Setting off once more...but on my own this time as the friend who was hoping to travel with me couldn´t make it after all. I´ve always travelled two-up on Thelma and so it will be a very different experience to be solo - particulalry after getting used to dozing off on the back for half the journey!
Becky is now working for an Aid Agency in Sudan for 18 months, while Maggie has got the job of her dreams working for a Housing Association on the West Coast of Ireland - meaning that neither of them could join me. A few brave people have offered to ride parts of the journey with me soI will see how that goes, beginning with Siobhan flying into Anchorage for two weeks of riding.

I had a good send off from the UK, many companies came forward to show their support for me and have given me a lot of the bike gear and equipment that I need - Hein Gericke, Motorcycle City, Sherlock´s, Oxford Products, Michelin Tyres, Aptus Personnel and also Mark Manley in Devon who did a lot of the work in preparing Thelma. I had a great time at the BMF Show three weeks before I left, with a send-off from my fellow members in the GS Club UK - we had over 70 bikes at the show and won the Best Club Turnout Award.

Maps and guidebooks had been purchased. I had wanted to ship directly to Anchorage but this proved a bit of a non-starter due to the prohibitive costs involved $1800 dollars just for Thelma. The next nearest port is Vancouver, and thanks to the shippers, I got a good price on flying myself and Thelma out there. This was a first for Thelma as she has always travelled by boat in the past.