We Are On The Road

We got out of Michigan on Saturday. We could not have asked for a better Christmas present than the 50 degree weather. After getting a nice send off from my family I cautiously rode an hour in thick fog to meet up with Chris. The big surprise for me was finding that 3 of our friends got up early Saturday and drove 40 miles to give Chris and I a send off. Thank you Jim, Ruth and John. We had 2 hard days riding to beat the bad weather. End of day 2 has us in Covington LA somewhere between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. We had hard rain for the last 4 hours of today's ride so its good to be in a nice warm hotel rather than a tent. Tomorrow we will head off to Houston. I have some family to visit and will drag Chris along. By Wednesday morning we plan to cross over in to Mexico ...and officially start the Latin Trip. Below is a picture of Chris's moto after last weeks snow storm, patiently waiting for the departure.

The Motorcycles and Preparation

Here is a little about the motorcycles and preparation. Chris and I have identical Motorcycles down to the color and year. It wasn’t planned for us to look like twins rolling down the highway. We had mutual friends but didn’t know each other when we separately purchased our motorcycles from John Horner at BMW Motorcycles of Southeast Michigan.

For my preferences, the BMW GS Adventure comes almost complete for these types of journeys. It’s a little heavy (subtle sarcasm) and tall but makes a decent compromise between on and off road handling for long distance traveling. Here are some shots of what was done to prepare the motorcycles. The Adventure and standard GS come with adequate off road protection. The exception is the need to add a little more protection to the headlight, radiator and those expensive titanium protruding cylinder heads. The latter got more protection from Adventure Design’s well thought out Engine Guard Extension bars. Additional lights, front and rear, were added to help others see us.

Working out a tire plan took some effort. We decided to start with a fresh set of street bias tires but switch to knobbies when we get to Peru, where we expect to do some serious dirt roads high in the Andes. Problem is they don’t sell the size knobbies to fit our motorcycles in northern South America. So we will be shipping tires from the US to a friend in Lima, Peru. Interesting enough the good old US Postal Service was by far cheaper than the UPS, DHL privateers. However, the tires haven’t arrived yet, so ….

Packing is another time consuming logistical challenge. The strategy is to get everything in two lockable side cases and a tank bag. The rear top case will stay mostly empty so that the tank bag can get locked up during restaurant stops in sketchy areas. Here is the obligatory picture of my gear spread out before getting stuffed in the cases.

Between Chris and I we have some of the same branded gear and some different. At the end of the trip we will likely do some type of product evaluation on our selection of “stuff”. -Harry

A Little Background

It was closing in on midnight, I was on the Glen Highway heading to Alaska's gigantic Wrangell-St Elias National Park. For the last hour I was enjoying views of the park’s mountain ranges. Suddenly I came on a spectacular and imposing view of the mountains. The midnight sun, location, illuminated snow caps together made a dramatic scene. Stopped in the middle of the deserted road, staring at the mountain, I began to suspect this Alaska trip was not going to be my last long distance motorcycle trip. There was “more to see” while on two wheels. The picture at the beginning of this blog is the view I saw that night on the deserted Alaskan highway. So it is befitting because it led to taking this latest journey.

In 2007 I decided to do what I was admiring others doing. I completed a 13,700 mile motorcycle trip from Michigan to Deadhorse, Alaska and Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada, both on the Arctic Ocean. The Google Earth globe shows the route. If you want to read about the Alaska trip, visit this site. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=250239&highlight=h-jay.

After arriving home I was certain another trip was going to happen. Its something about learning new skills, testing your abilities against the unknown and doing something out of the ordinary that involve a certain amount of risk. By August I decided South America was the next destination. Eventually a route evolved from some "must sees" recommendations. They included the tip of South America's legendary Tierra del Fuego ending in the famous town of Ushuaia, Argentina. I also added the Ruta 40 through the wild Patagonia landscape, 16,000 feet passes in the Andes, Machu Picchu ruins, the Salar de Uyuni salt flats and maybe the “Road of Death” in Bolivia.

Thanks looking in. I hope you enjoy MO 2 C in Latin America with us. - Harry

BMW Motorcycles Southeast Michigan Open House

Well the trip preparation continues as we approach the departure date. This weekend was BMW Motorcycles of Southeast Michigan holiday party. Chris, on the right in the picture and I were part of the entertainment. We answered a lot of questions about our motorcycles, maps and the newly discovered travel tool … the globe positioning device that needs no batteries. Anyway, we both had fun talking to our friends and other customers about our up coming trip. I remain overwhelmed by the enthusiasm a lot of people have around this trip. I can honestly say I’m starting to fill some pressure to not disappoint them. Here are some more pictures taken during the day.

Global Fund For Children

While we are packing, preparing and waiting to part, here is a little commercial for the Global Fund for Children. We support the Global Fund for Children and hope to visit some of the activities they support as we motor through South America.

The Global Fund for children is a non-profit organization that is doing amazing work with “at risk” children around the world, including Latin America. We are using our little adventure to bring more attention to this organization and the work they are doing.

So what do they do? Global Fund for Children raises money and makes small grants to existing organizations that are working with children. They are located in Washington DC but have staff members located around the world. The money they raise goes a long way because of their grant selection process and administrative efficiency. Here a link. http://www.globalfundforchildren.org/ If you prefer to listen rather than read about the organization check this out. Small Amounts Reap Big Rewards:Maya Ajmera's interview on NPR Listen to the interview on NPR's site .

From the Global Fund for Children's 2006-2007 Annual Report: Our Vision, Our Mission At The Global Fund for Children, we envision a world where all children grow up to be productive, caring citizens of a global society. To this end, we work to advance the dignity of children worldwide. We Pursue Our Mission By: Making small grants to innovative community-based organizations working with many of the world’s most vulnerable young people Harnessing the power of children’s books, films, and documentary photography to promote global understanding.

In summary, they effectively use donated money to address an important issue around the world...preparing our children for their future. Because of this, we chose to feature them on our travels. Check them out and consider a generous donation. Tell'em Harry and Chris sent you….

See What We Will See

Here is a 3 minute BMW Motorrad promo shot in Bolivia. It gives you an idea of the riding experience in the Andes. -Harry ">

Planned Route - South America

Here is the planned route from Quito Ecuador to Buenos Aires. We plan to fly the motos and us home from Buenos Aires, Argentina. The route will likely change but as we progress you can hopefully stay oriented using this planning map. -Harry View Larger Map'>http:// View Larger Map

Planned Route - Flying the Gap

In Panama City we have to pack up the motos and ship them in to South America. Why? The road south stops just past Panama City. There is an 80 mile stretch of the Panamanian isthmus that is thick jungle. It is called the Darien Gap. The jungle stymied the builders of the Pan-American Highway. The highway builders planned to come back and finish it later but never got around to it. In later years the enthusiam for a the highway diminished. Now the jungle is occupied by the FARC guerillas, after being run out of Colombia by the goverment. We will fly the motos and us to Quito Ecuador. -Harry View Larger Map'>http:// View Larger Map

Planned Route - Mexico and Central America

Here is our planned route from the Mexican boarder to Panama City, Panama.

These maps are interactive. You can expand, grab, move them around to see more detail.... go ahead and try...you won't hurt anything. -Harry

View Larger Map'>http:// View Larger Map

The Trip Plan

So Whats The Plan? We've been inspired by others so maybe we can inspire some others to pack it up, throw a leg over the seat and just go.

Our plan is for the two of us to head south right after Christmas, 2008. We are planning to take three to four months, traveling through Mexico, Central America and fly over the Darien Gap in to South America. In South America, we will continue south to the southern most city in the western hemisphere, Ushuaia, Argentina on the island of Tierra del Fuego. We will then turn north and go 1900 miles up the east coast to Buenos Aires, Argentina. In Buenos Aires, we will likely take a little vacation, before flying the motorcycles and us home in time for an early spring in Michigan. All in, the trip should be about 15,000 miles. Along the way, we plan to visit some great sights, such as, Peru’s Machu Picchu ruins, the Bolivian Salt Flats and Argentina’s Lakes District. We will also travel some legendary roads like the Carretera Austral (Southern Highway) in Chile and the famous Ruta 40 that travels through Argentina’s Patagonia region where BMW filmed their 2004 GS New Model Introduction publicity shots. -Harry