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Ride the Western Trans America Trail 2015

Day 4; White Rim Trail

We knew this would be a long day. The White Rim Trail is a 106 mile loop road in Canyonlands National Park. With the road miles going and coming from Moab the total for the day would be 140. It doesn't sound like much until you are out there. ;-) Here is the plan for the day.....

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It looks easy enough. We started with a full breakfast at the local Denny's. It was the closest restaurant to the campground and our breakfast in Raton was still bringing good memories. And, it was really good. They have a meat lover's omelet with bacon, ham, chorizo, onion and bell peppers covered with pepper jack queso that is quite good. :eat: With hash browns and toast it got us off to a great start. We would eat trail snacks throughout the day and get back in the early afternoon. I left my fuel petcock on and my bike was flooded when time to start. :doh: The bowl float valve is sticking open so if I forget to shut off the fuel the cylinder fills with fuel. The starter isn't strong enough to pump out the fuel so we end up pushing it to get her going. Nice start to the ride. So we got to riding about 0830. We head north out of Moab then follow Hwy 279 along the Colorado River finally turning north onto Long Canyon Rd.

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The road goes for a mile of real good road then starts following the creek bed before beginning the climb up Pucker Pass to get up to the mesa that is the Island in the Sky.

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Pucker Pass is appropriately named because the farther up we climb the higher the "pucker factor". There was one flat spot where I could stop and take this photo.

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This was pretty cool to ride through.

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Then we just popped out on top and had a couple of miles of straight flat road before turning toward the visitor center to take care of entry fees and to get our back-country permits. The turn off to White Rim Trail is before the visitor center but after the entry gate. Permits are required and the rangers do spot checks so get your papers if you go. :deal:

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Even the view from the visitor center parking lot is pretty good.

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We take the turn onto Shafer Canyon Rd and then the right fork where the road forks with Potash Rd and we were on the White Rim Trail. The road basically follows the edge of the canyon walls as it winds it's way along first the Colorado River and then the Green River.

Literally riding along the edge in many spots.

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And dropping down to the lower level above the rivers....

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through a series of switchbacks cut into the cliff face.

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The road conditions vary from smooth dirt to gravel to slickrock to rutted sand. Most of it was first or second gear riding occasionally slipping into third for short stretches.

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Here this section of road is right along the edge.

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We met this guy riding a bike who stopped and talked to us a bit. They do these rides with support vehicles carrying food and camping gear. The bike rides take 3-4 days. I personally do not see submitting to such abuse. This is why intelligent man invented motors. :rider:

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about 3 hours into the ride this happened.

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I was making my way down what seemed to be a simple downhill using the engine to brake in first gear. Easy right? I thought i'd slow a bit and feather the front brake. Then I bumped over a rock I wasn't ready for and grabbed a bit of throttle along with the brake. :doh: The bike spun sideways and I went down falling into the hill but staying on the road. Fall #3 for me. I rolled the bike the rest of the way down the hill to survey the damage. Broken clutch lever and broken inside mount on the hand guard. I also lost the tip off my vent tube. The little metal piece with the valve that keep fuel from flowing out when the bike is laying down. An important piece for my riding style. :lol2:
Perry went back to the spot to try to find the valve but no luck.

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Since the bike was leaking precious fuel we got it upright quickly. I got to work putting the bike back together so we could continue. We carried spare levers and tools so it just took a bit of time. I had 12 inches of fuel line that I put on the gas cap and fed through a loop on my tank bag that would work for the tank vent. The hand guard was held in place by a super heavy duty tie wrap. Not that it was back to full duty but it was in place, better than nothing.

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Physically I wasn't too bad. The hand guard and my protective gear did it's job. I jammed my left thumb pretty good when I hit the ground and my left knee got twisted enough to cause a burning pain lateral and distal to the joint. And somehow a scrape inside the back of the knee joint. Never could figure that out. Pants and knee guard did their job well.

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after about 30 minutes we were back riding and enjoying the views.

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Sometime in the afternoon I noticed the DRZ sounded a bit different making more engine noises than normal. I stopped and checked the oil and it was off the dipstick. I checked in the morning and it was fine. But this bike burns oil sometimes, sometimes it doesn't. Of course I had no oil. Perry had no oil. So we rode on. I stopped one of the camp support trucks and asked them. They had everything but oil. Next as we were passing Jeep Unlimited I asked the driver and he had some Mobil 1 so I poured about half a quart in to filler. I offered to pay for the quart and he refused. He said, "That's just what we do. If you have something someone needs you share." :clap: Nice guys from Denver. Bike was sounding happier and we continued on.

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Here is one of the many hills. I got a little out of sorts about half way up. I didn't fall but was stuck in the sand unable to get moving again. So, Perry climbed up to help me get moving. Following me over the years he knows to wait at the bottom to make sure I make it. Otherwise he could end up getting blocked by my bike laying on it's side and getting stuck as well. I was able to get him riding up.

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And we rode on.....

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and on.....

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finally riding along the Green River.

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The road was a series of climbs and descents going over ridges along the river. Then we came around a corner and were greeted by this sight of what lay ahead.

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Deep silt. There is a truck in there somewhere. We waited for about 5 minutes for the cyclists and the truck to clear out before we made our run. It was about 200 yards of 8 inch silt covering the rutted out bottom. I plowed through ok and caught these shots of Perry coming through.

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It was late in the afternoon and we were wondering if we would ever find the end. I wasn't sure where we were because the GPS kept shutting itself off. At this point I had no idea why it was doing that. But I knew there was only one way out and we had to just keep on rolling. What goes down must eventually go back up to the mesa. The first climb up to the mid level was pretty extreme. Very narrow, maybe 7 feet wide, very rocky, with a drop of several hundred feet straight down. No room for any errors. First gear for what seemed like a half hour. And a bout half way up as I rounded a corner I met a Jeep coming down. Luckily it was wide enough there to get past and I hollered through the open window that one more rider was coming up. Perry met the jeep in a corner and was able to get by. The climb was so long and so steep I had to stop at a less steep section just to catch my breath. We must have climbed 1,000 feet, or it seemed like it.

At the top of that climb there were some rolling hills before we got to the final ascent to the mesa top. We took a break to enjoy the final bit of canyon scenery.

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Then made the last climb on easy smooth road.

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And we just popped out of the canyon onto the flat mesa top and had a wide flat dirt road that led us back to pavement on UT 313. We took 313 east for about 6 miles then south on US 191 back to Moab. The 140 miles took 8.5 hours to ride for an average of 16ish mph. We took short breaks with the longest break when I repaired the clutch lever. It was 1645 when we pulled into the campground exhausted. But I need another clutch lever before we could continue. I called Arrowhead Motorsports which I had heard of from several reports of folks getting parts and tires and service. I asked if he had a clutch lever for my bike figuring he wouldn't. He said he did. :clap: He had a universal lever and perch combo that would work if I needed it. I asked if he was going to be open long enough for us to get there as he was about 10 miles away on the south side of town. He said he wasn't going anywhere. Again :clap:. We pulled into his place right at 1700. The shop is behind his house and he had a couple guys there working on their bikes.

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He took us to the other shop building where he had his parts cache. Tires stacked up in the corners. Parts and fluids. And for $!7 I had a spare clutch lever; just in case. On the way back into town we stopped at O'reilly's and we each got a spare quart of oil to stuff in our saddlebags. Back to camp we washed the dust off and we were both so bushed we just went back to Denny's for dinner as they were closest to camp. A two Denny's day. I can't remember what we ate but I remember it was good. Back to camp and crashed into the tents so we could get an early start on the next day.
 
Looks like a great time.
I torture myself clicking over to the Story Telling page. You guys take so many awesome photos.
I need to go get a 55gal drum to hold my bucket list!
 
Day 5; Utah

After packing our camp we headed north on US 191 for several miles to about a mile before the junction of UT 313. Here we picked up the trail to Gemini Bridges. We reversed our direction and climbed up the hillside leaving 191 below.

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We turned west and made our way through the long shadows of the early morning.

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This rock looked to me like and eagle. Thought it was cool. :sun:

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They had taken some kind of grinding machine to the rocks to level out the road a bit. I bet that made a racket.

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As I got to trail intersections I would wait to make sure Perry saw which direction I was heading. He would hang way back to stay out of the dust and save his air filter.

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Eventually we turned north toward Green River, Utah.

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As we pulled into Green River the entire town had turned out and lines the street waving as we rode by. :wave: Actually they were getting ready for some kind of parade involving watermelons. I decided to ride all the way through to not get tied up in the parade. That left our options for breakfast with what was in the gas stations on the west end of town. So it was gas station Arby's. I think it was food. Anyway, we had to get back into town to pick up the trail out the south side. We tried to do that but before we could get to the first side street were stopped by the local PD. The parade was ending at the street we needed to get to. Without really looking at our bikes he asked if we could ride across this vacant lot and behind a business to connect with the street there. I grinned, patted my gas tank, and said that I thought we could handle that. He gave one of those :doh: head slaps, chuckled a bit and sent us on our way.

We rode south a bit on pavement then turned off onto wide county road and kinda looped toward the west making a meandering path over hills and through creek beds. Came upon this pond and had to snap a pic.

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I think most of this is BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land.

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This was a road that went through a recreation area.

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This was a hill that caught our attention. You know you've been out on the trail too long when ......

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By now we were heading north toward IH 70. We crossed under and found dirt on the other side that would take us into Buckhorn Canyon.

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There is a creek bed here.

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And actual water in a creek along this section so things can grow green.

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It was afternoon and time for a break so we stopped here.

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:shrug:

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And the modern version.

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We stopped in Castle Dale for fuel and ice cream. :trust: The parking lot was full of Razr type four wheelers. They are street legal here. One of the guys approached us with lots of tips on where we should ride. We listened then wished him happy trails. I'm just following a line on the GPS. :rider: They all roared to life and took off like a bunch of hooligans. They were all owners, no rentals. Like some kind of wheeling club.

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Our route had us continuing westward into the hills along UT 29 which turned out to be the way the guy had told us to go. We met the welcoming committee along the road.

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Then we veered off 29 for a while and rode through the forest coming out at a lake where we rejoined 29, which was now dirt.

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Afternoon rush hour. We had to wait for these guys to cross the road.

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I think I could live here.

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Had to stop for a little nature break after nearly missing the grill of a Cadillac driving way to fast around a corner.

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Seely Creek Station.

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We ended up in the town of Ephraim, UT. Cool old LDS buildings.

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We filled our tanks then looked to fill our bellies. It had been a long time since Arby's. The main street was under construction as they were paving the middle two lanes. But we were able to squeeze in to park in front of this cafe. We watched the pavement laying and when the rollers went by the vibrations shook the whole building.

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Great homestyle cooking. Searching for campgrounds we found a state park about 11 miles south in Sterling. They said they would hold the last spot for us on this Saturday night. It was after dark when we got there. Set up camp and crashed into the sack.

298 miles for the day.

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This might be a good time to talk a little about the route we have taken. The TAT has gone through several revisions over the last 15 years or so that it has been a route. There have been sections in Utah and Nevada that used to be public roads that have gone to private property or were ATV trails that have since been closed. Many of the folks that have ridden the original route complained to Sam about many of the tough sections like the Black Dragon Canyon in Utah and the sandy parts of Nevada. So Sam has bowed to pressure and routed around some of those very difficult parts. They are there if you ask for them. I think the latest version, released after I purchased the tracks that I was using, skips the entire state of Nevada and goes north through Idaho. And then there is a guy who goes by GPS Kevin on the internet. He rode the old TAT, created some connecting routes of his own from Los Angeles to Moab and from New York to the eastern start of the TAT, and makes his route available to download for free to anyone that wants it. His is based on one of the older versions with all the difficult parts but he provides easy detours for big bikes and even has some VERY difficult sections for those up to even more of a challenge. And nearly every ride report ever written has made a detour to go around a locked gate or a closed road or just as a change in plan for parts or whatever. So, one can't really say that any one route is THE TAT anymore. I used a combination of many routes that I had collected over the years including Sam's route that I purchased in the Spring of this year and had plugged into my GPS. It's a very dynamic plan that changes as it happens. That's part of the fun; dealing with the changes to the plan. Adapt and endure; that's the nature of the TAT.
 
Defining characteristic of an adventure rider:

"We carried spare levers and tools so it just took a bit of time. I had 12 inches of fuel line that I put on the gas cap and fed through a loop on my tank bag that would work for the tank vent. The hand guard was held in place by a super heavy duty tie wrap. Not that it was back to full duty but it was in place, better than nothing."

Great report! :popcorn:
 
Defining characteristic of an adventure rider:

"We carried spare levers and tools so it just took a bit of time. I had 12 inches of fuel line that I put on the gas cap and fed through a loop on my tank bag that would work for the tank vent. The hand guard was held in place by a super heavy duty tie wrap. Not that it was back to full duty but it was in place, better than nothing."

Great report! :popcorn:

Thanks
 
Day 6; barely making it out of the desert

Up early on a Sunday morning we packed and prepped to make the short highway run back to Ephraim where we would get back on the route.

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Along the way we rode through Manti and drove up to look at the Manti Temple. Quite a structure. We pondered staying for worship but we don't know the password so they might not let us in.

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The folks here are religious. But they are also very hard working and hold to the values that made this country great. They are self reliant and industrious and very kind to strangers that are passing through. But being Sunday morning the towns looked like they had been abandoned. Nobody in sight, nothing open. When we got back to Ephraim the Mikey D's was open so that was breakfast. As I finished eating I noticed the cafe at the bowling alley next door was also open. :doh: Their sign was the electronic message type and one of the rotations said open everyday 7 AM to 10 PM. Oh well. West of town we got into the hills that reminded me a lot of the western portions of the Texas Hill Country.

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We came across this sign.

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Since we weren't 'trespassing for any pupose" we continued on. Actually, what these signs mean is that land on either side of the road is private so stay on the road and move along. Other than one short nature break that is what we did.

Finally got some fall colors other than gold.

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And some good views of the next valley to pass through. '

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Another welcoming committee.

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The road ended up going through a dry riverbed. Those are always fun.

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We ended up in the valley at another highway crossing. We went south on this one for a couple miles before turning off on the next dirt section.

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Each stop is a chance to adjust equipment and snack or get a drink.

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The next road to the next set of hills.

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I just thought this was a cool gate.

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This peice followed along a railroad, where the power lines are, and led us to the town of Delta where we stopped for fuel and some gas station hot dogs. :eat:

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I finally remember to take a photo of the vent tube that I had to fix after the White Rim episode. It works. Way back in the day they would just route the tube into the neck of the frame and any spilt gas would drip out there so I figured this would work. And it did just fine.

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After Delta was more dirt roads. I know they all kinda look the same but each has little differences.

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Now, any of you inspiring adventure riders, pay attention. You must always watch for this situation. Recognizing this could save you life; no kidding around.

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This is a gate. If you are riding to fast and don't see the fence line converging at this spot your trip could end right here. You really don't want to be sifted by three strands of barbed wire. No flags, no warning and no second chances. This was the first fence of this type on our trip. There would be several more. They are designed to be easily undone. The first rider stops and opens the gate. The second rides through and the gate is handed off to the second rider. The first rides through and the second rider reattaches the gate to the fence. Sorry if that sounded too preachy but it's important.

And on to some more long straight dirt roads. We made really good time out here.

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Then way out in nowhere there was a tourist trap.

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Not interested we kept going and at the next turn found this ominous sign....

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I can see why this turn might be dangerous.
followed by this sign....

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with a view of the next valley...

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and an easy ride down a nice little canyon. Nothing scary at all.

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I imagine the name came from something that happened there rather than the valley itself. And we rode out onto the dry lake bed.

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A rare photo of The Bruce i n the wild. I'm usually behind the camera. I'm not really this sunburned. I think the glaring white off the lake bed was messing with the white balance of the camera or something technical like that.

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Across the lake and over the hills on the other side into the next basin.

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And this is when things started going wrong. I noticed the GPS started loosing power and the message would pop up switching to battery then it would regain power. :ponder: Then I stopped at an intersection to wait for Perry to catch up and miss DRZ died. That had happened before at higher elevation due to rich fuel conditions but I knew we weren't that high, maybe around 5000 feet in high desert. :ponder: I knew it was more serious when Perry got there and the starter wouldn't engage. :eek2: I had lost power. And we were still 25 miles out in the desert. I knew where we were and from trip research I knew we had a straight shot to the highway then a 10 mile run to a place to stop. So I got Perry to push start me. She fired and I took off knowing he would follow the dust cloud like he had been doing. I got to the highway stop sign and keeping the rpms up high I glanced over my shoulder to check that Perry was still coming. He was so I headed west on US 50. As I slowed to turn into the station I used the turn signal out of habit. That made the dash go out with the power drain. She actually died when I hit the parking lot and I coasted to this spot next to the gas station store at the Border Inn, US50 and Hwy6, Baker Nevada.

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Perry pulled in behind me. I told him what had happened and we discussed ideas as to what had happened. First hope was that something was loose on the battery connections. So I went to work digging into the circuitry.

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Nope. All fuses good. All connections tight. I knew the DRZ has a history of stator issues ( I replaced the original stator at 17000 miles) but how to figure that out? Perry was on the phone to his son, Jacob, who had recently attended Motorcycle Mechanics Institute. He found the test procedure online and told me what to test. Perry had gone in to advise the manager what we were doing and she had already called a mechanic from the town of Baker which is 5 miles to the southwest. When he arrived he asked what we needed and I said a ohm meter. He had one and handed it over. Three wires come out of the stator and connect to the rectifier/regulator. There was a dead short between all three wires meaning a dead stator. It was fried. I checked the battery and it had drained to 8.5 volts. Tim, our new mechanic friend, verified my readings and agreed with the diagnosis.

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Tim is an old bike rider and refused to charge for his service call. I got him to take $20 to cover his gas and he was happy. By now Scott (M38A1) had been in contact with Erik (E.Marquez) and we were talking on the phone. The battery getting sucked that low had probably been damaged and should not be relied on to continue the trip. He gave me some tips on ordering a new stator and some vendors to try. But it was 1600 on Sunday afternoon. I tried some online sights but decided to start calling first thing tomorrow morning so I could talk to a human and get what I needed, for sure.

The damage was done. We were stuck at the Border Inn for who knows how long. But, we had all we needed to get by for a while. A room with two beds, the gas station, the store, a restaurant and the casino. What more could we want? I wanted to be riding and camping in the desert!

230 miles

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We were used to early rising so we woke up before the sun was up. We made our way over to the restaurant for some breakfast. Pretty good home-style cooking. At least we wouldn't be going hungry.

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I started making phone calls around 0810 trying to locate a stator for my dead machine. My web searching showed that Rocky Mountain ATV had 2 OEM stators in stock. A real person actually answered the phone instead of one of those menu mazes. Off to a good start. I confirmed what they had sitting on the shelf. I asked about overnight shipping and he pointed out that they were in Salt Lake City so that regular shipping would get there tomorrow anyway, and save me $22. :clap: He searched and added the correct gasket to the order and a new battery. He also got me a battery charger that would get enough charge into the new battery while I was installing the parts to get us going down the road as soon as possible. I placed the order and began waiting on parts.

Now we had time on our hands so we checked gear and assessed our overall condition.

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We had been washing clothes as we changed them so we were good there. My left hand had some pretty good swelling around the base of my thumb and wrist from one or more of the falls I had taken. The one on White Rim was a pretty hard landing so that may have jammed things up a bit. I had been having to really struggle to get my left glove on over my swollen hand.

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We really were in the middle of not much.

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We spent the day watching TV and laying around. It got boring really fast but the time passed fast enough. We had a really nice sunset that day with the moon rising.

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Later that evening we heard the rumble of a Harley pull in to the station. As the saying goes, this guy was "the real deal".

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Kevin was riding a early 70's shovel head that he and his fellow mechanics had built up into a hardtail chopper. 1.5 gallon fuel tank and all. He was running points from a ford pickup so he could source new ones any time he needed them. Just one example of the special touches on his machine. He had been riding the western states all summer and was making his way back home. Like us he was camping wherever he could find a spot. He was heading up to the Great Basin National Park to find a spot for the night. He had been there for about 30 minutes and left his mark on the parking space by the pumps.

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That was the total for this day. Zero miles. Not many stories. Tomorrow would go better, hopefully.
 
Day 8; repairs and more damage

Once again we were up early and one of the first into the restaurant for breakfast. As we were leaving a bunch of Harleys pulled into the lot and parked in front of the restaurant. Their patches showed they were firefighters so Perry struck up a conversation. They were coming from Colorado Springs and the annual ceremony adding names to the Fallen Firefighter Memorial. A bunch of nice folk and brothers in the profession.

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I knew parts were coming so I wanted to be ready when they arrived. So, I started to disassemble my crippled machine. I laid her on her right side in front of our room and prepped for surgery with the tools I had on hand.

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Perry was there to document the procedure.

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Dis-assembly was successful and I managed to secure all the fasteners in the holes they came out of. I laid a towel over the open side case and waited on the delivery. We took up our watch on the bench under the shade tree in front of the store. The Fed Ex guy showed up at noon just as predicted. A welcome sight indeed.

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First, I checked to make sure every thing was in the box. All parts accounted for, I added acid to the battery and put it on the charger to get that going. We went ahead and had some lunch to give the battery a bit more time on the charge. After lunch I started installation of the new parts. First removing the old stator from the side case. I had left it in there so the way it was installed would be fresh in mind.

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Compared old and new to make sure it was the right part. Yep, the old one is fried and the new one is correct.

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In goes the new one. Perry would apply the loctite and I would install the screws. Team!

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I got everything buttoned back up. I had drained the oil because I wanted fresh oil to start out with the new stator. I filled the oil, installed the new battery, hit the starter and no fire. :eek2: The starter was spinning but the engine wasn't coming to life. I took a deep breath and called Erik for advice. He said the only thing that could really go wrong was a bad stator was installed or the pickup sensor was installed wrong. OK So I laid the bike back down on the side to keep from loosing the oil I had just put in. I took the side cover off, again. And immediately noticed I had put the pick up coil/sensor in upside down! :doh: Yeah, I'm not a real mechanic, that's for sure. I checked to make sure no wires had been damaged; all was good. Installed the sensor correctly. It looked much better when installed properly. Replaced the side cover. And she fired right up with the starter button. :clap::clap::clap: We were so happy we threw our gear on and took off without taking any pictures leaving the Border Inn in our rear view a little before 1700. We had a couple hours of riding before dark.

After a couple miles on pavement the route veered off onto a two track road along a fence line through sand. This was kinda unnerving as thoughts of a mishap and entanglement in barbed wire ran through my head. I stayed in the track farthest from the fence and plowed through the sand.

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That photo doesn't look too bad. But the sand was loose and not hard packed. You'll see from the map that the route zigzagged along fence lines and roads. It was slow going. The sand got looser and the ruts got deeper. And it wasn't too long until I got crossed up in a rut and fall #4 happened. What is wrong with this picture?

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I got the tool kit out and started to remove the bent gear shift lever. You can see where I went down on the left side and the lever dug into the side of the rut. When I picked the bike up I laid her in the side of the rut to make it easier to access the lever without the fuel leaking out the vent tube. I had a spare lever in my kit.

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Perry told me to smile. "It could be worse. It could be raining." And on cue about 4 rain drops fell. The only rain we would get on the entire 15 day journey.

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I handed the bent lever to Perry and he thought he might be able to fix it. After a couple tries he found a spot on his skid plate where he could wedge it in and apply force. I steadied the bike and he was able to bend it back into usable shape. It was a steel lever; you cannot do this with the stock alloy lever, it will just break.

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This was rally good as this lever is 2" longer than stock to accommodate the heavy boots and making shifting much easier. The reinstalled lever was almost as good as new.

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And now we had spent 30 minutes of our riding time fixing my damaged lever. We were running out of light so it was time to look for a campsite. I told Perry to take the lead since he is better at finding spots than I am. I told him to stop at any intersection so we could stay on the route. Problem; in the sagebrush the two track roads are hard to spot until you are right on them. Even harder at dusk with failing light. So he blew right past the turn and I had to chase him down and get him turned around. Now we were out of light. He thought we could find a spot back by a lake we had passed so we backtracked to the lake and found a spot that would do. The highway ran about 30 yards to the east but only a couple of cars went by in the first hour; nothing after that. We set our camp my headlamp and crawled into the sack. I was beat and a bit demoralized after the venture in the sand. Very tired, I slept through the night.

Miles for the day; 27.

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:tab Great pics of White Rim Road! Rsquared and I ran that back in April, but we ran it counter clockwise so we hit that silt while we were fresh. I got that advice from someone here I think. Shafer Road was incredibly cool. You got a great shot of it! The problem with that place is that no matter how good you are at taking pictures, they fall utterly short of the reality of how HUGE everything is out there!!

Regarding the barbed wire "gate", we encountered one on Lock Hart Rd, which runs up the East side of the Colorado River back up toward Moab. Rsquared was leading. He came around a corner to find one stretched right across the road. He locked up the front end trying to stop in time, going down in the process. Fortunately he was not hurt and the bike was fine. He was not hauling. There was a sheer drop on the left and a sheer cliff on the right. Why there was a gate there is totally beyond us because there was no other fencing to speak of that we could see anywhere. I guess maybe some cows might wander up the road or something. Like the one you found, no warnings of any kind... Just seems really dangerous given the amount of traffic that road sees.

I couldn't help but notice in your thumb pic that your cuticles are peeling back near the nails. That can be VERY painful and it can get pretty bad out in that dry environment. I have a little tub of Carmex, about 1" dia and maybe 3/4" deep. I have had it for almost 10 years now. I keep it in my tank bag. It is great for rubbing into the area around the finger nails and really helps a LOT with preventing that kind of peeling. I also use it for when my lips start getting chapped. The stuff lasts FOREVER. My little tub looks like it has hardly been used at all. I think the metal screw on lid will wear through from banging around in my bag long before I use all of what is inside.

I love the "knee pads" for working on the bike :lol2: I will have to remember that one. Having a good mat to lay tools and parts on is a great idea. I carry a plastic table cloth for that purpose. Not only does it help keep stuff clean, it also makes it easier to keep track of stuff that you might loose if you just laid it on the ground.
 
Thoughts inserted in Red
:tab Great pics of White Rim Road! Rsquared and I ran that back in April, but we ran it counter clockwise so we hit that silt while we were fresh. I got that advice from someone here I think. Shafer Road was incredibly cool. You got a great shot of it! The problem with that place is that no matter how good you are at taking pictures, they fall utterly short of the reality of how HUGE everything is out there!! You are absolutely right about the immense nature of those canyons. The lens just cannot capture the depth and the width of the vistas.

Regarding the barbed wire "gate", we encountered one on Lock Hart Rd, which runs up the East side of the Colorado River back up toward Moab. Rsquared was leading. He came around a corner to find one stretched right across the road. He locked up the front end trying to stop in time, going down in the process. Fortunately he was not hurt and the bike was fine. He was not hauling. There was a sheer drop on the left and a sheer cliff on the right. Why there was a gate there is totally beyond us because there was no other fencing to speak of that we could see anywhere. I guess maybe some cows might wander up the road or something. Like the one you found, no warnings of any kind... Just seems really dangerous given the amount of traffic that road sees.

I couldn't help but notice in your thumb pic that your cuticles are peeling back near the nails. That can be VERY painful and it can get pretty bad out in that dry environment. I have a little tub of Carmex, about 1" dia and maybe 3/4" deep. I have had it for almost 10 years now. I keep it in my tank bag. It is great for rubbing into the area around the finger nails and really helps a LOT with preventing that kind of peeling. I also use it for when my lips start getting chapped. The stuff lasts FOREVER. My little tub looks like it has hardly been used at all. I think the metal screw on lid will wear through from banging around in my bag long before I use all of what is inside. Carmex is good stuff for sure. My nails are pretty much like that all the time so I never noticed. :lol2: I used lip balm a couple of times before turning in for the night and kept the lips from getting chapped. Perry was better about his personal care as he was always putting on lip balm and using Visine for his eyes. I think we both used Burt's Bees lip balm. Good stuff.

I love the "knee pads" for working on the bike :lol2: I will have to remember that one. Having a good mat to lay tools and parts on is a great idea. I carry a plastic table cloth for that purpose. Not only does it help keep stuff clean, it also makes it easier to keep track of stuff that you might loose if you just laid it on the ground.Good catch on both items. The mat is a piece I cut from an old waterbed liner. Very thick. I've carried it for years. Keep parts clean and prevents dropping them in the dirt and possibly loosing them.

Great input Scott :thumb:
 
Day 9; Nevada dirt

We awoke very early and has camp completely packed before there was enough light to take a good photo. We even had to wait a bit to get this one including Pruess Lake.

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The route led us around the southern end of Great Basin National Park. Mostly two track among the sage brush.

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As we wandered around through canyons and washes I saw our first wild horses. Sorry no pics. They were off in the shadows behind a ridge. If I had stopped they would have been long gone before I had time to get my camera out. They were all a very dark dappled grey. I counted 4 as they ran off around the corner. Well fed they looked to be in pretty good shape.

We came upon a wash that had claimed that section of the road. Completely washed out with sheer drop off of more than six feet. We bushwhacked along the edge of the wash going downhill as it looked to get more shallow going that way. Perry found a way across first so I followed in his tracks. We had to climb up the steep hill around 100 feet to get back on the road before it made a switchback and headed away from us. Right as Perry was approaching the edge his rear tire spun and he stopped short of the road. He started a controlled roll backwards to get another run at it. I was following too closely and had to stop quick and wasn't able to get my foot on the rear brake. The front brake was useless with the weight all on the rear wheel so I slid backwards and lost it falling slowly to the side. Fall #5 for me. :flip: No harm done. Perry made it on to the road on this second attempt. I picked the bike up and got restarted and made the road also without to much trouble the second time.

We rode a few miles further and came out into a large valley that we had to cross. The terrain in Nevada a series of hills or mountains with 20 or so miles of basin or high plains in between. The hills run north/south. Depending on direction of travel we were either alternating between plains and hills or riding distance in the basin or plains if we were heading north. There was enough altitude change that you could perceive cooler temperatures going over the mountain ranges.

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Coming down from the pass we were routed onto an ATV trail winding through the trees on the hillside.

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The trail started dipping into a river bed, following it then climbing out into the trees for a bit, then back down into the sandy river bed. Then the trail got even smaller ending up a single track horse trail. I saw no motorcycle tracks in here but I was still on the purple line on the GPS so we continued on. Eventually, after maybe 5 miles or so, the ATV tracks reappeared, the trail got wider and smoother then we were back on a road and climbing the next set of mountains.

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On the other side was the town of Lund, NV at around 1200. Pretty good sized place. An active community. The route took us through the residential area to a store on the south side of town. Whipple's Country Store. I figured I needed a splash of gas to be safe and make it to the next stop. At $3.49 the most expensive gas of the trip but I only got a gallon. We each had a drink and a sundae cone and watch traffic go by while we cooled off a bit.

We were both pretty tired at this point so I thought and remembered a big bike option so we could have a bit of a break. We went northwest instead of west to the next mountain range. We got off pavement after about 10 miles and the dirt road was well maintained that took us through the basin. We saw more wild horsed out in the basin. Maybe 10 miles or so later the road went down to a two track path.

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And after a few miles we routed onto what was barely two track and obviously not traveled very often. There were no tracks visible from bike or auto.

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The dirt was pretty firm and easy to ride on. And I could see evidence of a road over against the base of the hill. We were on the track. We got to the dirt road and continuing northwest until we intersected with US 50. We had 25 miles of pavement over another pass to reach Eureka, NV. We stopped for fuel and agreed we would have a late lunch at a place we passed on the way into town. After filling up I had pushed my bike over to the side of the parking area out of the way. I was approached by three young ladies wearing dresses and black name tags. I recognized right off they were Mormons out doing their ministry. They asked about our bikes and had good questions about our journey. We had a really good conversation. Perry came over and the oldest, I think they were late teens or early 20s, asked if we minded if they prayed over us for a safe journey. Of course we consented and shared a prayer in the parking lot of the gas station and went our separate ways.

Here is our late lunch spot at around 1530.

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The lunch special is a rib eye sandwich with fries for 10.95. :eat: The steak was around 1/4 inch thick but it was cooked a perfect medium and was very tender with sauteed onions on a bolillo roll. The bartender was cutting up and kept us and the other two customers entertained while we ate. A good stop.

The map of the first half of the day.

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Leaving Eureka we rode about 10 miles northwest on US 50 before getting to our dirt road. We were headed north which meant we would be riding the basin most of the way to Battle Mountain, our goal for the day. We head out into the basin.

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As we neared Battle Mountain there were a couple of mountain ranges we had to cross. The sun was starting to get low and as we crossed the hills heading west it was directly in our eyes. We rode through a couple of ranches riding right in front of the houses. One had a women out in front that smiled and returned my wave as we rode through very slowly as to not raise the dust. As we came down into the next valley I got to an intersection so I stopped to make sure Perry saw the turn. I glanced and didn't see any dust and could not see him anywhere because of the brush. I shut off the engine and didn't hear any noise at all. Total silence. So, I backtracked and found where he had gone down in a rutted out section full of sand. He was standing and his bike was up but he wasn't moving, just standing. He said the bike had gone down on his left foot and twisted his foot 90* sideways facing out. He said it felt loose and had rotated on it's own a second time. He looked real nervous. But he could put weight on it. I took care of tying the shrouds back together with tie wraps. The bike was ready to roll and we had about 20 miles to go to get to town.

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We had another range of hills to get over. We came to an intersection that followed a shallow water crossing. As I got there a pickup truck was sitting there. He waved me on so after making sure Perry make it through the water I took off toward town. Then it got dark. My headlight is barely good enough, not great. Perry had followed close before after dark and his headlight in addition to mine made for pretty good light. We were winding our way through the climb over the pass and back down the other side. I would often check to see Perry's single light in my rear view when I made a curve in the road. His light was brighter than before so I figured he was using his high beam. I was keeping a pretty brisk pace and he was doing great keeping on my tail. As the road straightened without warning a pickup truck came flying by under full acceleration flinging gravel and making a huge cloud of dust. :eek2: Apparently he had passed Perry a while back. With the load behind my back and my barely legal mirrors I was only able to see one headlight behind so I though it was Perry. Had he honked I would have know and pulled over to let him buy. I stopped to wait for Perry. When he caught up he was laughing and told me he had watched me in that trucks headlight all the way down the mountain. :lol2:

We finished the last 5 miles into Battle Mountain and rode to the Super 8 that I had found on the GPS to try and regroup. They had one room left, a suite with a king and a queen bed in separate attached rooms for $99. SOLD. They let us park under the front awning and we carried what gear we needed up to the room. Perry made it up the stairs and to the room. Now came the unknown. Time to take off the motocross boot that was splinting his ankle and see what was going on. The boot came off and there wasn't much to see. His foot was still attached and it was starting to swell some. NO discoloration, yet. So I made him an ice pack with a zip lock bag and got him onto the bed with his foot elevated. Ibuprofen was distributed and we settled in for the night, waiting to see what it looked like in the morning.

Miles for the day; 322. The map of the run from Eureka to Battle Mountain.

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I see you are quote challenged... :lol2:

When you quote someone's post, you see the following inserted into your post.

(quote)Blah blah blah... stuff from the quoted post.

More blah blah blah...

And finally and end to the blah blah blah...(/quote)​

If you want to add comments like you did above, all you have to do is add the start/stop quote tags, like so,

(quote)Blah blah blah... stuff from the quoted post.(/quote)

:tab Your witty reply

(quote)More blah blah blah...(/quote)

:tab Your next witty reply

(quote)And finally and end to the blah blah blah...(/quote)

:tab Your last reply that is probably not as witty as you thought...​

Just make sure that every opening quote tag has the closing quote tag and you can do that all day long. Hit the preview to make sure it looks the way you want and then submit. Also, the () need to be [] for the tags to actually work. I had to use the () to keep it from actually processing the tags. But this is what it would look like if done for real,

Blah blah blah... stuff from the quoted post.

:tab Your witty reply

More blah blah blah...

:tab Your next witty reply

And finally and end to the blah blah blah...

:tab Your last reply that is probably not as witty as you thought...​
 
Day 10: Battle Mountain

We woke up a little later than usual but not much. I checked Perry's ankle and he had started to get some bruising and it was pretty swollen. We talked and weighed options. He decided to forgo any clinic for now. We would give it a day and see how it did with more ice and rest. He was able to get downstairs for the continental breakfast; blah! At least the coffee was palatable. More ibuprofen and a day of rest. We ordered Chinese delivery for lunch. Not bad. In the afternoon I tinkered with a couple of adjustments on my bike. The tail light had gone out so I went to the parts store across the street and took care of that. I plugged my charger into an outside outlet and made sure the battery was well taken care off. We ordered a pizza delivered for supper. That was pretty good. :eat: We would decide in the morning what would happen next.
 
Day 11; We must press on.

With the morning came another discussion of what we were going to do. We had decided the night before that we would not be riding any more dirt if we continued. Perry was able to walk on his ankle. His only concern was being able to shift up. I showed him how he could do that using the large heel guard on the back of his boot. He said he would give it a try. So we decided to press on westward staying on pavement but as close to the TAT as we could. We geared up and headed downstairs. The bikes looked ready to go.

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When I started mine it had trouble idling. This had been going on throughout the trip so I bumped up the idle speed a bit and that worked. We got fuel, Perry said the shifting would be OK, and headed west on IH 70 toward Winnemucca, NV. We had about 50 miles or so before heading north into Oregon. We were doing good when about 25 miles into the run my DRZ started acting like it was loosing power. We were climbing to a summit and it would not respond to added throttle input, it just bogged down. Then she started slowing. I downshifted to try to get more out of her but nothing worked. She died and rolled to a stop along side a guard rail. She would not start. Plenty of cranking power and all electronics were working she just would not fire. We had to get off the narrow shoulder to a safe spot. I pulled out the tow strap I had been packing and put it to use. Using a caribeener I connected to his rear rack. I wrapped the other end of the strap around my foot peg and held it with my foot so that if needed all I had to do was pick up my foot and the strap would release. He took off slowly and towed me a maybe a mile to the summit where there was a truck parking area for checking brakes. Now in a safe spot we started thinking about what to do. Not even a minute later, before we had any kind of plan, a white van pulled in behind me and stopped. I asked Perry, "You think that trailer might be empty?". I walked back and the guy was on the phone and he held up his index finger so I waited. He opened the door and said he saw us using that bright green tow strap and though we might need some help. He was on his way back to Reno after delivering some cabinets somewhere and his trailer was empty. As we walked around to the rear of the trailer he had KTM in large letters on the back of the trailer; it was his bike hauler. He had wheel chocks and tie down straps ready to go. We lifted the dead DRZ into the van and headed toward Winnemucca where he knew of a cycle shop.

I don't know if he was sent to help us or if I was there to help him. Maybe both. The poor man was a wreck. His wife of 20 years had left him a couple days before. As we rode the 25 miles into town he poured his heart out, in tears much of the time as he drove. I just sat and listened and gave a sympathetic ear. As we got into town he started talking about riding and that cheered him up some. He has a KTM 525 EXC that he rides the trails of Nevada on and a 990 Duke for street stuff. Had some good stories of rides in the back country with his friends.

He dropped us off at a dealer that was Kawasaki, Suzuki, and Yamaha. We unloaded the bike and said our goodbyes and thank yous. Jim from Reno.

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Perry got out his phone and sat down in his chair. He started calling U-Haul to see if there was a van available. I started taking the bike apart to see what could be done.

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I pulled the plug and it was black with soot. She had been running rich. I walked over to the shop and asked one of the mechanics if he thought that was bad enough to make it quit. He nodded and that was enough for me. I had a spare plug that I stuck in, reassembled, and she fired right up. We took a test ride through town, checking the eating establishments as we went, and stopped at a place called The Griddle; a cool older cafe with fantastic food.

The bike was running but should we risk going on? YES! While sitting there three riders came in. One of them said something about seeing Perry's KLR in the lot. Another said something like, I feel sorry for him, and Perry heard him. We figured they were on either KTMs or BMWs after a remark like that. ;-) A few minutes later the third guy came over to our table and struck up a conversation. He was on a DR 650 and apologized for the comments made by his KTM buddies. We had a nice chat about the trip.

After brunch I rode back to the dealer to pick up a couple of spare spark plugs in case I needed them. Perry called U-Haul and told them we would not be needing their services. We topped off with fuel and headed north on US 95 into the wasteland that is northern Nevada. We turned left onto the Denio Highway on 140.

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We had already gone about 25 miles. This would be pushing it. But Google said there was gas available in a town called Adel in Oregon which was only 150ish miles. And if not I still had 1.5 gallons in the spare tank on the back. This road went straight for 28 miles before turning then another 20 before the turn at Denio Junction. I stopped here to let Perry know that this is where the TAT crosses this highway.

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Nothing for miles. We found Adel and we found fuel. :clap: Google was right.

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Inside there were cold drinks and an amazing collection of dead heads, saddles, and even a full body mount of a mountain lion taking a deer.

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Perry had cell service so he called ahead to the KOA in Klamath Falls and reserved a cabin. Once again we were squinting into the western sunset trying to make it to our camp site. We arrived shortly after sunset; not quite dark.

Miles for Day 11; 335. Notice the gap east of Winnemucca when the GPS was in the trailer.

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Re: Day 11; We must press on.

We geared up and headed downstairs. The bikes looked ready to go.

I love the subtle foreshadowing! :lol2:

I don't know if he was sent to help us or if I was there to help him. Maybe both. The poor man was a wreck. His wife of 20 years had left him a couple days before. As we rode the 25 miles into town he poured his heart out, in tears much of the time as he drove. I just sat and listened and gave a sympathetic ear. As we got into town he started talking about riding and that cheered him up some. He has a KTM 525 EXC that he rides the trails of Nevada on and a 990 Duke for street stuff. Had some good stories of rides in the back country with his friends.

It is funny how these things work out sometimes! I had a similar experience years ago while heat stroking under the shade of a spindly cactus like plant in the desert of Arizona. I had just sucked the last of my water from my Camel-Bak. My bike was laying on its side about 150 feet from the top of a freaking LONG climb. I was toast...

As I laid there praying, I heard the distant rumbling of motors coming our way. Some jeepers came up the climb behind us and stopped to see if we needed help. I got a ride in the A/C to the top, my 3 liter Camel-Bak was refilled, I was given a big jug of ice cold Gatorade, and they got my bike to the top :dude: They even followed us a while to make sure we were good. Then just like that... they were gone. Like the guy that gave you oil, "That's just what we do for each other out here!" :clap:

I try to remember those experiences and pay them forward every chance I get.

While sitting there three riders came in. One of them said something about seeing Perry's KLR in the lot. Another said something like, I feel sorry for him, and Perry heard him. We figured they were on either KTMs or BMWs after a remark like that. ;-) A few minutes later the third guy came over to our table and struck up a conversation. He was on a DR 650 and apologized for the comments made by his KTM buddies. We had a nice chat about the trip.

:rofl:

Yeah, those KTM and BMW peeps can get a bit annoying at times :mrgreen:

On a positive note, now that this trip is over, given all the stuff you've fixed on your bike, you should be good to go for the next trip :nana: (Like I've never had those experiences too... :doh:)
 
Wait.... Is that it? That can't be it! I'm in this till its over. I'm invested.
 
Day 12; We hit the beach!

After another great breakfast, had to leave food on the plate there was so much :eat:, at a place in Klamath Falls called Starvn Marvns we headed out for some sight seeing. About 60 miles northwest to this place....

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If you've never been you must pencil this into your bucket list immediately. There is no question.

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Crater Lake is actually an underwater stargate that other worlds use to visit our planet. I caught one of the sneaky UFOs on the shot.

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Really it's some of the purest water on the planet. Kept full only through precipitation. It is a collapsed volcanic peak. They get up to 30 feet of snowfall in the winter. And the lake is nearly 2,000 feet deep, 6+ miles across. And one of the most amazing sights in the USA.

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Diamond Peak is off to the north. Pretty cool too.

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We entered on the south side and left through the north entrance. We rode trough a recently burned forest. There was some of the forest left along the road as it looked like it had stayed on the ground for the most part. Some trees had torched but it didn't appear to be a full crown fire. The smell of the wet ash was still quite pronounced.

North a bit more than we turned east on Hwy 138 that twists it's way along as it follows the Umpqua River towards Roseburg, OR. Yes, that Roseburg. It was quiet while we were there. We got fuel and continued on after a short run down IH 5 to Hwy 42 through the Camas Valley. We passed through such towns as Remote, OR and Bridge, OR. We even went through Norway in Oregon.

A left turn on US 101 and we were almost there. We ran south for about 15 miles. This is where we would have got 101 if we had taken the "official" TAT all the way.

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And then we arrived at our destination.

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A short ride through town got us to the beach.

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What a beautiful sight!

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There was a trail down to the sand and we saw tire tracks so we figured it was OK. No signs saying keep off so we went on down.

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And the actual port of Orford.

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We rewarded ourselves with the traditional meal of conquest.

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Mine was the junior version. No clams.

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And the local brew. I love how they do the marketing.

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We still had a couple of hours of daylight left so we targeted Brookings, OR to the south to stay for the night. We had less than an hours ride so we headed off down the coast.

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We picked a local hotel, family owned, and staked our claim. Perry's foot was showing a bit more color but he was getting along pretty good on it.

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Miles for the day: 330.

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Tomorrow we start the ride home.
 
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