Category Archives: Route

Rally Around the World in Just 3 Days

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Down to just 3 days before I head out on this 14,000 mile ride around the world supporting Rally Foundation and all the great things they do to fight childhood cancer.  The rally begins Friday evening, July 27 with a kick-off party at Cool Springs Powersports in Franklin from 7pm to 9:30pm with food, drinks, music and a good time.  On Saturday morning, July 28 the Rally Around the World First-leg Ride starts with registration from 9am – 10:30am at Cool Springs Powersports and the ride leaving for Mid-South Motoplex in Clarksville – about a 60 mile ride.  From there I’ll head out for my first stop in St. Louis staying with Paul & Lilly Telker with T-Plex Industries – an NDC vendor partner that has been so gracious in allowing me to stay the night in their home!

Natalie Martin continues to be a huge supporter of my event by most recently creating the sponsorship decals for the bike along with all my sponsorship embroidered patches for my riding jacket.  Melissa Smith jumped in this week and has been booking hotels along my route and providing me with up to the minute details  – she’s terrific at scheduling and managing any event and especially keeping me on task.

Received my shipping packet today from Motorcycle Express – these folks arranged the shipment of my bike from London to Montreal along with my bike insurance GREEN CARD for travels in Europe.  Also, the last 2 weeks I’ve been working closely with Wendy Choi in Seoul, Korea to arrange customs clearance for the bike arriving in Inchon along with scheduling the bike to be trucked from Inchon to Dong Hae where I’ll be catching a ferry up to Vladivostok, Russia.  Rindy Veatch with DHL in Anchorage did an amazing job working with Polar Air Cargo and scheduling the bike shipment from Anchorage to Inchon – just a lot of great people making this event possible!

If you would like to make a donation to give all kids diagnosed with cancer a better chance at living the full life they deserve, please visit Rally Foundation & Rally Around the World or Text “RALLY” to 85944 to give $10 to WIN the fight against childhood cancer. Send this message to 10 of your friends…Be a RALLY 10 to WIN!

Rally Around the World First Leg Ride – Saturday, July 28

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Rally Around the World Kick-off Event launches on Saturday, July 28 with a first-leg charity ride from Nashville to Clarksville, TN honoring Rally Kids Isabel & Adrianna – childhood cancer fighters.  The ride will conclude with an event hosted by Mid-South Motoplex ihn Clarksville, featuring music, raffle, food and drinks.

Registration begins at Cool Springs Powersports in Franklin TN at 9am – 10:30am…$20 donation for Single Rider & $25 for Double.  Ride departs from Cool Springs Powersports at 10:30am arriving at Mid-South Motoplex around noon.

Cool Springs Powersports is located at 1096-1124 West McEwen Drive, Franklin, TN  37067 and Mid-South Motoplex is at 730 Economy Drive, Clarksville TN  37043.

The event will mark the first-leg of Rally Around the World – an around-the-world motorcycle ride to benefit Rally Foundation.

If you would like to make a donation to give all kids diagnosed with cancer a better chance at living the full life they deserve, please visit Rally Foundation & Rally Around the World or Text “RALLY” to 85944 to give $10 to WIN the fight against childhood cancer. Send this message to 10 of your friends…Be a RALLY 10 to WIN!

Motorcycle Express – makes shipping your motorcycle abroad easy!!

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Motorcycle Express will make all the arrangements for your motorcycle to be shipped, uncrated, by airfreight along with preparing all necessary paperwork and, to make things even better, you can arrange to fly along on the same flight.  I just booked my trip today from London’s Gatwick to Montreal’s Trudeau Airports –  I just drop the bike off the Friday before my Monday flight along with several other minimal requirements.

Motorcycle Express has been shipping motorcycles between North America and Europe for over ten years using a custom designed motorcycle pallet to ship the bike giving you the opportunity to ride your own bike abroad.  They also offer temporary insurance programs – I have opted for the GREEN CARD Program valid all over Europe and Russia.

Call Gail at 800-245-8726 or 516-682-9220 Monday – Friday 9am – 4:30pm EST.

If you would like to make a donation to give all kids diagnosed with cancer a better chance at living the full life they deserve, please visit Rally Foundation & Rally Around the World

Global Tracking – See Where Brad is Today!

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Just added a link to InstaMapper allowing folks visiting my blog to see just where I am on my around-the-world ride via GPS tracking in real time.  Troy Lampley, one of our IT guys here at NDC, was able to link the site with some of his magic – it wasn’t just plug-n-play.

Using my Droid smart phone, my ground positions are updated via satellite every 121 seconds from anywhere in the world – crazy stuff!!

If you would like to make a donation to give all kids diagnosed with cancer a better chance at living the full life they deserve, please visit Rally Foundation & Rally Around the World

Seoul, Korea Entry – some important details

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Since I can’t quite figure out how to ride from Anchorage to Seoul, Korea, I will be flying and air freighting my cycle into Incheon Airport just outside of Seoul and Wendy Choi has been quite helpful providing customs and travel information – she will require that I provide my passport, international driver’s license, cycle registration and shipping air bill to clear customs and book my DBS Ferry trip from Dong Hae to Vladivostok.  The ferry only travels on Sunday’s and I plan to board on August 12 – keep in mind that time of year is holiday and many Russians take the trip south to Dong Hae and the beach resorts on the eastern coast of Korea…a must to book early!!

The DBS Ferry will cost approximately $600 USD for the cycle, $250 USD for me and $20 USD for other charges totaling about $870 USD – this is a 24-hour trip and the cheapest accommodations is 72 persons in a room!! – not sure that is for me!!  Contact Wendy Choi – wendychoi2@gmail.com or +82(0) 17-213-3961

She will also be booking my short ferry ride from Incheon Airport to the City of Incheon – it is illegal to ride a motorcyle on Korean freeways and the only access from the airport to the mainland is by freeway.  I will then be riding secondary roads from the west coast of Korea east to Dong Hae which should take 5 – 6 hours – the dry cleaner I use here in Spring Hill is Korean-owned and she thinks I’m a bit crazy…she laughed the other day to say the roads are not quite like they are here in the US.

VISA’s for Russia & Belarus…Avoid the Eternal Delay

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Of all the countries I’ll be traveling through this fall, only 2 will require a VISA. After some research, I had planned to apply at both the Russian and Belarusian embassies in Washington…have to believe that would have taken weeks if not months. However, Jarek Moleda with HTL-Strefa – a Polish global manufacturer of lancets and a vendor partner of NDC – offered his assistance since they have distributors in both Belarus and Russia requiring travel to both. HTL uses an agency to complete the application process and I’m only required to complete the application forms and provide passport photos. Jarek has also been quite helpful with providing me with contacts in Russia, Belarus and Poland – will be much appreciated if I should encounter any issues in those countries.

If you would like to make a donation to give all kids diagnosed with cancer a better chance at living the full life they deserve, please visit Rally Foundation & Rally Around the World.

Emergency Planning – Injured with No Way Out!

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Often not a subject you want to think much about, but the reality is there is always a possibility of injury due to an accident or illness. The thought of being far from home receiving sub-standard healthcare in some far-away spot is not for me. I did confirm that my healthcare insurance plan with BlueCross BlueShield covers me globally – they offer a BlueCard Worldwide Service Center contact number providing approved healthcare facility information anywhere in the world…just a phone call away.

To take things even further, I have secured the services of MedjetAssist for emergency air transport from anywhere in the world back to Nashville resulting from injury or illness requiring an inpatient hospital stay…a necessity and comforting knowing that in an emergency, I can get back home!

If you would like to make a donation to give all kids diagnosed with cancer a better chance at living the full life they deserve, please visit Rally Foundation & Rally Around the World.

Mapping the Ride – Making a Left in Anchorage

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Spent the last couple of weeks mapping my around-the-world ride which included Trip Tiks from AAA for the Nashville to Anchorage leg and Halifax to Nashville trek. Found a great online site http://www.drivingtimebetweencities.com which provides global distances, mapping and satellite images of the route.

Also, ordered detailed road maps from http://www.maps2anywhere.com for South Korea, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, Belgium, France, England and Ireland – the entire around-the-world road miles is about 14,500 miles. Nashville to Anchorage – 4300 miles. Vladivostok to Moscow – 6100 miles. Moscow to Berlin – 1200 miles. Berlin to Calais – 600 miles. Calais to Folkestone via EuroTunnel – 20 miles. Folkestone to Holyhead – 300 miles. Dublin to Shannon – 130 miles. Halifax to Nashville – 1800 miles. Oh!…toss in a couple of ferry trips to include a 24 hour trip from Donghae, South Korea to Vladivostok, Russia and a 2-hour trip from Holyhead, England to Dublin, Ireland.

If you would like to make a donation to give all kids diagnosed with cancer a better chance at living the full life they deserve, please visit Rally Foundation & Rally Around the World.

The Route You Say!…

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Rally Around the World Route

For now, the route is rather loosely planned to leave Nashville, TN around July 28, then ride to Anchorage, Alaska. From Anchorage I will air-freight my motorcycle and gear to Seoul, South Korea, then take a ferry up to Vladivostok, Russia. From there, the plan is to follow the Trans-Siberian Railway across Russia, into Belarus, then Poland and Western Europe. Will ferry across the English Channel and then the Irish Sea, and fly from Ireland to Halifax, Nova Scotia. From there, the route will run south and return to Nashville, probably in the first week of September and just in time to celebrate National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. The entire trip will be about 15,000 road miles and a complete circumnavigation of the world of 25,000 miles…just a short trip around the block I say!! 

If you would like to make a donation to give all kids diagnosed with cancer a better chance at living the full life they deserve, please visit Rally Foundation & Rally Around the World.