Hello from Nairobi, Kenya
 

Hello all from very sunny Nairobi...

I have just discovered this site and am delighted to be a new member :)

My partner and I are planning to ride from Boone, NC to Alaska later this year. We have ridden a few thousand miles in the US 2 up and are lucky enough to keep a bike just for that purpose - a Suzuki Volusia. In 2011 we set off from NC to Missouri and originally intended to ride back to NC and then take a tour with our friends there down to Florida. However the weather in NC was pretty nasty so we spent the next two weeks following good weather and picking our route on a day by day basis. We ended up in New Orleans and then rode along the coast to Florida, coincidentally arriving for Daytona Bike week, then on down to Key West and back up the coast again to Boone. My love of riding was cemented during this trip. The absolute freedom of just picking a route from the few pages I had taken from the atlas back in NC and finding the smallest, most windy roads, generally heading south was awesome!

I decided at 40 it was time to learn to ride my own bike. It took until I was 45 before I actually did and have just completed my first off-road adventure from Lake Elementaita in the Great Rift Valley to Majimoto in the Masai Mara (and back again) on my little Honda 230CRF. Riding amongst wildlife on two wheels has got to be one of the most special things possible to do :) I plan to do a lot more of it - once I get over the bruises from this trip!

Anyway - back to this year's US adventure. We have to be slightly more organised than our last trip (and one we did in 2010) as we have to get a Canadian visa. Our trip will begin in May and we hope to ride up the coast of Maine and onto Halifax, Nova Scotia. Then onto Toronto (and possibly onto a train as far as Jasper). Then up to Prince Rupert and onto Anchorage where we will fly (no roads) to a lodge in the Wrangell-St. Elias national park (where my son works). Then find our way back down to NC possibly incorporating some of the west coast.

We have around 3 months for the trip.

I have lots of questions! Firstly has anyone put a bike on the train across Canada? Is it worth doing this or would we be missing out too much by going by rail. (I had originally thought our bums might need some respite - but not so much so that we miss out on sights only discovered by bike). Secondly I'd love some tips on what to see along the US part of the route and ideas on routes. I hate the interstate highways!! So far we haven't even used a guide book in the past, yet have always discovered beautiful places and people on route though I have no doubt have missed a lot too.

Anyway... this is a rather long intro when I only meant to pop in to say Hi ...

and that any bikers thinking of visiting Kenya should get in touch. We'd love to welcome you and sit around the fire exchanging stories :) :)

Would love some feedback on our proposed ride.

Happy Riding everyone

Debbie