Our Route from Germany to Istanbul, Turkey. Approx. 2,400km on the motorcycles.

We arrive in Germany on March 24, 2010 and after getting the rental car we purchase the Green Card Insurance for the Motorcycles in Wiesbaden.

March 25, 2010. We met up with Steffen at his house during his lunch break from work,...

...to start working on the motorcycles.

They had been stored here for the last 1 1/2 years.

With the new Jesse bags the exhaust pipe...

...has to be lowered and the rear signal lights and brake light modified.

A bit of a surpise was that none of the Jesse bags fit and the main hole had to be redrilled.

As you can see we had the help of the entire family.

Matthis shows of his riding skills...

...in the back yard...

...followed by his sister Marea.

It is amazing how fast kids pick up riding a motorcycle.

March 26, 2010. We spent another full day preparing the motorcycles...

...working into the evening with Steffen's help.

In between work of course eating. This could have fed an army.

The amount of work that went into overhauling both motorcycles...

...is evidence of all the parts that had been replaced.

The motorcycles had 136,666km on them after the Africa trip...

...the valves were worn, the camshaft was replaced, all new bearings were required and the list goes on...

Mike is holding up the ignition switch that failed in Congo (it only cost us around $8,000.00 to repair as we had to ship the bike back to Germany).

March 27, 2010 we visit family.

Thomas, Ruby's uncle was out cutting wood...

...on his quad.

Ruby's Cousin Claudia with Markus and little Amy Sue

Ruby's Cousins Nadine and Claudia.

Amy Sue kept us intertained all afternoon.

Even Thomas could not resist her charm.

One happy kid.

Amy Sue even warmed up to me.

Ruby's aunt and uncle, Marina and Uli.

We spent the night at Nadine and Andy's place.

March 28, 2010. Melanie had organized a lunch to catch up with friends.

Steffen, Tanja, Marea and Matthis had a surprise for us as well.

A going away cake. Thanks to Steffen and Tanja for all your help.

Steffen & Tanja's house. A wood burning stove from Canada.

Marea's room.

Matthis' room.

The attic.

A typical rainy day in ...

...small town Germany.

Steffen collects old mining lantern.

Ruby spents a few hours with her best friend.

March 31, 2010. Heading south. We are all bundled up, as temperatures are quite cool. A rest stop on the side of the Autobahn.

Our first night on the road...

...we stay at this Farm House for 40.00Euro/night in Austria close to Vienna.

March 31, 2010. We ride in pouring rain through Austria. Hungary was a hi and goodbye and the night was spent at a small reststop of the main highway in Serbia. 20.00Euro/night. Note the Satin Pink Bedspreads. An interesting place we must say.

April 01, 2010. We made it to just south of Sofia in Bulgaria on our third day on the road. Only another 500km to go. Istanbul was in reach. To continue following this journey proceed to the 2010 Turkey pictures. The start of our next adventure.