Dreaming of a motorcycle trip to distant climes? This section will help you to plan your trip, whether it's to the next state, country or all the way around the world! Start here!
The Achievable Dream 5-part series - the definitive video guide for planning your motorcycle adventure. Get Ready! covers planning, paperwork, medical and many other topics! "Inspirational and Awesome!" See the trailer here!
You could just get on a plane with your credit card and passport and buy or rent everything you need when you get there. That includes the bike, riding gear, etc. etc.
Gear Up! is a 2-DVD set, 6 hours! Which bike is right for me? How do I prepare the bike? What stuff do I need - riding gear, clothing, camping gear, first aid kit, tires, maps and GPS? What don't I need? How do I pack it all in? Lots of opinions from over 150 travellers! "will save you a fortune!"See the trailer here!
So you've done it - got inspired, planned your trip, packed your stuff and you're on the road! This section is about staying healthy, happy and secure on your motorcycle adventure. And crossing borders, war zones or oceans!
On the Road! is 5.5 hours of the tips and advice you need to cross borders, break down language barriers, overcome culture shock, ship the bike and deal with breakdowns and emergencies."Just makes me want to pack up and go!" See the trailer here!
Tire Changing!Grant demystifies the black art of Tire Changing and Repair to help you STAY on the road! "Very informative and practical." See the trailer here!
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Resources and Links
Horizons Unlimited Presents!
Ladies on the Loose! For the first time ever, a motorcycle travel DVD made for women, by women! These intrepid women share their tips to help you plan your own motorcycle adventure. They also answer the women-only questions, and entertain you with amazing tales from the road! Presented by Lois Pryce, veteran solo traveller through South America and Africa and author of 'Lois on the Loose', and 'Red Tape and White Knuckles.'
"It has me all fired up to go out on my own adventure!" See the trailer here!
Meet people who don't think you're crazy for wanting to ride your bike to South America or across Asia! They will encourage you, share their experiences and advice on how to do it!
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World Map Sticker for PanniersShow your route on your panniers. Great conversation starter when you meet people on the road!
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Videos - Watch and Learn!
Horizons Unlimited presents!
Achievable Dream The definitive guide to planning your motorcycle adventure! This insanely ambitious 2-year project has produced an informative and entertaining 5-part, 18 hour video series. "The ultimate round the world rider's how-to!" MCN UK.
"The series is 'free' because the tips and advice will save much more than you spend on buying the DVD's."
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Follow us on our travels, adventures, and misadventures as we go out there to see what there is to see. Check out our blog posts, photo stream and youtube channels. You can sign up to follow our trip. We have information on our bikes, gear, and route maps.
FINALLY we are on the road…..and now for our first blog post. The trip started well with a night at Thom’s in Kamloops. Delicious.. I know I said I was not going to post what I had for breakfast. We headed off to the Two Dude Ranch to drop off the truck and more stuff. We have had two fantastic days of mostly sunny and very scenic riding. We stayed on Lac La Hache last night and then just north of Vanderhoof tonight. To those that scoffed that I brought suture material…..didn’t make it 1 day and I already needed it. Thank you so much to all of you that have supported us in pursuit of this dream!
How is it possible that we have never been to northern BC and the Yukon! This land is massive and spectacular. We followed the Gold Rush trail thru 100 mile, Burns Lake, and Dease Lake. The highlight has been the ride into Stewart, BC with the valley dripping in green and dotted with dozens of waterfalls streaming down the steep sides. The Bear glacier comes down to meet you at the bottom of WINDY hill. We visited Hyder, Alaska at mile zero then headed north to the Yukon. We were lucky with timing and met up with Deb Hewson as we passed through Marsh lake going in opposite directions. Stay tuned for the next Fishy post!
We set out from Whitehorse on a three- hour tour………well we drove 90 minutes with a stop at Jake’s Crossing for lunch and a bear encounter. Trolling on the Teslin River for the “big one”, Daniel landed an almost 20 pound trout. We headed for the shore where our master guide/chef Uncle Bruce whipped us up a 5 star meal over an open fire. With the stunning Midnight sun still shining, we had time for some target practice. Leaving the comfort and hospitality of Whitehorse behind we headed north to the frontier town of Dawson City.
Dawson city did not disappoint! We loved this friendly gold rush town. The buildings are as colorfully painted as the characters that live here. This place is very biker friendly. We toured the engineering marvel the Dredge #4, panned for gold, and ate Canada Day hotdogs. We stayed at the hostel across the river and used the free ferry to commute. Sara led a historic walking tour of the old town. We met up with fellow travelers Miquel (retracing the path of the great Spanish explorers) and Alicia (Attempting to be the first Spanish woman to circumnavigate the globe by motorbike). Now we are off to conquer the mighty Dempster.
Sara: It was all smiles and sunshine as we started out from the mile zero sign up to Tombstone. We had an amazing view from the campsite. We hiked up the Klondike river trail to see the ice still on the river. There will be no photos from the day up to Eagle Plains because it poured rain all day. The riding was challenging at best. The mud was 4 inches thick for several hours and was like trying to drive in peanut butter. Thank goodness for our rain over suits!
Daniel: A little note about Sara is in order here. Wow was the mud bad. Like hardcore for the big guy bad. Like OMG we may not make it and why are we doing this stupid Dempster highway bad. Okay with this in mind picture tiny Sara on a very big machine, loaded to the max and weighing over five hundred pounds. Wow what a trooper. My wife is officially a hardcore adventure rider forged out of the mud of the Dempster at its very worst.
Sara: Eagle Plains “lodge” is quite the place as some of you will know. The locals say being stuck here is like being stuck in a dentists chair. The sun was finally out though and shining almost 24 hours a day. The first big landmark of the trip was crossing the Arctic circle . 50 km further north we entered the NWT. We included a photo of the “good mud”. We had 2 ferry crossings. Finally we arrived in Inuvik! We checked into the Arctic Chalets and the owner Olaf gave us his truck to get to the North Mart before it closed. There was so much mud on the bikes that both fans were so clogged they were not working. Thanks again to Olaf and his power washer. We toured the town sights, including the igloo church, the visitor’s center, and the Jak’s tower look-out. We went to the cloud 9 at the airport for musk-ox chili and dipped our toes in the Mackenzie River at the east channel. We had dinner at the Mackenzie Hotel. We set off early to get on the road while the sun was still shining. Stopping for a snack we took in the glory of the vista. Having travelled over 900 kilometers so far on the Dempster we had only happened upon six small rabbits. Disappointing to say the least. Just when we thought the northern highway was not going to reveal its wild inhabitants wow did we get treated to an arctic spectacle. Fifty kilometers north of the Arctic Circle in the gleaming sun and green tundra we happened upon a massive herd of Caribou. This day was adventure riding at its very best.
Dempster Humor
1 km = 1.6 Dempster kms
hitting the pavement in Inuvik = your first kiss
Done with THE DEMPSTER, we were over The Top of The World! We had a well-deserved spa treatment at the Chena Hot Springs. This 90 km side trek provided 90% of the wildlife we saw in Alaska. There was no more stopping for photos after the 7 th moose. Denali National Park was a bit too “Disneyland” like for us, but our riverside tent cabin at the Grizzly Bear Resort did not disappoint. Arriving at Talkeeetna Air taxi at 104 pm to enquire about “flightseeing”. They said be ready at 1:15!!! We were so lucky as it was an amazing sunny flight with breathtaking views of Denali just before the clouds rolled in. The landing on the glacier was surreal. The town of Talkeetna is full of charm and lots of colorful locals.
During a 700 km ride to Valdez, there was 100 km with gusting wind blowing us sideways and 100 km in the pouring rain. That did not diminish the spectacular trip there over the high mountain plateau. What a gem this place is. We had an incredible day on the Lu Lu Belle seeing sea otters, seals, sea lions, puffins, Dall’s porpoise, and Humpback whales. The highlight was the masses of ice flow and the huge icebergs. A whole week in Alaska and we did not see a bear of ANY color. Thanks to advice from Anja and Torsten we found the Eagle’s rest motorcycle campground in Tok.
We had incredible hospitality from Cecile, Doug, Paulie, and Kelly at Kluane B&B! Rabbit (Snowshoe hare) is delicious. What an amazing wilderness setting with all the comforts of home. The museum at Burwash Landing has the “largest gold pan in the world” and an incredible natural history display. We ran into the crazy Spaniards again there too. The new visitor’s centre in Haines junction is WOW! We stopped there also for the “Village Bakery” and a photo op at “the Muffin”.
On the way to Haines, Alaska we finally saw a small brown bear. The drive there is also over a high pass and then meanders along the Chilkoot River. Haines is a very quaint town with a charming old Seward Fort area. After 3 weeks in remote wilderness areas finally a Grizzly….on the beach 2 km from the ferry dock. The trip from Haines to Skagway is just 15 miles, but takes 4 hours including the pre-boarding checks, security, 1 hour cruise time, and complex loading and unloading of huge motor homes thru the side of the ship. They actually drive in and turn around inside and exit thru the same door. This town is tourist central with 4 huge cruise ships docked in the harbor. Now back to civilization for a few days of R&R in Whitehorse.
Daniel did a major bike cleaning and maintenance and changed the oil. We were then ready to head south from Whitehorse. We stopped at Watson Lake for the obligatory photo at the sign Forrest. Liard Hot spring was nice, but the mozzies were voracious. Thanks Barbara for the bug jacket. Muncho Lake Provincial Park is teaming with wildlife. We saw moose and lots of Bison. The mile zero sign is in Dawson Creek, BC. There will be no photos from the day we road to Jasper since it poured for 7 hours. Luckily it cleared up that evening and we had some nice views of the mountains. The Elk here just walk thru town. We toured the sights at Maligne Canyon, Athabaska Falls, and the Columbia Ice fields. We hiked up onto the glacier and had lunch. Camped by the Bow River we were lulled to sleep by the rushing water. The route south thru Kananaskis and Peter Lougheed Provincial Park is incredible. Here we saw Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep and mountain goats. Our first UNESCO world heritage site was Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. Thanks so much to Stan and Shelly Davey for the 5 star hospitality at the Broken Rail Ranch! We headed for Montana at Chief Mountain. We were sitting in the sun at our campsite when ash began raining down on us. There was a huge brush fire near by requiring a visit from the St Mary volunteer fire department. The next day we were lucky to have a sunny day and a totally unimpeded ride on the Road To The Sun. We were disappointed to learn that bikers are not welcome at the National Bison Range. They told us bikes are not allowed because they have unpaved roads……do they know about the Dempster?
Have just read your full posting ,the photo's are great,I worked in canada many years ago and have visited a few of the places you have visited.will follow your trip with interest.Noel
If you’ve never been to Coeur d’Alene in August you should. This place is stunning. We had a work conference to attend, but this did have the perk of a very nice hotel room and time to spend with old friends. Silverwood’s Amusement park in Athol (don’t say that too fast) is a great way to spend a hot summer day.
We needed to have our new sprockets and DIG chains mounted. We can’t say enough about the service we had from the Honda dealership in Coeur d’Alene. Thanks Randy (ex BMW master) for your help!
It was enough of luxuries and was now time for some back roads and gravel on our way to Moscow! The winding highway 12 follows the raging rivers and takes you thru Lewiston then east to Kamiah. The Old Spiral Highway outside of Lewiston is like driving down a corkscrew. We then followed the river south thru Grangeville to the rafting Mecca of Riggins. We needed our cooling gel neck wraps and a swim in the river to beat the 36-degree heat.
Heading south from here we started to see the smoke of the many fires burning in the state. Several roads were closed, but luckily none on our route. There were active fires in Boise National Forrest, but fortunately highway 21 had opened to get us to Stanley and Red Fish Lake. We did get to see the famous Sawtooth mountains, but thru a smoky haze. The high here was 32 but the low2.
We were heading south- east to Arco and the Craters of the Moon National Monument. Following the Peaks to Craters Scenic byway we arrived in Salmon. Thanks Joe for the tip on Syringa lodge! FYI the Junkyard Bistro there is awesome. No more messing about…. Off to Montana and the Gravelly Range Road!
Welcome to the BIG SKY of Montana! We followed the old west trail to Ennis. This might be the perfect town for Daniel they have auto parts and ice cream in one location. We spent the day swimming and sunning at the lake. We wondered into a dive bar and were surprised to find the most delicious best rib eye ever.
Following the Varney road to the Gravelly Range we passed thru forests and alpine meadows. There were stunning views of the grassy valley and the Black Butte. We saw several herds of Pronghorn. We camped at the Eureka Basin Road junction. I was worried about bears bothering us, but I really should have been more concerned about the cows tripping over the tent. The sunset was stunning. The ride continued down the Continental divide road to end near Spencer, ID.
Have YOU ever wondered who has ridden around the world? We did too - and now here's thelist of Circumnavigators!
Check it out now, and add your information if we didn't find you.
Check the RAW segments; Grant, your HU host is on every month!
Episodes below to listen to while you, err, pretend to do something or other...
2020 Edition of Chris Scott's Adventure Motorcycling Handbook.
"Ultimate global guide for red-blooded bikers planning overseas exploration. Covers choice & preparation of best bike, shipping overseas, baggage design, riding techniques, travel health, visas, documentation, safety and useful addresses." Recommended. (Grant)
Ripcord Rescue Travel Insurance™ combines into a single integrated program the best evacuation and rescue with the premier travel insurance coverages designed for adventurers.
Led by special operations veterans, Stanford Medicine affiliated physicians, paramedics and other travel experts, Ripcord is perfect for adventure seekers, climbers, skiers, sports enthusiasts, hunters, international travelers, humanitarian efforts, expeditions and more.
Ripcord travel protection is now available for ALL nationalities, and travel is covered on motorcycles of all sizes!
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Horizons Unlimited is not a big multi-national company, just two people who love motorcycle travel and have grown what started as a hobby in 1997 into a full time job (usually 8-10 hours per day and 7 days a week) and a labour of love. To keep it going and a roof over our heads, we run events all over the world with the help of volunteers; we sell inspirational and informative DVDs; we have a few selected advertisers; and we make a small amount from memberships.
You don't have to be a Member to come to an HU meeting, access the website, or ask questions on the HUBB. What you get for your membership contribution is our sincere gratitude, good karma and knowing that you're helping to keep the motorcycle travel dream alive. Contributing Members and Gold Members do get additional features on the HUBB. Here's a list of all the Member benefits on the HUBB.
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