Links Iīve Found Useful in Planning this Trip... and other links that aren't so useful.
I did a great deal of my preparation for this trip on the web. Without a doubt, the greatest single resource was Horizons Unlimited
 | Horizons Unlimited, the website by and for the motorcycle traveller. Bulletin Board, Community, free Monthly E-zine, Travellers' Stories, and plenty of tips and info! |
It has information on anything you can imagine related to motorcycle touring, including border procedures, roadside repairs, clothing, travel stories of people who just went where you want to go, other people going your way right now, how to keep your sanity, and fun things to do when itīs already gone.
Also handy in questions related to BMW motorcycles is f650.com, aka the Gearheads. The only problem with this site is that it has so much information that without some careful reading it is hard to be sure what the overall answer is to some questions... for example, I wanted to find out the ideal motor oil for my 650 GS/PD. Well, as it turns out, the simple question of "what oil should I put in this bike?" which I thought was an easy one, on f650.com has literally dozens of people weighing in, responding, disputing, refuting and flaming each other on the relative merits of viscosities, synthetics vs mineral oils, the one true, ancient meaning of the W in 10W40 (I thought it was weight, but it actually means winter) and what the SF, SG, SJ ratings are, and how the whole thing is a conspiracy created by the lubricant companies... but have no fear. At the bottom - waaaay down at the bottom - someone finally weighed in with information that I needed. If you really want to know what youīre doing, and you have the time for it, this is the place to go.
Also essential to a trip of this nature is Burning Man. Actually, thatīs completely untrue, but I did stop there this summer, and I like Burning Man, so Iīm going to plug it here anyway. Itīs like a job fair for your inner child - with lots of pretty, dangerous fire everywhere.
Matt Dominianni (who prefers to be known as īMatt!ī) created the icons on these pages for me - heīs one of the maniacs in the Ill Clan - the voice of Lenny Lumberjack - and a flash programmer.
Iīd also like to mention Merv and Ruth, the folks from England who travelled with us in Baja, now well into their second year on the road, and their fourth continent. They are a good reminder for those of you who know me that while you might think Iīm crazy to be doing this, I could be crazier, since I havenīt even mentioned India yet...
Added in 2005...
This Chris Bright from The Bright Stuff has asked me to put a link to him here, since he seems to have linked to me (most likely when I still had the site easyrandom.com...) I never got around to it before, now that I'm renovating it seems like a good time. Why not go visit his site? He's got a great quote from TE Lawrence on his front page, suitable to long range motorcycle insanity (course we survived out rides, but Al Awrence had his moments.)
