USA - Canada - Trip Synopsis

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Trip Synopsis:-

The ride was everything we thought it would be and more. It was certainly far better doing it on the Goldwing rather than the VFR1200X, but that was only made possible by the generosity of John and Terry in making it possible to use their Goldwing. The cost of doing the ride on a hire Goldwing would have been over the top and the costs associated with shipping our Goldwing over and back would have been almost as much as the hire. It may have worked for a longer period, but that's for next time. Buying and reselling was considered but without a contact to assist with the purchase we decided not to delay the start by having to wait days to find and purchase when we got there. Other issues involved not having an address for registration and insurance purposes.

Months of planning the route paid off in being able to confidently finalise plans for each day the night before. Although the weather did manage to stop us getting to some of our planned points, that will always happen and we usually had alternative options. We saw most of what we wanted to see although there was a lot more on the list. Time and weather meant we had to pick our priorities. We made a decision early on to try to gain a few days for emergencies and to arrive back a little earlier to spend some time in Fort Langley. That meant a few longer than planned days but that was worth the effort.

The Goldwing performed as Goldwings do, never causing us any problems or delays apart from a couple of minor light issues with accessory wiring. Economical, comfortable and reliable, including through the snow which was an experience for us. Even with the load we had on and travelling almost 18,000 klms, we arrived back in Fort Langley with plenty of life left in the front tyre and a couple of thousand left in the rear, about the same as what we would get back home. I will admit the tyres had lost a lot of their shape and the flat centres took away some of the bikes agility in the curves during the last week or so.

We moteled it all the way and apart from booking accommodation either side of flights before we left Australia, almost all other accommodation was booked 24 hours in advance. Some days when we were attempting to make time, accommodation was booked late in the afternoon with our destination in site. Never a problem getting what we needed. We did get caught at the Grand Canyon though, getting what appeared to be the last room available in the most expensive accommodation.

The roads were great, most in far better condition than ours and of course their major highways were almost all dual lane divided roads making then much safer despite the higher speed limits and reduced enforcement compared to Australia. They certainly know how to move a lot of vehicles across the country. I couldn't say the same for moving vehicles around New York though. We tried to stay off the major roads as often as possible but that was always achieved. The use of the Spot GPS tracker was terrific based on the feedback from those who were following us and we will use it in future. It also proved very useful when it came to writing up the story each night as a reminder of where we had been and being able to align photos with places through timing.

We met and enjoyed the company of quite a few people over the 7+ weeks travelling, especially John and Terry and an unexpected stay with Jack and Linda in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a number of peoplewe met in rest areas, when we found then, and generally just talking to people at various stops.

Well, that is it from me. I have enjoyed the trip and the opportunity to check another life long ambition off the bucket list and to do it with Therese. We have also enjoyed the opportunity to share it with our immediate and extended family and with friends out there, some known, some unknown and some made as part of this trip.

Now to work out how we do Great Britian and Ireland and maybe parts of Europe.....

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