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Journey complete - a bittersweet ending in Canada

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Well there you have it, my trip has reached the end of its chapter, all the way from Chile to Canada; 59, 500km through 13 countries over 20 months. That's a long time to spend in the saddle. Im having mixed feelings of course, looking back on all those incredible moments is quite overwhelming and difficult to assimilate. Heres a few interesting stats from my trip: 13 countries, 59,500km, 20 months; 15 land border crossings and 1 sea border crossing; 3 crashes, 0 broken bones, 0 ambulance rides, 0 emergency room visits, 0 illnesses 4 times run out of fuel (including 2 police rescues); 3 flat tyres; 1 runover dog (Panama - so sorry doggo) and 2 bird impacts; 0 breakdowns; although I did have some issues with a relay for a week, had to jump start a bit; 1 police caution; 1 police tow (Argentina); 1 non-passable sit down road blockage (Peru on the major highway north to Quito); 0 hostile situations (obviously avoiding the sketchy areas i'm hearing about here and there);

Feeling the cold on the Icefields Parkway, Canada

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The last couple of days have been pretty brutal on the bike - with the temperature often hovering around 5 degrees C whenever I glance at the thermometer on my bike keys. Today was no different, with a start of 3 degrees C leaving Canmore (thanks Jamie and Marnie for a room for the night; we would've frozen otherwise), and the bikes having been covered with frost, the day didn't reach much above 5 degrees C until we hit a balmy Jasper at 12 degrees C around 300km and several hours later. Just to make you aware, I am wearing, from the feet up: MotoX boots with fleece socks and winter weight merino wool socks, Thermal weight leggings, Moto riding trousers (with the waterproof liner inside), Long sleeved merino thermal shirt X2, Keis heated (plugs into the bike) vest, Thin synthetic down jacket, Thin mixed synthetic and down hooded jacket, Moto jacket, Windproof neck buff, Hood up on jacket beneath my moto helmet, Fleece liner gloves, Synthetic down

Winter Has Come

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Well, as far as im concerned anyway. We all have varied levels of tolerance for the cold and mine is lets just say, not the highest, or most moderate for that matter. The last few days ive seen the temperature in Whistler drop to 12degrees in the day and maybe 5deg at night. This makes me unhappy, considering my happy temp is 25+deg in the day, and not below 15deg at night. So, let the winterization begin. 1. Im using my Keis heated vest now, ive carried the thing for the last 5 months since I landed in Mexico. Its fantastic - heat in all the right places, and fast too, super well fitted and comfy. The only issue is the control box which doesnt fit the pocket well, its really tight and uncomfortable in my (small sized) jacket pocket. I ditched it and went back to the standard connector cable instead. Its good, I just dont adjust the temp - its on or off (on high). 2. I bought a windproof neck warmer - $15 from Princess Auto here in Canada. 3. Handlebar pogeys! Ye

Overlanding Camping Lesson 101

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It takes approximately 4 hours out of each day to make and break camp.  Thats half a working day, then theres the 200 - 300km we ride each day.  Its pretty tiring to be honest, and obviously its easier to stay in a hotel, but at $100+ a night (in North America here), its just not feasible for the length of time we are both travelling.  So, we generally wild camp for free, or every now and again, we stay in a Forestry/ National Parks managed campsite when we either can't find anything for free or we have left it too late in the day to be looking for something for free! We have been using the IOverlander app as a guide for free camp spots, although often (especially on the offroad trails out in the bush), we come upon something before we get to a particular destination we may have pinned for that day. Theres a picture above of the two 250s loaded up.  We are both individually self sufficient for camping/ living off the bikes, although together, we are sharing (my) tools