Corporate Runaways - Boston to Ushuaia on 2 BMW F650GSs

[Bgunn]

Originally Posted by ride4321

no, she's not a vagrant, just bold and knows how to be discrete.

I would likely be shot, if I tried that...

[dirtymartini]

[QUOTE=ride4321;14683163]or ... ride around out in the country and look for a house that's for sale and empty. Almost every house can be broken into but look for a simple house that doesn't have an alarm or neighbors (just pretend you're interested in the house while you're scoping it out). Then come back after dark and "let yourself in". Get the hell out of there first thing in the morning and come back after dark Monday night. I have a female friend that has done this plenty of times, no, she's not a vagrant, just bold and knows how to be discrete. She's actually done this right in town where she lives just to get a feel for the house before she makes an offer on it. You guys are on an adventure, think outside of the box...[/QUOTE.]

C'mon, do you really think this is good advice??? I'm sure two heavily loaded bikes with out of state plates scoping out a vacant house wouldn't attract any attention At the very best they would be arrested


Subscribing to this thread...

[Nata Harli]

This is a great RR! I hope everything smooths out once you get south of the border.

I have added your RR to the "Whole Enchilada" section of the Latin American Ride Report Link Thread.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...6#post14579816

I'm in for the duration. Good luck.

[ride4321]

"C'mon, do you really think this is good advice??? I'm sure two heavily loaded bikes with out of state plates scoping out a vacant house wouldn't attract any attention At the very best they would be arrested"


I know, it's a whacked idea but it is an option. The woman I know that's done this is a standup member of her community. Obviously you wouldn't park the bikes in front of the house and I wouldn't recommend using any lights.

Another option would be to check with the local churches. They might know of someone that rents spare rooms out.

[nhspirit]

Subscribed, Stay Safe and thanks for sharing!

[masukomi]

The weather reports at the end of day five were pretty conclusive. Get out of town now! The only problem was that the temperature had dropped and Dachary's electric liner was still on the fritz, but the choice was either get stuck in town for days because of the crap weather or take a chance today. So, we took a chance and I made her promise to request we pull over if the jacket failed again and she was feeling particularly chilled.

We're happy to report though, that a careful insertion, and application of duct tape kept it working all day.


Solving the Gerbing's problem

Of course, Dachary literally didn't move from her saddle for 300 miles for fear that it would cut out again. When we finally did pull over for food (about 30 miles from our destination) we were both feeling cold even though everyone was walking around with t-shirts. Towards the end of our break Dachary had an attack of uncontrollable full-body shivers. We went back out to the bike because at least there she could plug in.

Getting to the break though… that was work. Winds of 30+ with gusts over 40 interspersed with "Mother Fucking Bridges" where it was even worse. We are at a loss regarding Mississippi and Luisiana's obsession with huge arching streams of concrete.

There's a huge bridge going to New Orleans that both of us had been looking forward too. It's five minutes of concrete suspended above water. And today it was a bit of a rush… It was also kind of like being pummeled. We've got some video, that we'll cut a few seconds of into todays video diary when we get it up, but our heads are being battered around so much that it's makes you kind of sick to watch more than that.

In other news Expedia and Howard Johnson's decided to both bill us for our stay here in Louisiana while we wait for the motorcycle shop to open on Tuesday so that we can pick up the tires. I'm just crossing my fingers that they've actually got the ones for tube tires and not tubeless. I realize we *can* run tubes in tubeless tires but I'm not convinced it's something you *should* do unless you have to.

In the equipment department: That 5 Function Meter we were praising the other day? Yeah, absolutely not designed for motorcycles. It got wet when it rained last night, water got in between the plastic / crystal layers froze, and generally bored it. Her voltmeter is reading too high in the afternoon, my temperature read 18:8.8 E for most of the day, and her clock lost 15 minutes. My opinion of Aerostich is dropping by the day. Also, I melted a bit of the extra webbing that was flapping around on the Wolfman Dry Duffel on the muffler yesterday, and I've discovered that my new helmet cam is mounted at too low of an angle. I have one more shot to get it right tomorrow, but if that's not right…


Getting frisky with the muffler

Started today in Greenville, Alabama and ended the day in Houma, Louisiana where we'll be staying till Tuesday AM. 344 miles today. Could have gone further because there was plenty of sunlight left, but we have to wait near Baton Rouge for the tires. Now that we're stopped for the day, though, we're drooping by the second. Fighting with those winds all day was so tiring...

[mrprez]

High bridges? We use our rivers for shipping so large ships have to get underneath them. You're in Houma? Way south of Baton Rouge, Was there a reason to go there rather than some other place closer by?

[HeyDoc]

Subscribed! I just stumbled onto your report, I had forgotten about your mid-December departure plan!! Have a safe ride and fun winter "down south". See you in Pachaug in the spring!

[Big-B]

If you guys are BMWMOA members you know about the MOA anonymous book. That has a directory of people willing to help out riders in all areas of the country. Some provide breakdown help some provide tools, tent space, spare bedroom. It's worth checking into the MOA for that reason alone if you are adventure riders.

Brian

[danceswithcages]

Thank you for sharing.
My wife and I are planning a South American trip in two years and are reading everything we can get our hands on.

Stay safe!

[zaner32]

Looks like you don't have to leave the country to be on an adventure. Good luck, stay safe, and i'll be looking forward to your updates.

[hvilla]

Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to following along, ride safe!!

[Dachary]

Originally Posted by lilolita

Hey guys, great report so far! We're all wishing you a safe and crazy ride.

Since you're in a stasis right now, why not head on over to a Lenscrafters (there are 2 in Baton Rouge) and get another pair of glasses. Here's their current offers: http://www.lenscrafters.com/eyeglass...nts-and-offers

As someone who cannot see without glasses, it's driving me nuts that Kay is riding around with broken ones. I'll even send an old pair of mine down to you!

On another note, if you need anything at all in the US, please feel free to contact me. I can run down to Twisted Throttle if you need anything and get it shipped out quickly. Best of luck!

I know, right? It's driving me crazy, too! Old glasses won't work - I mostly wear contacts but I've got a pair of glasses with me, too, and I offered it to Kay, but the problem appears to be astigmatisms - glasses have to be curved in the right way in the right place for Kay. So new prescription glasses would be a great thing, I think, but Kay is being stubborn about trying to hold out for "cheap" glasses...

And thanks for the offer re: Twisted Throttle! We've had really good experiences with them, and we proudly sport Twisted Throttle stickers on our panniers. Hopefully we won't need it, but thanks for the offer!

[Dachary]

Originally Posted by mrprez

High bridges? We use our rivers for shipping so large ships have to get underneath them. You're in Houma? Way south of Baton Rouge, Was there a reason to go there rather than some other place closer by?

We're in Houma because we were looking for the cheapest place to stay that we could find, and it's pretty close to the Gulf, which we've got a yen to see. Billing snafu aside, so far, so good!

[Dachary]

Originally Posted by Big-B

If you guys are BMWMOA members you know about the MOA anonymous book. That has a directory of people willing to help out riders in all areas of the country. Some provide breakdown help some provide tools, tent space, spare bedroom. It's worth checking into the MOA for that reason alone if you are adventure riders.

Brian

Thanks, Brian - we do know about the MOA anonymous book, but somehow we never got around to joining BMWMOA. With all of the outfitting for the trip, there was always something else to spend that $50 on...