Guy
Boutin's Motorcycle Touring and Travel Pages
Adventures in Sport
Touring with the Honda ST 1100, 1300 and the BMW 1200RT
Exploring North America...One Road
at a Time
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Guy
Boutin's Motorcycle Touring and Travel Pages
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| This and That Page Just rambling thoughts and ideas, that don't really fit anywhere else..
A month after the Fall Ride I'm still basking in the glory. I normally do 3 or 4 long rides a year, but in 2009 I only managed two. The Fall Tour came in over 5,000 miles and really helped my psyche and salvaged the season. I'll spend the next few months thinking about my next move, and upgrading equipment. I have a nice list of upgrades (some carried over from last year) to work on, and currently shuffling them in priority. Both bikes head into the winter with only minor items to be fixed. The RT needs a low beam, and the Honda a oil change and valve check. I'm not sure where I want to ride in the future or what my next agenda will be. I currently have 36 of the 52 National Parks, that might be a goal to shoot for. The balance are scattered all over the country, some in isolated areas. The parks in Alaska will be the most difficult, because 3 of them look to have no access other then air or water. If I go for it, I'll complete the lower 48, and then worry about Alaska. Neither of my motorcycles are what I call "good Alaska bikes." They are too shiny and clean, and I don't want to destroy them on hundreds of miles on primitive roads. The parks would be a good excuse to go on a ride, but I'd have no time table for completion. It could take 2 years, or 10, but I'm going to work on it. Winters here are temperate. Mild, with a few cold snaps. Snow is very rare, and when it does, gone in a day. I ride several days a week on my favorite roads to eat lunch or just get out. Despite all the awesome landscapes and roads I've ridden, I still enjoy the local roads that have been my solace since I was 14. I can never leave them for long. In the meantime I'm looking forward to the holidays. They are a big deal to my small family, I enjoy most everything about them. It is also "rebate season." A term Debbie and I use to for the beach trips and mountain trips we enjoy together this time of year. We throw a few things in our Civic and take off for a few days, leaving the bikes in the garage. When riding season is over, I turn my attention to her and my family, and give back. I look forward to it each year. I'm working on some DVDs. Each of my video journals have been burned to DVD, that I give out to family and friends. They're not professional or anything, but they look and play well on the big screen, and my friends seem to enjoy them because they always ask when I'm going to produce another. Many of them know they will never see the places I have been, and tell me so, but the DVDs give them a feel of what it's like to roam the country on 2 wheels. When I get it figured out I'm going to make the DVDs available through my web site for anyone to purchase. I'll make a few dollars off each, maybe enough to help defray the expense of keeping the site online, which seems to go up every year. I'd like to thank all of you that have shared my experiences over the years. BamaRider has been one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. It is a true labor of love. I have been online almost 10 years, and almost 200,000 hits, doesn't seem like it. I know I'm a mediocre writer and photographer at best, and y'all have been really patient. I'll continue to share my travels as long as I can. I'm humbled the site generates almost 200 hits a day currently. I enjoy the mail I receive, the comments, suggestions, and questions are interesting. If you have experienced a non response from me try again, my spam filter sometime is a little too good. I hope each of y'all have a Merry Christmas, and for those in the frozen north a quick and easy winter. I'll continue to update the web site through the winter, so come back often. Ride safe. Guy
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