(1) The Idea
Ten years my two sons, Evan and Neil, were 16 and 15 respectively. The three of us and a co-worker mine set off on a month-long motorcycle ride from Anchorage, Alaska to the Grand Canyon and back. The boys have been motorcycle riders ever since. About five years ago I floated the idea of someday doing an Alaska to the southern tip of South America ride together. That idea percolated around but the time was never right. Evan was in college, Neil and I were both working and none of us had the money for a ride of that scale.
Fast forward to the fall of 2021. Neil saved up some money and has decided not to go back to his job next summer. I am going to retire in May of 2022. So suddenly the time to get serious about planning the trip has arrived. Unfortunately, Evan is not in a position to go so it will be just the two of us on this trip.
If I’m honest I think my touting this idea to the boys was mostly wishful thinking on my part. I’m not sure I ever expected to have the chance to do it. I turned 62 last fall. I am still in good health, but I don’t know how many more years I have to be able to attack a trip like this. Neil now has a girlfriend who is supportive of the trip, but his situation is changing. It’s kind of a now or never time for us.
Both my sons went from kindergarten through their senior year of high school in a Spanish immersion program. So Neil is pretty conversant in Spanish, which will be a huge help on the trip. Dad is pretty much useless in that department. I will start taking some online classes so I can at least understand a little bit of the language.
We would like to go slower than we did on the trip ten years ago. Since neither of us have a deadline the plan is to try and only be on the bikes for about 6 hours a day on average. We also plan on getting off the Pan-American Highway and seeing some other parts of the countries we go through. So this will be a far from the most direct route trip.
A starting date has officially been agreed upon. Neil will fly down to Portland to meet me on July 14th. We will pack the bikes and ride down to my sister’s house in Newport Oregon for a quick visit with her and my mother (Neil’s grandmother). Our only commitment after that is a 3 day off road riding class we have signed up for in Colorado on July 22nd. After that the plans are pretty open.
