Fly Fishing Guide Gone Riding - (Florida to Panama to Montana)

First and foremost, I love my job. For half the year, I guide fly fishing in one of the most beautiful places on earth, Montana. I get to introduce people to a sport I love, in a place I cherish. I find a day on the water, especially with beginners, to be an extremely rewarding way to make a buck.

But, with this profession comes the daunting proposition of six, unpaid, months off a year. In the past, I’ve worked at ski hills, a law firm, guided salt water fly fishing in Florida, and done various other jobs to keep income flowing throughout the colder months.

This winter, I’ve decided to check out, and ride my 1090 wherever the road, gravel, rock, dirt or sand, may take me.

I’ve already loaded up the truck with dog and moto, left the truck and dog with my family in Tampa, and completed a 3,000-ish mile loop from Tampa to the Poconos and back. I went up the coast and back through the mountains of PA, VA, and NC. I’ve had the great fortune of having friends host me, or meeting like minded folks along the way who have given me a warm spot to sleep.





The bike is currently undergoing service and getting a replacement for an out-of-round tire I unknowingly had put on back in Virginia, but as soon as the weather warms up again, I’ll be headed west across the Gulf Coast to Houston, then inland toward Santa Fe, Moab, and Vegas in mid-December.

From Vegas, Panama is the stated goal. Then back to Montana, or Tampa, weather dependent.

This is my first long solo trip, and already is has been fantastic. This bike service in Tampa has me itching to get back on the road and I look forward to potentially meeting, and riding with, some of you in my travels.

(I’ll post extremely sporadic updates here as I’m pretty terrible about taking pictures, and even worse about writing about my travels. Below is a ROUGH outline of my travel plans, and all of the stuff NE of Florida has been done already.)

Looks awesome!

Sounds like fun. You can kind of think of a ride report as your own log of the trip to help remember it. We get to enjoy it as well. Pay attention to the Bozeman Uprising thread under the Rocky Mountain Regional forum - though not as active as the Missoula riders, a few of us keep trying to get together for some rides. The beauty of living in Bozeman is even if you just have an afternoon, lots of fun rides right there. Maybe we'll meet up next year

Sounds like it'll be a sweet trip. Include some fishing in your ride report!

bit cool in december for those western states, I10 Maybe ok

Take a fly rod with ya! I always do! Never know when the itch to wet a line grabs you!