The Finish Line Is Just The Start – The Shakedown Cruise

Well Kim and I have finally reached what has been our goal for over 40 years. On the 4th of July 2015, we retired from the corporate world. No more suits, no more ties, no more deadlines. After spending decades doing what others wanted us to do, it’s finally our turn to go out and play. I’ve even started the beard that I’ve always wanted.

To mark our new found freedom, we’ve decided to try an around the world journey. For now, we’re just going to do a little shakedown run to ease into the retirement waters. We’re heading north from our home and will take a route that will take us from NH, through VT, Quebec via the Gaspe Peninsula, Labrador via the Trans Labrador Highway, Newfoundland via parts of the Trailway, Nova Scotia and ME.

Then we’ll take some time off to sell our home and many belongings so that we can make our way around the rest of the world.

I’ll be on a 2011 KTM 990 Adventure and Kim will be on a 2013 Suzuki DR650.

Although both have been somewhat farkelized I can’t leave good enough alone. Kim’s DR needs something more to make it worthy. So I’ve added some Barkbusters, a 5 gallon Acerbis tank, a swoopy high mount front fender and relocated her well used windshield lower.

For a detailed ride report with pictures, please click here:

The Finish Line Is Just The Start

We’ll also have a Spot satellite tracker so you can watch us as we make our way and you can find it here:

Ride2ADV Shakedown Cruise

We’ll update our ride report with pictures and text constantly, so remember to come back often.  Please note that there are multiple pages at this ride report, so click on the page number at the bottom or top of the page as the ride report gets longer (you’ll see a block at the top or bottom of the page that says Page X of Y).