My Last Great Motorcycle Ride: Planet Earth: Completed

Well the trip is over. Both myself and the bike are tucked safely away in Florida. I would like to thank those who followed along on this blog. To be honest, I started the blog as a diary, and I thought no one would find it in the plethora of internet babel, much less follow along, and I am quite surprised people did. In closing out this tome, I decided I would recall some of the interesting tidbits, reveal my biggest mistake, and post some of my favorite pics.

Interesting totals of the trip:

Motorcycles Used: 2 - 2012 BMW R1200GS (aka Greta); 2014 Chinese "Honda" Winn (Vietnam only) (aka Timmy Chonda)

Route Distance Traveled by Motorcycle: 51.835 mi (86.605 km)
Miles on Odometer; 62.563 mi (100,908 km).
Total Countries Visited: 62 (see previous blogs for a listing)
Tires destroyed: 9 (5 Back, 4 Front)(favorite tire, Heidenau Scout K60)
Break Downs: 0
Crashes: 0
High Speed Dismounts (<10 mph, no Damage): 2 - Bulgaria and Indonesia
Other RTW Riders I Crossed Paths With: 6 (3 Germany, 1 Switzerland, 1 France, 1 Italy) (5 Male, 1 Female)(4 Solo)
Oil Changes: 12
Number of (Legitimate) Moving Violations: 0

Interesting Bits of Information

Fuel Costs (per gallon/4L): Least Expensive: Ecuador ($1.42); Most Expensive: Bolivia ($8.62)
Most Difficult Countries to Find Fuel: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan
Worst Traffic: India (by far), Columbia
Worst Roads: Uzbekistan
Most Welcoming People: Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Nepal
Favorite Country to Ride Through: Tajikistan
Longest Customs Processing Time: Australia (5 Days), India (3 Days)
Shortest Customs Processing Time: Bulgaria (5 minutes), Georgia (6 Minutes)
Most Thorough Customs Search: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan
Most Corrupt Customs Processing: India, Costa Rica
Most Corrupt Police Forces: Peru, Colombia, Kyrgyzstan, Thailand
Coolest Police Forces: Georgia, Argentina
Most Popular Motorcycle Makes and Models on Long Distance Trips Encountered: 1) BMW 1200GS//800GS 2) Honda Africa Twin 3) Kawasaki KLR

Biggest Mistake: Not upgrading the suspension before departure. The bike handled just fine in the western world and most of South America; however the poor roads encountered in the "stans" and parts of Asia and Africa destroyed both the front and rear shocks in short order. I had to upgrade them in Thailand. So basically, I spent all the money for an upgraded suspension and only had the benefit of the suspension for 25 percent of the trip. Conclusion: Sometimes my cheapness costs me allot.