jupiter's travels - the story of a journey ( Index Post 1)

1. The Solo Trip - December 2008 : Reply # 47
2. The First Trip - October  2008 : Reply # 209
3. The Winter trip - June 2009 : Reply # 222
4. The Karoo Trip - September 2009 : Reply # 257
5. The Mystery Trip - October 2009 : Reply # 282
6. The first Tour : Overberg - December 2009 : Reply # 290
7. Wilddogs : Reply # 327
8. The Honeymoon Trip - December 2010 : Reply # 337
9. The DR750 Roundabout Trip - April 2015 : Reply # 405 (RR proper at # 465)


Riding bike is me, and being able to share it with my family makes it all the more worthwhile. The rest of what I do is just there to fill in the gaps.

Lyn and I have been riding together since our younger days, that's almost for 32 years now, and we've had great times on the bike. I've done many reports of my other rides, but never of our trips. This is what I will do now. I might digress from actual bike riding, so please bear with me, as the rest of our life has also been part of the journey.

Be patient, it will take time and there are hundreds of foto's to sort. I have no notes and will be writing this off the bat from memory, and without editing. I've been wanting to share our rides with you for a long time, but its a big job these RR's, and the only way to do it is to start writing, so here goes.

As the story grows, with the different trips, I'll add an index to this post.

:sip:

This story, and most of the rides, is really about the past six years, but it must have a beginning.

We met when Lyn was still at school, went through all the silly emotions of young couples, and then became, and have remained best friends 'till this day. That must be one of the reasons that we can spend hours on the bike, being together in quiet solitude. Without that we would not have been able to have our biking life, and for that matter the past 32 years together.

When we met Lyn knew I was a pure-at-heart-biker and loved the life from the start. Our first real trip was just after she finished matric. I had a CB 400 Twin at the time and we went to visit my mother, who lived in East Londin.

I'll never forget how totally flabergasted her Old Man was when I asked if she can go with me on the bike. She was only 17 years old. We were already packed and gone before he got a word out. My MIL said afterwards he actually only managed to comprehend when we were already down the road. She knew before hand of course, but we agreed not to worry the Ol'Man too much.

Would I have allowed one of my daughters to do that.... norrefok  :eek7:

Hier kom 'n ding!  :happy1:

Carrots said:

Hier kom 'n ding!  :happy1:

Click to expand...

Ek se ook so!

Ons wag..................

Life continued, and I'm not going to bother you too much with the intervening years. I finished National Service, my studies, we got married and after a while the kids came along. Inbetween there was a lot of biking and rallies, but it is not central to this story.

Our kids are our treasures, and I always believe that there wellbeing is the only indication of your success in life. Like all, or most kids, they loved the bike from very small.

We lived on a small holding and the gate was a hundred meters or so from the house. Their thrill for the day was to hitch a ride.

The two elder ones, Kirsty and Kyle( Kayla, the Little One, would accidently appear only a few years later  :biggrin: )

SUB SUB SUB!!! :thumleft:

Dit gaan 'n grote wees. Gooi Jup :happy1:

lekkrrrrr oom Jupiter...gooi mielies :ricky: :ricky: :ricky: :ricky: :ricky:

Julle moet maar geduldig wees. Loer so een keer 'n week in of wat. Dis 'n lang storie die en gaan tyd vat.  :sip:

In 1990 I did an epic, long road bike tour and by 1995 I had seen most of the country on tar, and some gravel. It never really bothered me where I rode my bike. If I wanted to be there, I rode there. With Lyn on the bike, however, we always stayed on tar.

Those days I did not have a camera, so no pics, unfortunately, of these rides. I've now, regretably, come to realise that without foties, there's no story.

By now I've had enough of tar and wanted to get into the mountains. The kids were almost of an age where Lyn and I could start touring together again and there was much to explore. I sold the RS and had a GS lined up... Lyn fell pregnant... cried for three weeks, (as the timing was not great), and I sulked for months. The result, Kayla, has however never been regretted.

All children are different, and of course I love my two older children, but if you could wish for a dream child, then that is Kayla.(of course the fact that she is Daddy's baby, pure at heart biker, makes no difference   )

Life got a bit complicated and enter the Sleeper Years. I did not want to do my biking without Lyn, and it was not fair to do it on my own, leaving them at home. We always believed, when the kids were small, we do things together. That, however, does not mean we sat at home. I had a Sierra station wagon at the time and for the next 10 years or so, we would put almost 400 000km on it touring the country flat.

Life continued and the kids grew up. That, as you would know, is a story on its own.

:happy1:  :biggrin:

Sub, thanks for sharing  :thumleft:

Nice Jup, here comes a nice  :sip:

The Dark Years. I'm obsessive/compulsive. I either do something, or I don't, and I do it flatout. I cut biking completely out my life. It was the only way or I would go mad thinking about it. And I mean completely... no club, magazines, bikeshops, talk etc. It was 11 years of hell for me you can imagine.

And then, towards the end of 2007, when the kids were now bigger and Kirsty was writing her matric, my Beloved spoke the sweetest words to me that she has said to this day in our 28 years of marriage... I THINK ITS TIME WE GET A BIKE AGAIN.

My fuck ! I went into orbit. It was always going to be her decision and like all mothers, they know when things are right, and of course...  :imaposer:

EISH uncle die mods gan vi jou ban...

I'm just kidding of course, but Lyn had always known how much I was hurting and the time had to be right for her to leave the kids at home.

And boy, was I about to make up for it... 12 bikes in the past 6 years. I did mention I'm OCD, and when I do something I don't mess around. And we toured plenty of course. Those that have been following my travels will know I'm quite the enthusiast when it comes to bike riding  :ricky:

But there can ever only be ONE. I researched quite a while, knowing we are now going to travel gravel and the mountains. I found my Africa Twin and some great kilo's and time together were to follow on it.

And this then would be where this journey starts  :thumleft:

Subscribe Jup...

Thanks aan almal wat sover saamgekuier het. Nou moet ek eers bietjie gaan navorsing doen met die foto albums, so sien julle later.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Lekker Jup. Really looking forward to this.