theres always the part where you're really not 100 percent sure if things are really gonna pull through. In August I spent the entire savings on a trip to Miami that included a fancy dancy engagement ring. This was the point of uncertainty whether or not I could or would still go through with it.
5: So everyone involved settled on 2 months, originally supposed to be 3. Our old final destination point was Brasilia in Northern Brazil, where Nik had a buddy we could plan our return (we are selling the bikes and flying back). So we would have to wipe off Iguazu Falls, Montevideo Uraguay, Sao Paolo, and Rio, but at least this way I can sort of negotiate a peace treaty between all parties. Yeah, its a hard job to please everyone, but someones gotta do it (and at the point of a few close people to me, I'm either gonna get a nasty phone call in about 5 seconds for writing that, or a good smack in the teeth sooner rather than later).
6: So the trip is a bit rushed, we dont have too much time to dally in each spot along the way, but we're gonna make the most of it. The original plan included NO WRITTEN BLOG and solely a video log to make it much more visually appealing, but after a lot of thought that plan sorta threw itself out of the window. There's literally no time to edit videos and upload them with shitty wi-fi in less network-friendly areas....everyday or so. So blog for now, when I get back in March I'll be editing all the videos into a miniseries on Youtube. It's pretty much my only form of income for the trip because I'm a youtube partner and I get to make a small amount of money from every view (my first foray into e-commerce) I get; seeing as though I don't seem to be getting an adsense earning from the blog for some reason (yeah its verified, Googles just being cheap).
Anyway, enough yammer about the specifics, you guys want to know how the hell to plan this..........
But I'm not telling you tonight :) SORRRY I have to figure out where to start first.
In the meantime.....you need entertainment
This is how to ride a KLR when you're back has had enough....and you need a change of pace, just hope a deer doesn't decide to book it......We'll be doing plenty of this throughout the 20,000 miles..
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| Looking forward to many upcoming nights such as this one......the helmets never smell the same again.... |
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| I'm really hoping I can manage to pack everything like I did here....I somehow REALLLY doubt it. I don't think I can even pack all the stuff in my car....(From PEI trip earlier this summer). |
Sidenote on that last pic: Don't be a dumbass like me and park in such a zone trying to show off....the people of Liberty, New Hampshire, specifically, chase you....with pitchforks...
Adios Amigos, next post: PACK RATZ
RobeeeeZ
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