Ask yourself: "What if I were downsized from my job and found myself standing at a personal crossroad?" What would you do? For Keshau Henderson, it was time to fulfill a fantasy. Calling herself “Lucky Devil”, in May of 2009 she rode her Yamaha FZ6 on the “Nowhere in Particular and Everywhere in General Tour”. A talented designer and writer, Keshau blogged regularly as she traveled. By September, she logged over 27,000 miles, shot more than 30,000 photos, covered every contiguous state, AND raised $2000 for Riders for Health. I caught up with Keshau this week, as she was preparing for her “No Hablo Espanol” Tour to Mexico.
AAB: Keshau, I followed your journey on Twowheelfemales.com, but for those of us who don’t know, tell us about yourself and your riding.
KH: I’m a 37-year-old woman with what many people consider to be an unhealthy obsession with motorcycling. I lived in San Francisco prior to my trip and I’ve been riding for nine years. I always wanted to ride but never got serious about a motorcycle license until after living in San Francisco a few years. I was tired of relying upon the painfully unreliable bus system, but I didn’t want to have pay for car parking. A motorcycle was the perfect solution. I signed up for the MSF course, got my license and a bike, and my life has never been the same.
AAB: How did "The Nowhere in Particular and Everywhere in General Tour" come about?
KH: I had fantasized about a cross-country trip for a very long time. I would calculate mileage to see what was possible to accomplish with two weeks of vacation. I was torn because I wanted to go cross-country, but it seemed the only way to do it in under two weeks would be to do high mileage days on the interstate -- not how I liked to travel. If I was going to ride clear across the country, I wanted to be able to stop and see things along the way. One afternoon I was called into a meeting at work. They announced they were closing the San Francisco office and letting everyone go. The first thought to pop in my head was: I’m going to ride cross-country. I sat throughout the rest of the meeting with a Cheshire cat grin. Everyone around me was in shock and anxiety… we had been delivered very bad news, we were losing our jobs during the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression. But I couldn’t help feeling I had won something…I had been handed an opportunity to fulfill a long time dream.
AAB: How long did it take to plan?
KH: I started planning the day I learned I was losing my job, but the closure date was pushed out. The more time I had to daydream, the bigger the trip got. It evolved into a massive 49-state touring extravaganza. I had a year and a half to plan. It doesn’t take that long to plan a trip like this, but that’s how much time I had. I knew that I didn’t want to pre-plan a route. Every other motorcycle trip I’ve taken has required that I return home by a certain date, and I wanted to go as far as possible, thus everything was planned in advance… right down to gas stops. I wanted to take full advantage of the unlimited time I had for this trip by striking a balance between micro-planning and no planning. The first thing I did (and possibly my first mistake I made) was hang a large map of the USA on a wall. Staring at that large map felt more than a little overwhelming. I had no idea where to begin. I decided to plan one state at a time by creating a Garmin Mapsource file for each state. Then I used a book from the National Scenic Byways Program to map out every National Scenic Byway in Mapsource.
AAB: Give us the vitals, please: miles traveled, number of days, longest mileage day?
KH: You’re going to laugh… but I don’t know! As soon as I stopped riding I went into prep mode for Mexico and Central America, so I don’t have complete stats for my USA tour. I know the mileage was around 27,000; I know I rode in 48 states and two Canadian Provinces. Probably the last day was my longest-mileage day.
AAB: You rode a Yamaha FZ6. Tell us about your bike.
KH: I bought it with travel in mind (I made sure Givi made luggage mounts for it, etc.), but I didn’t buy it anticipating taking it on a tour of the United States… or to Mexico and Central America. Although it’s not designed to be a touring bike, it was fairly easily converted into great little sport-touring bike.
AAB: How much of the time did you camp?
KH: I would guess I camped 95-percent of the time. There are some amazing experiences I never would have had if I had not camped... but camping equipment can take up a lot of space; it takes time to set up and break down your campsite every day, and lets face it, sleeping on the ground will never be as comfortable as a bed.
AAB: As a female traveling alone, did you feel safe out there?
KH: I felt perfectly safe. I fully believe that if anyone should ever lose their faith in humanity, all they need do is travel alone by motorcycle. I’m a big believer in listening to my “spidey-sense”. If someplace didn’t feel right I never hesitated to move on. Only twice did I end up leaving someplace based on a vague but strong sense of something being wrong.
AAB: Any special tools or spare parts packed?
KH: I don’t know if it was naiveté, or faith in Yamaha products, but I didn’t carry any parts (besides fuses). No special tools either. Out of all of the tools I brought, I only ended up using a few, just what I needed to perform an oil change and to get my wheels on and off for tire changes.
AAB: Any mechanical issues?
I managed to dent my rear rim badly enough that the tire would no longer hold air, but that’s not a “mechanical” issue…that’s user error. I did my own maintenance, which consisted of oil changes, checking tire pressure, adjusting the chain, filling and adjusting the Scottoiler, and taking the wheel(s) off to get new tires installed. Sometimes it was difficult to find a place to change the oil. I attempted to work on my bike at dealerships, but none would allow me to use their parking lot…even if I offered to buy all the parts there and pay for the disposal of my used oil. Dealerships only wanted me to pay them to perform my oil change for me. I stopped going to dealerships and relied on fellow riders to help me out. On one occasion I contacted a friend about needing to find a place to do an oil change after visiting three dealerships. She went on the ADVrider forum and within hours found someone generous enough to allow me to use their driveway. Cycle Gear was always great about parking lot tire changes though.
AAB: A couple of things you won’t leave home without?
KH: RideOn TPS in my tires, my Garmin Zumo, earplugs, LD Comfort riding shorts, and my Airhawk seat cushion.
AAB: What was the most important thing you really needed but didn’t have?
KH: Gear that lived up to its waterproof claims.
AAB: You used a SPOT …how did that work for you?
KH: Great! I initially bought the device to ease the minds of friends and family who worried about me lying in a ditch, but it was fun have my location info on my blog and forum threads. People enjoyed following my journey throughout the day, and then seeing photos that night.
AAB: Anything you packed that you wouldn’t now?
KH: I must have thought I was crossing the Sahara; I brought two Nalgene bottles along with my giant Omega 100-oz. Camelbak water bladder. The Camelbak was plenty; I shipped the bottles home.
AAB: You raised money for Riders for Health.
KH: The idea for raising money for charity came from reading a ride report on ADVrider. A gentleman on a ride to Alaska had set up a Paypal account because readers were donating to help fund his trip. I was blown away that people were giving him money because they enjoyed his ride report. Since I had already planned on keeping a ride report during the trip, I thought I would do the same thing, but for a charity. Never having fund-raised before; I had no idea what to expect, but I figured raising $500 would be amazing. I ended up hitting that fund-raising goal before I even reached the halfway point. I ended up raising $2000. Fundraising was, in many ways, the most gratifying aspect of the trip. The Riders For Health organization is doing such important work; it was humbling to be able to assist them in any way I could. Getting notifications of donations inspired me to try to make my ride report better.
AAB: Do you have one or two unforgettable moments?
KH: High points: reaching my fund-raising goal, meeting amazing people, dipping my feet in the Atlantic Ocean, getting Valentino Rossi’s autograph.
Low points: I left my tent fly open while I did some laundry. It started to rain and by the time I got back to my tent it had filled with water. I found myself soaking wet sitting in a tent full of water. What followed was a series of unfortunate events that culminated into one very long, cold, miserable and sleepless night. To top it off, the following morning I slipped in mud while trying to leave and dropped my bike.
AAB: You’re off to Mexico with “almost no” language skills. Where can we follow you?
KH: www.theluckydevil.net/blog
Keshau left us with this inspirational thought from John Muir, “…and when night found me, there I camped. I took no more heed to save time or to make haste than did the trees or the stars. This is true freedom, a good, practical sort of immortality.” ~ John Muir
