I hate packing.

And that is when I have a suitcase and don't have to carry my worldly goods around with me for several months.

Time was when I carried a lot on long duration motorcycle camping trips. Upwards of 100 pounds of stuff, adding weight and bulk to the bike. Things were packed that proved unnecessary, while useful items were left at home. Too much darned stuff. Grumpiness accompanied the frustration of not finding what I knew I had packed; a shake of the head at carrying a tin of Campbell's beef stew 1,500 miles only to see a supermarket 10 minutes from the campsite.  The end of a trip revealing a mass of crushed pot noodles at the bottom of my bags. Good grief, who wants to eat them anyway?

Pack bike, unpack bike, repeat daily for weeks at a time; that is the housekeeping drumbeat of long distance motorcycle travel. The less you take the easier it is.

                     

The load is about 55lbs; camping and cooking gear, clothes, electronics and tools. Slimmed down over the years in an effort to avoid luggage obesity, though I was never as chubby as these guys...
         

  

… 😰…… 😏.

Cheers. T2

Is this the real thing? Or is it just fantasy?

The 'thing' being a motorcycle adventure tour of South America. Conceived of five or so years ago, spoken of for the last three or four and deferred for two years for family events. Turning the page from 2018 to 2019 will, allegedly, put fantasy in the rearview mirror, elbowed out by reality.

The final step in a two month endeavor to prep the bike concluded yesterday with an oil and filter change. All other consumables (a longish list of motorcycle technobabble) and a few more challenging items for a home trained and sometime ham-fisted mechanic are in the maintenance log.

At 12,700 miles the 2015 Honda CB500X is a youngster. The stock bike was put on steroids with a rebuild using parts from Rally Raid in the UK, mostly aimed at readying the suspension and wheels for the sometime smooth, more often potholed and unpaved roads ahead. A little protection for the vulnerable parts on the engine and some gismos (known as 'farkles' in the motorcycle community) to help cosset my 60 year-old frame completed the package. She entered service in April 2016, christened 'The Mule'. She has carried me to a few places in the USA, sharing duties with the other two (and three) wheelers in the garage but is now ready to take the lead role.

As it turned out naming her 'The Mule' proved ill-advised given Colombia is the first country on the adventure ride. Rebranded 'El Burro'; many people can't tell the difference between a mule and a donkey anyway. I know Spanish is gender specific but I didn't like 'la burra'. She is going to have to cope with gender confliction; after all it is 2018 and she must move with the times. So far she seems comfortable in her new skin.

A couple of beauty shots of her to finish this post.

..and the new moniker....

Cheers, T2

Nom de Plume - a brief history

TeeTwo (or more often written as T2) is my nickname when on two wheels, it is the heart beating through this blog.

The name originates from a group I spent 10 years riding with during the winters in the New York tri-state area. The adventures of this diverse group can be found here Connecticut Polar Bears. When I joined the group in 2007 they were all riding Harley Davidsons. Being too young, svelte, and lacking tattoos, facial hair or a pony tail I did not feel I had the required attributes to ride a Harley. Nonetheless I was welcomed even though I was on a metric bike, a Moto Guzzi. I was anointed 'Token' by the group as the sole representative of all bikes non-Harley. When I added a second metric bike, a Honda, the name was amended to Token 2. In the spoken word TeeTwo just rolls off the tongue more easily; so there you have it.

Was it a mid-life thing? I dunno...but after a family holiday in Italy and watching all the motorcycles I wanted one. At age 48 I enrolled in the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course, got the 'M' on my license and  purchased a 750cc Moto Guzzi. My journey on two wheels had commenced.

Some 200,000+ miles later, purchasing/riding/selling several bikes and after additional training courses I find myself typing this post.

Multi-day long distance touring gave way to week long then multi-week road tours in the Northeast and Atlantic Coast. Then I caught the bug of adventure riding, traveling to less populated and more distant places on lesser traveled and often unmade roads and trails. Like....

Utaaaahhhhhh………..oops.

The Trans Labrador Highway.

Prudhoe bay, Alaska and Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada.

  

Each journey a further step that extended my motorcycle travel comfort zone.... and now for the next step, another chapter to be written.

Cheers. T2