The Road

The Road

Friday, February 25, 2022

The Road Is Calling Me

Wrote this last year and posted it on a motorcycle site I'm a member of .No luck but still hopeful that I will cross paths with another rider to do this trip with.In April I'm going to start prepping the Moto Guzzi for this trip.I turn 73 in April and am itching for a good road trip.I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact I'll be going alone but that's ok , I don't mind traveling alone . I think I'm not even going to have a destination on this trip,I'm just gonna point the front wheel west and go where the bike takes me.


Bike Group Ad :
Hi,I'm an experienced rider.Been riding 56 years to be exact and I ride vintage. I'm looking to go on a long, probably 2 or 2 1/2 month ride out west in the summer of 2022 and am starting to search for a partner who also rides vintage to travel with on this adventure.I'd like to get to know this person this year and do some shorter rides up to   the Adirondacks or perhaps New England and PA .Looking for someone who also knows how to wrench on bikes as I do.Gonna spend next winter in the garage getting my machine all set for the trip and could also help with yours.My last cross country ride was back in 2010 on the same bike I plan on using for this ride, a 1975 Moto Guzzi 850-T . I ride this thing all over the place Had it up in the Canadian Maritimes in 2014 for a couple months and many times up to my camp on the Canadian border upstate NY.Riding cross country will be mostly 300 to 400 mile days with breaks in nice places on secondary roads (no or at least very few interstates) .Camping most of the time and avoiding the cities.I know there is someone out there looking to do something like this so if it's you get back.Here are three links to blog posts about the past cross country ride and the ride up to Eastern Canada.Each link is to a specific post.

https://motoguzzi850t.blogspot.com/2015/02/in-my-tent-again.html

https://motoguzzi850t.blogspot.com/2015/02/back-in-usa.html

https://motoguzzi850t.blogspot.com/2015/11/a-post-from-past.html


So, now the search begins and with any luck I won't be doing this ride alone.I will though if there is no one out there but it would be nice to have a riding partner for this one.
 

 Yes ,it's nearing that time again.Time to hit the road.It may be my last chance but somehow I doubt that.I have a feeling I'm going to be wandering on my old Moto Guzzi right up until the end of this life. That's the plan anyway. It's seems such a waste of life to just sit down and retire waiting for the inevitable . I'd much rather fight that myth that age limits your options. There are still so many places and people I want to see.I'm hoping the Covid lets go of it's grip by early summer and travel becomes less difficult .I'll be camping most of the time or even the entire time . It's cheaper and also safer than being in some hotel room where who knows who was sleeping there hours before.Keeping control of your environment is the safest way I can see to travel and besides,I like camping and always seem to meet the greatest people in campsites.They tell me stories of different places where they have been and point me in directions that I may never would have thought of going to , places that I had no idea even existed.This is what I love most about motorcycle travel ,the people I meet.Had the Moto Guzzi out for a nice winter ride the other day.It was a nice warm day with sunshine and temps in the low 50's F .Sure felt good to get out on my old friend. I've been riding this bike for 15 years now.It has become part of me sort of like an extension of my body.I know all it's sounds and little quirks . It talks to me in a language of vibrations and sounds that only a biker can understand.Came home and gave her an oil change.I tried something new,I used Shell Rotella oil .I heard that the diesel engine oils have a higher detergent level and will clean out sludge so I'm trying it and going to do it every 3rd oil change for a while . So, now I feel better ,I am pointed in the direction that I have wanted to be in for quite sometime now . Like before the last really long trip out west I'm starting to focus and take the steps I need to take early on.Last time I made up my mind that the only thing that would stop me from going would be my death . That feeling is starting to build in my mind again.






It all started here on this little Yamaha YDS3 way back in the summer of 1969 as I crossed the country for the first time on a motorcycle .  This was a side of the road photo somewhere in Colorado heading west to LA . I was hooked after that 



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