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Texans Desert Sledin Oregon

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I left Steve standing there on the side of the road with overcast skies and a cool morning. I reached the pavement and put my ear plugs in. I then headed for Fields.
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I was slightly somber but as I rode along recounting the days prior I had a grin in my helmet and satisfaction in my heart. The ride didn’t go as planned but it went well.

I rolled into Fields and topped off my fuel. Yikes $7.20 for 87 octane. Oh well I was on a mission.
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The only thing higher than the gas was the ladies thoughts of her self. Once I got told were to park my bike or more specifically were not to park it I ordered a cup of coffee. I skipped coffee that morning in camp as the wind was blowing and I didn’t want to take time to get out my wind break but now I had work to do and I needed to be properly nourished for my next stent. They were out of coffee but made a fresh pot at the speed of 2 weeks from never. It was hot and good when I finally got it. I poured it straight into my neck and headed for the door. I headed out and sank spurs into the old SE and he snorted just a bit as we rolled out. There was a couple of other folks out that were looking to make good time back to Nevada. It reminded me of…
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Soon I was back at the Holiday Motel where this little tour kicked off. My truck was all intact and right where I left it.
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Loaded up got fuel and provisions for the night and reversed course back to Fields to pickup my awaiting hitchhiker.
 
TNC,

When you ride and have the Tubliss, do you still care a spare tube... just in case...?
 
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Tourmeister said:
TNC,

When you ride and have the Tubliss, do you still care a spare tube... just in case...?
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Yes. I carry a 21" tube which would get me by on the rear also. I never had a flat in the 15 years I ran Tubliss. The 3 failures I had earlier this year with the bad run of high pressure inner tubes all occurred at home...thankfully.
 
For years I have had people tell me they carry just a 21" and that they will run it in the rear if needed. The handful of times I have seen that tried, it has never worked. I am not saying it can't work, just that I haven't personally seen it work :shrug: I would not want to try it for any serious speed or distance. At best, it would be to get me to a place where I could call it quits or make a better fix. I generally carry a spare front and spare rear when riding locally. If I am out of town on a trip, I carry two rears and a front. I have a penchant for pinching tubes with irons no matter how careful I try to be :doh: :headbang: :argh:

I have always been curious about the Tubliss stuff, but just have never pulled the plug on it :-P
 
Got up the next morning to a beautiful day. Always sad to have a trip come to an end, but it happens none the less.

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And now we had 3 days of truck time to get back to central/south Texas. We decided to go home a different way. On the way up, it was I-10 from the San Antonio area to Phoenix, then up through Vegas and on to Winnemucca. On the way home we made our way east through northern Nevada, over towards SLC, down to Salina, across to Green River, down to Cortez, Farmington, Albq, Ft Sumner and then across Texas on state highways. Had one more ribeye tailgater in Ft. Summer.

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My takeaway….that is a long way to get up toward Oregon and back. I want to get back up that way to explore more but will probably save it for when I don’t have to be on a time table. I think I could spend a couple weeks getting back up that way, riding and camping as I go. Then spend a couple months in northern California, Oregon and Washington exploring. I also think about creating my own transport service, airport pickup and some kind of ‘in trip’ support for other Texans wanting to get out to these cool states. The drive times really suck away vacation time. And maybe the planning and execution can sometimes scare people away. Shipping your bike with a normal shipper is expensive and a little unnerving. Renting a bike isn’t the same as riding your own steed. I got ideas. For now, walking away with another notch on my belt. Till next time, smell ya later holmes.

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Steve, you are so, so right about how it can and will be different when you escape the bonds of employment and have the means of moving along a route and enjoy the riding and camping on the way. My wife and I didn't have kids, so even during my career I had more free time to hit the road. Even after retiring I continued to work part time in a couple of fields of interest. However, when you get completely free of employment and other heavy social responsibilities, you can float along on an adventure in a way that provides so much peace and enjoyment. And Steve...and others...I do realize there are and will still be family connections that merit out attention and involvement for obvious reasons and enjoyment.

Based on how you attack and revel in the adventures you share with us here, I can't wait to see how you do when you have way more unfettered time and capability to continue your adventures. You've touched on how you want to come up with a plan and hardware that will make extended camping more comfortable and efficient as you move forward. I highly recommend that as it's what has made my current adventures so much more enjoyable and comfortable...and...allow me to move along a route on a trip without the constant concern about the bodily requirements we all must address when we're not at home.

I think your concept of providing a service of travel, supply, logistics, etc. for other riders is pretty cool and noble. However...be careful. The danger there is that it could become your next "yoke" of work and responsibility, and then where will we be without your continued awesome adventures to read about here. :D
 
Appreciate your words. I wrestle with it all. Hoping I can just float for year or two. Maybe snag some part time or seasonal work. I might pimp myself out to motorcycle adventure tour companies. Ride sweep. Drive support truck. That kind of gig. I just want off the hamster wheel. I read recently that only 5% retire at 55. Hmmm.

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Retiring is a modern concept... Retiring at fifty is kind of mind boggling... I will likely end up working till I drop dead at my desk... Trying to stash it away as fast and as much as I can, but Unca Fed only lets you put so much away each year before he wants his pound of flesh in the here and now :doh:
 
Tourmeister said:
For years I have had people tell me they carry just a 21" and that they will run it in the rear if needed. The handful of times I have seen that tried, it has never worked. I am not saying it can't work, just that I haven't personally seen it work :shrug: I would not want to try it for any serious speed or distance. At best, it would be to get me to a place where I could call it quits or make a better fix. I generally carry a spare front and spare rear when riding locally. If I am out of town on a trip, I carry two rears and a front. I have a penchant for pinching tubes with irons no matter how careful I try to be :doh: :headbang: :argh:

I have always been curious about the Tubliss stuff, but just have never pulled the plug on it :-P
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On a similar note, I've always carried an 18" tube for 19/17" wheel setups. I think I originally heard about that trick from Heldge Pederson and I tend to believe what he says about most things motorcycle related. But trying to get a 21" tube to work in an 18" tires seems like it'd be pushing it.
 
Tourmeister said:
For years I have had people tell me they carry just a 21" and that they will run it in the rear if needed. The handful of times I have seen that tried, it has never worked. I am not saying it can't work, just that I haven't personally seen it work :shrug: I would not want to try it for any serious speed or distance. At best, it would be to get me to a place where I could call it quits or make a better fix. I generally carry a spare front and spare rear when riding locally. If I am out of town on a trip, I carry two rears and a front. I have a penchant for pinching tubes with irons no matter how careful I try to be :doh: :headbang: :argh:

I have always been curious about the Tubliss stuff, but just have never pulled the plug on it :-P
Click to expand...
Back in the day I used to carry a 21" tube on my KLR in a front fender bag to use in either wheel. My one time experience is that the 21" tube in the 17" rear wheel worked fine to get me going and back to where I could replace it with a 17" tube.
 
Simmons1 said:
21" tube in the 17" rear wheel worked fine to get me going and back to where I could replace it with a 17" tube.
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Which is the general idea. If you want to keep riding then you probably need two tubes, but it would work to get you back to the truck. My buddy's did it in Arkansas while I was back at camp dealing with my oil leak on my DRZ. It got them back to camp. Lucky it was the end of the last day.
 
Simmons1 said:
Back in the day I used to carry a 21" tube on my KLR in a front fender bag to use in either wheel. My one time experience is that the 21" tube in the 17" rear wheel worked fine to get me going and back to where I could replace it with a 17" tube.
Click to expand...
It does work. As gj states, it's a safety valve to get you back to camp or home, but some have actually finished an off road trip of several more rides with success. I wouldn't push it that far. In recent years especially, I realized that I was toting too much "stuff" on the bike, and it was actually affecting my riding and causing issues when I had to pick up the bike after a get-off. It's tempting to bring a ton of stuff that you might need, but then it starts to suck a bit as the handling of the bike and the recovery situations go to pot. As I've gotten older I try to minimize the stuff I carry and/or at least select lighter weight versions of the items. Understand, I'm not traveling on the bike or camping off the bike, but I'd think the same thing would apply in any case.

Back on that 21" tube deal, back when I decided to go that route on my next rear tire change, I thought it might be a good idea to actually try it out in the shop just to be safe. While I didn't leave it in there for any time obviously, I was satisfied that it would work in a pinch...oh, pinch...no pun intended...LOL! Since going to Tubliss 15 years ago I never had a flat while out on the bike, so I've never had reason to actually install the 21" into an 18".
 
Castor... It keeps things moving :-P
 
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