TAT my first ride report.

[See-Three]

Hey everyone,

I want to thank you all for all the support, it really did give me that extra push to just keep plugging away at the TAT!

It is official, I have completed the Trans American Trail

I'm currently in Emigrant Montana visiting my sister, It's been nice having a couple days to relax. Today we went to Yellowstone early this morning in search of wolves and bears. We say a pack of 5 wolves that we got to watch for a good 20 minutes and 3 black bears. this afternoon we went tubing down the yellow stone river. Good times.

I'm also getting some much needed repairs done on the bike, things have yet to change in that aspect. The oil leak was caused by a shot counter shaft seal. My bike is covered in oil...luggge, rear tire, brake and everything else on the back half of the bike. I'm also replacing the front brake pads, front tire and the CLUTCH the clutch started to slip in Colorado, I thought it was just bogging down from the altitude, but it has since become way worse, any sort of up hill and I'm lucky to do 45mph.

Sorry about the lack of photos. I will post them along with rest of my adventure on the TAT when i get home.


I'm carrying the spare, I didn't fall off


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[Dangeross]

C3, Good to hear you survived! Can't wait to hear "the rest of the story"

[Honkey Cat]

Wow, hope I don't have your luck in 3 weeks. Glad all is good. I love Montana spend 3 weeks in trout creek last year.

[Fast Canoe]

Awesome dude! Glad to hear you finished it out okay and made it somewhere to fix your bike a lil. Stay safe and see ya soon!

[BBDig]

You are the ultimate example of "my cup is half full".
Staying positive with all the problems, and completing the TAT is very impressive.

[98Virago]

CONGRATULATION on your successful TAT. Take your time and enjoy at Yellowstone National Park...

[1reddawg]

Originally Posted by 98Virago

CONGRATULATION on your successful TAT. Take your time and enjoy at Yellowstone National Park...

[Aces 6]

Originally Posted by 1reddawg

Rock on C3! Awesome. Memories for a life time.

[AirborneAndy]

Way to go C3... Lookin forward to reading the rest of your adventure.

[FlameDance]

The more of these TAT ride reports I see, the more I think I should travel the US after all.

[See-Three]

I sure do miss my days on the Trans American Trail. I had a couple setbacks along the way, but looking back on things I wouldn't change a thing!

I've got some pictures for you guys, hopefully they will help with the winter blues.









Some of the trails on the TAT are rather faint





the same rain that caused the sink hole that i, "found"... caused lots of washed out roads in Utah which slowed thing down for me a lot and also made for an extremely rough ride.




Crested the hill a little on the fast side...
Close call!




I was going up hill...



Something doesn't look right. (Broke the right seat mount off of the frame)









After setting up camp i got to work on the bike...









Once your lost with just roll charts it can be a PITA to get back on the trail.








Endless trails like this in Nevada literally beat the crap out of me and my bike. I remember trying to push to the next fueling station as I was getting rather desperate for food, but with the rough terrain and slow pace i was forced to spend another night in the bush.




The next morning i made it to the first gas station in Oregon. ( Which by the way is now out of business!) it had been 160 miles of TAT trail since the last fuel stop, but i had gotten turned around a couple of times and i was running very low on gas. I ended up slabbing it northward to the nearest gas station and picking up the trail from there.





It was very refreshing to be around trees again! Not to mention fast roads


Finally i ran into another TAT rider, Ian same age as me started in Oklahoma and has been slabbing it about half of the time because of time restraints. We chatted at this gate crossing for a bit then parted ways, but not for long.



We ended up running into each other again that evening at a motel. we spent the evening sharing stories of our adventure over a few beers.

The next morning after a photo we parted our ways again. Ian was going to slab it for 100 miles and then pick up the trail to make it to the coast. My plan was to stick with the trail, but soon after we went our own ways i discovered that my speedo stopped working! ( the speedo gear at the hub stripped out)

Honestly what kind of timing...the last day of the TAT, how am i gonna follow the roll charts without an odometer? I called Ian and left him a message asking if he'd mind me tagging along. I ended up slabbing it in the direction i thought Ian would be taking. About and hour later i saw him stopped on the side of the road waiting for me

We ended up having one hell of an adventure that day, the Oregon section of trail is very hard to follow...Not many pictures of the day, just some video that i still need to edit...




















After completing the TAT we split a motel room as we were both socking wet and cold!


The fellow adventure riders next door were kind enough to take a photo for us.


On my way home i stopped at my sisters for a visit and to make some much needed repairs on the bike.




Ummm.. no bolts left to hold the rack on ( Upon ariving home i found the subframe of the bike to be broken in 3 different places)

Oil EVERYWHERE!! Countershaft seal failure.




Many of you asked how I got un-stuck


I tried prying the bike out but i was just bending S%$&...


Desperation! I literally had my face in the water digging with my hands to get the the front wheel loosened up. In the end I ended up crouching down and lifted with every bit of energy i had left, ignoring my screaming back. Finally the bike fell over and i was able to drag the bike out of the water.

Not that i was un stuck once i had the bike out of the hole...

Did I ever mention that I'm a daily morning coffee drinker and that i missed my cup of Joe that morning...The headache was a great way to top everything off

[SOLOKLR]

That was amazing...I don't think I would have had the nutz to keep going. As many have already stated CONGRATULATIONS! very well done bud.

[GSF1200S]

Wow, first I read of this one. Im sure some KTMs would have given less issues

As said earlier, youve got some big balls man. Good on you for having such an awesome trip while still young!

Greatly enjoyed this one

[bcs]

C3
Bravo!
Thanks for finishing out the story.
Your stuck in the mud picks are classic. I did a similar move years ago and it took a jeep with a tow strap to extract my 250 from the muck. Seems like there is nothing that can stop you -- you are an awesome adventurer.

[redog1]

MENTAL FORTITUDE in this trip. met and conquered all of the challenges. AWESOME!