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Itinerary
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Rocinante's upgrades
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01 New York
02 New England
03 Maine to Midland
04 Midland to Sturgis
05 Indians'n Cowboys
06 British Columbia
07 San Francisco
08 SF to San Diego
09 Baja to Canyons
10 Baja California
11 Northern Mexico
12 Mex. to Guatemala
13 Gua. to Costa Rica
14 CR to S. America
15 Ecuador
16 Peru and Bolivia
17 Chile
18 Patagonia
19 Argentina/Brasil
20 The road home
Conclusion
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Norwegian version


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Itinerary

The Pan American Highway runs from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego close to Cape Horn. It runs more or less uninterrupted, with one exception; The jungle between Panama and Colombia known as the Darien Gap. Only two motorcycles have crossed this stretch of tropical rain forest. We will not be the third.

Rocinante in the Norwegian mountains
The Norwegian mountains, on a cold day on scenic roads, hour after hour alone, surrounded by fabulous autumnal colors.

Our plan is to follow the highway but avoid it as often as possible, meaning we will follow its western path down the continent but zigzag our way on alternative routes, where feasible.

We were in doubt for a long time whether to buy a bike in the States or bring our own with us. Economically it would be smarter to buy the bike over there, but finally we decided to air freight our own bike over. The main reason why was; traveling with Norwegian license plates will hopefully make us welcome wherever we arrive, and it meant we could do all the preparations on the bike at home, and not depend that much on help from friends in the States. I have to add in here that I asked on the Triumph Tiger mailing list if anyone would sell us their Tiger. The response was very good, and particularly Steven Henry from the Michigan area offered us his bike and volunteered to upgrade the bike for us in advance and let me use his garage for the time I needed to prepare the bike, not to mention stay in his house. We are grateful to him and others who volunteered to help us.

We plan to stay about two to three months in USA and Canada, going northwestwards to British Columbia, and end up in California, where we will do possible upgrades on the bike before crossing the border into Mexico. Several people have invited us to their homes and we will try the best we can to incorporate them in our itinerary.

When entering Mexico, where we intend to stay longer than in any other country along the road, we'll head down Baja California, before catching a ferry to the mainland. A northern circle will probably bring us to Copper Canyon, before setting the course southwards, touch the Pacific again, then go east to the Yucatan Peninsula. We have estimated about two to three months in the country, and the itinerary will probably change many times along the road.

Click to enlarge in separate window

Now things start to get unpredictable. We will head further south towards Panama. How far we go before flying to South America with the bike depends on time spent and flying costs.

We might have to go to Venezuela to get a "Libreta de Paso", since as far as we know, this is the only country in the region that issues it. The document is needed to bring the bike into the different countries without paying expensive import taxes. And then again, we might take our chances without the Libreta. If we end up in Venezuela, we'll follow the Andes into Colombia, and further south to Ecuador. We haven't decided whether Colombia is to be considered safe yet, and both of us are a little reluctant at present. But I know we will have an answer ready for our selves some day while in Central America.

Further south we'll enter Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, all the time following a western route that ends up in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, the southern most point on the continent that is accessible with a vehicle.

After Ushuaia, we'll head north again, and again depending on time and money, we end up somewhere, some day, approximately one year after we started. This 'somewhere' might very well be Buenos Aires, because of it's strong connections to Spain, hopefully giving us an opportunity to ship the bike to Madrid at a fair price.

As this short itinerary proves, our plans are vague. We intend to keep them like that, simply because we are not fans of detailed day to day plans that will be abandoned anyway. As the trip progress, we will read about both the region we are in at the moment and the region we're going to next, talk to travelers coming the opposite way, keep an eye on the political situation, and maybe stay longer or shorter in certain areas. The only thing certain, is that the itinerary will be locked after the trip is over.

That's the fun part of travel, leave a little to chance and fate, and maybe get more out of it all. Too much planning creates too much expectation or anticipation, items you should be careful carrying along. They are important, but at their best when balanced out. Also, having a detailed day to day, or even week to week itinerary means we would have to keep track of time, and this trip is, in certain ways, an escape from the tick-tack of the clock,

And, I guess we're trying to be relaxed about it all - although to what extent we have success in this is difficult to say, since my heart beats faster just thinking about the trip. Anyway, it's going to be an interesting, entertaining and exiting year, that's what's important to us.

I think it will be...

...but that's building expectations...

 
 

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