I haven’t felt this much excitement for a long time. Less than a week remains now. I come across the bike every day when I park the car behind it. A rush of fear and excitement fills me as I look at it. I don’t see a 1000cc class M vehicle… I see the journey that lies ahead and it’s too much to take in. Within a few seconds, I get overflown by this feeling and decide to attend some of the preparation intricacies. Focusing on details helps when you want to get away from the big picture.

Three weeks ago, I received an e-mail from a friend of a friend in Turkey. He was asking about the paperwork required to ride a foreign bike in the US. I answered with the best of my knowledge and asked what his plans were.

That same guy is now sleeping on my sofa as I’m writing this. Everything that happened between, happened too fast.

His name is Savaş Balaban. Apparently, Savaş was planning to fly to Chicago and ride a bike south to the tip of Argentina, Tierra Del Fuego. We soon realised that we would be riding opposite directions at around the same time. With an impressively quick reflex, Savaş decided to change his plane ticket to Los Angeles, buy a bike here and ride with me to the east coast before he heads south again. I am simply amazed by his decision and looking forward to get to know this guy during the few weeks we’ll be spending together. Check out his blog on www.yolbizibekler.com

That makes three of us until going to east coast if Bintuğ is able o sort his schedule. I really hope he does.

If everything goes as planned, we’ll be leaving on the 6th after a ‘bon voyage’ party the day before.

Leaving is not just a moment of departure it seems. It’s slowly happening. I feel it the most with Evren. We look at each other… There isn’t much to say because we both know what is coming. There is no way to prepare for that sort of thing. I can’t kiss and hold her long enough. I never can.