Two Goals Closer

Wow, summer seemed to fly by. We planned to go to my family reunion by motorcycle, however a few days prior to leaving, my Suzuki Intruder, Jessie, decided she was going to put a kink into those plans and told us she just wasn't up for the trip. Her carburetors were dirty and she had a fuel line leak. So much was going on at the time, there just wasn't ANY time to get repairs done prior to the trip. So, we reconfigured the trip to omit the motorcycles take Sara; Kelly's Jeep Wrangler. Three weeks cross country; to Indiana and back to Montana. I have to say, we did have a lot of fun; even if we were in a Jeep! 

So, getting back to the purpose for our blog; we are moving forward with our plan to reduce our cost of living, and minimize our belongings to the bare minimum. We are two more steps closer to our goal! Since our last blog, buying Bob and me getting used to him by riding him around the neighborhood, we finally decreased our living expenses by moving from a larger home to a small two bedroom duplex - with a garage of course for Bob and the girls. From here, we continue to go through our belongings, getting rid of things that we don't need and for my family hand=me=downs, I am building piles that I have labeled for the kids. Next year we are planning a trip to Virginia where my daughter lives and a lot of the family relics will go to her for safe keeping so that we can further reduce our living expenses by clearing the need for a storage unit or bigger home to house all our unnecessary necessities. 

The other goal that has been met - I lost the extra weight that would hinder my ability to ride tough trails that we undoubtedly will encounter on our world wide adventure.  To date I have lost 164 lbs and even though I have 25-30 more lbs to go, I consider this an obtained goal. Check out the pictures! :) 

BEFORE

(with our daughter Shalayna)

AND AFTER!!

(164lbs later)

Woohoo! I'm ready to go! 

So, now!.... We are working on the budget. We are focusing on paying off the remainder of our bills and minimize our living expenses. We are determined to live month to month on my salary while we stash his paycheck in order to build our funds to an amount that will keep us out on our world wide adventures for at least four to five years. :)   Stay tuned for our next blog... can we stay on our tight budget?? Just how 'spoiled' are we??  And just how much do you think it costs to support a family of four these days?  Do you really think ANYBODY can live on just a Social Workers Salary??? .. :)  Stay Tuned!!!

And she rides her new bike!

Jody finally rode Bob today!  (Lol ok Honey, I don't think they know that we name our bikes. So hey everyone, meet Bob! lol my DR650.) Kelly has been exercising him for me by riding him to work almost daily, but today it was my turn to get to know Bob and begin the process of becoming a team.

The DR650 is quite a bit taller than Jody is used to. Ok, being only 5'4 and riding cruisers that are generally lower to the ground, I have been concerned about riding a bike that I can only Tip Toe on. My short legs have always presented challenges for me when it comes to sporting events or riding... horses as well as motorcycles! My family raised and showed Arabian Horses when I was growing up and for those of you who ride/show horses... well ya, if you have ever been asked by the Judge in front of God and everyone to dismount and remount your horse... you will know what I'm talking about... short legs can make everything more difficult! lol. I have found it's no different when riding a motorcycle, the mount and dismount is quite similar for those blessed with the short legged syndrome.

 

The only way I can touch the ground flat footed is by leaving one foot on the peg and leaning the bike over putting my weight on the opposite foot.

A few times around the block, a ride around the neighborhood and Bob and I were thoroughly enjoying each other!

WHAT A GREAT RIDE!! Cant wait to get him out in the dirt!!

Our Bikes

Currently we own a very diverse bunch of motorbikes! 
Jody has a 2003 Suzuki Intruder 800 and an 2001 Suzuki DR650.
Kelly owns a 2007 Suzuki Bandit 1250. 

There are also a 1997 Yamaha Radian (belongs to daughter Shalayna), an 1978 Yamaha DT100, an 2004 VOR 503 (belongs to son Robbie) and an Kawasaki KLR250 in many pieces. 
Jody's DR650 is the bike of choice for us now, as we transition from street riding to more off-road in preparation for our RTW in several years. There are tens of thousands of miles of dirt roads available for your riding pleasure here in the Northwest, along with several major charted rides- the Continental Divide Route (CDR- Canada to Mexico), the Trans-America Trail (Atlantic to Pacific, all off-road), and the Pony Express Trail being the major ones.


Kelly has been riding since he was 15, which means he is nearly older that dirt, and has logged over 35,000 miles in 11 states in the last 4 years. Jody began riding and achieved her endorsement a couple years after marrying the old guy, and with 4 states already notched into her handlebars, is anxious for many more!


A second DR650 will be added to the stable sometime next spring, along with the necessary equipment to allow us to travel totally unsupported. No SUV's, trailers, or film crews here guys.

...and we're off! (our rockers)...

Well, here we are. This is *obviously* my first blog :) I'm a complete tard when it comes to computers and stuff so I think I'll let Jody do most of the talking, at first anyway ;)
The way we are setting this up is what I write will be in orange, Jody's will be green. That combination should certainly be retina-searing!


We have begun this blog so we can archive past rides and trips for future use by us, our kids, and our friends. Our ultimate goal in this life is to spend many years traveling the world by motorcycle, owning only what we can carry on our bikes. Our time frame is to leave in 7 years when we are both 55. Forget waiting 'til we're 65 to retire! 


Our journey 'began' the weekend of August 7-8, 2011, as the two of us spent two days cleaning out the garage, tossing several year's worth of schtuff we've been packing around forever. 

Huge pile of junk for our yard sale!

Three UHaul trailer trips to the dump...

...and I actually can walk around inside my garage!!

Hmmm... there is so much yet to do, but it's actually looking more like a man cave out there in the garage! Talking about men, of course he jumps to cleaning the garage. Honey, I think we need to back up a little bit... our journey really began back in 1980...(leave it to the woman to bring the romance into an adventure!) Let's see... lets go back to 1980 shall we ! Its really quite a romantic story if you ask me!

I walked into history class sat my backpack down on a desk in the front row and heard a strangely familiar laugh. I turned to look, expecting to see someone I knew; instead my gaze caught a glimpse of sparkling blue eyes, and a smile I had never met but somehow knew. His eyes glanced my way and my heart went straight to my throat. Was it chance that we ended up in the same group for a group assignment? I couldn't tell you for sure; but from there we wrote notes in class, then we were passing notes between classes and spending lunch hours together; until he finally asked me out. We attended the AZ State fair, walked in the gate, put our arms around each other and THIS is where our journey began. I was madly in love and I knew I would love him forever.
       After sharing lunches in the mechanic shop, game nights and dances for the next two years, he took me to the Motels concert and proposed by taking my promise ring off my finger to 'play with' and replacing it with an engagement ring - the one I had my eye on for quite a while! It was a beautiful evening. He graduated high school and had gone to a Technical College. I graduated the following year and went to Tucson to get my College education. From there, it was cheap hotels for the weekend... and PIZZA! 
         Four years together, we had made it through break-ups and dating others, always finding our way back to each other.  Until 1984 when we went separate ways and eventually married others. After living our lives struggling through the challenges that presented themselves, I found myself during tough times, turning to a trunk filled with our high school memories and he found himself turning to a photo album he had hidden in the garage that had concert tickets, pictures of car shows we attended and pictures of me. 
       We both worked diligently at our marriages, but after 18 years they fell apart. I had raised 6 children (two still at home) and he had four children still at home. There had been almost twenty years between us and he called me, out of the blue. He was standing on the top of his semi rig; the only place he could find a clear cell phone signal and made the call. It was at that point, we reconnected, had a long distance relationship for about two years and eventually, reunited that path that was meant to be. Since then its been quite the adventure, raising our 6 children, creating our reality and discovering our dreams. And now, we put into motion the plan to make our dreams real. We are excited to be on our way and are equally excited to share our journey with you.