Sunday, October 11th, 2026

Someone told me, when we moved to Colorado, that there are two seasons, Winter and getting ready for Winter. Slightly exaggerated, but the point holds around this time of year. I spent most of the day yesterday getting property ready for winter. Mostly switching over our little tractor from grass cutting setup, to snow blower setup. I don’t believe I even put the snowblower on the tractor last winter. It was one of the worst winters for snowfall, it didn’t really make sense to go through the trouble. I am getting all this ready a bit earlier than I normally would since we are going to be gone for two months. When we get back it should be full-on winter. And if the predictions are correct we won’t have another terrible winter.

For this next trip that starts in a week it will be the first long trip that we really need to pay attention to the weather forecasts as we are traveling. Riding motorcycles across the Southern USA, over two months, we are bound to see some weather. This is where the investment in good riding gear, heated grips, and jackets, will hopefully pay off. Not that I am looking forward to riding in rain and cold, but it will be a good test of our setups. We are going to see all types of weather as we travel for two years. I’d rather find out that some part of my kit doesn’t work as well as I hoped now, instead of in the middle of the Andes.

Getting ready for longer motorcycle trips can be a little stressful as I try to make sure the bikes are in good working order. But the bigger thing is trying to think through all the things you will need, predicting what situations you may run into. I believe this is where people fall into the trap of bringing too much gear. I normally would lean this way. The “better to have it and not need it” mentality. But, loading down motorcycles is no fun. It changes how they ride, and the requirement to unpack the bike each night really starts to teach you that maybe you don’t need that extra pair of pants. Or that extra tool that you may need in a very rare situation. Each one of these trips has added a bit of learning of what we need and don’t need on a trip. I am trying my best to lean towards taking less, it is way more fun to ride the bikes when they are not loaded down.