On Monday, Hank and I depart on our epic journey. We are calling it "The Long Way Home" - The longest offroad motorcycle journey we could conjure up within the continental United States. My wonderful wife has agreed to take on all the kids, dogs cooking, oh.. I guess she already does that. Well, I'm sure there is stuff she has agreed to take on that I do! With the house in good order, we start from Quoddy Head Lighthouse which is the furthest eastern point of the US and we are headed home to San Diego - eventually finishing at the furthest south-west corner of the US. Our finish will be at Friendship park where the California/Mexico border meets the Pacific Ocean.
We have purchased two new Yamaha WR250R 250cc dirt bikes in Bangor Maine (our friends at Friend and Friend ATV have been a huge help!). We will be flying out to Maine on Monday and picking up our bikes Tuesday morning. We have prepared (or should I say still preparing) the modifications for the bikes including handlebars with power and mounts for GPS and saddle bags, We will bring these with us and assemble them onto the bikes on Tuesday. Then a trip to the dmv to register them (we've been told you just walk in and talk to someone right away - no waiting no hassle - strange...), My good friend gpsKevin has been mentoring us as we plan a route that takes us on dirt roads and trails across the country. If all goes to plan, we will reach Denver in three weeks where we fly home for one week so Hank can attend his Cal Poly Pomona college orientation! Then we fly back, five days later, to finish the remaining two weeks of the adventure.
Staying off pavement will present its share of challenges. We have tried to research the open and legal routes, but I'm sure we will see our share of reroutes and double backs! 200 miles per day and almost 7000 miles total!! Yes, I know we are a little crazy but it wouldn't be an adventure without a lot of unknowns - right?
Very cool!
ReplyDelete