11 Mar Beautiful Day to Sit Inside and Make a Blog
It’s a beautiful Saturday, but I’m sitting inside writing my first blog post. I had decided last minute to go camping off Angeles Crest Highway today, but got home from work yesterday to find my bike wouldn’t crank over. Oh well, could be worse. I’d rather find myself stranded in the comfort of my garage than out in the middle of nowhere. The battery was already on my list of premature maintenance tasks to take care of before my upcoming trip; I guess my winter neglect was the final straw for it.
Since I have a bit of free time, I figured I’d put this blog together. Bear with me, this is basically the first time I’ve blogged; I’m hoping I’ll settle into a smoother rhythm as things progress.
What’s the purpose of this blog you ask? Well, over the past few months, the idea of riding my motorcycle around the Americas evolved from a far-fetched fantasy into a very tangible reality. A few weeks ago I notified my boss that in May I will be leaving to ride from California to Alaska. My plans are pretty flexible, and I’m leaving myself sufficient time to slow down and experience as much nature and culture as possible. I expect to spend about 6 weeks riding north from Los Angeles to the Arctic Circle, then I’ll wind my way back down to California during the month of July.
The next leg of the journey will take me down through Mexico and Central America. At this point I’m anticipating 3 months of travel down to Panama, but I’ll play it by ear and adjust accordingly. The only hard date I must make is the final crossing on the Stahlratte. I’m booking a space on the 114 year old sail boat to leave San Blas, Panama on October 30th and arrive in Cartagena, Colombia on November 1st. I’m hoping to stick to this time frame, but I should be able to reschedule earlier or later if I’m off track. Their final run from Panama to Colombia this year is at the end of November giving me a 1 month margin of error to handle anything unexpected along the way.
Once I’m in South America I have loose plans to wind down the west coast toward Ushuaia, the southernmost tip of Argentina. I’m hoping to catch up with the Dakar Rally in early 2018, hike to see the ancient ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru, ride the huge expanse of the Salar de Uyuni salt flats in Bolivia, and be thoroughly immersed in the regional cultures. I’m not sure how I’ll end my South America travels, but I think I’ll figure out by the time I get there what I want to do next…
Anyway, this first post took a lot longer than I expected. I’m going to have to get a bit better at this if I expect to document my travels without spending all day on a keyboard. Check back soon for some more updates. I’m going to post some of my trip preparations to help anyone else considering an adventure like this. If anyone reading along has any valuable advice, feel free to clue me in, I’m just figuring this out as I go!
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