Hi Visceral,

After reading tons of blogs and making notes, I started saving the points of interest in a personal Google map. Some believe in the saying, "over plan and be ready to improvise." Others prefer to totally wing it. There is no right answer, only go with you instincts and enjoy the moments.

Here is my map. I hit many of these places and missed a bunch too.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=
206020801630774537915.00049e3cd5973a5693e24

You can save the above to your own Google map collection where you can edit it and make it your own. If you are clever, it is possible to download the points by clicking on the KLM icon, run it through some GPS conversion tools, then import them into a GPS...

My general advice is to avoid tight and ridge dates. Reading between the lines I am guessing you thinking of meeting a girl friend at certain places or you might talk her into riding with you, two up or with two bikes. If at all possible, go with the second. It absolutely sucks trying to meet someone hundreds of miles away, over dodging roads. So much can happen that will make you late or you will race at some point to get to that major city and airport, skipping good stuff in order to arrive on schedule. I have structured not one, but two trips with meeting points built in, and it cramps the travel style. Half way through South America I planned to meet my wife in TdF for Christmas. Her schedule was inflexible and airfare from New York City needs to be purchased with some advance planning to keep the price reasonable. I ended up take a month riding through Brazil and I wasn't trying hard to hang out hardcore. I had to skip a number of places I wanted to see. Why? To keep on schedule. In the end I couldn't make it TdF without absolutely screaming the whole way down with monster riding days. Her ticket hadn't been purchased when the plan was reworked. We connected in BA instead, then flew to Patagonia where we hung out for three weeks... And there is the reason why I didn't ride the bike to the end of the world...at least not yet.

__________________
Peter B
2008/09 - NJ to Costa Rica and back to NJ
2012/13 - NJ to Northern Argentina, Jamaica, Cuba and back to NJ
2023 - Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia...back to Peru.

Blogs: Peter's Ride