I am about ready to leave again. Having completed my trip around Europe last September, I am in the process of starting Stage Two of my experiment: the tour across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
I am about ready to leave again. Having completed my trip around Europe last September, I am in the process of starting Stage Two of my experiment: the tour across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

The trip will start in Chicago (arrive on May 20) and end in Denver (leave on September 6). From Chicago I shall go west, likely to come to Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Wyoming, Montana. From there I intend to turn north, into Canada (Alberta, Br. Columbia, Yukon). Then further into Alaska, with the goal to make it to Deadhorse/Prudoe Bay, which would mark the northernmost point of this trip. I have not yet made up my mind about the route south from Anchorage. I am still looking into the possibility of a ferry ride from either Anchorage or Skagway to Vancouver (on the Marine Highway Ferry System).

From Vancouver/Seattle it will be the Route 1 all the way along the west coast down to San Diego and into Baja California, then cross north-western Mexico, back into the U.S.. I shall work my way through Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado toward the final destination, Denver.

"Experiment - Part 2 – planned route"

(Click here for larger map)

So much for the plan. Changes to the route may occur, as I listen to recommendations and/or intuition whichever the case may be. But that will be part of the experiment and I hope that I can let the reader of the blog participate. From the feedback of some of you, I gather that people are more interested to be “close” to what is happening to me (rather than read about it long after its over). Well…some of the problems I had to face during my last trip was the availability of adequate Internet access.

Finding an internet place is one thing, but since I keep my texts and photos on my laptop transferring the data onto the internet computer proved to be “challenging”. In the meantime I have equipment that should allow me to use so-called “hotspots” to access the internet via wireless LAN directly from my laptop. A test-run in Germany suggested that this should work. – Now I only have to find a couple of the 4000plus hotspots, listed on the website of my provider.

In the meantime, the motorcycle has been shipped. I had chosen DHL Danzas in Frankfurt as my shipping agent. Martin Schweizer, Manager Automotive/Motorcycle Div., has been very helpful in the process. We had a great time at the cargo facility of the Frankfurt Airport, putting the BMW 1150 GS on the shipping rack. (I am told the bike would be “star” in a promotion clip for DHL’s bike shipping operations which was to be taped the following day.)

"Martin Schweizer (right) and his crew at the DHL facilities at Frankfurt Airport"

(Click here for a larger version of this picture)

The bike remains largely unchanged compared to last year. I did, however, switch to Touratech aluminium boxes for better use of space a increased “ruggedness”.

Well – that is it for the time being. The next report will be from the U.S.