So if you’ve landed on this page from my 2020’s Paused Plan page, you will hopefully understand and possibly feel the anxiety with which I have been anticipating my 2021 riding/touring year.
The trials and tribulations I have had to confront in preparation for and ahead of this trip have been like no other before and I want to believe that it is times like these that in some way or other shape us in our thinking and being.
One thing that remained and continues to remain constant is the fact that I have refused to lose sight of my riding dream (amongst others).
So we entered and started off a new year.
By golly, It’s 2021 already!
Mum’s been gone pretty much a year already.
She’s still so much on my mind and I have no doubt that she will be for the rest of my life, just as Dad has been for the past 33 years!
So with most plans and purchases for another tour already in place - since last years preparations, my focus has begun to shift towards this year.
I have decided to keep the same dates for this year’s trip primarily because of the convenience of not having to contend with the multitude of vacationers in some of the most visited parts of the country by tourists and I particularly would like to be traveling in the opposite direction to them whilst taking advantage of much more comfortable weather conditions at that time of year.
3rd week of August through Labor Day suits me just fine.
Any later and the weather takes a wetter, cooler, colder turn with Fall (Autumn) storms, and any earlier keeps me still in the heat and higher expense of summer.
So with an ambitious agenda stemming from the feeling of “wanting to see and experience it all”, it is time to grind away at the details of preparation.

My main priority for this trip is to “garner” the remaining 5 states I need to complete my agenda of visiting all 48 contiguous states of the U.S.A. on my bike, as well as to see, experience and follow what I could along my way, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition Trail as I could.
With the newly acquired purchase of the Louisiana Territory, then President Thomas Jefferson commissioned an expedition, a Corps of Discovery, Led by Captain Merriweather Lewis who further commissioned his close friend Captain William Clark to join and support him on what was to become an epic adventure over the coming 2 years - 1804 - 1806.
The main objective was to find a water route to the Pacific Ocean through the newly acquired land.
As a consequence and result, they mapped the land, recorded the natural resources they encountered and met and befriended the Native Americans already living on the land, through whom they learned so much more.
If you’ve read through my journals you will undoubtedly know that this experience is a part of phase 1 of my personal wish/quest/dreams.
Whilst doing this I hope to visit some of the most iconic parts and places of this country along the way, whilst seeking out and riding some of the most scenic and iconic motorcycling roads this country offers me.
Also I want to indulge myself by memorializing what I can of this truly naturally beautiful country we live in, this country that is now my home, through my amateur passion of photography in order to come back home to share with family and friends as I continue to encourage all to find the courage to do the same.
In the Akan Culture of Ghana there is a wise-saying : “Tu Kwan ko shwe”.
Which literally translated means “Travel and see”!
It is an emphatic way of saying: To broaden your life experiences, YOU MUST travel!

So join me on this planned 17-day trip as I travel across wide open land of the Great Plains and Deserts, up and over high mountain passes and roads, forested regions of the Northwest, through the wind-swept prairies of the Dakotas, through geologically unstable and unpredictable ground teeming with Geysers and Hot Springs, animal wildlife the likes of which are protected in the wilderness areas of Yellowstone National Park, natural rock formations older in years than as much as I can conceivably count, back to the Great Lakes Region …… this list can go on and on and on, so read on and spare me the work of having to list it all at this point.
My purpose here is to try and incorporate material that all can find something of interest to read about - not only motorcyclists.
So as always, your comments, critique and or compliments are eagerly anticipated and welcomed.
If you have any of your own experiences you’d like to share with me please do not hesitate to do that through email (you will find my personal email address on my “Contact Page”.


6 months and counting down!
It is the thick of winter in Cleveland, OH. Needless to mention it is cold!
It’s been a relatively mild winter though, with much less precipitation, but we still had one event that really “dumped” on us.
Then it stayed cold and the snow just lay around forever!
I was anxious to be over with winter, but have come to learn that being overly anxious only sets yourself up for a long drawn out cold season which affects your mood, allowing depression to set in.
I stayed laser focused on work and my upcoming ride this August.
That helped to get me through the cold days.
Before long I was approaching my 3 month mark. The time was flying by now!
I had to begin getting in shape.
Shape for the tour.
The layer of winter fat hung onto my belly like a fly on fly-paper!
It had to come off.
Typically 3 months before every Tour, I engage in my personal routine to prepare my body for the long journey so as to ward off fatigue and cramps, and to increase my riding endurance and capacity (In upcoming edits I will create a chapter dedicated to this and elaborate on my exercise regimen).
All this goes a long way to help with my safety.

Starting out at 202lbs. (91.8kg) body weight, I altered my meal portions, cut out “the sweet stuff” and maintained the exercise regimen.
In 2.5 months I was down to a trim 185 lbs (84 kg).
Body-wise, I felt was ready!

August 19th, 2021.
2 days before departure - Packing complete and loaded onto the bike which was already fueled up.
I went over my luggage inventory - all good. Had everything I planned I’d need and anticipated would need.
All good.

August 20th, 2021.
Got off work at my regular time of close to midnight, headed home and made a decision to leave circa 8:00 a.m. instead of my traditional 4:00 a.m.
I was determined to smell the roses on this trip and therefore refused to pressure myself by leaving at that time of day with so few hours of sleep.
This would definitely be a change from riding years past.
Yes, I would take all the sleep I needed till my body would be ready to leave in the a.m.