Two States and One Country Later..

Thanksgiving morning Eric woke up late from his night shift ready to hit the road. Though I was hesitant about the cold weather being that it was only 50 degrees high that day, we decided to suck it up and ride anyway. It was about 3:45pm when we left Ocean Springs, so we decided we would spend our first night in New Orleans, giving us about an hour and 30 minute first day's ride. Originally, we planned to make it to Houston the first day, but Eric's work schedule and the cold weather was not in our favor. After gearing up, and packing up, we started heading West.


Packing finally situated and ready to roll!

The weather actually wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. My 3 layer motorcycle jacket proved itself to be the bomb, and having wool socks and thermal underwear was definitely helpful too. By the time we made it to our hotel the sun had gone down and it was then about 44 degrees out. Since the drive was only an hour and a half the air was tolerable, but I could tell if we had driven any further without sunlight the drive would have been somewhat painful. At any rate, we unloaded the bike, parked it in the Queen & Crescent's secure parking lot, checked in, changed, and headed out to celebrate Thanksgiving at one of our favorite restaurants in New Orleans: Domenica!

We'd been here many many times before, but hadn't been in a while and I had been craving their delicious pizza and wine. Because it was a holiday, we decided to splurge on the roasted feta cauliflower that we had been eying since last year. We're glad we did because it was fantastic, and were thankful to have had a holiday excuse to splurge.

After dinner we had planned to go back to the hotel, shower, and start some blogging and finish up some homework, but we thought we would check out the life in Bourbon st first in order to see what the crowd was like on Thanksgiving. There were much more people than we thought there would be on a holiday, but it was quiet enough that we thought we'd take the opportunity to have a drink at Lafittes, since they are normally so busy that it's hard to get a foot in the door. 

It was here that we met a great couple from the Houston area who we ended up spending the rest of the night with. Here we shared some stories, found a mutual love for the bar Ftitzel's just a few blocks down, and proceeded to spend the rest of the night listening to jazz, getting drunk and having a blast a Fritzel's. While our original plan was to head home straight after dinner, we ended up getting back around 1:30-2am instead.

The next day we woke up around 10am, a little later than we hoped, and spent quite some time trying to regain our strength from the amount of alcohol ingested the night before. The remaining hour we had before checking out went something like this:

Eric: Hey do you need to use the lotion? (yelling from the bathroom)
Me: No thanks I'm putting some on now
Eric: ........ oh I just realized i was using conditioner as lotion

Guess that's what you get for drinking one too many drinks the night before. After checking out, it was about 11:30 by the time we loaded up the bike and set back out on the road. After New Orleans, our plan was to head to Houston to stay with Eric's aunt and uncle for the night.

The ride out of New Orleans was slightly warmer than it was the day before. The weather was supposed to warm up each day so we knew to expect a positive weather change. Though, even so, the high was about 55 degrees so we still wore all of our warm thermal gear. The drive took us a little over seven hours with a few stops to get lunch and a few gas/bathroom breaks, and we ended up riding in the dark for a good hour on the way into Houston. We finally arrived around 7pm, and by that time I was so thankful to get off the bike and into a warm house with warm home made food.
 

After dinner, we went to bed early since we were both beat from our long day of riding. It's amazing how exhausting 7+ hours can be on a motorcycle!

This morning we woke up early, got breakfast from Denny's with Mr. & Mrs. Ting, and started back on the road by about 10:30. I didnt want to leave too early since the temperature was about 41 degrees when we got in the night before, but by 10 we were shedding layers and by 12 we stopped at a rest stop to take off more. It was a high of 77 degrees today, and made for a perfect day of riding. We had hoped to make it from Houston to Reynosa, Mexico by tonight, but riding on the bike verses a car takes us much longer to get around than we expected it would. We arrived in Mcallen, TX around 5pm and knew it would be dark by the time we crossed the border in Mexico so decided to stay on the U.S side for the night instead. We found a nice place just a few miles from the border, which will hopefully allow us to get to into Mexico before 10am tomorrow. From there, we havnt quite decided where we will be going, but plan to make it down to Mazatlan at some point in the next few days.

If you don't have it already, this is a link to our SPOT locator which tracks where we are every 10 minutes, where we stay for the night, and when and if we need help along the way.

Mr. & Mrs. Ting 

My clear excitement for warmer weather

Mcallen TX hotel 

Until tomorrow..

T-3 days

I am starting to think we are crazy to be planning a motorcycle trip through the southern U.S while a deadly snow storm makes its way slowly east.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/25/us/weather-thanksgiving/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

Nevertheless, here we are still still preparing for our trip starting in just a few short days. Today, Eric made this awesome contraption, which serves a multipurpose backrest, storage unit, and tool case. 

As I continue to work on my 20 page paper (the last assignment I need to finish before leaving), I am walking around the house in my new(ish) motorcycle boots in hopes to break them in a bit before the journey, and also to keep my feet warm. This gives me small hope they they will do the same while riding in 45-50 degree weather. I guess we'll see...

T-5 days

The past three weeks have been a blur. It was just three weeks ago that Eric and I were heading down to FL to visit my family when we decided that we would be leaving on Thanksgiving day to start our trip down to Mexico. That meant that we would see my family one more time before we headed off which was great. After getting back from FL we spent Eric's work week ordering various items we needed for the bike including a new tracking device so that our families can keep track of us while we are riding, dry bags, an extension for the windshield, a new tool rack, and a few things we need for legal documentation including international drivers insurance, etc. On top of that, I spent those 5 days trying to cram in the rest of my semesters class work into just 2 weeks from the time we returned from FL so that I wouldn't have to do much while we are on our trip, but also so that I didnt have to take up more room on the bike with school books. Well, that plan hasn't worked out for me as well as I would have liked, but I am still working on it.

We spent the last 5 days in San Diego with Eric's family, had an early Thanksgiving meal with them, had lunch with an uncle, and watched Pearl Jam play in concert. Now, we find ourselves with only 5 days left before we leave for our trip south. 3 weeks ago I thought 3 weeks was far too long to wait to go on this trip we've been planning for years, however, now I realize that 3 weeks may not have been enough time. Surprisingly, we were able to get most things done that we wanted in terms of ordering bike parts and proper legal documentation for the road. The only thing that we did want to do before heading out was to upgrade the suspension and take the bike in for it's regular service, but ordering parts for the suspension took much longer than we hoped for. Instead of taking care of that before we leave, our plan is to drop off the bike in Mexico at a BMW shop to have it worked on while we fly back to work for 5 days. We'll see how easy that will be, though we've read that there are quite a few BMW shops along our route, the best one being in Mexico City.

In 5 days counting until we leave, this is what our packing situation looks like:

So far, its just a bunch of stuff thrown in a pile that we hope to bring. I need to really sit down and figure this stuff out!

For the next 5 days, Eric will be working on preparing the bike, and I will be working on a 20 page research paper for a class along with as much other classwork I can fit in as well. While I am definitely getting more and more excited as each day goes by, I am actually becoming more stressed as well. Where did all of our time go!?

In Two Short Weeks...

Last week, super storm typhoon Haiyan tore through the Philippines killing up to 1800 as of now, and damaging what seems to be every spot of the entire country in some way or form. This is devastating news for PH and heart wrenching news for the rest of the world. As you may have read in a previous post, Eric and I had plans to visit PH at the end of November, with plans to visit El Nido, Boracay, and Coron, spending a hefty amount of time along the beach and enjoying that beautiful part of the world. Well, with one of the largest storms ever recorded to hit that area just some days ago, Eric and I have decided to cancel our flights being that PH wont be ready for visitors for quite some time. It did cross our mind to spend two weeks volunteering in PH instead of vacationing, but selfishly with two weeks off for the first time in almost two years, we decided to make other travel arrangements instead.

After a few days of contemplating where we would spend those two weeks we were supposed to spend on one of the most beautiful beaches on earth, we decided on somewhere equally as warm and that allowed just as much beach time. This was actually a hard task since our plans were originally for the end of November, and I found myself considering Central America more than anywhere else in the world. This being so, I presented what seemed to be a crazy idea to Eric, who after only two short minutes decided the idea was not as crazy as I thought, and instead was actually quite possible. So, here I present to you our official plans for Nov. 28th- Dec 11th as the beginning of our motorcycle trip heading south!!

In my last blog I noted that we made a sudden decision to start traveling in January, no matter what Eric's job situation was, just to be able to start this trip that we've been planning for four years rather than postponing it any longer for reasons we have no control over. Instead of waiting until January, we decided that bumping that date up to this month would give us a significant amount of time to make sure that first of all our 5 day on 5 day off plan is actually possible, explore Mexico at our own pace, and be able to bum around a few beaches as originally hoped for.

While I am stoked about this upcoming, long awaited journey we are about to begin, I am also a bit overwhelmed with what little time we have for preparation. We have exactly two weeks to get the bike ready, order miscellaneous items for the bike and have it arrive before Nov. 27th, start planning packing arrangements for the bike, go on practice runs, finalize a map  for those two weeks of travel, and all while working, finishing 4 weeks of classwork in two, and spending 5 of those day in San Diego while visiting family!

So, just as an update: we will be traveling for two weeks straight down to Mexico, stopping and parking our bike as far as we allow ourselves to get along the way, and then flying back to Biloxi from there on out every 5 days in order for Eric to continue his shift until his group can fill his position, which, we still have no idea when that may actually be. I still feel that flying back and forth every 5 days is not exactly ideal, though I am happy to begin our trip with two full weeks of travel time.

Did I mention I'm stoked!? Until then...

Motorcycle Diaries

Okay, the time has finally come; time to talk about something my husband and I have been planning for a long, long time. Well, what seems like a long, long time anyway. But first, let me give you a little history in the making here. My husband (Eric) and I met almost 6 years ago now in New Port Richey, FL. We were set up by his ex boss and coworker, but we actually worked together in the same hospital for about a year. Though we didn't exactly hit it off right away, per se, we did befriend each other due to our mutual interest in motorcycles and scooters. I had recently joined a "scooter gang" called FU OPEC before meeting Eric with a few friends of mine with a goal in mind to boycott the fuel industry as much as I possibly could. This is of course when fuel prices were initially skyrocketing, and Eric had the same thing in mind but with a special interest in the BMW F650. We ended up studying for, and taking our motorcycle license tests together. This is how it all started.

Soon after meeting Eric did I realize his passion for traveling, and so we've spent almost six years together traveling the world. Well, 12 countries within this rather large world, that is. We've had a fantastic 6 years together so far and each trip we've taken together has been just as exciting, thrilling, and unique as each trip before it. Though, we've always had something else planned in the back of our minds. Something Eric had been planning since he bought his BMW in 2008. I wont pretend that this was our idea in the beginning, at first I thought Eric was mad for wanting to drive his motorcycle down to South America from San Diego all in one trip. However, soon it became a goal that we both had come to love. And so, we've been planning our trip to South America, taking the Pan-American highway all the way down to Ushuaia, and buying miscellaneous items for motorcycle gear along the way.

Originally, we had planned to move from FL to San Diego, work a couple of years, save some money, and then quit to go on this long journey we had planned. That plan suddenly fell through when Eric's job took a turn for the worst, and we ended up losing a large sum of money which inevitably postponed our motorcycle plans. Instead of taking the Pan-American from San Diego, we thought, we would move to Biloxi, MS, work for two years, make back the money lost, and then take the Pan-Am from Mid Mexico instead. Well, that plan mark two years ago in February of 2014. So, here we are in November, just a few months away from our set goal, and we find ourselves making some rather exciting choices.

First of all, Eric's career field of choice makes it rather difficult to up and quit, like maybe you or I would do. However, Eric put in his notice to leave the group last month, which essentially gives his job 3 months notice. His group did not take his departure well, which put us in a difficult situation for a few weeks, but we ultimately decided to do this trip no matter what happens, who is unhappy about it, or what bridges we burn along the way. After all, this is our trip, right? When all was said and done, his group decided to accept his request for time off, dependant upon a new hire which could take an indefinite amount of time. This is both good news and bad news for us, however. On one hand, we know the group is looking for a new hire, but on the other, that new hire could take months to hire, and get in to fill Eric's position. After a long contemplation regarding when we should leave for our trip, not knowing when the new hire will actually start working, Eric and I decided to stop planning, and stop waiting, and just go for it. After all, haven’t we planned for long enough?

So here we are, in November of 2013, and we finally have a departure date for this long coming trip we've planned. The date: January 27th, 2014!! While our set in stone plans are not exactly ideal, they are set in stone, and to us that is all that matters. Eric currently works 5 days on and 5 days off, a set schedule that he has had for the past two years. Throughout this schedule, we've traveled to Europe a few times, Asia once, and back and forth across the U.S. Our 5 days off gives us sometimes only 3 days of vacation time, depending on flights and other travel times, however we've learned to make the most of it and have especially learned to cram as much as we can in just 3 days, which actually has left us with many fulfilling trips thus far. So, we decided until Eric's position is covered, we will start traveling down to Mexico, still working 5 on and 5 off, for as long as it takes to hire a new employee. Our plan is to travel 5 days at a time, leaving our bike at hotels, guest houses, or hopefully with friends that we meet along the way when we have to fly back to work for 5 days. Traveling this way could very well be exhausting, however, hopefully it will be of short duration while Eric's group looks for his replacement.

Together, Eric and I have done a few bike trips in the last few years. Our first bike trip was shortly after we met, and finally "got together". We drove Eric's BMW and my 150cc scooter down to Miami from New Port Richey, FL. This trip was not easy on my little scooter, but it was a fun, thrilling experience for the both of us. After all, this was the first semi long trip Eric ever took on his BMW. Shortly after this we moved to California where we took a couple of short trips on the BMW; quite a few weekend trips to Baja, and a week long trip from San Diego to Tahoe and back. While Eric rode cross country from FL to San Diego on his move, traveling north along the way, the longest trip we've gone on together was from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas where we there got married, and then back up again. This trip lasted two weeks time and was the start of our (or at least my) heavy planning for our trip to come.

Our first trip together, the Lifan 150cc and the F650.

Our first motorbike trip to Baja, driving down to Ensenada for the night.

On our way down to Cabo to get married!!

While I thought long and hard about buying a bike for myself to ride down to South-Am on, we decided on taking only one bike for logical purposes; to save money on gas, but also because one bike is easier to store somewhere rather than two when we will need to travel back home for work. While I do find myself somewhat bored on the back of the bike during long trips and occasionally fall asleep, I also find that riding as passenger allows for great photo and video opportunities. And though Eric has accidentally dumped me off the back of his back not once but two times now, riding as a passenger allows for better conversation through our radio helmets.

So, here we are, 12 weeks away from our departure date and finding ourselves patiently waiting for that time to come. We will be leaving just a few days before our anniversary, heading back down to Mexico where we originally tied the knot. For me, spending our anniversary reliving our wedding/honey moon experience could not be spent in a better way. Until then, we have a few smaller trips to go on, need to figure out exact packing essentials for our journey, and start tracking specific desirable destinations before heading out. Until then...