Willem at the end of a long ride.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

December 16

All great things have to come to an end and this trip of a lifetime is no different. Over the period of 3 1/2 months, over 40 000 km's, visiting 14 countries, 4 oil changes, 3 sets of tires, lots of cobbled together repairs, broken mirrors, windshields, turn signals, dented headers, scuffed crash bars, blown bearings, seals and a driveshaft, most of the original group achieved their dream - riding tip to tip in the western hemisphere.

Yes, we were all very affected by the tragic death of one of the guys on the very first day of riding on the Haul Road in Alaska, way back in July, but we all pulled together and worked through the accident in memory of Robert Munn of Scotland.

Lots of friendships were kindled, and some you were happy to get away from. Lots of spills, tip-overs, scuffs scratches, stitches, BandAids, Tylenol, ibuprofen and monkey butts, but that is all part of the adventure. Thousands of pictures were taken by each of us, enough to keep friends at bay for fear of being bored to death by them.

Everyone had a laptop or tablet along and many were keeping personal blogs of the trip. Peter from Northern Ireland won the cake for being the only one to never drop his bike anywhere on the ride, quite an achievement, even if he rarely went over 30 mph! Drew, again from Northern Ireland, won the other cake for using the most tires on the trip, 15 in total! He also won an honorable mention for doing the most wheelies on his 2010 GSA. Whenever there was a crowd, he could not resist to flick the throttle and pop one for the kids, they were in awe to see a fully loaded bike standing up.

I hope you enjoyed following along with me on this trip, there is much more to be said about travelling in an organized group versus solo travel, but that is better left for discussion at a later time if we meet on the road, at a rally, HU meeting this summer. There are definite advantages to each style of adventure travel.

Three of us who met on the trip are planning to ride the Trans-America Trail this summer and end up at the MOA rally in Sedalia, look us up. There will be three GS's covered in stickers camping in the GS Giant area.

I am now at home stringing lights outside along the eves and it is snowing and cold, glad to be home for the holidays. It was quite a ride!!