Cold and Clutch Issues

CN - Sunday

We woke up in Tennessee to temps in the 30's an drizzling rain.  When we stopped for lunch 6 hours later in Alabama it had stopped raining but the temps were still in the 30's.  Needless to say it was cold and miserable riding weather.  To add to my misery, the clutch issue I have been having seems to be getting worse - so much so that we are looking at replacing it before crossing into Mexico.  Our new friend Harrison from Seattle who saved the day with the cam chain parts also has a full clutch assembly that he can pull and send to us in Texas.  We are already planning to swap tires in Pharr, TX so might as well do the clutch as well.  I wasn't expecting this much drama in the first two days, but I guess it is what it is.  

No pics today because we couldn't feel our hands to work a camera.

Launch Day!!!!

KS-Saturday- The longest journey starts with a single step.   This one is no different, except that first step is a very high one, you forget how hard is it to swing a leg over a loaded motorbike,  I foresee one of us getting it wrong at some point and ending up in a tangled heap on the ground, and the other one reaching for a camera to capture the outcome.  I wish my first post on the blog could be something really cool,   but the reality of it is the day was a mixed bag of emotions.  The miles came easy, except for the first one.   Its always extremely hard to leave the love of your life at  home while you chase a different type of love.  Wife vs travel has me looking forward to Ecuador where she will join us for a while to explore a new country.  The rest of the day was filled with strong wind,  cloudy skies,   then eventually rain.   The bikes performed beautifully on the interstate at a comfortable 65mph.  After a couple hours of riding in the rain, with the temps dropping into the 40s,  we crossed the 300 mile mark,   and decided to call it a day.  No pictures from the road,   just imagine a very cold shower wearing a sleeping mask,    that sums it up.    Hopefully we can dry out most of our clothes before tomorrows colder trek. 

Departure Day

CN - Friday

It is now half past midnight so technically we are departing for the trip today.  The past two days have been a whirlwind trying to get everything done.  My bike has been ripped open for the better part of the week and we just sealed it up last night.  I'm still having a nagging clutch issue despite Ken's opening up the case twice to try to figure out the problem.  I'm hoping it works itself out or doesn't become a biger problem somewhere down the road.  Everything has been done short of replacing the entire clutch assembly (which seems ridiculous since it is a brand new clutch) - it is an after market 3rd party clutch put in by the previous owner which are aparently known to be problematic.  Sometimes it's best to stick with OEM parts.

It appears we will have some cold and rainy weather as early as Sunday.  They are calling for highs in the 40's in Tennessee - which is right where we will most likely be.  We will probably be remembering that day fondly next month when we are in Central America and boiling in the mid 90's.  It will takes some time to get used to basically being outside exposed to the elements for much of our existence.  In the beginning every drop of rain is an annoyance - later in the trip it just becomes another day, rain or shine.

This time around I have added Ken as an editor and he will be posting on the blog as well.  Should give a more interesting read with different thoughts and perspectives.  We will also have some viewer participation to comment opportunities when we get around to posting our over/under list - flats, drops, crashes, police encounters, extortion, etc.  We hope to be able to post every couple of days or so.  Will kind of depend on internet and wifi availability.

We did just switch our phones to T-Mobile which has unlimited international data - so we will see what that means between Mexico and north of South America.  Hoping to stay connected throughout.

I'm beyond excited to get the trip started and probably won't sleep much tonight - lets get it on!

Ken adding custom sprocket racks to the custom luggage rack.

Ken rebuilding his shock - why should he be worried about that?

The parts for my bike arrived from Seattle on Wednesday.

Me with the service manual on my laptop trying to put the thing back together.  

Spare sprocket mounted to the luggage rack.

My bike re-assembled, loaded up and ready to ride.

Slight Setback

CN - Sunday, October 22, 2017

We experienced a small setback yesterday afternoon while addressing a known problem with the dr350's - thrust washers at the clutch. With the case off the lower part of cam chain is exposed and Ken noticed a couple of parts missing - a chain tensioner on one side and a glide on the other. We had just had the valve covers open to set the valves and found two missing screws inside. It now is glaringly apparent the mechanic who rebuilt the engine for the previous owner was a hack or extremely sloppy or both. Ken posts an SOS on ADVrider and within a few hours we get a hit from a guy in Seattle who has the parts and can ship them out on Monday. Hoping to have the parts in Virginia by Tuesday or Wednesday.  Still hoping to leave on Friday or Saturday.

Trying not to lose any parts.

No glides on the left or the right of the chain.

Open heart surgery less than a week before leaving - Sheesh!

Cool fog this morning on the Showalter Farm melting away.

The cows are posing for this one.

Final Bike Prep

CN - October 20, 2017

In the past few days my dr350 has received a new chain and sprockets, heated gear controller, GPS hard wire kit, LED headlight bulb and various mounts for the electronics.  There is a leak coming from my top end that needs to be addressed while at the same time checking the valve clearances.  Starting to tackle that job today.  We also hope to have some fresh tires waiting for us at a shop in Brownsville, TX - need to make that call today too.  Outside of that, both bikes should be ready to go.  Ken's bike has been pretty much ready to go for a while.

We are planning to leave Virginia sometime between Thursday and Saturday of next week.  Can't really believe the day is almost here after months of anticipation.  I'm sure it will take a couple of weeks, as it went in 2014, for things to slow down to the enjoyable pace of day by day life on the road.  You don't get to experience this on a typical 2-week vacation - at least I never have - where perception of time moves at the perfect pace.

If we end up leaving at the later end of our target window on Saturday, that will give us 40 days to get to Panama City.  We have to arrive on December 6th to complete the necessary export and customs paperwork before the weekend when the government offices are closed.  Our boat to Columbia sails on Monday, December 11th so it must be completed by the Friday before.

We did end up booking a 4 day boat cruise in the Galapagos Islands over Christmas.  The boat is fairly small and only sleeps 16.  Marybeth is meeting us in Quito on December 23rd for the boat cruise and will be renting a motorcycle for another 5 days of moto-cruising with us around Ecuador after returning from the Galapagos.  Should be a fun 10 days exploring Ecuador!

Leaky, leaky.

New chain and sprockets.

Ken's bike ready to go.

The dr650 ready for Alaska.

Ken heading out to combine the next field of beans.

RTW North to South Game Plan

CN - September 27, 2017

So we did RTW East to West in 2014.  You might say inspiration for this trip was born a day after we returned from that trip around the world - 18,000 miles through 23 countries (24 if you count the overnight in Dublin to have a celebratory pint of Guinness on the way home) and 95 days on the road.  There is something special about traveling by motorcycle - the exposure, the vulnerability, the openness to meeting people every day while passing through town to town.  You can read about that 2014 trip here: www.rtweastwest.blogspot.com.

The first trip was certainly an experience of a lifetime for me.  I'm humbled and thankful that I am going on my second similar trip in the same lifetime.  Although the number of counties we will pass through will be less, the time on the road and mileage will be similar (South America is pretty big).  We will again carry full on off-grid camping gear, but expect to find cheap beds to good to pass up through Mexico and Central America.  The camping gear will likely come into play while passing through Patagonia.

We will leave from Virginia towards the end of October.  The first leg will take us through the southern US, then through Mexico and Central America.  This trip has only one real deadline to meet - we need to catch a sailboat in Panama that sails on December 11.  That is our transportation between Panama and Columbia, two countries separated by the Darien Gap - a dense mountainous jungle with no roads.  The choices to transport motorcycles are boat or plane so we chose boat.  The 5 day sail stops off on a couple of small islands for overnights on the way to Cartagena.  The outfit is called Wild Card Sailing.  From the looks of their website, it should be a hoot.  We will also have a few days in Panama City as we need to arrive early to complete customs paperwork to export the bikes.  I would do the canal tour again - very interesting story of how it came to be.

From there we plan to meet Marybeth (who will fly in from Virginia and rent a bike) in Quito to do some exploring of Ecuador for a week or so (and hopefully a side trip to the Galapagos Islands).  From there we will just make our way south, ultimately to Ushuaia, Argentina at our own pace while experiencing the amazing places and people we encounter along the way.

About a month from departure...it's starting to get real.

Some images below of the rough (very) routing from Virginia to Tierra del Fuego.

First leg to Panama...

South American leg...

Bike Prep Part II

CN - September 2017

I flew out to Virginia on Labor Day weekend to once again be Ken's shop assistant as we completed some more work on the bikes.  The focus was on the electrical.  We are adding heated hand grips, capacity for plugging in heated gear and USB charging capability for the crazy amount of personal electronics that need juice.  GPS, phone, iPad, camera, helmet communication, GoPro, drone, etc. Stupid about of gadgets!  These mid '90's DR350's did not come from the factory with this in mind at all.


Lots of broken wires in there...good thing we are opening everything up.

 
Messy.

 All cleaned up.