Welcome to Toques On Moto

Ripping up Deals Gap on the way home through North Carolina, (zeephoto.com)
Navigating the pot holes from Manaus to Boa Vista in Brasil on my way out of the Amazon.
Hundreds of crabs on the beach where I was swimming in a sand dune park called Lencois in Northern Easten Brasil.
The Torres in Chile at 630am from the far side of the lake.
Llama's grazing the plains on our way to Uyuni, Bolivia.
Heading to Igazu Falls up Ruta 14 in Argentina from Buenas Aires.
I finally made it to the End of the World after 3.5 months on March 1st 2010.
Julie and I standing on the Salt Flats in Uyuni, Bolivia.
El Calafate, in Argentina after visiting the Moreno Glacier where I pitched my tent in a field for the night.
A Guanaco atop a hill as I was passing through the Torres del Payne National Park in Chile.
Just south of Santiago, Chile, these group of young fellows were totally stoked to get their picture taken on their day at the beach.
Just off the PanAmerica in Peru just south of Lima, Julie and I pulled off into the desert for some adventure. Over confident in the traction we almost burried ourselves in the sand a considerable distance from the road, but, luckily we walked the bike and pushed hard until we got onto firmer ground.
Young kids we met in Guatemala just north east of Lago Atitlan who lived up on a mountain side and who were also expert kite fliers.
Julie and I getting a shot together as we just crossed into Guatemala from Belize.
Mexico, visiting Palenque a beautifully restored ruin site.

Welcome to Toquesonmoto,

Here you are welcome to browse through 8.5 months of motorcycle adventure over 61,000km through the eastern states of the USA, Central America and South America through 17 countries and 38 border crossings. For the initial 3 months and 20,000km Julie was my trusty co-pilot and navigator who read and researched the path to follow. I was solely responsible for handling the machine and bike maintenance. The adventure was so interesting and stimulating that although we were together 24 hours a day for 90 days we only quarreled once because Julie was too hot in the baking 43 degree C desert. She couldn't decide whether or not she wanted a day-old plastic wrapped cheese sandwich at the gas station or get back on the bike and head to an air conditioned restaurant further down the road which meant being subjected to the baking hot and dry wind. It was a sad day on February 14th 2010 when Julie had to leave me in Santiago, Chile. I was now alone, scared, but determined to continue on, to fulfill a dream, and ride onward to the End of the World. It took me a further 5.5 months to circumnavigate South America where I worked on a sheep farm in Argentina, I learned Portugese in Brazil, learned to SCUBA dive in Colombia & contracted Dengue Fever, Got held at gun point and had a machette held over me by a masked Bandito in Guatemala, and sailed through the waters of the San Blas Islands along the Darrien Gap with a nutty professor from Italy in Panamanian waters. We did our best to detail the entire trip from our opinion and point of view so read along and enjoy the trip through our eyes and experiences.

All the best, and happy riding,

Julie and Greg.

Copy Right. 2009-2011, Toquesonmoto, All rights Reserved.

Ride Reflection

Julie, my co-pilot, looking after the BBQ, all the more reason to be home.
Pretty but poisonous, A couple of mushrooms found out in the Fundy National Forest.
In contrast to the white fruiting bodies above, here we see a bright red fun-guy, "Fungus" among the bryophytes better known as sphagnum moss.
The Cocagne river nearby to where I live, In the scene you see the old bridge pillar.
The fields out in Bouctouche New Brunswick.

It has now been slightly over a month since I have been home and I feel that I'm just now settling into the groove again.... or rut, however you chose to view the "work, eat, sleep routine".

Since arriving at home I have sort of become a bit of a recluse creature rarely wandering far from my house and not speaking to very many people. On the way home from a little motorcycle ride the other day I noticed the next door neighbor unpacking his car with a bunch of fly fishing rods and equipment. I pulled over to chat and we both realized we'd been living next to one another for 4 years and have never met. I don't have a cell phone, nor am I a member of face page, so, he can't text me, which I guess means we'll never hang out.

As I am "broke.com" at the end of the trip, I have not been partaking in a lot of adventurous activities other than cycling, and hiking in order to whip my aching body back into shape. In total the entire trip ended up being 61,230 km over 245 days, 17 countries, and 38 border crossings which gobbled up all but 2 pages in my passport and my entire life saving plus a little more. As for the bike the following numbers speak for themselves.

I used:

7 rear tires

4 front tires

3 sets of chain and sprockets (I'm still running the 3rd set)

1 fork seal and wiper

1 arc welder (SMAW) to fix my rack

1 tube of 5 minute epoxy

1 tube of silicon

1 tube of Shoe goo

1 package of JB Weld

haywire for odd fixes

10 cans of chain lube 20 bucks a can $200 bones

1 dismantle of my rear shock for maintenance

1 hose clamp to replace the old corroded one on rad hose.

2 rear tubes to repair the 2 flat tires I had in the rear

4 spark plugs

1 valve shim

12 oil changes (30 litres)

90 litres of oil total (because KLR's burn oil) roughly $800 dollars worth!

4575 litres of gasoline at roughly 80 cents a litre $3700 dollars

various nuts and bolts that I robbed from my kit from time to time 6mm metric NF

1 tent lost to bandito

1 thermarest lost to bandito

1 walmart leatherman given as a gift

Roughly 15-150 dollars a day depending on what you do ie. swing in a hammock or SCUBA dive.

In the 5 times that I took the bike out for a spin after returning home the following things have happened:

I blew a headlight bulb

Speedometer cable broke

Ram mount for GPS broke

So I guess I should add these to the list of required spares that I needed to replace. Its funny that the bike waited until I got home for the GPS mount and the Speedo cable to break as those two parts are simply unavailable in most places in the world outside of the US or Canada.