Go South, Have Fun!

We are about to embark on another once in a lifetime adventure.  We are going to ride our 2005 Kawasaki 650 KLR's from southern California to Ushuaia, Argentina.  As usual, we do not have many set plans.  Go south, have fun! are the only set in stone plans we have.  We will decide on the road whether we ride back or ship the bikes back or ship them to another continent. It will depend on whether or not we are having fun or not.

This trip would not be possible if it weren't for some very helpful, kind and sharing people and we need to thank them.  How far back does a person go?  Our parents, Carl's dad in particular since he thought that having a motorcylce at 12 years old was a good idea and saying to me more than once, that if he was going to travel he would "go someplace where the people live different than we do here"  and to my dad for instilling the joy of another road trip in me.  All of the people who post on Horizons Unlimited and ADVRider that keep us interested in what is over that next hill and proof that traveling in these areas are a great experience.  Dean Tanji and Lisa Landry for their quick responses about maps, Carlos Cucalon for his friendship and all the advice he has given us over the years on international travel. Doug Barrett and Jack Backer for helping us find a place to store our pickup for 2-3 months.   And Randy Wilson for providing safe storage of our pickup. A big shout out to Mark Reis of MR Communications in Marysville, WA!  Mark wired our GPS', CB's, extra plug ins, and volt meter.  Thanks Mark for being such a soft spoken gentleman with a heart of gold. Fred at Arrowhead Motorsports for his prompt service, advice and being an email away from shipping parts anywhere we need them.  Ryan Bircher for house sitting for us while we are gone, houses do not like to stay home by themselves.  And most of all, Dan and Melody Bircher, who are taking such good care of all the business that needs taken care of when you are gone from home for 2-3 months.  Last but not least all of our friends and relatives that are staying behind watching us go and not thinking we are totally nuts for taking off on this adventure.
The motorcycles have been worked on and have been rolled on and off of the motorcycle lift several times. They should be ready to go.  They both have new shocks since the suspension was shot after our ride to Alaska and back.  They were both loaded very heavy with us and gear.  We had to send our seats back to Russell to get worked over since both of us were sitting too close to the tank and the combination of tall bike and wide seat made getting on and off difficult.  Carl decided to put in the 685 kit in his bike since mine had one done in Anchorage, he did not like the idea that the ring lands might go out on him on the road.  They both got new tires and they are ready to roll.

Our plans are to leave home about January 11th and drive to Long Beach, California.  We will store the pickup in Long Beach while we are on our journey.  Added bonus,  we will be able to see the California grandkids before we leave.  Since we are undecided about the return trip, if we decide to have the bikes shipped back it will most likely be to Los Angeles and our daughter in law will be able to pick us up at the airport.  Thank you Araceli!

Next post I will attempt pictures of the packing and unpacking and repacking!