Me & My Bike Ready for Darkest Africa

Lunch Time in Central Africa Dry Roll & Lemon juice

Me Standing on The Equator in Africa

Tony's Introduction to Our American Trip

I'd been expecting the call for a while now and had been quietly hoping that it'd come sooner rather than later.

"Tony ,i'm down in Capetown on Wednesday and wondered whether we could meet for an hour or so to discuss a couple of matters?"

Sounded ominous but i had an idea of what it might be about. It was my latest "boss" from Jo'burg and we'd recently virtually completed the latest multi billion property development over the past 4 years. The recession was looming and not much chance of any similar large scale developments in the forseeable future.

"OK i'm available Wednesday so let's get together"

I'd been hoping for an offer on a retrenchment package for a while now and had felt for some time that the possibility might arise due to the extremely "Jo'burgcentric" nature of our property development division(25 Jo'burgers and one lone "old" Capie).

I'd been dreaming for some time now of a biking trip through Europe for my wife, Cheryl and myself whilst we were still fairly fit and able.

Not a massive challenge but something which Cheryl could easily handle, and where we could occasionally "pig out" in luxury.

I was pretty excited at the prospect and couldn't wait till next Wednesday to find out the subject matter of our forthcoming meeting.

"Look Tony we've decided to concentrate our future efforts from Jo'burg and would need to look at potentially placing you back within the property fund, unless of course you'd prefer us to work out some sort of package to simply walk off into the sunset"

Yes!It was Wednesday and I couldn't believe my luck .I was 53 and that dream of an early retirement with unlimited motorcycling was becoming a reality. The only question that remained was "the package".

I'd been with the company through two takeovers over the past nine years and had completed various successfull developments so the package, as it turned out was more than i could have hoped for.

In the first year after leaving in 2006 I  spent a very busy time setting up a self catering establishment within  a block of four upmarket apartments in a security estate. We'd never done any such thing before now but i was residing in the one and decided that the only way to exclude full time "problem" tenants in the other three was to look at this potential.

By the second year the guesthouse was up and running and i'd managed to obtain a four star grading. Things were running smoothly and retirement was still looking good. However I still hadn't got round to our "trip".I'd managed a number of wonderfull week long and 2 week long bike rides through Namibia,the Karoo,"Die Hel",Baviaanskloof. The sort of trips that most offroad enthusiasts manage to complete,but nothing epic. Somehow "life" had happened on the way and conspired to prevent the progress of our plans to travel through Europe.

Cheryl's arthritis had taken a turn for the worse.My Mother,who'd been ill with cancer for a while now, began to deteriorate. My kids,both around 30 now, started popping out grandchildren (i'm not complaining)and time simply passed, as it does!

Then ,toward the end of 2008,whilst i was mucking around on the BMW Motorraad site there was the opportunity i'd been waiting for:

"Hi looking for partnersto join me on a trip 2011 January to June from Punta Arenas in South America to Alaska North America.

I ride GS1150 ADVENTURE ,semi-retired,fairly fit,must be able to ride,slowing and taking in the sites.Visiting Machu Picchu,walking Inca trail and doing some mountain bike trails as well"

Here was the chance i'd been waiting for. I had no idea at this juncture of what the trip might entail ,or the type of roads and distaces that might be encountered on such a trip but i was in!

I e-mailed Lindsay telling him that i was interested and drove the same bike as him (this ,in biking circles is a dead cert to gain immediate acceptance-the same bike!).Ideally we needed the buy in from a couple more riders in order to secure a container and to "dilute" the cost of transporting the bikes across to Buenos Aires with all our "stuff" in it.

The trip was to be around 6 months to justify such a long one (by a quick calculation close to 40 000kms) and there  would be very little we could plan till at least two others had committed.

One year later(2009) and still no one crazy enough to consider a 6 month trip away from home. Our idea had been to target "old farts" like ourselves as they'd probably be the only category with that sort of time(and money) available to go through with such a long trip.

In March 2009 Lindsay phoned me one morning.

“Hey Tony have a look at the the latest, March edition of BIKE SA,page 142!”

It had to be something about someone doing a similar trip to ours or perhaps a new offroad machine.

I beetled down to the local SPAR and opened to page 142.Something about scooters??

Perhaps Lindsay had got the wrong magazine or page number?.

I paged through out of interest in what had become one of my favourite magazines and there it was on page 148:

A full pager :

“TWO BIKERS WANTED FOR A TRIP THROUGH AMERICAS & ALASKA” followed by a couple of mugshots of the two of us and a brief description of the trip and a request for “two more guys of similar age-young sixty-ish(???)—with a lifestyle to take off 6 months to do the trip”

This should do the trick! Lindsay had managed to convince the editor(a personal friend of his)to include a “plug” to hopefully attract some interest

Sure enough within a week or two we had a couple of potential takers:

~STAN HARRIS : An eccentric 64 year old who frequently spends his time traversing wastelands and desert territory on his stock,standard mountain bike for weeks on end accompanied only by his trusty little short wave receiver attached to the handlebars. Also an avid motorcycle collector ,including 3 old Vincents housed with the others in a warehouse at his smallholding in Plett.

He should do!

Then,a week or two later, another response from a Marco Sanders. A Capetown (Somerset West actually).Also sxty-ish!

We arranged to meet briefly at a local shopping centre at Somerset West to “suss” each other out and to establish that we were all serious, as four was really the point at which we could arrange a full 20’ container allowing us to chuck in our panniers, camping equipment ,bike gear etc. and obviating he need to pack our bikes into woden custom made crates.

Stan (whom Lindsay and I had met very briefly in Plett) turned out to be just the type of character we needed on the trip. Gregarious, open and just a really nice guy who probably would compliment Lindsay and myself on such a trip.

Lindsay (the initiator) was a great guy who only talked when he had something to say & would make sense most of the time.

Stan had related his entire life history within an hour or two of meeting and I fitted somewhere in between the two. Pretty talkative, but not saying much of importance most of the time.

Marco seemed to be a pretty serious guy (also in his early sixtys) who was in fact leaving a couple of days later to Europe to do a two month motorcycling trip through Italy. As it turned out he appeared to be the only one of the group who had extensive mechanical experience. What a bonus!

None of the rest of us had much clue regarding the technical aspects of our pride and joy.

Not much of a problem really if you’re riding a BMW!

It appeared that we were all in!

During the subsequent weeks we each placed a deposit to indicate our serious intent,and planning finally began. Slowly at first, investigating the container costs to Buenos Aires and flights around the middle of January (on the tail end of the “DAKAR”)

The idea was to arrive around the 10^th in time to hopefully take in the last couple of legs of this epic race before we began our journey.

We booked for a flight from Capetown on 9^th January and organized a container which, hopefully would arrive a day or two before us on 7^th/8^th.

As South Africans three of us had Visas to consider and began with the American one followed by the Canadian and Panamanian visas. Marco ,as a Dutch citizen (nobody’s perfect) had no such problems.They apparently allow Dutchmen into anyplace,go figure.

From six months prior to departure my list of “TO DO’s” grew and became ever larger.

The more I read on the subject the more the magnitude of our intended trip became apparent.

I’d read virtually every book I had managed to lay my hands on ,on the subject of overland travel riding a dual purpose bike.To be honest I’d yet to find one which gave an errant motorcycle traveler comprehensive information in the subject.

Nothing appeared to be available listing ,not only the jist of the amazing experience of such travel,but also an account of what to take,and not to take. What to eat,and not to eat. Which tools and spare parts would be most usefull. Costs of meals,food,fuel,booze etc.

The last one I’d read by a South African Gideon van Oudtshoorn had brought home the extent of the challenges that faced us. Gideon had completed virtually the same route as we’d anticipated taking. Through Patagonia to Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of South America. From there up the west coast ,into Chile and through Peru ,Ecuador & Colombia. Across by ferry to Panama and then up through Central America & Mexico into the USA.

Up the west coast of the USA to Canada, Alaska and then back down to Vancouver in Canada to finally ship our bikes back and return home 6 months later.

A distance which would , in all likelihood amount to close to 40000 km in all.

His experiences as a lone traveler made me happy that we were to be a party of four or more.(we still had space for one or two more bikes in the container)

I felt that many of his experiences could have been a bit easier with the advantage of assistance from fellow travelers. Not to mention the company on the way.

“The long way Round” and “Long way down “were great books which I’d read a couple of times and enjoyed immensely, but they’d been carried out with a support vehicle which had transported much of their spares, tools, gear etc. and their appendix of equipment was far too comprehensive for us to consider. We would be keeping spares etc. down to a bare minimum.

Fortunately we were to comprise (at this stage) of 2 x 1150 GSA’s and 2 x AFRICA TWINS. There should therefore be no need to duplicate most essential items.

In August we decided that ,with barely 4 months to go till our bikes were shipped to Buenos Aires, it was time to get together to check whether everyone was on track with the myriad details whch would need to be finalized within the next few months till our own departure on 9^th January 2011.

Stan had recently gone “under the knife” for a routine op on a suspected hernia as a precaution for our upcoming journey. Unfortunately it had not been as straightforward as he’d expected and had resulted in a complication requiring a further visit to the theatre within a few days of the first.

He seemed to be recovering so we arranged to meet halfway between Capetown and Plettenburg bay.

We met at Barrydale for lunch on what turned out to be a glorious winters day and ran through the list of “to do’s” for Stan’s benefit.(Stan was constantly remarking that there wasn’t a hell of a lot to do really and that he’d simply take along the same “kit” as he normally took on his bicycle trips?)

Both Lindsay and I had news for him as we’d been actively pursuing our ever growing “lists “ for some time now including:

~INTERNATIONAL DRIVERS LICENCE

~MEDICAL INSURANCE

~MARINE INSURANCE

~CARNETS

~VARIOUS VISA’s (CANADA,USA,PANAMA)

~CHARGERS AND RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES

~COPIES OF DOCS

~WATER PURIFIERS

~TOOLS/SPARES

~COMPRESSOR

~MEDICAL SHOTS FOR TYPHOID/RABIES/HEPATITUS/CHOLERA/YELLOW FEVER

~MALARIA MEDICATION

~COOKING EQUIPMENT

~CURRENCY

These were just a few of the issues that needed to be finalised within the next few months. The medical shots alone would take place over a period of two months in order to space them appropriately.

We departed Barrydale with a pretty good idea that we were on track and that we’d simply need to keep reminding Stan to sort one or two of the items on the list each day.

Our next and probably final meeting before our departure would be to secure our bikes and accessories into the container around the corner from my place at a warehouse in Montagu Gardens around 20^th December. The bikes would go(via Durban ??) to Buenos Aires taking around three weeks, arriving just before we flew in.

At this point we had a vague idea as well as a quote for a container from Vancouver but weren’t sure yet whether this would be the best place to ship back from .It seemed that it might be a good idea to get across to the east coast while we were in the States, but we’d need to leave this option open and dependant on timing during our trip.

Lindsay and I had received our 10 year USA visas. Our Canadian ones had been submitted with Panamanian ones to follow. .

I’d begun to think daily about some or other aspect of our journey and getting my affairs in order to allow for a six month break and to allow Cheryl to proceed as closely to normal in the daily running of our everyday lives during my time away.

Our trip was becoming a reality and I had begun to feel an excitement I hadn’t really felt to date!

Planning for Ride of Your Life

Having done the planning for short trips around South Africa,  Lesotho, Swaziland and a longer trip up the coast through Mozambique to Dar es Salaam, back to South Africa via Zambia and Zimbabwe got me reading books of adventurers travelling the world on their motorbikes. Their stories absolutely fascinated me, more so when the trips were done solo, just you,  friends,  your bike and no back-up vehicle.

How it All Started in 2008

On one very hot summer afternoon sitting in my favorite spot on the stoep at Dennehof (our guest house in Prince Albert, Great Karoo). Looking at the BMW web page at bikes for sale, I noticed an ad from  a young winemaker in Paarl look for a riding partner to go up the West Coast of Africa ending in Europe. Well I said to Ria (the wife alias The Boss) wow would love to do something like that, she  said well why don't you, wrong answer, sent e-mail to Jannie (wine maker) meet and started ball rolling.

Planning took 3 months, getting 10 visas for the countries which we had to travel through, in total 19 counties were visited of which we needed 10 visas for. Bikes were fitted out with panniers, GPS, tank bags and a major service carried out by BMW agent in Cape Town.

The day of departure started off very badly, bike would not start, had to be pushed down the road to get going, not a very good start to my Africa Adventure.

Took 48 days of rough riding taking in Namibia, Angola, DRC, Cabinda Congo, Gabon, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Burkina, Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, Western Sahara, Morocco and arriving in Tangiers top of Africa where we boarded a ferry across to Spain and then continued up through Portugal into France to Le Havre crossing the English channel to Portsmouth and ending my trip at our kids house in Tilbury, England.

Well  it did not end there, got roped into doing a ride for charity called The Longest Day Ride from John O’Groats to Lands End in one day all 1600km's

Well that's how my love of long distance biking started, when back home sitting on my favorite spot on the stoep, started thinking of the next big bdventure to do. The American Trip started. Put an ad up on the BMW web, got first inquiry more than a year ago Tony Heath from Cape Town also a guest house owner with spare time to travel, got an ad place in the Bike SA mag by a friend & owner of the mag Simon, were we got Stan & Marco to join us on the trip to South & North America.

Early motivation

So far, she's ahead of you and she's on a bicycle!

Come on guys, it's simple

Hi all, I am the resident clown and it's my job to get the four of you blogging.

The easiest way is to start, if you make mistakes they are very easy to edit.

Adding pictures is a simple procedure.

My first Post by myself

For an Old Fart Blogging is easy, once you get the hang of it. So Please other riding buddies, get on board & post your stories and pictures.

We need to get profile pictures (Tahnee please send one of the old man)

Young guns descend on Barrydale

The second meeting of all four, this time somebody took a camera.

From left to right:  Marco Sanders - Stan The Russian Harris - Lindsay Wallet Steyn - Tony Heath

So here we are getting ready

Lots of planning and preparation
Holding our last meeting@ The CountryPumpkin in Barrydale tomorrow 11.30am to make our discussion on the route & planning needed to do.