by Travis Gill
This year was a year of change for us. Since March of 2020 we had been full-time traveling within the European continent with a couple of diversions to north Africa. After riding more than 110,000 miles on each of our two BMW motorcycle “pack-mules”, we felt it was time to put an end of the European chapter of our travels and start fresh in North America. Welcome to 2024!
January – March:
When we arrived from Europe to Boise, Idaho, we had two brand-new Kawasaki KLR650s waiting for us. We had bought them a few months before and Chris of UPSHIFT Online was graciously storing them for our return. He even outfitted them with an awesome custom-designed topographical body kit and introduced us to some great sponsors (more on this later).
Micah, our brother, was also generous in allowing us to store the KLRs in his garage where we built them out for full-time overlanding. Over the winter months, we ordered and installed the myriad of parts and accessories: Heated grips, GPSr, 12-Volt power, aux lights, hand-guards, off-road pegs, crash-bars, skid-plates, pannier racks, suspension upgrades, and all the soft luggage to carry our lives. Overall, it took the entire winter to install and film each of the accessories. Check out our modification video series on YouTube.
April
By mid April, the temperatures of southern Idaho had warmed up enough that we felt like we could ride to our first adventure motorcycle event of the season in Mariposa, California. With the heated grips on full heat and our jackets buttoned up, we made our way through Nevada, Lake Tahoe, and into Yosemite National Park for a few nights of camping. The Horizons Unlimited event was a lot of fun, where we presented on how we budgeted for the Europe trip and shared some of our favorite photographs and stories from the last 3.5 years of motorcycle overlanding.
Near the end of the month, we started riding the Southern California Backcountry Discovery Route (BDR) starting at Benton and heading south. Unfortunately, it didn’t last too long because on the second day I rolled my KLR650 backwards on a dirt hill and managed to jam my foot-peg between a rock which tore the metal foot-peg mount in half! Without a firm place to plant my foot, there was no way we could finish the BDR. We decided to visit some friends in Ventura and wait for the foot-peg mount to arrive by mail.
May
A week later the part arrived, my mule was fixed, and we were back on the BDR once again. There is always an excitement of riding off-road in beautiful and challenging terrain, but that excitement wore off the next day when I got a flat tire while riding on Hunter Mountain Road in the high elevation of Death Valley National Park. Somehow, I managed to pick up a large screw within the 3.4 million acres of one of the largest national parks in the United States. Go figure!
We quickly got the tire off and put in a new tube, but we could not ply the thick-walled sidewalls of the tire back onto the wheel rim. We tried multiple times only to start damaging the sidewalls of the tire! We even laid the tire in the sun in the hopes that it would be more pliable, however that didn’t seem to help either.
We ended up spending all of Saturday and Sunday working on the tire, but to no success. It was incredibly frustrating and one of our lows of the year for sure. On Monday, I loaded the tire and wheel from my stricken mule onto Chantil’s mule and rode two hours to the nearest motorcycle shop that could help me put the tire on the rim. I learned that our problem was not our tools, but not using enough tire lubrication to pry the tire onto the rim. With a new learned skill, I returned to Death Valley, installed the wheel, and we were on our way once again. By mid-month we had finished riding a majority of the SoCal BDR!
On the 16th we arrived in Flagstaff, Arizona for the next event – The Overland Expo West. This was an exciting, but insane, event where hundreds of venders and thousands of folks come together with everything you could imagine for truck camping. We even got some great ideas on future overlanding with a Jeep or truck!
Near the end of the month, we were back on the mules and heading towards Monument Valley and the start of the Utah BDR. Utah is, by far, one of the premier destinations for exploring the backcountry – So many wonderful and remote locations! In many ways it was a favorite memory of the year. Unfortunately, May was just too early to try and ride the entire route since the dirt-road passes above 10,000 feet were still covered in snow.
June
We decided to ditch the Utah BDR for the more favorable, and dry, paved roads of northern Utah which returned us safely to Boise once again. By the end of the month, we were back on the mules and heading west towards the desert regions of southeast Oregon, and to attend the adventure motorcycle event known as the UNRally!
If you’re looking for your first Burning Man-type experience surrounded with hundreds of other like-minded motorcyclist, then the UNRally is for you! We were a bit apprehensive about the event since we’ve heard some crazy stuff about Burning Man, but overall, we felt that the weekend of camping, catered dinners, and meeting wonderful people was worth all the blowing dust of the playa dry-lake bed.
Near the end of the month, we arrived at our third of five events for the year – The Pacific Northwest Overland Event in Redmond, Oregon.
July
July started out a bit rough – While Chantil was riding through a patch of sand, she was thrown forward and hurt her ribs. Thankfully, they were not broken, but were sore enough that riding off-road was too painful. We decided it was best to return to Boise and heal up a bit before our next motorcycle event in British Columbia, Canada. After a week of taking it easy, we were back on the road once again and heading north through Idaho to the Canadian border.
Along the way we stopped in Moscow, Idaho to check on a mini-motorcycle that we’ve been eyeing for some time – a Honda Trail 125. Turns out they had one in stock and since we were there in person, they decided to sell it to us. Chantil was elated! She had her very own mini-motorcycle in a color that matched her bright personality to a tee – bright yellow! We told the dealer that we would be back in a few weeks to pick up the little Honda and continued with the KLRs across the Canada border where we attended the Horizons Unlimited CanWest meeting.
By mid-month we were back in the United States and riding the Idaho BDR, where we fell in love with the wide expanse of forests and backcountry of this beautiful state. We especially enjoyed riding the Lolo Motorway that followed in the tracks of the famous explorers Louis and Clark.
The end of the month was highlighted by Chantil, and her sister Alana, returning to Moscow, Idaho and riding the Honda Trail 125 back to Boise via the backroads. Fun stuff!
August
Remember in May when we couldn’t finish riding the northern portion of the Utah BDR due to snow? Well August was the perfect time to finish riding the higher elevation sections. After four days we had completed the Utah BDR and then pointed our handlebars east to visit Dinosaur National Monument on the Utah/Colorado border. By mid-month we had reached our final motorcycle event – The Overland Expo Mountain West in Loveland, Colorado.
We also happened to come across another Honda Trail 125 that was for sale in Denver – a red one! Now we had two awesome mini-motos! However, we still needed to get the new Honda back to Boise so we could continue riding our two KLR650s through Colorado and beyond. After some research, the least expensive way was to ride the 900 miles from Denver to Boise myself and then fly back to Denver to continue our travels. Over the next four days I rode through northern Colorado, central Wyoming, and through most of southern Idaho on that tiny bike with a whopping top-speed of about 45 MPH. It was slow, but a surprising fun filled trip. We’re even considering the idea of riding for a year around the lower 48 states in these little Hondas!
September
This month was full of some of the most beautiful natural backcountry we’ve ever had the pleasure of riding. There is something very special about Colorado in the fall season when the Aspens turn from summer green to bright yellow, orange, and red. The mountains almost feel like they are on fire from all the incredible colors. It’s something we’ve always wanted to experience, and we were not disappointed in the slightest. Visiting some of the many iconic places like Pikes Peak, Great Sand Dunes, and Mesa Verde were also highlights of the month.
By the end of the month, we had finished our fourth BDR of the year (Southern California, Idaho, Utah, and Colorado) and decided to return to Boise to take care of some last-minute preparations before we pack our KLRs for the “big adventure” to the southern tip of South America.
October
We stayed pretty busy this entire month but still managed to enjoy daily rides on our pair of Honda Trail 125s. Nearly the entire month was filled with sunny skies and 70-degree temperatures, making it a perfect time for being outside with family and friends.
During the last week of the month, the skies clouded over and the temperatures dropped to highs of only 50 degrees. We knew that we needed to get south or risk getting stuck in the cold season.
November
On the 4th we left Idaho to head south through Nevada and warmer riding temperatures. Unfortunately, we endured one day where we only rode for two hours due to just above freezing temperatures and a snow-flurry that covered the front fenders of our KLRs. Thankfully, the roads never iced over, but it was pretty miserable. By the 6th, we had arrived in southern Utah where we felt like we had reached comfortable riding temperatures enough to slow down and be tourists once again. Over the next few weeks, we enjoyed many sites in Utah and Arizona: Angles Landing in Zion National Park, Horseshoe Bend, Biosphere 2, Saguaro National Park, Pima Air and Space Museum, the town of Bisbee, and Chiricahua National Monument.
Our last week of the month we parked our KLR mules in El Paso and joined our brother Hial and his three boys, for some RV-style glamping on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Highlights included the sandy beaches of Corpus Christi, Starbase in Boca Chica, and Thanksgiving Dinner at Stonehenge! Yep, Stonehenge in Texas.
December
We’ve always wanted to see Roswell, so after Hial returned us to our mules, we headed to New Mexico where we spent a fun-filled week in Roswell and Carlsbad. An interesting place for sure, full of alien-themed curiosities and shops. Even the McDonalds here is shaped like a spaceship!
On the 7th we started riding the newest BDR – The Big Bend BDR-X of Texas. This 618-mile route winds through Big Bend National Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park, and other wilderness areas. It was especially nice to be riding in some of the most remote areas we’ve ever ridden and to be wild-camping in December.
After the BDR, we visited some friends in San Antonio for a week and then spent the Christmas holiday on the Gulf Coast of Galveston. By the end of the year, we had reached Pensacola, Florida where we renewed our driver’s licenses, so they won’t expire during our travels through central and South America.
A Year of Magnificent Memories
So, there you have it – Over 20,000 miles of motorcycle overlanding in North America: Two countries, 16 states, five flat tires, and two happy travelers. More adventure awaits…
A Debt of Gratitude
We are EXTREMELY grateful to the manufacturers that offered free or discounted items to help us build out our KLR650s. Kudos to TMBR MOTO for the graphics kits that make our KLRs stand out from the crowd. A big fist-bump to Outback Motortek for supplying the crash-bars, skid-plate, and pannier racks – Solid stuff! As for carrying our stuff, big hugs to Turkana Gear for outfitting the bikes with all the luggage to include panniers, crash-bar bags, tank bag, and rear duffle. Their gear is extremely well built for the harshness of full-time over-landing. And finally, thanks to Scorpion EXO for providing two of their wonderfully comfortable and light carbon-fiber ADV helmets. If you’re in the market for any of this gear we whole-heartedly recommend all these products.
What to Expect for 2025
Our Kawasaki KLR650s have proven themselves over the last year of travels and we are confident they are ready for the next challenge on our bucket list – Central and South America. We hope to enter Mexico in a week and then slowly make our way to Panama while visiting as many central American countries as we can. More adventure awaits…
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Travis and Chantil.. this was so interesting to read.. you 2 are really living your best life’s. Stay safe!!
Thanks for the message. Glad you enjoyed it. We are trying to live our dreams of traveling, but there are times when we miss the comforts of a “normal” life. Thanks for the safe wishes.
Travis you do such a nice job with your writings and pictures / take care of your selves love ya both
Thank you so much! We loved spending time with you and the rest of the family this year.