Missouri Adventure Riders Thread

A guy as young as John should be OK with plywood on his feet and maybe one on the front tire two.

I have it all ready to go.

Yes. I heard Jon bought a Triumph. Is that it? Older model than I thought.

Just got back from Texas yesterday after a two-week trip with BigDog. He picked me up at my place and we trailered his 650 Husky and my 650 Wee (big mistake taking that bike) to the hill country and rode 2,000 miles, camping along the way in Big Bend National Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park, Davis Mountains State Park and along the Colorado River at Barefoot camp ground. A fabulous trip, and I know BigDog will have one of his superb ride reports, so this is just a short teaser.

I'm a Texan by birth and it was my honor to introduce our trip leader to Luckenbach, where we spent some time enjoying root beers and listening to three fine guitarists/singers on a warm February Sunday afternoon.
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But it was COLD at night and on several of our ride days! We were prepared though, with mummy sleeping bags and heated riding gear. Temps ranged from 80s to 30s during the days and 50s to a low of 24 at night. Here we are in front of our campsite at Big Bend National Park.
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Here's BigDog making and enjoying morning coffee in his tent in Big Bend National Park where we camped along the Old Ore Road (you need a back-country permit and you'll want to deflate your tires a bit-- the "road" is rough with deep sand in places). [/URL][/IMG]

Here's the seat of my Wee that morning: [/URL][/IMG]

Here's why it was the wrong bike to bring. (Advice: never try to follow BigDog on an extended off-road adventure on a Wee loaded with camping gear and shod with street-biased tires!) This shot was taken at Big Bend National Park in an ancient sea bed of sand, silt and river gravel [/URL][/IMG]

We saw fabulous country, historic landmarks and amazing sunrises and sunsets. We mingled with dozens of friendly Texans and some not so friendly deer and javelina. We rode hundreds of miles on desolate gravel ranch roads in the warm Texas sun, as well as some long, scenic highways in near-freezing temps. This was a typical sunrise. Sunsets were even more spectacular.
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I'll will be posting a video of the entire trip soon, and waiting for BigDog's complete ride report! Hope he doesn't take too long... he took a zillion pix. Catch ya later, "pardners."

Looks like BD used his chair as a urinal during the night....

I guess I just missed you guys - I was at Big Bend last week, just got home on Saturday. Old Ore Road was fun as was Black Gap Road. That's a good place to visit this time of year.

I was gona post something to that effect.

I see you have a well-stocked stable... which machine were you on? Sorry we missed you.

I had a Wee a few bikes ago and managed to put a nasty dent in the oil filter on Lost Creek Road. The Wee is a great riding bike but just too top heavy for an old man. I really like the fuel tank under the seat on the F650 but miss the smooth engine of the Wee.

I know what you mean about top-heavy… That big tank sure is nice for road trips, but it puts a lot of weight up high and forward when it's full... Just what you don't want when riding loose sand and silt.


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I love riding down there. Too much fun. Did you guys ride up Godzilla in the State Park? That would have been an accomplishment on the Wee. Hope you hit the Starlight restaurant in Terlingua, and the "cave" I think it's called. Some very cool places. I think the sticker they sell at the state park office says something like, "Big Bend, the other side of nowhere"
February is the time to go. But I've been snowed on, and cooked (90+) then.. Looking forward to your video. Some great memories from down there..

I was on the Terra, it's first real ride off pavement. I was impressed with how well it did. I also had some friends with me - 2 KLRs, a DRZ, an XR and a Wee. The Wee didn't do the harder sections including Old Ore Road.With the exception of 1 cool drizzly morning our weather was outstanding. We did the river road on the cool day.

Back in 96-97? I was out that way from southeast MO in my truck staying in motels. One of my caving buds said "you have to visit Caverns of Sonora". This was the week leading up to Thanksgiving. My final destination was Carlsbad Caverns to work with a caver group there over the holiday weekend. Anyway, I took both tours and it had started snowing between tours. Came out of the second tour and there was probably 4" of wet snow on the ground. The young guide, who was local, had only seen snow one other time.
It was a slippery mess until I got to around Ft Stockton. I grew up in west central IL and was used to driving in snow....the locals weren't.
The lodge in Big Bend NP had no TV. I was reading travel brochures for entertainment.

Spiderman, I like the Terra! I was very impressed with BigDog's... I've ridden with him on it a couple of other times . He has a huge tank on it now which makes the Wee's range look puny by comparison.

MizzouRider, Although we rode challenging roads in the national park, we stayed on the main road at Big Bend State Park, except for a 1/2 mile jaunt to our campground and our run up to Marfa when we took the dirt route. The park rangers told us "it was easy", but they were not motorcyclists-- there were numerous sand/silt areas and miles and miles of stutter bumps-- not a good place to take a Wee and I was not a happy boy that day.

We didn't stop at Terlingua-- I had been there twice before, and I think BigDog had too-- and the day was getting short. I was pooped from riding the River Road and crashing two or three times in the sand sections, and we didn't want to ride the road to Presidio in the dark-- that's got to be one of the great motorcycle roads in the country and it was my first time on it. Now that's where the Wee shined!

Teep, it sounds like late March would have been warmer for us, but 100+ degrees doesn't sound like much fun either and you got into bad weather on your way home, too? I guess with these crazy weather patterns it's really a crap shoot... oh well, it's all part of the adventure!

I went last year. Never saw another bike off of the pavement the whole week I was there. The border patrol came by while I was fixing this flat on the River Road about 50 miles West of Rio Grand Village. I had a great time and the only incident all week was this flat. I spent the next week in the Hill Country where I tried to drown the KLR crossing the James River. That is the slickest crossing EVER. I didn't find Willie in Luchenbach either Ken

When were you there? I'm surprised you didn't see other dual sports. I saw a lot of bikes with Illinois plates when we were there.