[wayner]

I road 40,000 km on my second last trip.

5,000 to get to Richards, and another 10 or more with him?

I mostly rode alone though, well, not really alone. Other people kept befriending me. We would ride for a bit and then split up.

Some of us have stayed in touch.
I met one guy on the way back from Alaska, and another on the way to Richards.

This lead to a riding adventure through upper new york state later the next summer, and a few weeks riding Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, as well as house sitting in eastern Europe.

I put two of them in touch when they both wanted me to join them on separate trips. They got together and had an amusing conversation about where each of them met me. "At a stop sign"

Take a short trip on your own. Plan a hotel but bring a bit of camping or picnic gear.

Find a spot 3 hours away to set up camp for the day, chill, then go to a hotel, or just camp, or just hotels, or one night of each with a backup plan in case you forgot something.

Even Richard did an overnight test run setting up camp near his place for the night before returning home while waiting for me to arrive.

I on the other hand, simply hopped on my bike, fled my past life and had supplies drop shipped along the way until I had everything that I needed :-)