Costa Mesa, California

March 19, 2025

Dear Family & Friends:

Today being the end of my 83rd trip around the sun, it seems appropriate to unveil my “2025 Extreme Adventure” plan. This year, I will ride a motorcycle on the TransAmerica Trail. https://www.transamtrail.com

The TransAmerica Trail is a 6,600 mile transcontinental, coast-to-coast motorcycle trip across the United States. Most of the route is off pavement, traveling along dirt, gravel, logging, forest, fire, farm and mountain roads. The trip begins at the Atlantic Ocean near the Outer Banks of North Carolina and ends at the Pacific Ocean near Port Orford, Oregon. The TAT passes through 14 states-Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Idaho & Oregon.

This will be a challenging adventure that will take me through an incredible variety of terrain including forests, deserts, plains, canyons, farmlands, low lands and steep, narrow high mountain passes. The trail is rugged, consisting of dirt, sand, mud, gravel, pebbles, rocks and boulders. I will encounter frequent water crossings, unexpected road closures, downed trees, rock slides, single track winding roads, extreme heat, extreme cold and wild and unpredictable weather, including rain, hail, sleet, snow, ice and high winds. Flat tires are one of my biggest concerns since I have never changed a motorcycle tire. I will seek lodging along the way in cheap motels. Since most of the TAT is off-road, navigation will be a particular challenge. I will be using maps and a Garmin ZumoXT2  gps unit for navigation.

I have lots of experience with street bikes. See https://eightsummits.com/motorcycle-adventures/. But, I have no experience with off-road motorcycle travel. My bike of choice is a Yamaha XT250 dual sport motorcycle.

I chose the TransAmerica Trail because of the challenges and the breathless vistas that it offers. I plan to bring my drone and will be posting reports, videos and photos on my eightsummits blog (https://eightsummits.com/blog/) and my Eight Summits Facebook page.

My solo trip will begin in late June  and will take about 5 weeks.

I am dedicating this adventure to my beloved baby sister, Martha, who was called to the Lord in December, 2024. We all miss her dearly.

Mt. Everest will have to wait until next year.

Bill Burke

Jeffrey, Martha & Billy