HU Travellers Meeting North Carolina 2017

Merrill Glos A Solo RTW Journey of Discovery Colorado Mountain Trail Riding

1. A Solo RTW Journey of Discovery

Mid April 2014, Merrill left his Cincinnati home by the front door and traveled in a westerly direction until he reached the back door. Google calculates his general RTW route to traverse seven countries and cover almost exactly 10,000 road miles, taking 184 hours (8 days) at the posted speed. Hypothetically, if you only ride 8 hours per day (on course), you can complete an RTW in 23 days: USA, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, France, and England. So why did it take me 190 days and 29,695 miles? If you're only going to do it once, do it right. At 68 years old, it was now or never, and he gave it his best shot. Merrill and "Tarbaby Too", his Yamaha Super Tenere, crossed 94 international borders and looped through 34 countries and an extra continent (Africa) to complete his RTW.

2. Colorado Mountain Trail Riding

Merrile and his friend Todd rode the iconic mountain trails and passes in the Colorado Rockies. They based themselves out of Steamboat Springs, Gunnison, Ouray Colorado, and Deadwood South Dakota, and were blessed with great weather to ride their dual sports on some to the world's most scenic trails and mountain passes. If a (self-described) fat 70-year-old man can do it, so can you!

Mark Carrera Cultural Challenges of international travel and Safety & Security while travelling

Mark Carrera, a world traveler, will give a presentation on Sharing experiences, creating dialog, discovering cultural challenges for international travel.

Also, as an average-Joe rider and adventurer, Mark has maintained that no adventure is without risk but the media sours the pool with too much fear mongering. Plan on attending his Round Table discussion on safety and security while traveling abroad, or at home - how to mitigate risk, increase safety, and travel with confidence!

Andrew Pain Practical Minimalism - Budgeting, Finding Time, Medical, Packing

Practical Minimalism - Budgeting

How to find the money, how much you need, and how to spend it. It's one of the most common questions asked of overlanders - how to pay for it? Andrew breaks down what needs to be planned for to build an overlanding budget, how to find the money, and how much you actually need for a long overland journey.

Practical Minimalism - Finding Time

How to find the time to take the Big Trip. It's one of the most common questions faced by overlanders, and perhaps the biggest hurdle that prevents people from taking long journey of their dreams. Leaving work, home, and loved ones to travel is a huge change, and Andrew works on how to approach finding the time to travel, dealing with the obsticles and delays, and how to come home and start again after the trip is over.

Practical Minimalism - Packing

From what to carry to how and where to carry it - everything about packing

It's easy to become overloaded, but not having the correct gear and supplies while traveling only increases costs, adds stress, and makes it hard to relax while traveling. Andrew Pain reviews not just the things he packs while traveling on his 250, but how to establish a packing plan and make your own good packing decisions.

Knowing what to pack is only part of the problem with overland travel by motorcycle. Knowing how and where to carry your gear and supplies is as important - and often overlooked - as what to carry. Andrew breaks down types of luggage, weight and load, and where to carry your equipment so you have what you need, when you need it (without starting a yard sale on the side of the road).

Practical Minimalism - Medical

What medical and first aid supplies should you carry while on the road? No one wants it to happen, but injuries and illness happen? while on the road. Packing all the gear and medications to face every possible scenario is impratical at best and impossible at worse. Andrew has worked as a paramedic in Milwaukee for 17 years, and traveled around North, Central, and South America on a small motorcycle. He explains what you don't need, what you should have, and where you should get it, as well as a few simple tips for dealing with the things that go wrong.

Andrew Pain started riding motorcycles in 1991, riding over 300,000 miles around the United States before quitting his job and traveling through the Americas on a 30+ year, 250cc motorcycle, with a stuffed teddy bear named Blue. Back in the United States, he's written books on traveling on small, lightweight motorcycles, packing, and how to travel inexpensively. He now givens talks encouraging people to focus more on travel, and less on the planning and preparation. The trip should always be the goal, to Just Go.

Andrew is also a published author. Below are just some of his books, which are available on Amazon.

LOTS of presentations to come! As people register to present we'll list them here.

How about you? We're all here to learn, and there's LOTS to learn! We want to do more presentations and seminars - but we need volunteers to give them! Any topic you can contribute having to do with motorcycle travel, maintenance, planning etc, lasting 20 minutes or more, would be great. Please contact us here to volunteer.

Sam Manicom 'One of the best story tellers of adventure in the world today'

Africa. Full on Adventure – Every Day!

Nuts or an ideal ride for a complete novice? After all, ignorance can be bliss! Disasters = off-days, & the rest, pure travel magic

When he planned to ride the length of Africa, Sam had no idea what he was doing. But he knew that though a novice motorcyclist, with luck, respect and common sense, he had every chance of making it. Suddenly it looked as if this mix wasn't going to be enough. Just 6 weeks before he made it to the fabled 'Dark Continent' everything went wrong. What would you do? He'd given up his career and had sold his house, it's contents, his car and just about everything that had value. Where Sam's previous life had been, was a large empty space…

From this rocky beginning, 8 years of travelling around the world, magazine articles and his 4 books evolved.

Lorant (Lorry) and Kelli Gombos Two up on Pamir Highway in Central Asia - Time travel to the post Soviet states

Our plans for a Central Asian trip were pretty shaky but everything worked out for the best. The idea of riding this remote corner of the world was a combination of dreams, opportunities and very little plans when Kelli and Lorry were living in Taiwan. Something had always attracted Lorry to ride the vast planes and one of the highest mountains of the world. It's a desire that only the most adventurous people can understand. Luckily Kelli is one those and it made the journey even more exciting.

Kelli and Lorry have traveled on two wheels quite a lot around the world despite their young age (this passion is not age related anyways). Lorry has been riding for almost 2 decades and has always itched to go off the map, whether it be on a sports bike, dirt bike or big dual sport. Kelli has done most of their motorcycle adventures as a pillion.

Isabelle and Terry Porter The "Trans-Lab" as Training for South America

Two years ago Isabelle unexpectedly said, "So when do I get MY bike?". That changed everything! Join them as they take you from her first ride that spring to becoming a "GS rider", one that will be ready for a year touring South America starting next spring. They will cover rider preparation (on/off road) through formal and informal training and practice and two practice trips that included Newfoundland's "T'railway" and the Trans-Labrador road. Find out a little about climate, taiga and tundra pockets, trail and road conditions, gear, wild animals and wild camping in this harshly beautiful land that has been variously settled by the Dorset, the Viking, the Basques and the Innu peoples, to name just a few. There will also be lots of time for questions!

Isabelle and Terry are experienced wilderness campers but are new to motorcycle travel. In two seasons and 7 weeks of travel they have visited the White Mountains, New England states, Gaspe Penninsula, Cape Breton Island, Newfoundland, the Trans-Labrador road and Quebec's Northeastern roads as part of the "Great Northern Circle Route".

Chip Nelson and Ken Showalter RTW - East to West

Two longtime adventure junkies highlight their 2014 trip round the world via North America, Northern Asia and Europe on 1100GS bikes.

One quit his job and the other put his business on autopilot to be able to carve out the time for this epic adventure. There are countless approaches to RTW trips – the presenters will inform you of the how(s) and why(s) they did it the way they did. The presentation will take you through bike prep and logistical planning pre-departure, as well as what was experienced throughout the journey to include border, ocean and sea crossings. Although the ride touched 23 countries, much of the discussion, photos and learnings will focus on the monster landscape of northern Asia to include South Korea, Russia, Mongolia and Kazakhstan.

Chip Nelson lives in the mountains of Colorado, bought his first motorbike in 2012 and quit his island paradise job in the Caribbean to do this RTW trip.

Ken Showalter, an experienced rider and farmer, lives in rural Virginia. With the support of his awesome wife, he left the business in her capable hands to be able to head off on the trip of his dreams.