VENTURING SOUTH on DRZ's

[Romanousky]

Originally Posted by ADVwnbe

I'm in!

What's in the tubes?

One side has tent poles. They are cumbersome to pack because they are rigid....everything else (sleeping bag, pad, etc...) can just be stuffed. Not sure if it is worth the extra weight but very handy and accessible.

The other tube has tire irons, parachute cord, compass, electrical connectors/wire/tape, latex gloves, and a few other odds and ends. Alex is packing a Wolfman rollie with most of the tools.

[Throttlemeister]

Originally Posted by Romanousky

The only reason I considered a larger bike was for pounding the long paved sections. All the more reason for staying off the pavement imho I just threw a kickstarter on my bike 2 days ago....haven't used it yet and hopefully I don't have to. I like it if for nothing more piece of mind that I could start my bike alone if the battery was flat, good insurance and nice addition for little weight

I love the tank. I had a Clark 3.9 and sold it for the 17L. It is much narrower and not so steep as the Clarke. Happy I did it. I almost wish I would have gone with the 28L but was afraid it would be much wider. Oh well....we both have similar ranges now. I thought that was the 28L It sure is nice to be able to look down at an instance and see if you are getting really low of fuel

Can't wait to get on the road tomorrow

Looks like you two are set to have a blast with those bikes, I think it would be very tempting to sail over to Topo. instead of Matz.(cheaper and faster ferry ride too) and take a look at Copper Canyon if you haven't seen it already. Hope you have plenty of time to enjoy Latin America.

[PDX Alamo]

Glad to see we are well represented here on ADVrider , I'm in cant wait to see how it goes

[Romanousky]

Alex and I loaded up and left Albany on Monday morning. Uneventful all the way to Ashland.



We put our spare tubes in plastic bags, added baby powder, and taped them up. I used duct tape...Alex only had brown packaging tape...hopefully no one sticks a knife in it.


Did some last minute prep work. It was freezing outside so.....



The adventure began on Wednesday morning. We secured a ride with Casey and Bill through a rideshare ad on craigslist. We met at Albertson’s in Ashland:


We quickly learned that Bill was one hell of an interesting gentlemen with enough BS to entertain your crazy uncle. He also learned that he can’t drive or see for shit. As we go through the corners of the Siskyou pass he jerks the wheel hard, then straightens it up until almost going into the next lane, then jerks hard again until you almost hit the guardrail, and then repeat…. This is how Bill corners. This is what happens to your bikes when Bill corners:



It wasn’t until we stopped at Taco Bell for lunch and Bill removed his glasses that we found the culprit. One of his eyes was literally looking at the upper outside corner of his eyebrow while the other is looking at the corner of his mouth.
The PROBLEM: My new tires were sitting on the left side of my bike. My boots were on top of the tires, my jacket and pants were on top of the boots. I lost about ½ gallon of gas that was supported by the cellophane wrapped tires. Boots were submerged and new KLIM gear soaked! SHIT!!
I geared up in gas soaked clothing and made it to our buddies place in San Fran. Ran the KLIM gear through the washer twice and it still smells terribly. All you can do is laugh about it.

[Krasniewski]

Originally Posted by Romanousky

All you can do is laugh about it.

Bummer dude. Shake it off, have fun - will be looking forward to the rest.

And stay away from CL.

[woodly1069]

Sweet! Perfect start to an ADVENTURE!

[vaara]

Originally Posted by Krasniewski

Bummer dude. Shake it off, have fun - will be looking forward to the rest.

And stay away from CL.

And open flames.

[Romanousky]

After staying in San Fran we hit the road and shot over to HWY 1 as fast as possible and cruised the coastline. We spent the night in an overpriced campground at Big Sur. On the way I had to remove my gas soaked boot because me skin was getting irritated and ran with a Nike the rest of the day. At camp I filled the boot with soap, tied on some parachute cord, and chucked it in the river.

[PDX Alamo]

This might help, it says Ethanol in gas is the smell and to run the clothes through the dryer a few times.

http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/f...-from-clothing

[Romanousky]

Originally Posted by PDX Alamo

This might help, it says Ethanol in gas is the smell and to run the clothes through the dryer a few times.

http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/f...-from-clothing

Thank you kind sir. I've ran it through once and KLIM says "Low" heat so I don't want to hurt it. I even called KLIM and asked about my situation...they were of very little help. Just said not to use abrasive pumice/silicone materials or it will clog the gortex. I hear the tropics solve most problems so I'll just let it ride.

[GRinCR]

Another virtual ride for me!

[Romanousky]

I found out that everyone who told me that MSR and PRIMUS have interchangeable thread patterns are lying!! My XGK fuel pump leaked like a siv once I pumped it up. It screwed on to the Primus bottle fine but doesn’t work under pressure. So Alex made a sweet stove out of 3 beer cans.





The next morning we hit the road. Absolutely amazing riding up and down the hills of the coastline. We stopped at a beach and some surfers told us we had to go spend the night in Jalama beach. The road to get there was 14 miles of perfect biking and got a decent spot on the beach. Some Coors and a bottle of Jameson later and we slept well.






Got up and hammered the road through Santa Barbara, Malibu, and then dove into the LA interstates.
Somewhere along the way I tried to hop a curb...bike dosen't handle quite the same as it used to:



Tonight (Saturday) we stayed with a friend of mine in LA. My bike is slightly leaking coolant at the water pump and a little oil from the clutch cover. We’ll do a little bike maintenance tomorrow and then cruise to San Diego where we will stay with my Aunt. Then hit the border early Monday morning. YES!!

[bsheet2]

I'm in. You guys rock! Could be a good adventure.

[Romanousky]

As you can see I made an attempt to put a hotlink in my signature to my spot tracker location.....it is not working with the html script. anyone know how to do this?

[GuateRider]

Looks like you're up for a great adventure

Have fun !!!