New Bikes!

Here we are with Lou (manager of Friend and Friend ATV) and Nick (half owner of our bikes!)

I can’t say enough good things about the people at Friend and Friend.  Lou, the manager, has been there for us all the way.  Finding the bikes, giving us a fantastic deal, installing the upgrades and prepping the bikes.  Nick, on the right, is half owner of our bikes!  He was nice enough to drive us around today to register the bikes in Maine and loan us his address and name.   He said he’ll be following our blog to make sure we don’t abuse his new bkes.   Tim and Danny were there for us in the shop to loan tools and give advice.  Travis and "ace" were super helpful finding parts we needed.  Alicia was always there for us with the paperwork and following up.  The people make the place and this place is great!

Once we got the bikes back to the hotel, we proceeded to tear them apart… because that is just what we do:

We finally finished installing the handlebars with power and mounts for the GPS, and the panniers.sometime after dark.  Then it was pizza delivery and packing time.  We’ll have a photo tomorrow – It was dark by the time we finished!

We are off to Quoddy Head light house tomorrow for the start of our journey!

The first  day started out 36 hours ago when we woke up, Sunday morning, to realize that we only had one more day to get ready!  Worked frantically to try to assemble the parts for our bikes and gather up the clothes and gear we would need.  We ended up doing an all nighter and when 4:30 am rolled around my wife was wise enough to blow the whistle and hustle us to the car.  We basically threw all the work in progress into four big boxes with the expectation that we would have to ship at least one box back with the tools and things we wouldn't need.

Even our three little ones were helping out:

Our good friend Jeffrey, loaned us his bike to test fit all of our modifications.  (Jeffrey - I'll email you in a separate email about your bike).  

We finally arrived in Bangor Maine around 7 pm on Monday, unloaded our four big boxes into the hotel and walked about 2 miles down the road to Woodmans Bar and Grill.  - What a great group of patrons, employees, and the owner Abe treated us to dinner! -Does that make us sponsored?  Totally unexpected and very much appreciated.  I can't say enouh about how  nice and welcoming everyone was.  I have to give a shout out to our new friends Jim and Daron who were having dinner with us at the bar and the bar tender Ryan.  Great food and the IPA just won first in the Maine Brewer's Festival.  Here we are with Ryan (on the left)and the owner Abe.

From there, Abe took us across the street to Orono Brewery where we met Abel.  Abels a passionate dualsport rider and promissed to post us on IBAR (International Brotherhood of Adventure Riders).  Here we are with Abe and Abel (no, they are not related :)

It was a great end to a very long day.  Tomorrow we pick up our new bikes!

Hello Friends and Family,

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?