“Why are you doing this?” my puzzled co-worker asks with a sort of incredulous tone one might use with a child caught writing on the walls with crayon.

It’s a simple question, but I find when I attempt to explain it to her, it becomes quite complex. To the uninitiated when explained, it seems like a crazy stunt and certainly not for the first time, it sounds like one to me!

“I have wanted to ride cross-country on my bike for years. I decided to stop waiting and do it,” I say. It’s an incomplete answer and as I say it, through my mind races 1000 more reasons that would be lost on someone that doesn’t ride motorcycles.

In the recent months, slow preparations have transformed into very focused and intense prep work. I feel the bike and gear are ready. Though as apprehensive as someone getting ready to step off a proverbial cliff might be, I am ready, too.

I do realize my perspective comes off as a bit ungrateful. When observed through the fog of exhaustion and depression, the feelings of euphoria and excitement are still there, though suppressed by the cloud I have lived in for several years now. I know it’s going to be epic. It’s a word that gets thrown around, but more appropos here than in most scenarios.

My home for this odyssey will be my 2014 KTM 690 Enduro R. She is a low mileage bike with but ~4500 miles on her. Well taken care of and ridden relatively conservatively with the usual modifications. Most of her (few) shortcomings have been addressed and I hope feel she is ready. All general maintenance items are up-to-date and fresh.

For auxiliary lighting, I mounted a set of Rigid Industries Ignite LED flood lamps. They’re a nice, small, lightweight package and have two brightness settings. I tend to ride later than I should into the evening and have been caught out after dark looking for camp or shelter. This is a habit I hope to break on this trip, but I know riding in the dark is always a real possibility. Having lots of light can be critical. Even moreso offroad.

Grip heaters are installed. On a motorcycle, one can overlook a lot of uncomfortableness if one’s hands are warm. The high passes of Colorado are likely to still be cold through mid-June, so grip heaters are a must.

Carrying enough gear to live for over a month on a dirt bike can be a challenge. Weight and load distribution are of primary concern. The 690 Enduro, as was mentioned earlier, is not without her shortcomings. They are few and minor, but the two main ones stand out on a long-term adventure ride like the Trans America Trail.

One of these minor and easily correctable issues is cargo capacity limitations. The 690 doesn’t have a subframe per se. The gas tank is the subframe and is made of plastic; not really much of a load bearing design. This brings us to the other major limitation of the 690 for a ride like this one: fuel capacity. At 3.2 gallons with a 0.66 gallon reserve, the range of the 690 has the potential for being a huge liabilty when fuel stops are very spread out in the deserts of the southwest. A conservative estimated 50 mpg brings her in at a measly 150 miles per tank with very little left as a cushion. Wrong turns, closed roads or trails, increased fuel consumption due to terrain (sand, mud, mountain passes) could easily spell disaster with such a low margin for error. So…..how to address these issues?

For the cargo capacity conundrum, I installed a Tusk rear and top rack. The rear rack attaches itself at the passenger peg stays and places the majority of the load there. The top rack meets the rear rack at the factory grab handle mounts. It’s not as light as maybe a rackless system like the Reckless 80 would be, but it solves a very real problem.

Mounted to the Tusk rack is the Mosko Moto Scout 25 panniers. At 25 liters each, they are soft-sided and quick release, top notch quality and from what i can tell, bombproof. On the top rack is the Mosko Moto Scout 25 duffle. Same great quality and bombproof-ness (is that a word?) from Mosko Moto. I really like these bags!!

To mitigate the 690’s fuel capacity problem, I’ll be carrying four MSR 30 ounce fuel bottles in Mosko Moto two liter molle storage pouches attached to the Scout panniers. This gets me pretty close to a spare gallon and adds, again….conservatively, 50 miles of range. If I must, I can buy a cheap one gallon gas jug and lash it to the bike and donate it to someone when I no longer need it. Hoping it won’t be necessary, but the option is there.

Inside the Mosko Moto luggage is my home for over a month. It looks something like this:

“But why would you want to do that?! What makes you want to do such a crazy thing?” my coworker demands.

“Let me give you a 1000 word answer,” I replied scrolling through my phone’s image gallery. “I want to see this (again) and more. I’m not waiting anymore,” I say wistfully.

“Oh my God!! That’s beautiful!! Is that a waterfall?!” she blurts out, now beginning to “get it.”