Wow, so it has been over a year since I posted here, kinda getting lazy I guess. I have been doing some short rides around town and basically feel pretty comfortable on the bike now riding on nice roads and highways, not so nervous around traffic or at higher speeds and definitely cornering a lot faster now as well. Still a lot to learn but things are going well there. Somewhere around 2200 miles on the bike now, and it is actually overdue for another maintenance, so need to get in and do that soon.
2019 kind of got away from me. Bought a (new to me) car in summer 2019 and spent much of the summer getting a few things sorted with it. Also spent much of the summer and fall working on trying to buy a house and finally closed on one in October, so rest of the 2019 year was spent moving and getting things setup at the new place and cleaning up the previous rental property.
2020 started slow enough, but with some work travel and a cruise I took in March, was not much time for doing any riding other than local stuff, then of course 2020 became the twilight zone year!
Sadly 2020 has not been a good year for working on this project. With the limitations of travel due to the COVID virus, along with economic concerns, and a summer of extreme heat and a large number of wildfires causing major road closures in my area all spring/summer, it has been difficult to make any plans to ride anywhere other than in the city.
However, things are finally going to change some.
I have booked a vacation for next year to go ride for 2 weeks in the Himalaya mountains of Northern India along the Manali-Leh Highway and some other nearby areas. I will not be using my bike for this, so not part of the round the world trip, but more of an experience building trip that will hopefully push my motivation up some more to get things moving quicker on my own travel plans.
For this trip, I will be getting some of the gear I have been putting off getting as well, so that will assist in continuing to plan for some US travel in the next 2 years. It will also give me some great riding experience in more difficult terrain and under more unique environmental conditions than I can get here in the states. Weather, road conditions, local customs, language barriers, altitude and interesting traffic conditions will test my skills well.
I will of course work on riding as much as possible up to the trip to build up experience, especially on rugged roads, and will learn better how to pack and travel before the trip and use the trip to learn what I should and should not have packed.
It will also give me a good opportunity to document a longer trip than most of those I plan to take in the US (those will mostly be long weekends at most). I will be able to film, photograph and write and learn what works and what does not, and then get to work on editing and publishing the finished product when I return. So should be some better content coming in the next few months and through out next year.
Hopefully the world will relax enough that I can actually take the trip, as right now it would actually not be possible, but far enough down the road that I expect some things to have relaxed and changed by then and a semblance of normal to have returned.
Riding this region of the world has been on my list of things to do even before I came up with the idea to travel the world on a motorcycle, so at the least I will get to check another item off my bucket list (of sorts, not actually made one :) )
So watch for more frequent updates starting in a month or two as I start to prepare for the big trip next year and working to get things in place both mentally, physically, financially and do all the other odd things that need to be taken into consideration when doing adventures of this sort.
Thanks for reading and till next update!
Chris