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barry.the.tramp

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Hello all, I'm new to the forum.<br>I spent last May thru October travelling the U.S. on my old homebuilt '72 CB750 Honda motorcycle.<br>After zig zagging across our great country, thru 26 states, I landed in the Stockton, CA and then Piru, CA areas for awhile.<br>After not finding steady work, I returned to the Midwest to work/save and plan the next adventure.<br>While I don't live <em>in</em> a vehicle, I live on one.<br>I used to have a '69 Avion Slide-in that I would haul a bit, but after a life change (split relationship/sold house/etc) I decided that it was too expensive gas-wise to travel with my 3/4 ton GMC so I took to 2 wheels.<br>This is a great site! Looks like a lot of useful information to travelling types like ourselves.<br><br><img rel="lightbox" src="http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/309193_10150982389552714_991736944_n.jpg" class="bbc_img"><br><br><br>
 
Nice bike. I would love to hop on mine and travel. Not till the kids are out of school.
 
Welcome! Where do you put your stuff? I mean even the bare minimum like a change of clothes, your next meal, and so on. I'm fascinated!
 
Same place a long distance hiker would- in the backpack! Welcome to the forum. Several on here have bikes they travel from, even a sidecar hack rig. One guy a while back did cross country on a 250 ninja....ow to the back! Great travels, man. I'm jealous here. Just sold my bus and it looks like I'm goo.g into a small fifth wheel with a 50 cc scoot as backup transport.
 
Hi Barry the tramp, really good to have you with us. I live in New Mexico and do some travel on my sidecar rig...a 1983 GL1100/Ural....we have another guy who lives off of his Ural rig a lot of the time, Ara and his dog Spirit. As far as I know you would be the only one on here who actually lives solely on his bike for long periods of time...that is a tough road. <br><br>I love the bikes...just bought a Transalp as a matter of fact which I may put a hack on sometime.<br><br>Hope you hang out with us on here for a while.....<br><br>bri
 
<EM><STRONG><SPAN style="COLOR: #888888">Cool ride Barry. I like it. Welcome.</SPAN></STRONG></EM><BR><EM><STRONG><SPAN style="COLOR: #888888">Geoff</SPAN></STRONG></EM>
 
Hi Barry,<BR>That gas tank doesn't look very big, whats it hold, a couple gallons. I worked as a motorcycle mechanic for about 10 years and worked on a lot of CB750's back in the 80's. They are are very dependable ride. My brother rode one from N. Illinois to the Florida keys, then out to California and back to Illinois back in the mid 70's with no problems other than replacing tires, and gas and oil.<BR><BR>
 
Thanks for the warm welcoming and compliments everyone.<br><br>To answer a few questions, everything I needed was packed there on the bike as you see in the picture above.<br>A few changes of clothes, a laptop, rain gear and some misc items were strapped to the sissy bar of the bike, and provides a nice backrest for me.<br>The rest of my gear: extra tools and parts, maps, etc were divided between the saddle bags and the fork bag.<br><br>That gas tank gives me a range of about 80ish miles (depending on conditions). So I'm stopping to fill up often, but it gives me a chance to take in the scenery.<br>That being said, I take mostly backroads so that I can actually see and experience our country. I ran some freeway miles in CO cuz I wouldn't have made any ground otherwise, LOL...and took I-70 when I was headed back east only because of time and weather issues.<br><br>The biggest obstacle I found while travelling was income.<br>I worked in WI for a week doing finishing work on concrete lawn sculptures, cleaning them up after coming out of the mold and priming them for paint.<br>I also worked in Los Angeles doing staging work post Emmy Awards, tearing down the stages and such at the L.A. Convention Center.<br>Both of those gigs were hooked up by friends.<br><br>I can adapt, and have become accustomed to life on the road, it's just that pesky income that has presented my biggest obstacle.
 
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