YoBS Ride East Texas and...

[sparkyphotog]

Louisiana and Arkansas. Well, just a little in Arkansas, mostly East Texas and Louisiana.

As most of you know, Calgary-Yogi (Graeme), DFW_Warrior (Bill) and I (Sparky) are riding to Alaska (http://www.sparkyphotog.com/yobs/Home.html) this summer. The Three YoBS are in the thick of trip prep and part of that process is testing our bikes, equipment, packing theories, and ourselves. This past weekend, we did a 2 1/2 day trip with the bikes loaded down as if we were going to Alaska, mostly. There will definitely be some changes, especially to Bill's bike, but I think we are getting close. I for one, think I'm about 80% there. On with the report....

We started by meeting at Mission Tejas State Park northeast of Crockett. Due to work, and the fact that all of my vacation time is spoken for with the Alaska trip, I couldn't leave until about 5:00, which put me in the thick of Houston rush hour traffic. It wasn't too bad, but I really hate rush hour on a bike. I got to camp around 8:00 and Bill and Graeme were already set up and cooking dinner. I set up my tent and unloaded my bike and cooked dinner, then it was off to bed. End of day 1.

[Tracker]

I liked Mission Tejas
http://www.leavelles.net/MissionTejas.htm

But what I'd really like is to make the Alaskan trek, too. I'll be living vicariously through your trip until then. Best of luck.

[sparkyphotog]

Next morning we were all up by 6:30 with Bill cooking up an awesome breakfast of scrambled eggs with elk sausage. :eat: I'm gonna like having this guy along in Alaska! We packed the bikes, then hit the road heading northeast toward Louisiana.

Graeme loading up...
http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244539775-M.jpg

Bill loading up...
http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244542741-M.jpg

And my bike half loaded (the others mumbled something about always waiting on me :shrug: )...
http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244542184-M.jpg

Graeme had a fabulous route planned through the piney woods with lots of great roads. Nothing too technical but fun and curvy with beautiful scenery. We crossed Toledo Bend Reservoir into Louisiana about midday, marking the first time I've ever ridden my bike into another state. The only other time I've taken the bike out of state it was in a trailer.

Bill and Graeme and the bikes at the state line...
http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244543385-M.jpg

The bikes at the state line...
http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244544147-M.jpg

A couple of nice young ladies were impressed with Bill and Graeme, so they offered to take a photo of all of us together...
http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244544825-M-2.jpg

From there we headed north on LA 191 (ranked by Ride Texas as the #2 best road in Louisiana) to Logansport where we stopped for lunch at Logan's Landing.

Graeme leading the way...
http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244545109-M.jpg

Logan's Landing...
http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244547162-M.jpg

I had the fried catfish. Bill tried to steal some of my food...
http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244546262-M.jpg

After lunch we headed back into Texas and continued in a generally northeasterly direction toward Arkansas. The sky started getting dark and it began to rain. Graeme had tried to save all the dirt riding for Sunday, but we hit some after the rain started. It was only a couple of miles, but it was very muddy and slippery with fully loaded touring bikes. We made it through unscathed and stopped for gas before heading into Arkansas.

Graeme securing something loose on his bike...
http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244547580-M.jpg

http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244547915-M.jpg

Fuel stop after a wet ride...
http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244548189-M.jpg

Three-fingered Bill...
http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244548428-L.jpg

We headed on into Arkansas with the plan being to loop through the southwest corner of the state, then back into Louisiana and hit some more county roads as we made our way to camp at Caddo Lake State Park. However, it was already getting late in the day and was completely dark by the time we crossed into Arkansas. We stopped for short break and decided to take the fastest way to the park. We still went through Louisiana, but no more back roads, we stuck to the main highways. Good thing, too, because we saw lots of deer along the road. :eek2: We all agreed it was the safest decision.

We rolled into Caddo Lake State Park around 8:00, and secured a screened shelter for the night since it was still raining. We cooked on the table, then up-ended it to make room for setting up the tents inside the shelter. Even though it was a shelter, it was only screened in, so the tents were necessary to provide some barrier to the cold.

Indoor camping...
http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244549003-M.jpg

Bill in his tent...
http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244549300-M.jpg

Nice legs...
http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244549591-M.jpg


End of day 2.

[DwayneInfo]

Is it just me? I di not see pictures

[sparkyphotog]

I don't know what happened, but my entire smugmug account just disappeared. I can't even log into my account or see my smugmug home page. :eek2: :eek2: Trying to figure out what happened.

[dixonduke]

I don't know what happened, but my entire smugmug account just disappeared. I can't even log into my account or see my smugmug home page. :eek2: :eek2: Trying to figure out what happened.

ME TOO..:eek2:. I have years of pictures out there.... Just emailed the help line.

UH OH... ADV is down too.

[Squeaky]

UH OH... ADV is down too.

PSSST! They're both owned by the same guy. Probably just a server thing. Relax, step away from the keyboard, and check back later...

[sparkyphotog]

ME TOO..:eek2:. I have years of pictures out there.... Just emailed the help line.

UH OH... ADV is down too.

Me too. The smugmug home page still comes up, otherwise it looks like a trunk line got cut. That's happened to us at work a few times and it instantly kills our web sites. They may have the main home page mirrored off site.

I just watched Live Free or Die Hard last night. This is kind of eerie because it reminds me of the movie.:shock:

[sparkyphotog]

Well, I guess I'll finish the story tomorrow. Sorry, but I guess you'll just have to wait to see the photos. I don't want to stay up all night waiting for everything to come back up. Goodnight.:yawn:

[sparkyphotog]

Wow, that was fast. Got an e-mail from smugmug just now.

Hello,
Thank you for your email. We are currently experiencing a technical issue, and we are so sorry! Our engineers are aware of the problem, and working on restoring the site back to normal as quickly as possible.

Steve

[sparkyphotog]

PSSST! They're both owned by the same guy. Probably just a server thing. Relax, step away from the keyboard, and check back later...

I knew that. No really, I did.

[Gilk51]

Pictures are good this morning.

:coffee:

[sparkyphotog]

Pictures are good this morning.

:coffee:

Thanks Chuck! I see everything is back to normal, so I'll try and finish up the report sometime today or tonight.

[DFW_Warrior]

I'm here at work and they have Smugmug blocked by websense so I can't see any of the pics anyway...:doh: Ah well, it gives me something to look forward to when I get home.

Just a few notes from my perspective on the ride...

Graeme can plan some awesome routes! Those roads we road were some of the best that I've ridden in a long time. Beautiful scenery, way out in the country, and great pavement with awesome sections of dirt and sand roads thrown in. What's not to like?

Bryan surprised me with his sand riding ability. That GS bucked and kicked in the sand, but Bryan with his stubborn determination would not let it go down. Some of those saves were very, very cool to watch from behind.

Graeme mounted a TKC-80 on the front of his Strom and a Tourance on the rear. At first I was a bit skeptical of it, but it proved to be the hot setup for the type of roads we are riding. As long as it holds up to the type of mileage we are expecting then I too will be spooning one on the bike before the next trip.

I found out that a fully loaded Strom with a semi-bald, 100% street front tire is no good in the sand. Don't ask how I came to find this out, but trust me, I know. And BTW, if no one got pictures of it that means that it never happened!!! But my back really hurts now from muscling up that stupid bike before Graeme and Bryan could come back around the corner.:trust:

I did learn that I need to buy a couple of things before this trip. On the list... new sleeping bag that actually keeps me warm, a couple of Cabella's dry bags to store camping gear, Thermarest pillow that Bryan showed me, and I need to build my "mobile refueling center" for the back of the bike. Trust me, that's going to be a good one. I've already drawn it up and now it's just time to do some cutting and welding.

[sparkyphotog]

Day 3 dawned cold and damp, but with the promise of clearing skies and warmer temps. We got busy packing up the tents so that we could set the table down and make breakfast. Once again, chef Bill came through with eggs scrambled with elk sausage, and some buffalo sausage with jalapeno thrown in for a bit of a spicy kick. :eat:

http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244550032-M.jpg

Graeme toasting a great day of riding...
http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244550444-M.jpg

The bikes loaded and ready to go...
http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244551109-M.jpg

On the agenda for today was more awesome roads with lots of dirt riding thrown in.

Bill having a stretch...
http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244556453-M.jpg

http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244556753-M.jpg


The first stretch of dirt was lots of fun, though there were some sandy and muddy parts. Graeme with his tire setup Bill described earlier seemed to have the easiest time of it, although he still got real loose a couple of times. The GS did fine most of the time, but the sandy bits were where I had the most trouble. Bill, thanks for your comments about my saves, but honestly, I think I got lucky. There were a few times where she tried to put me down and I don't exactly know how I kept her upright.

The bikes parked for a break after the first section of dirt...
http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244557398-M.jpg

http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244558623-M.jpg

Since I'm the one always taking photos, I don't have many of me. Thanks, Bill!
http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244559904-M.jpg


We rode some more pavement for a while to the next section of dirt. Somewhere in here we road FM 139 which is ranked by Ride Texas as one of the Top 10 roads through a forest in Texas. I would have to agree, it was one of the best roads I've ever ridden in Texas. Thanks Graeme! :clap: :clap:

We got to the next section of dirt and this where things went pear-shaped. We went through this crossroads and the other side was a deep sand pit. Graeme got through fine, and I was second, and got real wobbly going through. I got sideways a little but kept on the throttle and fought it, miraculously making it without falling. I looked in mirror and saw Bill go down. I got on the Chatterbox and told Graeme that he was down and found a firm spot to park it. Graeme found a spot to turn around and started riding back. By the time we got to Bill he was back on his bike riding toward us.

I found out that a fully loaded Strom with a semi-bald, 100% street front tire is no good in the sand. Don't ask how I came to find this out, but trust me, I know. And BTW, if no one got pictures of it that means that it never happened!!! But my back really hurts now from muscling up that stupid bike before Graeme and Bryan could come back around the corner.

Well, Bill, I may not have photos of your bike on its side, but there was evidence...
http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244560563-M.jpg

Since Graeme had ridden back down to the sand pit, there was no place for him to turn around, so he had to go back through it again before he could turn around to ride through it a THIRD time. Third times a charm...

http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244560987-M.jpg

http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244561834-L.jpg

We got his bike back up and we continued on our way. I'm not sure how much dirt we did in total, but I think it was somewhere around 50 to 60 miles. They were really fun roads, too, with only a few sandy spots besides the one we just went through.

Graeme on dirt...
http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244562325-M.jpg

http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244563310-M.jpg

My GS on the last dirt section...
http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244564252-M.jpg

We ended the day with a nice easy ride on FM roads into Centerville. Caught a nice view of a sundog as the day ended...
http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244564463-M.jpg

We stopped in Centerville to gas up before heading our separate ways and I got some BBQ to take home to Mollie. Graeme and I rode I-45 into Houston, and Bill headed north to Arlington. By the time we got home I had logged 986 miles according to the GPS.

Closing thoughts: Graeme's idea of a TKC-80 on the front and Tourance on the rear proved to be a great one. If he can get 6K - 7K out of the 80, then I might consider that set-up for Alaska as well.

Bill uses and old-school stove while I have a Jetboil, and his was much better for cooking. I used the Jetboil adapter this weekend to cook with a regular pot, but it doesn't have a diffuser to spread the flame out, so it is concentrated in the middle of the pot. Not real easy to cook with. May think about a different stove for Alaska.

The Chatterboxes worked very well for us, but it is sometimes hard to understand each other with all the wind noise.

I used the SPOT (http://www.findmespot.com/) messanger for tracking, and it worked beautifully. And we didn't have cell service at either camp site, so it was handy to send a check-in message and let my wife know when we got there and when we departed.

I think I've about got my packing where I want it. I do need to get a real rain suit, though. I used my old Frog Toggs, and they were functional, but I hate wearing them.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip and we each learned a lot. Doing these testing trips is going to really help us get ready for Alaska.

[DFW_Warrior]

Good write up Bryan. Now I really can't wait to get home and see the pics!

[Calgary-Yogi]

Guess I need to post up sometime this weekend.

[sparkyphotog]

SPOT service now gives you the ability to export points as GPX or KML files. I was able to import the KML file from this weekend into Google maps here (http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&ll=31.484893,-94.608765&spn=3.629977,3.817749&t=p&z=8&om=0&msid=115148454471092144831.000444020c732c4bd03b7). I also attached the GPX file in case you're interested.

[Quick-Silver]

I want to see sonme pictures, please.:)

[sparkyphotog]

I want to see sonme pictures, please.:)

Can you not? They are working for me at the moment.

[Quick-Silver]

Can you not? They are working for me at the moment.

Yes they are know.

[Quick-Silver]

1. Whose and what kind of bike with the yellow front end?

2. Will y'all be looking for sand pits or off-tar on the Alaska trip?

3. How many days are ya planning for the Alaska trip?

Oh, great pictures. Looks like ya had fun except for the sand.

[Calgary-Yogi]

1. Whose and what kind of bike with the yellow front end?

2. Will y'all be looking for sand pits or off-tar on the Alaska trip?

3. How many days are ya planning for the Alaska trip?

Oh, great pictures. Looks like ya had fun except for the sand.

1. It Sparky's. It is one of them fancy BMW GS fire starters.

2. Trip will be over 7,000 miles of which about 700 miles will be dirt roads. Alaska tarmac is not always what we would call tarmac so there maybe more dirt than planned.

3. We are planning 2 days to trailer to Calgary, 17 days for the actually ride and then 2 days to trailer back to Houston.

[DFW_Warrior]

Yep... what ^^^he^^^ said.

[Back Road Ronnie]

Wish I had of known you were going to be camped at the Mission, I would have run over to meet all of you. I live in Alto and ride a KLR.

[Calgary-Yogi]

Wish I had of known you were going to be camped at the Mission, I would have run over to meet all of you. I live in Alto and ride a KLR.

Sorry we missed you, it is always good to meet new folks. If we head that way on the next ride we will let you know.

[Calgary-Yogi]

Well the boys have pretty much covered off our “MOST EXCELLENT” weekend but here is my tupence worth (aka Scottish equivalent of my 2 cents worth)

My original plan for this ride was to get fresh rubber on the Strom at Todd’s place on Friday morning then spend the rest of the day just riding around, getting to camp just before dark and then sitting around waiting for Bill and Sparky. This plan fell apart when I could not get a hold of Todd and was too late to get another store in town to install the new rubber (more on this later) so I ended up ordering the rubber on the Web and getting it shipped to Bills house. This now meant that I got spent the day riding up to DFW then back to Centerville and onto camp.

Leaving Houston about 09:00 I rode up to Bill’s place to get the new rubber installed. While departing Houston I realized this was the first time in 6 trips to DFW that I was not riding
a. in the dark,
b. during rush hour,
c. in the rain
d. or all the above combined,

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o61/Calgary-Yogi/Dryrun1/IMG_2573.jpg

I also noticed that 45 is truly not that bad when there is no traffic.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o61/Calgary-Yogi/Dryrun1/IMG_2574.jpg

I stopped in Centerville to gas up and grab a coffee and experience a great moment of true human friendship. As I was walking out of Woody’s the guy behind the deli counter called me over and said. “Hey I am called Too High and I ride bikes too, where did you ride from ?” I told him Houston as he handed me a piece of paper. He continued “here is my phone number, if you ever have any trouble with your bike around here call me,” You could have knocked me over with a wet tissue. In this day and age for somebody to offer the promise of assistance to a complete stranger just blows me away. After this encounter, I knew this could only be a great weekend.

When I arrived at Bill’s he was already at home and had his bike loaded. I took off all my riding gear and rolled up my shelves ready to put the new rubber. The conversation between us then went something like this.

[Yogi] Bill what do you need me to do?
[Bill[ Nothing
[Yogi] Seriously what can I do to help?
[Bill] Nothing
[Yogi] there must be something I can do
[Bill] Okay hold this
10 seconds later
[Bill] don’t load it that way !!

Within the hour Bill had the new rubber on my bike and we were getting ready to head for camp. Thanks Bill

We rode back to Centerville and stopped at Woody’s to pick up some summer sausage and eggs for breakfast. Unfortunately Too High was not there so I could not say Howdy and introduce him to Bill. Soon after we got to camp Brian arrived. It was pretty chilly and we did not have any fire wood so we ate supper and went straight to bed.

The whole purpose of these trips (dry runs) was to allow us the time to test all the highly specialized, fit for purpose Alaska trip equipment we had purchased [do not read this as new of new toys for the boys] and get used to riding the bikes with all the new highly specialized, fit for purpose Alaska trip equipment. It became painfully obvious to Bill and I that Brian had not ridden in quite some time and we needed to go way back to basic ride techniques for Brian.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o61/Calgary-Yogi/Dryrun1/IMG_2575.jpg

When we finished loading the bikes and reminded Brian his left foot goes on the left peg we headed out of camp. We spent most of the day riding these types of roads before the rain came.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o61/Calgary-Yogi/Dryrun1/IMG_2576.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o61/Calgary-Yogi/Dryrun1/IMG_2594.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o61/Calgary-Yogi/Dryrun1/IMG_2579.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o61/Calgary-Yogi/Dryrun1/IMG_2587.jpg

I was almost glad that it rained as it gave me a chance to test out the wet weather gear I planned to take to Alaska. As it turned out I discovered that the gloves I was planning on using are not going to cut the mustard.

Once it got dark and after passing a few dear in the ditch we decided it was best that we headed straight to camp and miss out the last few miles of country roads. The one thing that we do not need to practice is riding in the dark since our shortest day riding to the Artic Circle will have over 16 hours of sunlight and the longest day will have over 21 hours.

We spent Sunday riding back and dirt roads.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o61/Calgary-Yogi/Dryrun1/IMG_2588.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o61/Calgary-Yogi/Dryrun1/IMG_2590.jpg


Leading a ride especially in dirt means that you never get to see any of the good stuff, near face plants, bikes being used to knock down bush etc, but thankfully we all had Chatterboxes. I saw nothing but I got to listen to Bill muttering about the abilities of the street tire on his Strom, how he had a perfectly good WR in his garage and was riding a full loaded Strom WITH STREET TIRES, how he was NOW going to riding the WR to Alaska and the occasional “BRIAN, I CAN BELIEVE YOU HELD THAT THING UP”

All in all I had a great weekend. I got to test all the new highly specialized, fit for purpose Alaska trip equipment, ride some great roads and more importantly spend a whole bunch of time with some great friends. I just wonder if I (we) will be saying that after spending 21 days on our Artic Circle trip

The things that I learnt on this trip were.

Hazards
If you get through a hazard but your buddy does not
DO turn around and head back to help him out
DO stop before the hazard, get off you bike and go help you buddy
DO NOT ride back into hazard to get to your buddy
Third time is not a charm in sand.

http://sparkyphotog.smugmug.com/photos/244560987-M.jpg

Food
Bill cooks a mean breakfast
Pack a spoon in you tank bag. That way, you can still graze on breakfast even when your bike is fully packed.
Protein bars called “strawberry cheesecake” and “blueberry crumble” are still just protein bars

Tires
TKC80 up front and Tourance out back.
After a 1000 miles I am convinced this is the best combination of tires the you can put on a Strom. I never did feel confident with Death Wings on both my storms and the Tourances I put on the wee were better, but I never felt confident in the dirt with them. Before the trip I spent a bunch on time on the Strom boards and ADV researching rubber for big dual sports. After get past the numerous “never mix nobbies and dual sport tire” posts I found a few folks that where running TKC80 up front with no problems. Yes I know that running a nobbie up front means that it gives before the rear (bad thing) but with my riding style I never push the tires anywhere close to their limits so in my mind what I gain in the dirt makes this just a great combo.
More importantly than handling is the fact the Strom just looks so cool with a nobbie up front.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o61/Calgary-Yogi/Dryrun1/IMG_2609.jpg


Tent/Home defense.
Between the farm yard animal noising coming from Bill’s tent and all different zipper sounds and god knows what other noises coming from Brian tent, having bear spray in my tent means that I can sleep soundly, comfortable in the fact I have some protection from my riding buddies

Brian (the webmaster) has posted the route we rode in GPX format if anybody wants to use it.

[anaconda]

:clap: great report!! great idea, to have test ridee before the big trip. Looks like you learned a lot from this trip, while having lots of fun too.

[sparkyphotog]

Excellent write-up, Graeme! :clap: I like the way you describe the "highly specialized, fit for purpose Alaska trip equipment". I'm going to use that phrase from now on when I tell Mollie that I need to go shopping. :rofl:

[Squeaky]

I'm going to use that phrase from now on when I tell Mollie that I need to go shopping. :rofl:

Yes, but be prepared for the comeback: She needs more multi-purpose suburban and rural mileage wandering equipment herself, too! ;-)

[sparkyphotog]

Yes, but be prepared for the comeback: She needs more multi-purpose suburban and rural mileage wandering equipment herself, too! ;-)

Touché.