Opening comments

Hello and thank you for checking out my summer journal. It's all about my 20,000+ mile, 4 - 5 month trip around the Western United States on my 2002 BMW R1150RT motorcycle. My RT, my tent, sleeping bag, Bushtec Quantum trailer, and mountainbike will be my home and companions until the funds run out!

A little background behind this journal...

After 8 years of work with Motorola and multiple trips to Germany, England, China, South Korea, and Singapore, I finally decided I’d had enough of the rat race. When I first hired on at Motorola my plan was to stay for only 5 years of so before moving to another job and possibly another location. Those 5 turned into 8 and Chicago became home for a good while. This winter I finally decided it was time to move on. So after returning from my final trip to Korea at the end of April, I gave my manager notice that I was going to be leaving. Friday, May 13 was my last day with Motorola.

Here’s where it gets interesting…. Rather than looking for a new job right away, I decided to take some “Me” time this summer. So I packed all of my stuff into boxes, on 23 May my dad flew out to Chicago, and on May 29 he and I drove my stuff down to North Carolina to be put in storage. Why? Because I’m going to spend the entire summer touring around the Western United States on my motorcycle, a 2002 BMW R1150RT! I think Dad and Mom both nearly had coronaries when I told them my plans, but since then, they have been incredibly supportive of this dream I’m chasing.

I purchased a small trailer (a Bushtec Quantum for those interested http://www.bushtec.com/quantum.html) to pull behind the motorcycle so I could take my mountain bike, a second helmet, and a second set of riding gear with me on the trip. For the next 3 weeks I spent my days planning my route and prepping the motorcycle for the summer’s journey. I laid out my very roundabout route to hit almost all of the major national parks and monuments West of the Mississippi River with the exception of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. After all of my planning I came to the conclusion that my final route was going to take me approximately 4 - 5 months and would cover more than 21,000 miles of roads. In many places (Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Yosemite, Glacier, …) I’ll set up camp and will stay in the area for a few days to soak in all of the sights.

I’m sure many of you have heard of other people taking epic motorcycle trips around this big green sphere we live on. What many of them have, and what I lack, is probably the single most challenging part of the trip: funding from a sponsor and co-journeyers (is that a word? Maybe I should say ‘support crew’). When they run into trouble their sponsors and crew are able to step in to soothe frazzled nerves and repair damaged parts. I, on the other hand, am going this on my own. Just me the motorcycle, the trailer and many thousands of miles of road. That said, if any of you could help me chase this dream by letting me throw a sleeping bag down for a night or if you have friends who might be likewise willing to let me overnight in their back yard, it would help me extend this trip as long as possible. Especially considering some of the unexpected expenses I’ve had (my clutch went out in Salt Lake City and I’ve had to sign over the rights to my first born to the BMW dealership to get it replaced) I’d really appreciate any help I can get!

That said, I hope you enjoy the pictures and some thoughts to go with them.

Britton
b_mockridge@yahoo.com
cell: 773 742 3773