Lower 48+ on an XR650L

Really Mom I talked to you??? I knew I should of killed that double when I had the chance. Also you miss understood... I'm in Mary's Harbor. You know you didn't have to go on a frantic search calling everywhere. You knew I would get back to you when I could. I don't have any cell service up here and texts wont go thru due to the fact that they are running a different system up here. If it was something that serious you wouldn't of know yet, as I'd be too busy solving problems. Besides you guys are 3000 miles away. What could you possibly do from there??? :huh

Well yes yes all the healing I've done over the last 3 months has been for nothing. I landed on the same side and re-separated it. My ribs are bruised and my hip took a hit too, just an inch above the internal pad. I went back to the crash site and it looks like from the first point of debris to where she came to rest the bike traveled 250 feet. I landed about 10 feet in front of that. No idea if I flew that far or how long I stuck with the bike.

The rear rack is a bit bent up as well as a few other things. Everything can be fixed in a few hours and can be back on the road soon. The entire dash in front of the bars is gone though. The cables are still intact so she will run fine. I just wont have a headlight or speedometer and such. Ill have the parts from the other bike shipped out to Ohio and I'll fix it when I get there. The windshield shattered. There were tiny pieces all over the place. It was awesome.

We'll I'm admitting that 600 miles of gravel probably isn't good for me right now. At this point I am the furthest north east as well as the furthest from home I will be on this trip. I will be taking the southern route, but not the same route as coming up. I still have to check pricing but there is a ferry from about where I was let off in Labrador that goes down to near where the TLH would of let me out. Basically both routes will take me thru the same city. As well as getting the bike together I will be looking into that. My thought is to rest here for a few days then either ride to the ferry or have us trucked out to it. I heard the ferry is about 12 hours long so it will be a nice rest. Again I will know more when I look it up later, but either way I think this is best.
After I get off the ferry I will proceed on as previously planned. Cross Quebec on in thru Michigan then work my way to Mike's place. Fix the dash assembly there then head to Dave's to help him with his Carb.

Now again that is a plan put together without knowing concrete details. Hopefully it will work out, but things might change.

I will keep y'all posted as I can. Hopefully I'll have a ride report up soon. Thanks for the encouragement. BTW flipping the tire would of done Jack.

On a side note. I will kill the next person who mentions anything about the hospitality of people in a place I will be going. The only places that have been mentioned to me to have wonderful hospitality is also the only places I've had a big wipe out.

Well...wow! Sure happy to hear from you here! I don't know what to say...lol. It could have been much worse and I'm glad it wasn't. I don't know what but if there is anything I can do to help please let me know. (But then you already knew that) Probably just like at Mike's but when you get here you can certainly stay for as long as you like or need.

Take care of yourself and keep your spirits UP!

Glad you met some more nice folks. Take it easy for a while then

Hospitality was fine here wasn`t it......... didn`t wipe out here that i remember.............

Look bud.....your choice of course.........but i still think you should come back here..........we`ll fix it up...........you can heal up.......and then go down through Maine.....i really think you should not be riding with a damaged bike and in pain.....

So PM me..call me ..whatever.........ride to the ferry in NFLD....get back here......then after you heal abit you can decide what to do...



HEY...........I`LL EVEN GET YOU A DOZEN McCain`s Cakes


Couch is looking good about now isn`t it Dave



B

Yes your hospitality was great, and no I didn't crash. However no body sad how legendary the hospitality was in New Brunswick let alone Brian's place.. I'm still trying to figure out what I am going to do as far as getting out of here. Ill send you a pm.

B

Hi Dave:)
Hope you heel quick if you happen to pass back in town those hills will be conquered) How's your video taking skills :)
Maybe we can tear off some of those side knobs hehehe
All the best Paul B

He`s headed back here Paul...bike fixin time again



B

OK...will you keep off the gravel and just fly straight??? You're turning me grey which will only serve to increase Stephanie's business as I'll have to visit her sooner than anticipated.

We miss you, love you, and hope you take a bit more time to recuperate before hitting the skids again.

Uncle Dick was born in Highland Park, Michigan but lived in Royal Oak, Michigan. His folks went to Royal Oak High School where their mascot (I'm not making this up) was the Mighty Acorn. At football games the crowds would cheer, "Go You Nuts!" Thought you might get a kick out of that.

Anyway, PLEASE take care of yourself and BE CAREFUL.

10-4, over and out.

XOXOXO,

Aunt Kathie

P.S. Brian is starting a class this Saturday to get a certificate for becoming a Private Investigator.

Dave, Dave, Dave,

So sorry to hear of your latest get-off. "It is completely detached." This break sounds worse than the first one (more like mine, and I wasn't riding anywhere, after I rode back home - too much pain). You know you don't have to make all decisions immediately. Take your time and explore all your options - think them through, and you'll make the decision that's right for you. Also, give yourself time to heal.

I know there is nothing I can do for you (but give you more unsolicited advice ) and wish you well. So take care, bud. Let us know how it goes.

Todd

Thanks Todd.

The plan is to leave tomorrow and head back to Brian's place to fix the bike. I'm going to wait until I get there to do a full ride report. It will be easier for me that way. The shoulder is doing much better. My ribs are still bothering me a bit but nothing I can't handle.

Hello Dave:
Sorry about my smart assed front tire comment. It's a joke down here in out group.
Hope you get to feeling better.
Try to set your rear spring softer to help prevemt a reoccurance. A too stiff rear spring tends to make the old XRL front end wash out easely.
Regards
Fritz, Hou. Tx.

Bummer to hear of your latest meeting with the DownSide. Speaking from experience (oh yea, remember my broken back and collar bone incident?) just thank God you are alive and no missing limbs! If everyone pitches in, we can get you a full body suit like the bubble-boy so you just roll down the road next time the bike gives out! When you come back to work we'll never be able to keep up the adrenalin flow like this trip is giving you! There's countless people following you and wishing we could be there for you. We are praying for you.

As Chester (Golden Retriever Mascot here at work) would say "STAY DOWN", and take your time to "HEEL" before hitting the road again.

Let us know if we can send supplies, parts or fabricate something up. Cheers.

I take my eyes off this thread for a couple weeks to get some work done and Dave's rode thru my backyard, renewed his engine and busted himself up again in Newf!
Sorry to hear you're in the sling again Dave. It sounds like you are (somehow) underway back here but I've got a trailer here in Moncton if that helps at all.

d

@ Fritzconic : ha ha dude, I don't care. I don't take offence to almost anything.

@ Wes : I'd say y'all just get me a giant hampster ball, and I see the country that way.

@ fastredbike : thanks man. I will be coming thru moncton again. I'm totally capable of riding myself to moncton. Actually I'm seriously considering heading north, just have to see one thing tomorrow when I start riding. Ya ya I know yell at me now.

Dave, I was poking around in my shed and found a pair of training wheels.
Would you like me to ship them up to you?? oser

Sorry, just couldn't help my self..

Ride safe. ( safer )

Ya, actually those would be perfect. Just send it to:

David Harrison
123 UR FU LL
O F, KL R 98765


Im working on my RR now. Should be up soon.

Immediately upon leaving Brian’s I didn’t go the way I thought I would. I was thinking I would head down to the southern coast of Nova Scotia and go north along that. I ended up going strait to the east coast of New Brunswick and along the north coast of Nova Scotia. Not much to report other than it was a good day of riding that went without incident. I got a lot further than I thought I would. I keep thinking that things are farther apart then they really are. I found a nice dirt road and followed it for about a mile then took a side cut to my final sleeping spot. It was surprisingly warm that night. I didn’t even need my sleeping bag, only the liner. It did rain for about 5 minutes. Not enough to be a bother, but enough so that things went away damp in the morning. I only slept for about 4 hours that night and got up at dawn, as I usually do when camping. I remember waking and thinking the light was that of the moon, because of how white it was. Then I remembered the moon set earlier that evening, so it couldn’t be that. Then it hit me… “That’s no moon, it’s a space station. Ir I mean the sun.” I proceeded to continue on my north eastern path along the coast of Nova Scotia. When I was staying with Dan back in Vermont the told me about the Cape Breton Highway loop thingy. My goal for that day was to get my ferry ticket for New Foundland via the loop. I started taking the loop until it got to the entrance of the national park bit. I decided to check out the welcome center after eating breakfast in the parking lot. The lady there told me that I had to pay for a day pass. In my monumental brain fart of the day I misunderstood that as meaning “to get in” not “to stay the night or site see”. So I turned around, back tracked and went to Sydney along the southeast part of the loop. I made good time as I got to the ticket booth around 12:30 pm. I purchased a ticket for the ferry leaving at 2 am that morning. The lady said if I wanted I could try for the ferry leaving at 10:30 pm, but I would have to leave my bike in the line and come back at 8pm. Riiiiiiight, I’m really going to do that. :huh I didn’t want to arrive in New Foundland and have to sit around a few hours for daylight to arrive before I continued on. So I headed off to the market to stock up on food for Labrador. While there I talked to a guy who informed me that the Cape Brenton loop was indeed free. DOH!!!!!!! So back on my Steel Steed I go. I decided to do the entire loop, starting with the way I was originally going. It was really an awesome ride. The coastline was beautiful. On one of the pull outs I met a couple named Surge and Suzanne who were from Québec and riding Harleys. We chatted then they took off. I took off soon after and ended up missing my turn off. There is a ferry that crosses all of 100 feet of water that is an optional staring point for the loop I was on. It wasn’t until I got to that ferry that I realized I had missed my turn. However who was it that was in line at the ferry?… Surge and Suzanne. We got to chatting again and I was telling them that I was going to turn around. It would cost less for me to go back and take the 15 mile loop that was made up of the road only 300 feet away, then pay the $5 for the ferry ride. I can’t understand why people would take the ferry that cost $5 a pass instead of taking the 15 mile loop to go around it. Well they invited me to dinner at their campsite and said they would pay for my ferry crossing so I could follow them. I didn’t have to be back to the New Foundland ferry until 1am, and it was only 30 minutes away. So I took them up on their offer. I finally left their place at around 11:30 pm. Now I had forgotten that I was on reserve and was going to fill up on my way back, but went to dinner instead. So here I was 30 minutes away from the ferry with no open gas stations around. I tipped the bike over and got as much gas off the non petcock side of the tank as I could, hit the road and prayed. Luckily I remembered that I had to go up a big hill then back down again to get to Sydney, where the ferries leave from. So I went up the hill at a steady pace then turned the engine off for the trip down. It was quite peaceful being the only one on the road at night with no motor sound, just coasting along. I even turned my lights off for a few hundred feet…creepy. I know people say not to do that, but it wasn’t for very long. I did end up making it to the ferry about an hour before we had to board. All the motorcycles there were loaded last on the 5<SUP>th</SUP> level of parking in the ferry. That way we were the first level to get let off, only thing was we had an entire floor of semi trucks in front of us. So we had to let them off first. They had rooms available, but I opted to not get one and save the money. I slept on a couch in the main floor area. A lot of people on the ferry did it. The ride was a tad over 6 hours long and I woke after only sleeping for 4 hours. After waking I just walked around the ship waiting. Finally the island came into sight. Awhile later the speaker came on and said we would be docking in an hour, so get ready. The funny thing is that I could see the island for 30 minutes before they said that. Basically what I’m getting at is that the ferry is slow. I think the crossing was only ~190 miles, and it took 6 hours. After disembarking I headed for the nearest gas station. The rest of that day was pretty much made up of me heading north along the west coast. I thought I would need to stop somewhere to take a nap seeing as I hadn’t gotten much sleep in the last few days, but I never needed to. At about sunset as I was going along the highway I saw a lone mountain, well big hill really. It had 2 cell towers on it so I knew there was a road. I found it, and now here I am camping atop this miniature mountain.

After leaving the next morning I wanted to head to the Viking settlement at the north end of the island. As I was heading up I could tell that rain clouds were coming in. Little did I know that it wasn’t rain just how the sky normally is. I saw the ferry coming in from Labrador so I decided to take it instead. After getting to Labrador at an early time I thought I would try to get to Port Hope Simpson. I took off north and some fog started to roll in as I approached the dirt road. Eventually I worked my way up to 60mph and was having a pretty good time rollin along the gravel. As I approached the turn just south of Mary’s Harbor that would ultimately end my Northeast travel I thought nothing of it as I had done a few turns like that before on the road with no fall. However gravel is always changing and I hit a patch of loose gravel, and down I went. The bike traveled (what I later found out to be) about 200 - 250 feet. I landed about 15 feet ahead of the bike. Of course I immediately got up and turned off the gas. Then I started to clean up the mess. Stupidly I never thought to get a picture of the wreck. One of my panniers came off and the contents flew out all over the road. Oddly the box landed right side up. A car showed up about 5 minutes later and started to help me. Eventually others showed up and helped too. My bag that I keep on top of my yellow bag (my second tank bag) along with one of my clothes bag ended up 10 feet out in the bushes off the side of the road. Finally a fellow named Keith showed up with his truck and a few of the people loaded my bike in the truck. We eventually took it to a building he owns and started to work on it. Keith took me to his Mother’s place to stay the night as he had to go up north. His mother was very nice, in fact everyone in Labrador is very nice. After the adrenaline wore off I was very tired so I hit the sack. The next day I decided to go to the clinic that I visited the night before to get a referral to get some x-rays. I could tell something wasn't right with my shoulder. The facility for the x-rays were almost all the way back at the ferry. It was a good 3-4 hour drive. Keith had some work to do near the area so he took me to the hospital. The result from the x-rays said that I re-separated my collar bone. So basically all the healing I did in the last 3 months was for nothing. Oddly enough I didn’t hurt as much as I did the last time this happened. My ribs hurt more than my shoulder and my hip. As time has passed my ribs have proven to be the main pain that I have. My shoulder sure doesn’t look like it used too. I spent the next few days at Keith’s place working on my bike and getting everything ready for when I would take off. Thanks Keith and Chery for everything. I hope to see you again when I eventually come back to do the Trans Lab Highway.

I finally took today around 9am trying to make the 1pm ferry. I took it pretty easy on the way out, this time I didn’t get out of 3<SUP>rd</SUP> gear. All the time I was thinking of whether or not to turn around and go north. I felt fine while riding. I decided that since I wasn’t too sure of the how sturdy the panniers were, or if they were going to stand up to 600 miles of dirt road, that I would play it safe and head south. While riding on the road I decided to pull over and check my panniers. I found that one of them had some play where it connected to the rack. I broke out my duct tape and began to use the tape to take up the play around the rack. I know that if vibration is given any room she will tear stuff to shreds. I will now carry a full roll of duct tape with me as this job required more tape than I usually carry with me. Had I not had a full roll I probably would of been screwed. While I was doing this a rider on an GS 1150 came by and stopped. We chatted for a bit then he took off. I eventually got under way and got to the end of the road. When I stopped at the gas station I found out that I mixed up the days for the ferry. I thought it left at 1pm, turns out it left at 3pm. Knowing this I then took my time getting to the ferry. Once I got there I met up with the guy on the GS 1150. O ya, by the way this guy has a name, 2kool2be4gotten. He is also a fellow inmate. Very good chap. Nice to meet you dude. Have a safe journey. For now I have decided to grab a hotel room here in New Foundland. I figure a bed is better on my injuries than the ground at this time. Hopefully I will make the Ferry tomorrow and be back in Nova Scotia on my way to New Brunswick. I’m having some spare parts from the other bike shipped out, and Brian and I will put this bike back together.

O, by the way I put my photos up in the order that they appear in the story…

















Surge and Suzanne.


This reprsents the 20,000 mile mark for this trip.



Waiting for the ferry.












This poor bird ran into my bike as I was traveling at about 60mph. He didn’t make it out alive.













And now the bike.


No, we didn’t take off the headlight shroud to get to the parts. It was torn off in the crash.






No, that wasn't my speed.


At least some of my cookies survived.


I did see my first iceberg on my way to the hospital to get the x-rays.


Coming back from Mary’s Harbor. It was beautiful the day I left. :huh





I will have a map soon.

Um, 31 Miles per hour is not a "slow" ferry