Monday, 24 December 2012

MERRY CHRISTMAS from ALTA, NORWAY.

<p>
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilKsvB5_bg1s_3wTFpAc71HR1WaqOzSgBchBtIF9Xb3R9hL-YbugPH-iHt8KGi9ZUNAeZ-kdXXapO5_AP1nVX8LJ2P_fWZI9N8kf1e36EMyPocnt15wosLcfQXy8UvIYwnzZXANp_Qf6TQ/s800/BMW+Klovsjon+Sweden+Dec+2012-.jpg" width="240" alt="BMW+Klovsjon+Sweden+Dec+2012-.jpg" /></p><p>Long nights and even longer days.&l...

Thursday, 13 December 2012

Mexico – Warum in die Ferne schweifen...





Arriving in Guanajuato put us one step closer to meeting Katie, our volunteer coordinator from the Muskoka Foundation   http://www.dogoodasyougo.org/  We’d been talking with her for a while prior to gett...

Guanajuato

We are really enjoying our extended time in Guanajuato.   We arrived just over a week ago dropping into the mountain city from route 57 through a national forest with awesome twisty roads and miles sweeping vistas.  Motorcycle Travel Overland - Read the full article here!

“Can I see your documents please Sir” The  Ecuadorian Customes Officer asked in Spanish. “Si claro” I responded . I  opened my document wallet. Hmm now where are they.  ”No seriously where are they? I had them yesterday!…..Uh oh !!”,


The of...

Friday, 7 December 2012

A Note on Ecuadorian Dogs

A Note on Ecuadorian dogs.


If I was to describe Ecuador from a motorcyclists perspective  I would call it the land of unfriendly dogs and nice mountains.

Of course there is far more to this magnificent country than this, however these...

Monday, 3 December 2012

DoGoodAsYouGo.org

So, when we started thinking about this adventure trip, doing some volunteer work along the way is something that came to mind. Doing research Gaila and I found an organization called The Muskoka Foundation. Motorcycle Travel Overland - Read the full article here!











"STILL IN STROMSUND"



So our next stop was Ecuador and what a pleasant surprise Ecuador turned out to be. But we had a rather insalubrious introduction to Ecuador and the only one thing I could complain about Ecuador was about the dogs, but i will get to that later.

Sunday, 2 December 2012

Mexiko - Tequila, Tacos und Topes





by Ana, Romania pics courtesy to Ana’s mum. Romanian version to come soon.


It may not shelter us from the humming storm and it may break sometimes in the middle of a swamp, but when we’re keen to go off the beaten track, t...

Wednesday, 28 November 2012

Day One, Phase Three – Mexico!

OK, for all the family and friends that were worried – you can take at least one breath as we are fine. Getting into Mexico through the new border crossing just south of Mission TX was a good experience for Gaila and I. Not only did we not have to de...

Mexico Eve

Finally!  It’s Mexico Eve, we’re parked in a motel near the border crossing at Mission, TX getting all our documents in order and prep’n for an early morning crossing.

With my ear infection and some necessary repairs to Tad’s bike (new brake rotor...

Sunday, 25 November 2012

1000 days ago today…

…I left Johannesburg in South Africa, to ride my bike around the world…


After 997 days of traveling, visiting 102 countries on 6 continents; reaching the most northern and southern tip of 5 of those continents; and covering over 200 000 km ...

Monday, 19 November 2012

USA – Über den Highway No. 1 Richtung Mexiko

 

STOCKHOLM to NORDKAPP.......PT II.


RECAP.


I arrived in Cartagena Colombia a bustling beautiful town by the sea famous for its fortified walls built to protect the wealthy port from pirates and later to defend it’s position against the British and Americans.

Ear infection diagosed by the 4th Stooge

For the first time on this trip, I am sick.   We have been staying at Tad’s dad’s house in Orange, TX for a few days planning and getting prepared for entering Mexico.   I woke up Thursday Nov 15th with slightly swollen glands around my ri...

Thursday, 15 November 2012

Tough Miles Blog 17: Mainland Mexico



Motorcycle Travel Overland - Read the full article here!










After a short but emotional farewell, I boarded the boat that would take me to Provo, to catch my direct flight to Newark in New Jersey… The fact that Patricia and I would be separated for the next four months did not sit well with us, and telling ou...

Wednesday, 7 November 2012

USA – Abwechslung pur in Californien

 

Through the jungle in Nepal

Motorcycle Travel Overland - Read the full article here!



 

Pete here:
After leaving San Fran, Los Angeles was the next major stop but not before a nights camp in Big Sur. We’d heard rumo...

ICEBAR STOCKHOLM

 
We met some cool couples from Australia at the 2012 Overland Expo in Arizona this past May.  Brian & Val (traveling the US for 9 months) and Bjoern...

Thursday, 18 October 2012

Sunday, 14 October 2012

O tura de placere/ Romanian Joyride

Romania 02 - 31/08

A durat ceva sa ne dam seama de asta, dar acum e clar: traversarea Zairului a fost momentul in care ne-am ‘shiftat’. Depanand amintiri din Congo cu Alper in Curtea de Arges, ne-am dat seama ca experienta asta co...

Sunday, 7 October 2012

7/10/2012


Today we mark 2 years since disaster hit right on the day we were set to go conquer Africa. Surgery, mo...

COPENHAGEN and RIDE AWAY CANCER

Ride Away Cancer.

Murph, Daniil Novikov and his Mum at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen Denmark.

Daniil is there to receive a bone marrow transplant to combat his Leukemia.

I went to Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen on a whim, well, not really a whi...

USA - Utah rocks!

 

Thursday, 4 October 2012

The Roads End in Panama

After San Vito Costa Rica I headed straight for Panama. At this stage I was only focusing on how I would get across the Darien Gap to Colombia so I wasn’t planning on staying in Panama too long.

Despite what people may think about the mythical Pan...

Stress: Looking Back…and Ahead…!!

In recent times, I have been in what we refer to back in South Africa, as a “flat spin”…!!


It is a term coined to describe people who don’t quite know whether they are “coming or going”; people who seem to be living in a dream world, while ...

Tuesday, 2 October 2012

Return to Paradise…and “Home”…

After our whirlwind tour of South Africa, we are back on Parrot Cay, and the place that I guess will be my home for the foreseeable future…
The differences and the changes you experience when driving from Leh to Delhi could not possibly be bigger – the culture, the landscape, the living standard – everything changes on this route. There are deserts, glaciers and subtropical forests, unin...

Sunday, 30 September 2012

Whistler to Seattle



Pete here:
Returning to a place for the second time on the same trip is the close...

Outdoor Motorbike Cover – BMW GS Adventure

Outdoor Motorcycle Cover for a BMW GS Adventure Motorcycle: Review


Finding an indoor or outdoor motorbike cover which will fit a BMW GS Adventure motorcycle or just a BMW GS ...

RIDE AWAY CANCER and the Road to RUSSIA.

 
What’s Next?

Such a simple question. One that rattles around in my brain in various forms often. But to give credit where it is due I will thank Neil Peart of RUSH fame and his book Traveling Music: The Soundtrack to My Life and T...

Tuesday, 18 September 2012

Newfoundland – Add it to your bucket list.

Don’t ask why it should be on your bucket list, just add it.  Now.  And be sure you come in the summer. 
Motorcycle Travel Overland - Read the full article here!
Having left my bank card in Nicaragua I needed a safe place to send my card to. I had briefly met a girl called Jenny Xie in Lago Atitlan Guatemala who worked in San Vito Costa Rica. This was my only contact in Costa Rica so I arranged to have my car...

Ronnie and Patricia’s Wedding Photos…

Patricia and I have been inundated with messages of congratulations and goodwill, for all of which we are sincerely grateful… We have decided to share an assortment of our wedding day photos with the many thousands of people who have followed my expl...

Saturday, 15 September 2012

Do We Look Nervous…??



With just two hours to go, here are a few photos of us this morning….

Motorcycle Travel Overland - Read the full article here!
I was up early this morning to greet this new and auspicious day…

I stood on the beach watching the sun come up and making wishes that were carried away on the early morning breeze that was coming off the Atlantic Ocean…

Motorcycle Travel Overland - Read the full article here!
The last week has been more than a little hectic…

I have been swamped at times by tides of emotion that have had me upbeat one moment and down the next…!!

I have been trying to deal with the fact that my long journey around the world is almost ...

Wednesday, 12 September 2012

Tough Miles Blog 11: Vancouver to Alaska



Jon here:
We arrived in Vancouver at 1am on the 8th August, narrowly escaping a h...

#70 History repeating itself: Banos, Tena Quito

Jon here: Day 94 of the trip. Having ridden through Europe, Russia, Mongolia and South Korea it was finally time for Tough Miles to hit up the USA. With the bikes onboard a container ship somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Pete and I took ...

CANADA - Ab in den Süden

 



Oh Canada, our beloved northern neighbor, whose residents LOVE their Tim Horton’s (their version of Starbucks) more than sliced bread.  Oh, if they only knew a real coffee shop.  You won’...

Tuesday, 4 September 2012

A Wild Night

Please forgive the formatting in advance!  I can’t figure out this iPad Safari WordPress experience!!!  If someone wants to tell me how to get the WP iOS app to connect to www.overlandnow.com you would be my hero…………

So exactly how many times in y...

Monday, 3 September 2012

A Quickening of the Pulses…!!

September has finally arrived…!! And with it the confirmation that this month has and always will be, a very special one for me…
(Para leer in Espanol- abrir in Google Chrome y clic “Traducir esta pagina”

So I had been scrimping on tyres a bit, hoping to make it to Colombia where I would fit out my bike for the next leg of the journey.  But in doing that I had left myself e...

Saturday, 1 September 2012

Tough Miles Blog 9: South Korea.

 

Passport found, Canada bound!

Funny how Plan B’s turn into Plan C’s.  Tad found his passport after 2 days diversion to Detroit.  The night before our appoin...

Getting the Boot

If you read the ‘Passport Found’ blog, you’re may be wondering about how we managed to get kicked out of a friend’s house – thought it was worthy of noting.  This was one hellofa strange encounter.

We had visions of meeting a lot of people on this...

49 years and counting…

 

Motorcycle Travel Overland - Read the full article here!
The week I have already spent here, seems to have passed by in a flash…!!

Motorcycle Travel Overland - Read the full article here!
Turcia/ Turkey – Bulgaria - Romania 30/07 - 02/08



Ca de obicei cand ne-a placut un loc, am stat la taclale pana tarziu, desi a doua zi aveam de taiat Turcia de-a l...

Saturday, 25 August 2012

Nicaraqua to Costa Rica

My first stop in Nicaragua was a city called Leon.
Leon is an extremely important city in Nicaragua famed for its part in the initiation of revolutions and revolutionary leaders. It is a very politically orientated city.
The day I arrived happened ...

Tuesday, 21 August 2012

USA/CANADA - Pech und Pannen auf legendären Highways

 

USA/Canada - Video Alaska-Yukon

 



Turcia/ Turkey 28 - 30/07


Pe la jumatatea diminetii celei de-a patra zi de cand suisem la bordul navei, nu mai eram singuri pe mare. Mediterana parea neschimbata, dar...

Sunday, 19 August 2012

Plan B

Sitting on deck of our hotel on the shores of beautiful Lake Huron, I can’t complain with the spectacular view of the lake and fabulous sunshine beaming down on us.

Motorcycle Travel Overland - Read the full article here!

...

Seven States, Two Days…!!

There is not a heck of a lot to see in the mid-west, until you want to take in an agricultural museum in every small town you pass through…!!

I have covered just over  1 800 km in the last two days, riding in or through seven states…

Motorcycle Travel Overland - Read the full article here!
Motorcycle Travel Overland - Read the full article here!
There are literally dozens of posts that I still need to complete, or make a start on…!!

Most of them are from my arrival in Canada, through to our epic ride to Alaska and back…

I will use this post to begin filling in the gaps, and once the po...

#69 Mating Season in Puerto Lopez

We have covered a little over 2 500 km since leaving Cochrane and the last four days have been amazing…!!

I am busy with a detailed post about today’s ride from Keystone in South Dakota, to Ainsworth in Nebraska…!!

Motorcycle Travel Overland - Read the full article here!
I have covered almost 1 400 km in the last two days, riding from Cochrane in Canada, to Cody in Wyoming…

Full updates on my rides will follow, but for now, just a few words and photos to keep you in the loop…

Motorcycle Travel Overland - Read the full article here!
I left Guatemala City and headed towards the El Salvador border. I decided to make towards the Pacific Coast border crossing down south.

I rode into the border  town of Ciudad Pedro de Alvarado. Immediately on my arrival I am greeted by a guy aske...

Milestones…

The Big Fella and I have both just achieved some minor milestones… Relatively speaking, that is…!!

Today marks the 900 th day since I set out on my journey around the world…!! I can hardly believe it has been so long… Some days it feels as though ...

A twist in the road, literally….

A lot has happened since our last update.  We made it to the Haas family reunion in Lake of Ozarks, Missouri (which is one of the reasons this whole ye...

Saturday, 11 August 2012

#68 25,000 kilometres - Reece

Trebuie sa spunem asta de la inceput: am mers repede. Ne-a fost greu uneori sa tinem pasul, emotional si cultural vorbind, atunci cand tara in care ne aflam era alta uneori la saptamana. Ruta Est se spune ca e cea ‘usoara’. Partial pentru ca o poti f...

The “Back to You…” Ride”…

I have spent the last three days resting up and being very well looked after by my friends Vince and Gabriella Ricci, who have gone out of their way to ensure that I remain both well-fed and lubricated, and taking just as much care of the Big Fella… ...

Thursday, 9 August 2012

Cele o mie si unul de pacate egiptene/ The Thousand And One Egyptian Sins

Faptul ca Siria e o baie de sange ne-a anulat planurile de a traversa Orientul Mijlociu catre Asia. Singura iesire din Africa - un continent la care ne gandim foarte serios ca la p potentiala destinatie de viitor - este fie prin vest (Libia, Tunisia,...

Wednesday, 8 August 2012

USA - Alaska, Gletscher, Berge, Wälder und...

 

Saturday, 4 August 2012

MURPH'S MOBEC DUO-DRIVE BMW 2WD SIDECAR CONVERSION................Part 4


Cairo 19 - 24/07/2012

In ‘Povestea vraciului evreu’ din cele ‘O mie si una de nopti’ (care au fost scrise in Cairo, si nu in Bagdad) apare acest fragment: ‘Cel care nu a vazut Cairo, nu a cunoscut lumea: pamantul ei e de aur, Nilul ei min...

Tuesday, 31 July 2012

Pe Valea Nilului si de-a lungul Marii Rosii/ The Nile Valley And The Red Sea Coast

Egypt 17 - 19/07/2012


Dupa cum anuntam intr-un ‘fast forward’, dupa cele mai dezgustatoare negocieri si dupa ce am cotizat substantial la bugetul de Ramadan al mafiei d...

Captivi in Purgatoriul calatorilor/ Trapped In Travel Purgatory

Egypt, Aswan 11 - 17/07/2012

Ziua 398 din calatorie. Ajungeam in fata ‘Gaurii de sosire’ (sic!) in Egipt, dar cu mai bine de doua milenii intarziere. Egiptul antic era demult istorie, lasand mostenire civilizatiilor urmatoare comori nepre...

Desertaholics

Sudan 06 - 11/07/2012


Sunt locuri in lume unde, din cauza climatului extrem, masuratorile meteo pot fi facute numai cu sateliti NASA. Asa arata topul celor mai ridicate...

Sunday, 29 July 2012

Lalibela te ingenuncheaza/ Lalibela - Assume Bedazzled Position

Din cauza masivului Mt.Yosef de 4190 de m, Lalibela nu pare ca s-ar afla la 2630 de m altitudine. 8 secole dupa de regele Lalibela din dinastia Zagwe a visat sa fondeze aici un al doilea Ierusalim, acest indepartat orasel ethiopian isi implineste, in...

Planeta Ethiopia / Planet Ethiopia

Ethiopia 28/06 - 06/07/2012


Avem un sentiment minunat de fiecare data cand aerul este ‘nou’, cum spune Yusuke. Entuziasm, dar si teama naturala de necunoscut. In ...

South to Anchorage…

After spending a day on my own to rest my ankle and do some writing, I left Fairbanks this morning and rode down towards Denali National Park, to hook up with the Prudhoe Posse again…

They had ridden the 200 km down there yesterday and had planned...

CANADA/USA - Video zum Blog Auf nach Alaska

 



 



So, after 3 & 1/2 months Gaila and I will be taking a break from our respective bikes – Lucille and Sassy Pants for a bit of non-motorcycle fun.  I will be fishing with college buddies in Canada – North of Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) and Ga...

Deep in the Heart of Texas

*** Old post that we never updated…so here it is :-)

Hi all.  Yes it has been awhile since our last update.  Sorry about that.  Both the mil...

Wednesday, 25 July 2012

Hillbillys and GS Giants

We were happy to arrive at the GS Giants rally after spending a couple waterfront nights in Arkansas at Ouachita Lake (pronounced Wash-ta). 
Motorcycle Travel Overland - Read the full article here!
I had developed some combustion problems simlilar to what I had been experiencing when my air filter was clogged up.

I stopped into Honda in Guatemala city to see if I could pick one up. After speaking to a few people the word started to get aroun...

ALASKA…!! The Last Frontier…

fter a long ride from Vancouver, we finally crossed the border into Alaska today…

Thursday, 19 July 2012

Smal towns rock

Small towns are almost always a better stop than larger ones.  Mostly because they’re usually a more scenic ride to get to them, but also the likelihood of something out of the ordin...

Louisiana!

Ever notice the smell of the Earth?   If I could bottle the scent, I think I’d name it Louisiana.  It’s hot, it’s humid (understatement) and buried in lush green vegetation and endle...

The Road North…

I am a long way north of the last post I was able to write about…

And much as happened since then… But finding the time to write and do justice to the people I have met and the places I have visited is proving too difficult for me…

Motorcycle Travel Overland - Read the full article here!
Kenya 10 - 27/06/2012


Multumim d-lor politisti, pentru ca ne lasati sa intram. A 20-a frontiera africana trecuta fara carnet de passage si fara probleme, de o motociclet...

Tuesday, 17 July 2012

A Visit to the Cult of Maximon, San Andres Iztapa

In Guatemala there exists the very strange Cult of Maximon. Maximon or San Simon is a mixture of ancient Mayan religious practices and Catholicism. Legend has it that while the men of the village were working in the fields Maximon slept with thier wi...

Natron Schmatron


Tanzania 08 - 10/06/2012

Ne intorceam sa ne recuperam motocicleta de unde plecasem cu doar cateva zile in urma, in fata cladirii in ruina a vechii vami din Bagamoyo

We had returned to pick up our motorbike to the crumbling ol...

MURPH'S MOBEC DUO-DRIVE BMW 2WD SIDECAR CONVERSION................Part 3

  
Motorcycle Travel Overland - Read the full article here!
Tanzania 08 - 10/06/2012

Ne intorceam sa ne recuperam motocicleta de unde plecasem cu doar cateva zile in urma, in fata cladirii in ruina a vechii vami din Bagamoyo

We had returned to pick up our motorbike to the crumbling old cust...

Thursday, 12 July 2012

Planning for an Adventure Motorcycling Trip

Planning for an Adventure Motorcycling Trip.

Here is a video which introduces the idea of planning for an adventure motorcycling trip. Not one of our most exciting videos but informative none the less and it covers essential feedb...

Wednesday, 11 July 2012

Sleeping on top of Volcan de San Pedro Atitlan

Lago de Atitlan has been described by Aldous Hulxley as the most beautiful lake in the world. Surrounded my mountains on all sides with 3 volcanoes overlooking it it certainly is breath taking. Dotted around the lake a...

Bike Update – Guatemala

Bike update.

I have put the bike through some really punishing stuff over the last few weeks. Lots of muck and a couple of hundred miles over very rough and rocky roads. I have riden through tropical jungle areas, through beautiful alpine environm...

Golden Gate to Fort Bragg…

The Golden Gate Bridge… Another iconic landmark that I wanted to ride the Big Fella onto and over…

Motorcycle Travel Overland - Read the full article here!


We made it to the Gulf of Mexico a couple days ago at Galvaston, Texas.   Clearly a beach meca for many, but it’s certainly no CanCun although the weather might suggest otherwise.  T...

Announcement – Call for Assistance

Call for Assistance

I have decided I want to auction my bike off at the end of the trip to raise money for a yet to be named charity and possibly to undertake some other fund raising activities or ventures. The auction of the bike will come with s...

Tuesday, 3 July 2012

Totul e mai fain in Zanzibar/ Everything Is Better In Zanzibar

Zanzibar 03 - 07/06/2012

Primavara Araba e in toi, iar piata locurilor de munca in arhitectura trece prin epoca glaciara. La 20 de mile nautice de coasta estica a Tanzaniei, intr-un golf din Zanzibar, Fatuma, in varsta de 36 de ani, s-a t...

Sunday, 1 July 2012

Honda Cub does the desert road to Aqua Verde Mexico

This video was recorded on 20th of Feburary 2012. My map showed a dirt road leading off through the desert to a seculed beach called Aqua Verde, the opposite direction from La Paz Mexico my intented destination. I flipped a coin to decide. The coin s...

Stories from Iran

Many things are different here – very different. Even after three weeks in this country, we have not comprehended many things. But we want to tell you about some particularities, that have surprised us, or that are very characteristic.

1. ...

Los Padres to Santa Barbara…

Although the ride today was only a short one, it was made through a testing section of the Los Padres National Forest…  Over a hundred kilometres of tight, twisting road, that curled up steep inclines and dipped into deep valleys…

The road had no ...

Saturday, 30 June 2012

Murph's Broken Laptop......



Another long and especially hot day in the saddle…!!

Visited the Hoover Dam and met two amazing guys on their Harley’s… Ed Rieken and Dain Chapman, who hail from Tennessee, are riding their bikes around the southern states… What makes them remarka...

Adventure Motorcycling – The FINAL CUT Pt 1 – S. America

Adventure Motorcycling Video highlights from the big trip as we arrived in Colombia, then headed south to the tip of South America to Tierra Del Fuego in Argentina.

Very difficult to summarise 4 months into three minutes but we have managed to cap...

Friday, 29 June 2012

Iran – first impressions and the border

We are in Iran now since 15 days, and we are already so full of new experiences and stories, it is hard to summarize everything.  Iran is definitely completely different from the picture the media draw of it in western countries. All people we have m...

The Rocky Road to Lanquin Guatemala

The last few days have been some of the most inspiring and most fulfilling days I have spent on my trip so far. Spending the night sleeping on the steps of the temple in the Gran Palaza in Tikal was a very special and unique experience followed by ge...

It’s “Grand”, alright…!!

Our first real ride in the U.S.A. has been a memorable one… We covered 820 km and spent twelve hours on the road…

I will update this post in the days to come, but in the mean time, here are a few pics of the highlight of our day…

Motorcycle Travel Overland - Read the full article here!

No Victory at BMW, Phoenix…!!

In my experience, it is not often that BMW “drops the ball”, but in the case of Victory BMW of Phoenix, Arizona, they exhibited the worst case of “butter-fingers” I have yet experienced…!!

On this trip, I have made use of BMW Motorrad’s services i...

Wednesday, 27 June 2012

My Night at the Ancient Mayan City of Tikal

After I heard there was an outside chance of sleeping in the amongst the temples and ruins of the ancient Mayan city of Tikal I decided I had to do it. I had met a French Canadian girl called Paola and she explained that if you gave the guards a slip...

Friday, 15 June 2012

Ditch the cigarette lighter

On the left, cigarette-lighter outlet: plastic body and lock ring, guar ... http://p.ost.im/p/evVxSR

Namibia to Botswana

Tsumkwe to DobeWe knewthere was a road, and we had heard that it shoul ... http://p.ost.im/p/evuSsb

Back to School. Again!

Buenos dias Senora y Senor! El Lunes, Martes, Miercoles y Jueves estamo ... http://p.ost.im/p/evH8MT

Tanzania

15/6/12 Mwanza Tanzania Total KMS travelled so far: 18,417 TANZANIA Cro ... http://p.ost.im/p/eva8LV

Kenia I

Ondertussen zijn wij aangeland in Nairobi, de hoofdstad van Kenia. Wij ... http://p.ost.im/p/evmAVd

Galapagos Cruise – Day 8: Turtle Bay, Santa Cruz

We had to be packed up and ready to go first thing in the morning as we ... http://p.ost.im/p/evvpTn