A Widow's Ride

As you may remember from last week, I finally made it to the Mariposa Fairground where the Horizon Unlimited California event is being held.

The Horizon Unlimited event is the premier overland event for motorcyclist.  It a 3 days event packed with educational classes, demonstrations, and travel presentations from the around the world.  It has been inspiring, informing and connecting overland travelers since 1997.  It was started by Grant and Susan Johnson.  They have traveled around the world visiting 39 countries and putting 62,000 miles on their motorcycle.  This spanned over 14 years and they show no sign of slowing down.

While at the event, I got see old friends again and made new friends.  However, one of the highlight for me was meeting my late husband’s idol, Craig Vetter.  At first, I was a bit hesitant to be one of those crazy fans asking for an autograph but I just had to do it in honor of him.  After I got a picture with him, he started talking about the economics of his motorcycle design for the Vetter Streamliner and his plan to build an electric version; he finally glanced over my way and apologized for rambling and going over my head about it.  I started to laugh and explained how he was my husband’s idol and already heard all about it.

One of my favorite sessions at the event is the women’s only session, where we get to talk about personal hygiene while on the road.  The biggest topic was natural remedies for minor ailments since you may not have access to a pharmacy while on the roads.  Here are a few suggestions:

• Lemon Eucalyptus oil can be used as mosquito repellents
• Peppermint oil can be used to soothe an upset stomach or to aid digestion.
• Apple Cider Vinegar can be used to get rid of nausea
• A mixture of water and cornstarch can be use to aid diarrhea.

There were two other sessions that I learned a lot from.  One was the Electrical accessory wiring 101 classes where you learn how to add electronics to your bike without setting it on fire.  This is the biggest challenge for my trip next year since the little T-dub’s stator cannot be upgraded to handle the added accessories such as the heated grip, heated vest or the GPS.  I originally came up with the idea of having two batteries on the bike; one for the bike and the other one for the accessories.  However after talking to Erik Stephens of Twisted Throttle after the class, we came up with other ideas.  Such as replacing the headlight which put out 55 watts to an LED light which can range from 10 to 20 watts and adding an auxiliary light for the high beams that is on a kill switch so it doesn’t draw so much power.  There are other ideas that we still need to hash out.  At least now I have hope that I can add the needed accessories to the bike.

The second informative class I took was the Motorcycle Recovery Systems given by Bill Ellison.  Here we learned how to create a 2 to 1 ratio pulley system to haul a bike up from the side of the hill.  We also learned how to make a Prusik knot which is used as a friction hitch or device that can grab a rope.  He suggested the following items to keep on hand in case in an emergency:

• 8 ml static rope (75 ft) and rope bag to store it in so it doesn’t get tangled.
• 4 medium size locking carabiner
• 3 small size pulley

All in all, I had a wonderful time at the event and only once I got a bit nostalgic about missing my late husband which I handled well by stepping and find a quiet place and wrote in my journal.  Now I hold a special place in my heart to all of the friends I made through this community.  I also wish “The Adventure Trios” a safe journey on their 18 months trip to South America and to Danell Lynn a safe journey on her one year all 50 states trip around United States.