Then in 2004 Google was going public and I was feeling spendy. Well, for me spendy. I wiled away many hours on eBay and craigslist looking at my dream bikes. The VTX1800, the VFR800, the BMW R1100RT, ... The first one to appear was a 1 year old Honda VTX1800R for $7,600 which I won on eBay from a guy in Hood River Oregon. I flew North and rode the motorcycle back to California. Now I had 2 motorcycles and could invite my father or brother to ride with me. The ride back from Oregon, even though it was down Interstate 5, whetted my appetite for long distance touring in the mountains.
Now I had 2 motorcycles and could only ride one at a time. I started working on my brother Matt Zerega (the Z in FUZ-moto) trying to get him to do a tour with me. I was dreaming about South America, Chile, Patagonia, etc. But I realized I lived in Northern California where people come from around the world to do motorcycle tours on some of the best motorcycling roads in the world. Instead of dropping $10k on an exotic tour, why not spend $200 for gas and lodging and just head out into the Sierras or Coastal Range?
Suddenly, the bike of my dreams appeared on eBay. The yellow 2000 Honda VFR. On January 4, 2004 I bought a sweet, yellow 2000 Honda VFR800fi with only 13,000 miles on it. Now I had 3 bikes. Who else should I invite to ride with me and Matt?
Then my father in law suddenly died December 2004 followed by my father suddenly dying a few weeks later in January 2005. I was 45 years old and having a bit of a mid-life crisis. At least I was starting to feel mortal. I realized that my father had lots of things he wanted to do, but just didn't. He died before he got the chance.
The Bucket List movie wasn't out yet (released Dec 2007), but I was making a list of things I was going to do in my life. Things my father didn't do. I wasn't going to let life pass me by.
March 12, 2005. We were at a family reunion at my mother's place in Shell Beach California. I was taking a walk with my uncles and talking about my father's recent death and my disappointment with not getting to do more things with him, like riding motorcycles. I knew Jerry had owned a Honda Goldwing when he lived in Florida. Maybe he'd be interested in riding with us. Out walking with my uncles, I asked Jerry if he would come on a motorcycle tour with me and Matt. Uncle Richie piped in with, "I'm totally up for a motorcycle tour!" Suddenly we had 4 people (Chris, Matt, Richie, Jerry) and I had only 3 motorcycles.
Back to craigslist and ebay and I found that BMWR1100RT I was dreaming about. But then my brother Joe heard about all the fun and wanted to join us. So Matt, jealous of all the new motorcycles, and a craigslist shopper to beat them all, found a Yamaha Warrior. We had 5 bikes between us and the first Faubert, Uhlik, Zerega-motorcycle tour FUZ-moto was on.