My name is Greg McKenzie and I’m currently taking a break from earning a living to do something which has festered in the back of my mind for a while now – a major motorcycle trip.

I’m going to ride the length of the Americas south to north, starting January 2005. I’ll be visiting friends on the way and hopefully making some new ones too. I anticipate it will take me six-months – but in truth, I don’t know and more than that, I don’t care! I’ve taken many road-trips before – often on the bike, sometimes in a car – very often to the south of France, occasionally further a field. But these have been mere appetisers – building an appetite to embark on this one big adventure.

Up until now now, I’ve never ridden into the sunset without knowing when I need to be back. The timetable of work, annual leave and mortgage payments dictating my thoughts, attitude and agenda.

The broad plan is to visit the southern most town in the world (Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego) and riding to the northern most point of the north American landmass (Deadhorse, Alaska).

This is the plan :

• PART 1: Ride to as far south as you can get (Ushuaia – 55deg SOUTH)
• PART 2: turn around and head as far north as you can go (Deadhorse – 74deg NORTH)

There’s beauty in simplicity! What could be easier? So this is the ambition and the basis of the preparation.

FIRST LEG – South America

I land in Buenos Aries, Argentina on 21st January 2005, briefly travelling north to visit Montivideo, Uruguay before turning south heading for Ushuaia, just short of Cape Horn.

I then turn north again trek around Patagonia, based out of Punta Natales, Chile and continue on through Santiago and the Atacama desert into Bolivia. Across the border into Peru and head north again to Quito, Ecuador.

SECOND LEG – Central and North America

The bike will be flown to Panama from where I’ll continue heading north through Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and Mexico.

I intend to visit the Baja peninsula for some sea-kayaking and more trekking before continuing up into the USA stopping at Los Angeles and San Francisco on the way.

Across the border into British Columbia, Canada and on towards Anchorage, Alaska. From Fairbanks I’ll take the 400 mile solitary road towards Deadhorse and the the Arctic Ocean.

The bike is all set to go but it needs to go to Liverpool (!?!) to get a Dangerous Goods Certificate, basically means somebody checks that I’ve drained the petrol and disconnected the battery.

My flight is booked for Thursday 20th Jan with Iberia – I’ll arrive in B.A. late night on the 20th. I’ve booked a swanky hotel, if only to ensure I can get some English speaking help for picking the bike up. There’s a bunch of stuff that was intended but hasn’t happened, but I’m keen to get under way.

YE-HAW…….arrived in Buenos Aires 11.30pm on 20th Jan. The adventure begins!!!

The last couple of weeks before I left were manic..suddenly the motivation is get things done increased remarkably as the deadline sharpened.

Departure day was mighty long..after a few quenching ales the night before, I was left to pack the gear until 2am. Then up at 4.30am to catch the connecting flight to Madrid . Buenos Aires is minus 3 hours to GMT so the beer in the Hotel Nogaro tasted so goooooood!!!!

Despite the beer enhanced pack-job, I haven’t noticed anything missing. I even remembered to bring the bike keys!!

Initial thoughts on Argentina and Buenos Aires are great. People are friendly, prices are incredibly cheap, the food is copious and great quality (steak and red wine – perfect for a gout sufferer as myself) and the city easy to navigate. The taxi driver drove like like a nutter from the airport and he didn’t stand out (!) so looks like I’ll be right at home.

This morning I swapped the rather average hotel breakfast for a much better offering from a café on Plaza del Mayo. Coffee so think it could stand for election. A few photo´s are attached below to get a flavour of the city. In truth I´m still seeing the parts of B.A. that some Minister of Tourism encourages us to see. Despite taking a stroll away from the tourist / shopping centre today towards the more ´bohemian´ San Telmo barrio this afternoon (lots of shaded cobbled streets and quaint antique shops) I´m still on the tourist trail I think.

The bike arrived in one piece – good. I´m getting restless already. If things go to plan I´ll be on the road on Tuesday (25th).

If you want to know more about Greg’s travels, visit his website at: http://www.unbeatentrack.com/