I am thinking about doing the same thing Ken. I am 55 years old and love an adventure.
I have put thousands of highway miles on my KTM 125 EXC including camping from it.
It runs at over 10,000 rpm at highway speeds and has atop speed in the 130 - 140 kph range.
2 strokes will handle the miles if tuned and looked after.
As far as my body, I am no gym rat either. GET ME OUTSIDE! I try to keep in shape but I like my dinner, weigh 210 lbs. Round is a shape, right?
I work with Search and Rescue and have no problem with long search taskings if I have a little Ibuprofen to get me through...
That is me in the orange on the left.
So my plan is to do some traveling next summer on my bike:
Why the bike?
Slow is better. I want to see things and talk to people along the way.
So I put this thing together stock, and run it. longer and longer trips all the time to get the bugs out.
So far it has been reliable but has had a few problems. The head did warp and leak:
So I would believe and follow Jaguar's advice about the other parts, but no need for a large tool chest.
I take the KTM to very remote locations with a bare handful of tools. With some prep and practice this can be a very reliable bike.