Moderator: Modern Buddy Staff
For most of the recorded history, it's been primarily the former.teabow1 wrote:Do we go on adventures with the decided aim to conquer the paths before us, or do we go on those paths with the purpose of visiting with amicable intentions?
My experience attempting to ride a bicycle to the three corners of Britain is what first put the notion in my head about getting a motorbike.I've read quite a few books on bicyclists travelling around the world and all were quite enjoyable. The most I've done is around the SF Bay and Monterey Bay region. It's not geographically expansive, but for a bicyclist well it's a lot more work than on a motorised vehicle.
One of my first bicycle touring stories was about a woman from Britain (Jodi Greene?) who bicycles around the world. The cover of the book was her doing a cartwheel next to her bicycle.TVB wrote:My experience attempting to ride a bicycle to the three corners of Britain is what first put the notion in my head about getting a motorbike.
There's a little place north of me called Clover, VA (1.5 north by car) where the now famous Henrietta Lacks grew up. I don't know if any of you know that Henrietta Lacks was the woman whose cells became the first immortal cell line and now is used in research and medicine all over the world. Anyhow, her story made me wanted to visit her tiny and devastatingly poor hometown. If I were to do this by bicyle, it would be more than a day trip and I couldn't spend that kind of time doing this kind of thing these days. Just not yet. But by scooter, it would be possible!Yeah, it's different, but how much depends on how you do it. My approach to scooter touring is a lot like how I did bike touring back when I had the time, stamina, and gear for that. I stay away from the main roads as much as possible, sleep in a tent at camp sites, and plan for lots of stops along the way every day. I used to do my own cooking when bike touring, but with the scooter it's easier to just hit restaurants. I consider touring on a scooter the best of both worlds: you get to experience the journey at a slow pace, but you get more range and have more energy for seeing and doing things.teabow1 wrote:I'm sure scooter touring is a lot of fun too. And, it would be quite different than bicycle touring. A lot different, I can imagine.
You know eric, we all wind up in a box. You just gotta do it. There's plenty of things I'd do differently if I could go back and change the past, but I deal with the fact that I'm where I am right now. It's expensive where you live so more difficult to save money, but neither my b/f nor I make a ton (especially my public librarian boyfriend!). We make real sacrifices to save as much as we can, both toward our future retirements and for our multi-day rides. We always camp, oftentimes for free, and we almost always cook our own food. Our biggest expense is fuel and that's because we keep going to Canada where it's like $6.50 a gallon. I budget $1500 for 15 days and we've come under that for the last two years. The 3-day weekend trips are usually about $70-$90 total for two bikes and two people. We both get 65-70 mpg on our motorcycles.ericalm wrote:Sadly, American economics, work culture and policies, finances and general attitudes about these things make doing a long tour a bit more challenging. We get less vacation, save less money and employment policies are more averse to allowing people to take this kind of time off. We also make more excuses.
I'd love to do the Cannonball, as I've talked about for years now, but that's a personal challenge and endurance ride—not the best way to see the country. That's why I'd also like to do a C2C on my own, creating my own route and setting my own pace.
There are only so many "somedays" ahead. I know many people older than I am who tackle very long rides pretty routinely, which is great. But retirement for us isn't going to be quite what it's been for previous generations.
Ahh, someday…
(And I hate being a freelancer compared to having a steady income.)