Two years on the road are now in the books (and soon to be in physical books). From Chicago to Ushuaia, and back up to Iguazu Falls, the questions are now: what worked and what did not?

The following is a list of the things we carried with us and why.  We have not received any discounts or free merchandise for promotional purposes, nor are we paid by or affiliated with any company. We purchased these items with our own money, and due to that fact, better-quality and more expensive items may exist out there. These are simply our honest, unfiltered opinions on what we decided to bring on our trip. ​

These are some great items that wont break the bank. We love them all, and some people may call them “luxury" items... but we are glad to have them. The links to Amazon are highlighted in green.

• ​We have AirHawk cushions (B+) for both seats as I'm in a never-ending quest to make my ass more comfortable. At first, I had to slightly customize the AirHawk cover to allow me to stuff a scarf in the front to better support my nether regions that needed support, but(t) overall, a great product.

• Barkbuster hand-guards (A+) They haven't snapped off yet after countless drops, and a couple of power slides. A great investment to keep your levers safe. 

• PDM power distribution module (A+) I upgraded our electrical system with outlets all around the bike to plug in our heated gear (that we ended up sending back home), charge our phones and GPS, etc. Great device, simple to install. 


• Auxbeam 4" auxiliary lights  (A+) A cheap ($20) set from Amazon, have not failed me yet over 2 years of rain and hail. I personally do not see a need to spend hundreds of dollars on Aux lights. With the Mounting Kit, and an On/Off Toggle the whole set up was under $40 bucks. 

• Double Take Collapsable mirrors (A+) When the bike goes down, the mirrors just fold in on themselves as they mount to RAM mounts. This has been a great investment.

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• Slime Motorcycle air compressor (A+) and Plug Kit for flat tires (tubeless). This combo has gotten us out of trouble in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. South America's awesome back roads have little sharp surprises!

 

• Rotopax 1 Gallon Fuel Container (A+) This has come in handy countless of times, from just having the extra security of another 40 miles, to easily filling up our MSR fuel bottles that we use for our stove. We were so thankful to have this in Bolivia because gas was a nightmare to obtain in some areas, but in most cases, there was no conflict if we parked away from the gas station and filled up a gallon at a time.

 

• ​Navigation is key while riding, and keeping our phone (so much better than a dedicated GPS) locked in place is essential. After a bit of trial and error with other products, we bought the Perfect Squeeze (A+), and it has kept our phone sturdily in place over potholes, river crossings, and every Latin American speed bump throughout our journey. 

 

• To avoid snatch-and-grab would-be thieves while we walk around markets, or leave the bike unattended, we have two Big Panther carabiner locks (A+) with a metal bungie. We use them to secure our helmets, boots, and jackets to the bike. I also put a Grip Lock (A+) on the brake lever so no one can push the motorcycle from where I left it. Both of these cheap deterrents help prevent people from snagging our stuff.

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• Our G4Free (A+) chairs have been some of our favorite bonus items we have. From sitting down at campsites, on beaches, or even hours-long roadblocks, we have never regretted bringing these with us. The did need some repairs over the 2 years, but nothing a bit of duct tape and superglue couldn't fix.

   

• A lot of people see our Hip Bags (A+) in photos and ask, “Where did you get those from?" We bought them cheap on Amazon, and there are plenty to choose from. They are great as a purse around Marisa's shoulder, and then strapped to her leg while on the road. I keep my smokes, stickers, and other loose items inside that are constantly needed to be within arm's reach.

 

• Everyone needs a belt anyway, and a great place to stash some emergency cash is in a Money Belt (A+). It has an interior zipper to stash some extra cash.

 

• Rok Straps (A+) These aren't breaking news to anyone, but just awesome ways to secure loose ends to the bike.

 

• Eno Double Hammock (A+) We used this all across the States and through Central America. We ended up sending it home once we reached Peru because of the cold weather, but man was it great while the weather permitted lazy days of laying around in a hammock.

I of course have to plug my book Maiden Voyage: within its chapters are even more insights to our original gear. You can read about how we were woefully unprepared for our trip around the Rocky Mountains. None of the gear we had first purchased made it onto the current trip/s we are undertaking.  

Bonus News! Marisa and I are getting married on June 22nd, 2019. While we are back in the States, we need to replenish some of the wearable items we have used and abused for the last two years. Some of these items are listed on our Wedding Registry. If you would like to supply the pair of shoes that I will walk in for the next two years, or the pots we will cook in daily, or provide filtered water for every cup of coffee, we would be forever grateful!

We will be updating this list and giving our feedback on these products throughout our journey. Any recommendations on what has worked for you, please leave your comments on our blog page, facebook page, or drop us a line.

After having been on the road for over a year, it is time to look back at our favorite items, and some that didn't make the cut.

The following is a list of the things we brought with us and why. We have not received any discounts or free merchandise for promotional purposes. We purchased these items with our own money, and due to that fact, better-quality and more expensive items may exist out there. These are simply our honest, unfiltered opinions on what we decided to bring on our trip. 

Here is a brief Christmas idea list for those motorcycle enthusiasts in your life. These are some of our favorite items which have served us well on our round-the-world trip and we highly recommend.  We are not sponsored by any of the products below, and bought each item ourselves with our hard-earned money. These are simply our fair, honest opinions after putting them through hell for a year and four months.

There are many things we have learned along the way and I would like to share what are my top ten travel tips.

​The border between Nicaragua and Honduras took a little longer than average, along with a dose of some of the hottest temperatures we had come by so far. All we needed was just a little patience, and I was continuously thankful that Marisa is fluent in Spanish.
 
When we cross borders throughout the Americas, the form always asks for my nationality. I have to ask myself: “What am I?" We are in the Americas, so American doesn't really specify where I am from. I think it is kind of ignorant to hijack an entire continent and say, “You know, I'm from the America where we play football with our hands."
 
So, I put down USA... but that's not right either. No one says, “I am England" or “I am South Africa." It is English, South African, Asian, or Irish and so on. I thought about writing down USAish or USAian, because I didn't want to write “A Citizen of the United States of America," but figured that would add to the confusion.
 
#IamUSAian

​Our time in El Salvador and Honduras was short and brief, but we were able to absorb a taste of what it had to offer.  Honestly, these two countries were on our “worry" list. Marisa had spent the last two years before our trip as an ESL (English as a second language) teacher, and many of her students were refugees from these countries. We have always tried to avoid the rhetoric that Mexico and (enter “dangerous" country here) is not safe, especially when it comes from people who have only heard about place, and who have never actually been. But, hearing first-hand accounts of how life can be in these countries from children who have witnessed unimaginable horrors, shines a light of actual perspective.
 
Some of Marisa's old students asked her, “Why would you go to the country I fled?"
 
These kids’ lives have been put through so much terror and abuse that they made a long journey to escape the inhumanity of their homeland, and hoped for a better future in... Arkansas(?). Marisa was able to bond with them, and play an important role in their lives when they sometimes had no family in the States to turn to for support or attention, and she took their stories to heart.

​As I sit comfortably in a house we are staying at for a couple weeks, at no cost, I am able to reflect on the last 3 months of travel. Our trip has already piled on more memories than I could have hoped for.
 
We rode through some of the most beautiful states in the U.S. We were able to fix the bike when things went astray, and I survived a bad case of poison oak that spread to my unmentionables.

The States had proved themselves to be as amazing and hospitable as we could have hoped. We met wonderful people, saw nature in all of its glory, and shook some excess bugs out of our gear, the bike’s load, and literally out of our jackets and helmets.

A big shout out to the people who assisted us and invited us into their homes along the way, Dana Dahl and her husband William (where we almost declared legal residency because we stayed for so long), Paul Sprague (who insisted on paying for our hotel room for a night), and Jim Piatt, along with his fellow riders of the Pokka Dots: Brian Small and Ron Hess. Jim provided us with a pair of passenger foot pegs that miraculously fit (with a little grinding). We have now dubbed the bike “Peg-asus” because now she has wings!

There are too many people to thank individually, but we are grateful to every individual who provided kindness and assistance, down to just good conversations.
 
But now we are in Mexico, having made it all the way to Cabo. Once past Tijuana, Baja opened its window to the wondrous views it has to offer. The nights were spent at a variety of playas, each seemingly more beautiful than the last. Eating at small family owned stands, constant swimming in the Sea of Cortez, and reading books while we lay in our hammock is how we spent the majority of our days. It was true relaxation mixed in with random bonus gifts, including our Texan neighbor, Captain Gunner, letting us use his kayak-a-maran in the Bay of Conception and having a whale shark swim directly underneath us. A truly once in a lifetime experience. In the same bay, bioluminescence sparkled in the water as we swam at 4am. Everything seemed magical. Almost magical, with a couple scratches to the flawless facade.

As a guitarist, some of my favorite lines in 12 bar blues progressions are the turnarounds. Little personal licks of emotion, dirty and gritty as they can be, that lead back to the main rhythm and comforting progression of the song.
 
Marisa and I have recently experienced moments of our trip that seemed to have led to unknown, improvised directions of dirty, gritty, and truly blues filled trials that have eventually led back into the standard patterns of our trip that we are accustomed to.
 
Turnarounds, in my attitude, and the outlook of uncomfortable situations, have redirected me to the needed understanding of uncertainty. “Life is Chaos,” or more simply, “Chaos is . . .” I found myself repeating this to myself as if practicing Timism, a lesser known branch of Buddhism (please note this is not true at all). It's an understanding that the world is not out to get me, and that all things seem to settle back to normal if given enough time, attention, or realization that some things just will not change.
 
We had recently camped at Kolob Reservoir, and it was beautiful. We decided it would be a great place to set up camp and call home for four days.

On the third night we stayed at the reservoir it rained, then it hailed, and it did not stop for 15 straight hours. As we huddled in the tent, hail hammered the rainfly and the ground around us, splashes of water and mud ricocheting onto us from every direction. We were stuck, and filthy, and there was no way I was going to pack up the tent while God’s wrath hailed down on us.