Here is a little information about how this great adventure of our really came to be...  Our dream of riding around the world really started twenty four years ago... we were fortunate enough to have a motorbike to ride the beautiful country of New Zealand on our honeymoon.  On our departure from New Zealand we told ourselves that this is what we were going to do.  We were going to tour the world on a motorcycle. As the saying goes "Things happen for a reason".  We were blessed with our first child nine months after we returned from our honeymoon. Kane was born September 12, 1983.  Then 21 months later we were blessed again with our second child, Nicole was born June 12, 1985.  Kelly and I knew that we would travel on motorcycles again, just not for a while.    Once the kids were old enough to ride on behind us we purchased a Honda Goldwing and a Honda Silverwing. We did two long summer vacations with the kids.  Our first trip was to California.  We  took a month to visit all of the tourist sites, we had a really awesome family vacation.  Our kids had the time of their lives.  Between reading novels and playing video games the kids were able to sightsee like no other 11 or 12 year could (on the back of a motorcycle)  The next summer we spend a month touring through the Dakotas and Yellow Stone National Park.  Once again, memories were made that no other 12 or 13 year old could match. The travel bug had bitten us again.  We started talking again about travelling the world, we would wait until the kids were finished their education and then GO FOR IT !!  So here we are... it's 2006 and  we are heading off to see the world. We have worked extremely hard to be able to have enough time and funds to be able to do this. It has been a lot of planning, sacrifice and soul searching to get to this point.  It's the end of May, we are scheduled to depart by the middle of August. Our kids have finished their post secondary education and are adventuring out on their own. The house has been sold, the vehicles are for sale. We have given notice to our employers. The bikes are just about ready.  We are checking the last of our lists of "to do's"  We will depart Central Alberta by August 15, 2006.