SimonThomas
New member
Hi all,
..well with a little time on my hands, as Lisa's been ill so can't travel, I thought I start a thread and try and write up a 'litle ride report'.
We were introduced to this forum only recently when we joined the MOA.
A little background. After a very bad year we knew our lives weren't going where we wanted. The idea had hit home...'what you do defines you! Not what you own'. Yeah, I know a little hippy but we'd had a lot to think about.
Lisa's dad had had a quad' heart bypass, my mum was diagnosed with Cancer and I'd spent the last 2-years learning to walk again after a car driver tried to remove my right foot and lower leg. 18-months with no walking gives a man pause for thought. You start to think about what your life is and where it might go, much like you did when you were 15-16 and your head wasn't full of the clutter and chaos of adult-hood, bills, debts, the right HD TV and the politics at work.
From the sactuary of our warm bed and duve, one Sunday morning we hatched our cunning plan and goals. We'd ride around the world, ride to all 7 continents, ride to the most Northely and Southerly points on each continent (excluding Antartica) and try and visit the highest and lowest points (altitude) on each continent. It all sounded so easy as we pushed our heads back into the pillows
Anywho...It had been a long time coming. For years we’d laughed off our throwaway comments of chucking everything in and riding off into the wild blue yonder to explore exotic lands. But how could we do that? How could I just walk away from a telecom company I’d built from scratch? How could Lisa throw away the great sacrifices she had made to earn a computing degree as a mature student and say goodbye to her new career as an IT analyst?
We were just starting to earn good cash, but were plagued by the nagging sense that there was more to life. Every so often, after a bad day at work, we would open a bottle of wine (or 3)and explore this travel fantasy. We’d allow ourselves to consider the idea. Hell, why not? We’re capable, self reliant, determined. Surely we could… Then the real world would flood in: what about work, the mortgage, pensions, career paths, insurance, blah, blah, bloody blah. More important, how could we afford it?
Over the years, the topic raised its head with noteworthy frequency. Finally it became clear that this was more than just an idea. We gave ourselves a month, 30 days, to seriously think about it before making a final decision. D-day arrived on a cold, wet Monday morning, midsummer in the UK. After a few deep breaths, we agreed. We’d sell everything and make our dream a reality. There is a side note to that. Lisa cheats..yep. We'd aggreed to both give our yes/no answers at the same time to make sure one wasn't infulencing the other. "OK, so after 3, ready"? "one, two, three...YES"!!! I yell, grinning, hands in ther air like I'm doing the mexican wave. Lisa's silent, not a murmur, her expressionless face quashing my schoolboy excitement. Oh ****??? It took her all of 30 seconds (which is a bloody long time) to finally crack a monster grin, say 'yes' and start making fun of me. Yeah, yeah, apparently my face was priceless.
...and so after selling everything, and yes we mean everything, we named my R1100GS Tinkerbelle (it's a Julia Roberts thing) and Lisa's F650 GS..Tarzan (it's apparently a good looking, naked, muscled man thing) addorned them with lots of adventurest style goodies and set off in early 2003, a full year before Ewan & Charley left for their first ride...'long way round'.
Well, here we are 5-years later (currently in Mexico), still on the road and on the same journey...broke, slightly mad and grinning like we've been dipped in chocolate and thrown to the lesbians, just itching to get back into the USA and head North up to Alaska.
Let the photos begin...
I'd been riding my 1100 since new in 99' and we'd bought a F650GS for Lisa for the trip in 2002 ready to modify. They look so new and clean.
The 1100GS pre-mods
With some research done,we started modifying the bikes. Lisa's stock 650 begins its transformation with the Touratech big tanks newly installed.
The bike work was fun but was only part of the process. it took us two years to organise and pack up our lives before the off. Belongings had to be sold and what didn't go had to stored or given to charity. Not fun:
Niether of us had ever ridden off-road and so we booked ourselves up for the BMW off-raod training school in 2002, where our love affair with dirt began.
The big day had come and at last we were off, waiving good-bye to family and friends, for what we thought was going to be two years. Wales, Ireland and Scotland came and went and soon we were heading for Norway, land of the Vikings. Nordkapp was our first big goal. You can't ride further North in the World! Nordkapp is only 1,100 miles from the North Pole. We were in for a cold time.
...more to come
Cheers
Simon T
..well with a little time on my hands, as Lisa's been ill so can't travel, I thought I start a thread and try and write up a 'litle ride report'.
We were introduced to this forum only recently when we joined the MOA.
A little background. After a very bad year we knew our lives weren't going where we wanted. The idea had hit home...'what you do defines you! Not what you own'. Yeah, I know a little hippy but we'd had a lot to think about.
Lisa's dad had had a quad' heart bypass, my mum was diagnosed with Cancer and I'd spent the last 2-years learning to walk again after a car driver tried to remove my right foot and lower leg. 18-months with no walking gives a man pause for thought. You start to think about what your life is and where it might go, much like you did when you were 15-16 and your head wasn't full of the clutter and chaos of adult-hood, bills, debts, the right HD TV and the politics at work.
From the sactuary of our warm bed and duve, one Sunday morning we hatched our cunning plan and goals. We'd ride around the world, ride to all 7 continents, ride to the most Northely and Southerly points on each continent (excluding Antartica) and try and visit the highest and lowest points (altitude) on each continent. It all sounded so easy as we pushed our heads back into the pillows
Anywho...It had been a long time coming. For years we’d laughed off our throwaway comments of chucking everything in and riding off into the wild blue yonder to explore exotic lands. But how could we do that? How could I just walk away from a telecom company I’d built from scratch? How could Lisa throw away the great sacrifices she had made to earn a computing degree as a mature student and say goodbye to her new career as an IT analyst?
We were just starting to earn good cash, but were plagued by the nagging sense that there was more to life. Every so often, after a bad day at work, we would open a bottle of wine (or 3)and explore this travel fantasy. We’d allow ourselves to consider the idea. Hell, why not? We’re capable, self reliant, determined. Surely we could… Then the real world would flood in: what about work, the mortgage, pensions, career paths, insurance, blah, blah, bloody blah. More important, how could we afford it?
Over the years, the topic raised its head with noteworthy frequency. Finally it became clear that this was more than just an idea. We gave ourselves a month, 30 days, to seriously think about it before making a final decision. D-day arrived on a cold, wet Monday morning, midsummer in the UK. After a few deep breaths, we agreed. We’d sell everything and make our dream a reality. There is a side note to that. Lisa cheats..yep. We'd aggreed to both give our yes/no answers at the same time to make sure one wasn't infulencing the other. "OK, so after 3, ready"? "one, two, three...YES"!!! I yell, grinning, hands in ther air like I'm doing the mexican wave. Lisa's silent, not a murmur, her expressionless face quashing my schoolboy excitement. Oh ****??? It took her all of 30 seconds (which is a bloody long time) to finally crack a monster grin, say 'yes' and start making fun of me. Yeah, yeah, apparently my face was priceless.
...and so after selling everything, and yes we mean everything, we named my R1100GS Tinkerbelle (it's a Julia Roberts thing) and Lisa's F650 GS..Tarzan (it's apparently a good looking, naked, muscled man thing) addorned them with lots of adventurest style goodies and set off in early 2003, a full year before Ewan & Charley left for their first ride...'long way round'.
Well, here we are 5-years later (currently in Mexico), still on the road and on the same journey...broke, slightly mad and grinning like we've been dipped in chocolate and thrown to the lesbians, just itching to get back into the USA and head North up to Alaska.
Let the photos begin...
I'd been riding my 1100 since new in 99' and we'd bought a F650GS for Lisa for the trip in 2002 ready to modify. They look so new and clean.
The 1100GS pre-mods
With some research done,we started modifying the bikes. Lisa's stock 650 begins its transformation with the Touratech big tanks newly installed.
The bike work was fun but was only part of the process. it took us two years to organise and pack up our lives before the off. Belongings had to be sold and what didn't go had to stored or given to charity. Not fun:
Niether of us had ever ridden off-road and so we booked ourselves up for the BMW off-raod training school in 2002, where our love affair with dirt began.
The big day had come and at last we were off, waiving good-bye to family and friends, for what we thought was going to be two years. Wales, Ireland and Scotland came and went and soon we were heading for Norway, land of the Vikings. Nordkapp was our first big goal. You can't ride further North in the World! Nordkapp is only 1,100 miles from the North Pole. We were in for a cold time.
...more to come
Cheers
Simon T
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