Looking at the counties that we will traverse on the trip, the largest COVID-19 risk areas are within Georgia. We will have access to updated COVID risk data throughout our trip.

We enjoyed a one-day off road training at Fannin County MX Park. The training was a benefit for the Pediatric Cancer Foundation  http://www.pctf-foundation.org. I like that motorcycling clubs and organizations routinely provide community benefits. It is nice to be around generous people. The session also had support from SkyMed.

What was supposed to be a dry run to try out my gear packing strategy, ended up being a wet, wet run. While the weather in Northern Georgia was beautiful, the southern part of the state was very soggy. Always good for learning though. Use your weather app – always. This has been critical on some past trips (even if weather often changes and there are sometimes few alternatives to hunkering down, re-routing, or riding through. I need a better … Read More

The Tour of Honor has released the list of sites for 2020. Cautionary warnings were also provided for addressing the spread of Covid-19. There won’t be any trophies in 2020, but having places to visit is still nice. Keeping all considerations in mind, I visited a couple of sites.

In 2008, my partner, Chad, was deployed to Iraq to support the reconstruction efforts. Probably more than any other time in my life, I gained an appreciation for the sacrifice of military families. I can only surmise what it is like to be deployed, but my first hand experience of being a family member certainly changed my perspectives. Today is National K9 Veterans Day. While our dog Marelize, is not a military K9, she is certainly missed when I travel … Read More

I’ve been adding a few goodies to my bike…. and also looking for another lightweight bike for some off-road adventures. I love the Denali lights – People in cars see me much more clearly. The lights were not as easy to install as I anticipated. While I purchased the V-strom fitment kit, I needed to find another bolt. I followed the installation instructions – had I just jumped in, I would have completed the electrical wiring installation completely before mounting … Read More

I joined the Atlanta ADV Rider’s Meetup for a ride starting from Clayton, GA. The group had a house rented for the weekend with rides for different riding styles. The small(ish) bikes had some challenging rides on Saturday. The Tiger Fall Foliage route provided good riding for both the small(ish) bikes and bikes like mine. I am looking for a good weekend to ride some small bikes at Highland Park and take another trails course at the MSF dirtbike school … Read More

I enjoyed an event previewing the Triumph 2020 models. I was most interested in the new Tiger 900 Rally Range. Sitting on the Tiger, it felt lighter and more nimble than my current bike. I’d like to see the bike kitted out with luggage and feel the differences between the riding modes. The handguards were plastic and the engine guards left a lot of molding unprotected. The Rocket 3 is an impressive machine with a 2458 cc powerplant. Other models … Read More