So the site is nearly there. I have a lot of work to do but I think we can get started with the good stuff. So first a little background.
About 4 years ago on a flight home from Europe I saw 15 minutes of an episode of Long Way Down. Charlie and Ewan were in Leptis Magna in Libya generally messing around and having a laugh. Then I saw the BMW R1200GS's and I was hooked. What could be better than exploring the world on motorcycle?
4 years later I still don't have my own motorcycle but I've spent enough time watching Long Way Round and Long Way Down to make the trips myself. I have both books (read them twice), have the videos on my iPhone and iPad as well as in my Netflix, and just to be safe I have a DVD backup. I never get tired of watching them. Essentially, I can thank Charlie and Ewan for reigniting my passion for Motorcycles.
When I was about 12 years old a friend of mine let me ride his Honda CT 70. I think I did 3 laps around his yard before I ended up in a pile of sawdust. Done deal. I was hooked. My parents never knew, but 3 years later I managed to convince them that a 1981 Honda 200 Twinstar for $400 was the deal of a lifetime. Even though I had to wait a year before I could get a permit to ride it, I promised I would stay off the road and just practice riding it around our yard. The yard somehow expanded over the course of a year to include, the driveway, the lane by our house, the trail beyond the lane that lead to the footbridge across the brook, around the pond....you get the idea. But before I had the chance to take that great little motorcycle out to do my permit test, would you believe another deal of a lifetime presented itself in the form of a 1984 Yamaha 400 Maxim - price $1,000. Sold the Honda for the same $400 I bought it for and bought the Yamaha. 2 months later after practicing the permit test in my yard using blocks of firewood for pylons (which are a great test by the way because they fall really easily and make you work really hard to learn your balance) I passed the test. I rode that bike daily for 3 years. Trails, highways, back roads....my own little Adventure Touring Motorcycle (little did I know it at the time). Then came college and one thing lead to another and I (regrettably) sold the bike.
Fast forward to today and here I am without a motorcycle to ride but wanting one really bad. My wife and I agree that it is something we are going to do. So now we are working toward it. I've taken the MSF course and gotten my license again. My wife is planning to do the same (she's never ridden before). We have 2 small children (5 and 7) so we have to take that into account. So I thought there must be other people out there in the same situation and if I share my experience here maybe others will benefit. So, from here on out I'll be posting on all kinds of things that will eventually lead up to a new motorcycle (or two).
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Welcome to the blog section of my website. Over the next few days (which may turn into weeks....) I'll be trying to get everything up and running with some good and interesting information. Looking forward to keeping you entertained.
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