RANT
I TRIED. I really tried, to like WordPress (or Blogspot or whatever)
To Blog or Not to Blog?
RANT
I have tried Blogs in various forms many times through the years. I don’t like any of the programs I have used yet. They are good for quick updates from the road, but I really don’t do that to the public very often.
BIKE CHOICE
This will be an ongoing battle. What to take? Buy there or ship? Nothing is perfect. If you are not starting out with a solid plan, it is even harder. I currently have a 2011 Triumph Tiger 800XC. A good choice for a world tour. Not great, as dealerships are few and far between in some areas, but the world is much smaller these days so a good choice. Except this one has over 70,000 miles on it. More by next year. And it will have experienced 7 New Hampshire winters. There is a lot of rust under the “hood”. With this many hard miles, the bike could not be sold for much. The question then becomes, do I take a high mileage bike, and just dump it if something expensive fails, or do I sell it for practically nothing and buy something expensive, that I will be willing to spend a lot of money to fix? A weird problem.
Continue reading “BIKE CHOICE”How to Follow My Travels and Tribulations
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I will also post links to new posts on my Blog. I have not used this in years, but it is located at www.whereisbobl.com/blog You can sign up for updates through that site.
A Life on the Road, Contemplated
Many people imagine that a life on the road would be awesome. I don’t. I really don’t know how it will be. I have read many stories of people heading off on a world motorcycle tour, or a backpacking/flashpacking adventure, only to find out that life on the road kinda’ sucks. Really. The word travel comes from the Middle English word travail. Travail means a painful or laborious effort. Travail comes from medieval Latin word trepalium which means instrument of torture (hey English majors, don’t contradict me). Yes, travel can be torture. It can also be great. Sometimes at the same time. Many of our most cherished memories of travel are from times when things went horribly wrong.
Continue reading “A Life on the Road, Contemplated”The LIST
After my initial panic, I started looking at all the things I needed to plan. The list was extensive and varied. Some of these things really need to be done well in advance, some can be done later. I will write about these as time goes on.
Just a Sample of the questions I have to answer:
- Which bike to use?
- Where to buy it? Here or at my destination?
- Do I use what I already have?
- How do I register it?
- Do I use a cheap one, or more capable expensive one?
- Do I get multiple bikes, buying and selling as I move along?
- Chain or shaft?
- Tube or tubeless?
- What modifications?
- Where to “live”? How to have a fixed legal address?
- Where Start?
- What route
- What seasons?
- Camp or Hotel?
- Carnet?
- Insurance?
- How do I get rid of stuff?
- Where to I store stuff that I don’t get rid of?
- Computer or Tablet or Smart Phone?
The questions never stop. My list will be a mile long in no time. And these are questions for before I leave. What about as I am travelling? What about when I am “done” if that means anything.
I will keep you all informed as time goes on.
Vagabond?
I guess the first order of business is what to call myself, or how to refer to myself once I retire. Calling myself Homeless, while correct is probably insulting to those unfortunate people that are not homeless by choice. A Hobo is usually considered a migrant worker, wandering around looking for a job. I don’t plan to work. A Tramp works only when forced to, which could be me, but I don’t plan on being forced to work. A Bum fits the not working at all part, but it suggests being poor and lazy, I am not poor. Well, not yet anyway. A Pensioner does not do my travels justice. A Wanderer conjures up that song “The Wanderer”, then I can’t get it out of my head.
Lets try out Vagabond:
noun: vagabond: a person who wanders from place to place without a home or job.
adjective: having no settled home.
verb: wander about as or like a vagabond.
Well, that works. It doesn’t hurt that a friend of mine runs the website VagabondJourney.com and that I have started, but not yet finished the book A Vagabond Journey Around the World (1910) by Franck.
OK. It’s settled, I will refer to myself as a Vagabond, until such time as I don’t.
PANIC
I will retire in the summer of 2018. Although I had been planning my retirement for 30 plus years, I had not finalized any details. Life throws you curve balls so my initial planning changed over time, but my plans had always included wandering the world by motorcycle, just not solo.
One day in the summer of 2017, while telling people of my impending retirement, I realized that I had not really made any true plans. I did not have the exact date I would leave the office. I planned on becoming homeless and wandering the world in some fashion on a bike, but I did not know where I would start, what bike I would use, or which areas I would hit when. I started to panic. Then I started doing something.
This Blog is all about that.