The Pan American Trail

^^^ ...posted from 2038, via the time machine...

Good ride. Been North of 60 three times now. Best money I spent was a small plane charter at Haines Junction, YT. to see the Kluane Glaciers and Icefields.
Whitehorse YT. has a great Honda dealership that'll fix anything.
Buy Bear Spray and a holster and wear it! Always!
Looking forward to hearing the stories.

Thank you for this most amazing trip report. I've got nothing but admiration for the journey you had, especially the fact that you combined it with climbing to make it about ten times harder. AND it made me look into getting leather bags for my bike, so there's that.

Best of luck in your future journeys!

I keep coming back to this report...you guy's do adventure right!

Dude, if you have holes showing up in the weld beads then it's very probable that you have porosity throughout the weld. That's NOT a good thing and gasket sealer won't help. The porosity is probably from not properly cleaning the surfaces of the two sides to be joined. Could have been paint or some other contaminant on them and dude just ran a bead over it. Happens all the time. Considering where the cracks were and the angles he had to weld from, he may not have even seen the contaminants. The welds may hold for the rest of your trip - I sure hope so because I'm really enjoying reading about your adventures. But beware that another failure may be in the offing. Wishing you cats safety and the best of luck.

Um, clearly you haven't completed reading all the way through yet. Ask me how I know....

Amateurs, right!

I was watching this video yesterday about Descend On Bend- a gathering of van lifers in Central Oregon and noticed a familiar face riding a motorcycle in there somewhere...

I'll never understand the Volkswagen van thing.
It's like having a KLR, paying waaaaay too much for it,
and then really,...truly,...believing that it's the coolest bike evaaaar.
I don't mean the 650, I mean the older and slower KLR250

laugh my ass off.

But have you ever seen a Vanagon with Ford Focus motor swap do a legit burnout?

Mrs. Redfish just waddled in carrying her Welsh Mtn. Company leather purse. She tells me that she loves this purse but cannot remember where I bought it or why. I pulled up this thread and showed her the pics of the leather saddlebags and it all came back to her. I figured the least I could do was to support the company that helped make this ride possible for these young men.

This thread and those leather saddlebags have something in common. True Quality lasts.

And Christmas is right around the corner.

Note to ones self.....

thx's Red Fish

Welsh Mtn. Company leather

Hi, all I hope it's appropriate to post this here; if not, OP and mods, please delete.

A buddy of mine, Kris Clewell, runs the OverCrest podcast. He interviewed James a few weeks ago, and the episode is published under the title "The Perpetual Explorer, James Barkman." Of course, there is discussion of the adventures described in this thread, among other topics.

You can listen on PodBean at THIS LINK, or you can find OverCrest on iTunes, Stitcher, Castbox, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Enjoy!

Hey all! James Barkman did a Q&A with REV'IT! on our trip. Here's the link if anyone is interested:



Enjoy!

Great RR.
Good interview, sailboat reference explains the clinking sound

This is great!

Hey All! Here's an interview James did with Seager Co from a few days ago. It covers a few things unrelated to the Pan Am, but he gives a good recap of the avalanche saga with him and Jeremy. Give it a watch :)



I recently bought an absolutely mint 1999 DR650 and have been ripping the endless trails right out of my door here in Winter Park, CO. . It has really got me itching for another trip!

Allen,
I'm so glad you updated this RR, I wasn't on ADV when you were on the trip, and only picked it up in the "Que" from the bump :) How awesome to not miss this ! OMG, I have spent the last week reading the entire thread whenever I could snag the time. It is so inspiring and captivating ! I'm looking forward to listening to the podcasts, etc ... Thank you for sharing this Epic with me. I have sent links to my children, and urged them "If you don't read anything else this year, read this!" I would sure love to buy you a beer and meet you, In North Florida :) Maybe drop me a line if you ever get this way. Seriously.
Again, Thanks Again.
Bravo! Well Done!

Minty!!