Shirley Hardy-Rix - Circle to Circle. A Journey Through the Americas and Beyond

Phil Marshall, our mechanic, found the only rear drive for the R1200 GSA in Australia and by the middle of the week the bike was back on the road.

We rode down to Apollo Bay and our family and friends joined us for a slap up welcome home dinner at Gavans restaurant.

The bike travelled 82,632 kilometres under its own steam and a further 2,014 in the recovery van and on the tow truck.

It wasnt the perfect end to our journey but we have plenty to be happy about. We didnt come off the bike despite the shock and the rear drive giving up. We had one flat tyre and constant repairs on the rear drive seal.

We had the time of our lives.

It was one hell of a ride.

Now enjoying retirement, Brian was a policeman in Victoria for 36 years. During that time he headed up the Homicide Squad, investigated drug trafficking, kidnappings, armed robberies and worked undercover. He spent the final five years of his career as President of the powerful police union, The Police Association.

Shirley met Brian when she was working as a crime reporter on Melbourne TV and radio. She is now a freelance journalist working as a magazine editor and publicist for film, TV and publishing.

Shirley has published two collections of humorous police stories, a police history and, with Brian, the story of their 2003/2004 overland motorcycle trip from London to Australia, Two for the Road.

To all the amazing people and overland travellers we met on the road and all the overlanders we inspire by our travels.

Published in 2013 by High Horse Books & Aussies Overland

www.highhorse.com.au

www.aussiesoverland.com.au

Copyright all text, photos & maps Shirley Hardy-Rix & Brian Rix 2013

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

National Library of Australia

Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Hardy-Rix, Shirley, author. Brian Rix, author

Circle to Circle : a journey through the Americas and beyond

ISBN: 9781742983707 (ePub, Mobi)

Hardy-Rix, Shirley. Rix, Brian. Biography.

Motorcyle touring. Motorcycling. Voyages and world travels.

910.4

Design & pre-production by High Horse Books

Country maps by High Horse Books

World map by Laurie Whiddon

Digital edition distributed by

Port Campbell Press

www.portcampbellpress.com.au

Conversion by

Honduras & El Salvador

Introduction

18 July 2012

This is bear country. Black bears and grizzly bears roam the forests that line both sides of the road.

The bike is broken. The rear shock has snapped, collapsing the back of the bike.

The mozzies are the size of B52 bombers and driving us crazy, despite being lathered with insect repellent.

We are in the middle of nowhere. We are alone and we are in trouble.

Our friends have gone ahead to get help, possibly a tow truck.

Weve been on the road for more than 10 months, and to be honest, the past few weeks have been a bit of a doddle. Riding through the US is so easy after South and Central America. Canada is just as easy until now.

We were excited this morning, beginning our ride to Alaska.

And now, here we are, stranded in the middle of British Columbia with a bike that is going nowhere.

Bloody hell!

19 October 3 November 2011

Shirley: Oh bugger! Its 4.15 am. The bloody alarm didnt go off. The cab will be here in 15 minutes. Now the mad rush is on.

We were bitten by the overland travel bug back in 2003 when we took a year off work, the middle-aged version of the gap year, and rode our BMW 1150 motorcycle from London home to Australia through Europe, the Middle East and Asia. It was a dream fulfilled and that should have been the end of it, but theres so much more of the world to ride.

This morning were flying to Chile. Our motorcycle left a couple of months ago by sea. Well meet it in Chile and begin a massive ride from the bottom of the world to the top. Brian has hankered to ride the world from south to north ever since we got home from Europe in 2004. This is our big chance to fulfil another dream. From Santiago well head south to the southernmost point of South America. Well have to abandon the bike when we get on a ship to Antarctica that should take us to the Antarctic Circle. Then well ride north to the Arctic Circle and beyond to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, the northern most point of the Americas. Circle to Circle thats the plan.

For the past few weeks weve been on a merry-go-round of farewell dinners and drinks. Last night we reflected on how different our lives will be now weve retired: Brian after 36 years as a policeman and Ive virtually closed down my 20-year-old media business. Were about to embark on the trip of a lifetime, hitting the road again, this time on a BMW R1200 GS Adventure. (The 1150 GS was written off when Brian and a 4WD had an altercation on a dirt track in the Victorian high country. The bike came off second best. It was a write-off. Luckily, Brian was okay)

Were not sure when well come home, but probably sometime in early 2013. After Alaska well see where the road takes us. This is all part of our desire to live a life with few regrets.

Brian: Packing is always a big deal on a motorcycle trip and its even trickier for us because we havent seen the bike for a couple of months. We have to guess how much room we have for our clothes, accessories and the bike spares. This never ends well.

Sleeping in when we have a plane to catch isnt a good start. We finish the final packing in 15 minutes, squeezing in Shirls bathroom/make-up bag. Its huge. Has she lost her touch? I think shell have to pack better once we get the bike. I dont seem to remember this being such a big issue last time, or maybe Ive pushed that out of my mind. Hair seems to be the main thing a product for this, a product for that. Spare me, its not that important. Then again, Im bald.

Our luggage consists of two huge bags one full of clothes and bits and pieces, the other full of bike riding gear, boots, jackets and pants; our hand luggage is in the tank bag and a soft bag that will mount on the top box; Shirls big handbag with books and essentials for the flight to Chile; and two helmets. We struggle into the airport and, with some relief, check our luggage all the way through to Santiago.

Things are going very well until I bite into a hard mint offered by a friendly airline staffer. I promptly break off part of a tooth. Great! Were not even on the plane. This isnt a good start. Its not down to the nerve but Im so pissed off.