What do you drive?

Well, now that we are no longer going to ride motorcycles on our travel adventure people keep asking, "What are you going to drive?" The question has been answered! We are now the proud owners of a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Yes, it's a lot bigger than the little car we are used too, but when all of your possessions have to fit in your vehicle, it's nice to have one that is a little roomier - and has the added bonus of 4-wheel drive.

Pictures coming soon. Really.

Riding The Black Hills

Here's another quick video. I met Laurie & Jim, my aunt and uncle, in South Dakota to ride around for the weekend. This is Laurie on her brand new Harley Davidson. Had a great time though I wish we could have spent more time up there. It's very beautiful country and it appears there are really good deals at the resorts during the off-season. Definitely want to go back with Robin sometime.

Until We Leave Again

Until Robin and I take off again there won't be much interesting happening around here. So until then I'll keep this blog updated with random bits from my/our previous trips.

In September I was riding through West Texas and stopped to rest a while. I started chatting with some folks and they said "Hey, wanna go to a barbecue down in Marfa" and I said "Heck yeah!" Marfa was about an hour south of where we were so we hopped on our bikes and took off.

It ended up being an awesome party with a live band, free booze, and really good barbecue. I stayed there through the evening and ended up watching for the Marfa lights with this old astronomer who showed me the Andromeda Galaxy. He'd been going there during the summer for 19 years straight looking for the lights.

Here's a video of the party. Mostly I just wanted to try out a YouTube video post.

The Plan

For those of you just tuning in, here's a 'get up to speed' post.

For years Robin and I dreamed of travelling around the world. It was always an abstract dream, like being a multi-millionaire or a world-class snowboarder.

Earlier this year it suddenly dawned on us that we were in a position to make that dream a reality. We've saved up a small nest egg, are still fairly young, and have no long-term responsibilities (read: kids).

A plan formed. We would sell off all of our worldy possessions, buy a couple of motorcycle, and travel the world for several years. As a first step to ensure this was the lifestyle we really wanted, we took a half-month trip north of the Arctic Circle in Alaska. We had many adventures, saw many interesting things, met many incredible people. There were downsides to riding motorcycles too. Often we were wet, cold, muddy, and terrified of the road. The final straw came when Robin broke both of her arms in a small accident. We eventually realized that motorcycles would be too dangerous for a trip of this duration.

Though our original departure date for the big trip was September 15, we decided to wait until January 15. This gave Robin enough time to heal and wrap up her responsibilities at work.

While Robin continued her work in Seattle (and in Europe and many US Cities), I took a mini-trip through the USA. Yeah, I'm a weasel for going out to have fun while Robin worked, but I'd already quit by the time we finalized the trip changes. I had a nice 'last fling' with my motorcycle on this trip. I got to ride the Black Hills of South Dakota with my aunt, watch for aliens in Marfa Texas, and work a pit crew for the Baja 1000 race in Baja California Norte, Mexico. I ended my trip a couple of days before Thanksgiving back in Seattle. I'm now in Seattle doing trip preparation. This includes selling off my old motorcycle, buying a jeep, and many other random things.

So on January 15 Robin and I will set off. As many of you know by now, our plans change day-to-day. However, right now the plan is to head down the west coast to Mexico. We want to spend a week in Baja California whale watching and relaxing. Then it's off to New Orleans for Mardi Gras (we actually have reservations made, so this one's a pretty sure thing). Afterwards I'd like to see a Space Shuttle launch in Florida. From there it gets vague. We think we'll head to Mexico City and rent an apartment there for a few months, but who knows.

Since the duration of the trip is unknown...a year or so if we don't like the lifestyle, up to 12 years if we do like it, we're in no hurry. We'd like to stay in various places for months at a time to get a feel for the true local flavor, learn the language, make friends, etc.

We've already met many amazing people in the early stages of this journey (you know who you are!) and hope to meet many more. That's really one of the most compelling draws of a trip like this. Please keep in touch.

Stay tuned, we'll try to keep it interesting!

Hello World

I've just set up a new blogger account to allow Robin and me to blog our journey. I'm in the process of redirecting it so that the blog shows up under our domain instead of the blogspot.com domain.