2021 Road trip, San Diego to Places on the left side of the US. May 26-June 18th...
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Postscript...
John and Howard's Epic Post Covid Bike Trip 2021!
Looks like we made it....
Post-ramble
Planning, keep it simple, and ride to things of interest to you. Go how you like and when. I have to say Howard was a delight to ride with, we are both quiet people so even with intercoms we could enjoy the silence or music. He is a good rider and very conscientious. I'm curious if a larger group of riders would be a better thing or not. I think we got great camping and entry into parks being just two riders.
Maps and planning. I kept a map in the window of my tank bag but relied on my phone while riding for turn-by-turn directions, planning for the day’s travel or music to ride by. The last trip I used Waze, this time google maps. I could punch it out on my laptop and send to my phone. Also, with google maps (gm), I would select avoid highways. It would also show delays and options for alternative routes. This lead to some funny roads, but could be bypassed by just hitting the freeways. Sometimes it took us to dirt roads, but again very accurate for time and distance.
Food, I ate way to much-purchased food, too many times a day. Not sure why, my choice for sure, but it seemed to work that way. I also drank more beer than I usually do, again cause I could and my choice.
On Bikes... My bikes is old and worn. At 120,756 miles, that is like 300,000 in-car miles. I like the GS riding, even on the freeways, and doing 90, side windage, or trucks buffeting the air was a trip. The GS is comfortable, and not a lot of other options out there for the riding I like to do. I considered the honda dx 750, and we talked about the newer Africa Twin by Honda. Howard and I agree larger side cases would be great. I will need to do some work on our return. Valves, timing, and suspension. Two new tires will be needed soon as well. I suspect my rear tire has a piece of metal in it. I will also avoid Montgomeries in Hilo for a while, due to balancing and tire selection.
Camping gear. My cool amazon tent for 100 bucks lasted two days before breaking and I've used tents for 40 years. That sucked, but I was able to find a tent near Ceder Canyon in Utah. Another 78 bucks make for more expenses. The cot I had was great and made sleep delightful, but it tears at the tent base, so that will go away. I ended up on my easily inflatable sleeping pad. I really wish I had taken the inflatable matt on the yellow stone or Yosemite river for the fun of it. The sleeping bag was roomy, but I'm large. It was rated near freezing, but I woke up a few nights to pull on my heated jacket or throw my riding jacket over me. Clothes, I had too much, but it was convenient. Some days got hot and my riding pants over my long pants got hot, even over my shorts when I wore them. I do suggest nylon under gear and layer up over that. Wicking away the sweat and heat worked quite well. My Jetboil stove is still going strong. I didn't even use one full cartridge over 22 days. I used it for hot water for dinners or water for breakfast. I was able to heat bottle water to take a camp shower one day, after leaving the heated roads of lower Utah. Not that I'm a clean freak, but it is nice to not scare the bears away. And of course, my titanium Spork was great. Campfires each night, I brought a rechargeable fan, that we used to flame the fire many nights more than I used it to cool off at night.
Electronics
I wish I had gotten a new phone before leaving My current phone at about three years old has battery issues and general issues at times. I would be driving along and the GPS would quit, or wander off. That was weird... My phone holder with a built-in charger was great, you push the phone and it locks on to the edges, you squeeze the brackets and the phone pops out. We each had a battery car starter, that served as a battery bank. A block 1x8x4" that could be charged via USB or provide multiple ports to charge things like my fan, phone, ear electronics, etc while we drove. For 110v power, I Had a small inverter used to charge my jacket battery and laptop. So other than a better phone, not much to change. Our Cardio intercoms were great, but not without problems. I would get loud crackles at random times. The distance that it worked was varied, some days we could be a mile apart, other days, they would barely work helmet to helmet. Sharing music was cool, but FM sucked, very hard to hear, and never picked up many radio stations. It had a voice command but didn't work well. I would spend ten minutes with different tones, "eh Cardio, music on" "ok, music off" says cardio. I try it again, blood pressure rising. But the speakers were great and when it played music it did a good job. Funny thing if sharing music, and we got too far apart, I would lose the music, it would break up and be hard to hear. Hmm, the music was from my phone, strange.
Suggestions at the beer table.
Better packing, side cases. A better bike, thinking of an africa twin by Honda, I like the idea of a more modern bike. Better communications, Cardo unit we had was great, but the crackling and loss of communications at times was super frustrating.
Food was good, freeze-dried was great, coffee & hot cereal for breakfast really worked. We would usually do camp coffee then stop for coffee and internet after a few hours. Sometimes lunch and then dinner at camp or out.
Lifetime trip, Howard when asked if he would do it again. "oh yeah! Next trip a titanium Spork"...
I'm not sure what I would like to do next. I've talked about buying a bike in Florida, ride up the coast, and across North America. We shall see. My last trip was five years ago, so maybe in another five years. GSA, GS, or? For now, I need to get home and catch up on three weeks of home and work. Ride your dreams, don't wait till you can't, or talk yourself out of it. A car or bike or camper van is your choice but explore and feed the mind..
Pictures...
Tips for two wheel travelers:
(or lessons learned)
- Don't sweat the small stuff...
- Plan ahead, but not to much. Don't get caught up in what you have to do, enjoy the ride.
- This time, I'm leaving much more behind, no giant SLR and lenses, chargers, espresso maker, 3 sets of jeans, etc...Keep it simple. Phone and laptop...
- Meet people, this world is full of great and wonderful people.
- Follow the weather, but make alternative plans, be ready for change.
- Pack light, do you really need to three sets of jeans, 6 shirts...
- Follow the pages as they are updated.