Mzungo Moto - ZA:Uganda:ZA - 17,400 km, 45 days, 12 countries, 15 months late

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Johnny-B-Good

Pack Dog
Joined
Sep 3, 2010
Messages
76
Reaction score
0
Bike
BMW F650GS / Dakar
First of all, I am 15 months late writing this Ride Report, and I refuse to start working on my next trip (Americas) before I repay the riders on this forum with a decent story. Thanks to Adventurer, Tagsy and Trailrider - could not have done it with out you.

About that story...

BACKGROUND:
I am a Yank who found myself living in Jo'burg while working across the continent on consulting projects.  I had an opportunity to go back to the US for another job (same company), but wanted to make the most of my time. So I started planing a big Africa trip, finally bought myself a 2004 BMW F650 GS Dakar around May of 2010 and got more serious about it. Then the World Cup came, parts got delayed from one supplier and suddenly I found myself ~10 days away from my intended departure date not sure that I'd make a go of it or not.

A client of mine up at Medupi introduced me to Tagsy who told me I was a). insane and b). a moron for trying to cover as much ground as I was in so little time. It was the beginning of September, 2010 and I needed to be out of the country in the beginning of November.  I had thought about Cape to Cairo, but Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt border crossings were not going to be very easy with my American passport. Figured I could get up to Uganda and back, see a lot of the 12 countries in between and who knows what I would find along the way.

ADVENTURER:
I'll be honest - if I hadn't had Adventurer's help, I never would have made it. Tagsy was right - I was nuts for trying to do this and do it alone. But between a few phone calls and PMs on this forum, I was able to get in touch with Adventurer. From paniers to engine guards to multi-fuel stoves, he was a one stop shop for everything I needed to get my Dakar up and running to do the trip. He even helped me do maintenance on the bike before I left, fix ~15 things I broke after my shake down tour of ZA, get the bike cleaned up when I returned, and held onto it and sold it for me when I was out of the country.  For anything Dakar (and lots of other bikes), he is your guy.

THE BIKE:
This is best done with before and after pictures. The first picture is from when I bought the bike, the second is fully loaded the day I left for my trip (42,650 km on the clock) and the last is proof that it came back in one piece (60,029 km on the clock). Adventurer did what he could with my kit - the rest was up to me!

 
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