Rockiescape '14 - DC to BC - a gnarventure sagaquest

It began over two years ago, after triumphantly overcoming an abysmally poor bonfire in Shenandoah National Park with the use of a gasoline soaked towel t-shirt, and the assistance of a nearby Webelo, who was more patient, more attentive, and by all accounts, much more sober than us. We learned a lesson that day, after a long day of riding in the rain... never start your second six pack before you start your fire. More importantly, we established what would become our new tradition for us, not creeping out Northern Virginia families by talking to their kids for too long, but combining the motorcycling, the outdoors, camping, and ample alcohol into our favorite summer escape.

From the glow of that fire came an idea.... to leave behind the too-short weekends weekends and the incessant routine of the cubicle life, for a great adventure, the West was out there, and we were going to see it.

Both relatively new at our jobs, and with next-to-nothing to our names, we decided that the Summer of 2014 would be the day. By the next weekend we were picking dream bikes for the trip (I hopefully have it right on bike #3) picking out destinations, and starting what 2 out of 2 ex girlfriend would consider a somehow threatening vacation fund.

The Plan:
On August 6th, 2014, we depart for what we hope will be the trip of a lifetime. If all goes according to our ill-thought out plan, We'll head West i from DC to Santa Fe, NM, head to Colorado to ride some of the best roads in America, travel north through the National Parks of Wyoming and Montana, then to Canada. We'll ride the Icelands Parkway, spend a few days at Horizons Unlimited Canada West, then hit Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Crater Lake, the Bonneville Salt Flats, and head back home with just enough time for a weekend in Chicago.

Planned Mileage: 8600
Total Days: 32
Days in hotels: 0
Condescending emails: 0

The Cast:

Taylor (Larimore)


Mike

Mike


The bikes:

Mike's 08 R12 GS w/60k




Taylor's 07 GS w/88k



The important preparations:


This important part is done... more on this, and many posts to follow. Follow the trip here or on Instagram @Rockiescape14

Thanks for reading!

I drove the Banff/Jasper parkway today in my Jeep. (Camping for a week in Jasper with my dog). Anyway, saw about a dozen or more ADV bikes on the parkway. Made me want to go home and get mine. But that dog don't ride.

Enjoy the ride.

I will be with you in spirit...or rather I would drink your spirits if I were with you...something like that.

who is this "Kurt I Sminder" and why does he have so few posts?

sounds great! Cant wait to follow along

envy

--John

Can't wait to hear all about it! I'm a bit jealous, as previously mentioned, but will live through you both for the moment (my time has come, gone, and will come again).

I hope both my children get to do this someday, I know they would both love to right now, but not sure they have laid aside the requisite funding to support such a trek! I will have to share this blog so that they can see how it is done!!

Really, really, really looking forward to hearing how it goes, so go cautiously on the beer...whiskey...scotch...etc, so we at least get "part" of the story!!!

Have fun boys!!!

I love the starting photos ;-)

I promise to remember at least 90% of the daylight hours... I can't afford to keep replacing phones at this rate.

I'm Mike's roommate who will be holding down the fort over here while he's out. Looking forward to a vicarious trip around North America.

--Adam

What is involved in "holding down the fort"?

Checking the mail and beaming scans of anything necessary to Mike, watering the plants (Judith the jade and Polly the poppy, as well as all of my utility plants), y'know, the usual.

Quit with your thread jacking. I seriously don't know this guy.

Well this is our first post from the road and it is already day two. We hit the road yesterday (Wednesday? – every day is Saturday for us for the next month) around 4pm, heading from Alexandria, VA down to Blacksburg, VA, about 270 miles to spend the night at my girlfriend’s (Tara) place. But really, it was the most convenient place to stop to break up the trip and the fish tacos at Cabo in Blacksburg are amazing. And no, that wasn’t a euphemism. The soy ginger shrimp tacos really are the best thing ever. Anyway – we both had to work Wednesday morning to try to finish up any last minute projects and … who am I kidding? We really just spent the morning trying to come up with clever out of office messages to tell everyone to basically fuck off because we aren’t answering emails until September.

So like any standard motorcycle trip our departure time (3:30pm) came and went and we were still tinkering around with the plethora of waterproof bags, charging cables, and gear to get everything situated just right. Oh yeah! Our friends Kurtis and Katie gave us a couple Star Wars action figures (Luke and Obi) to put on the bikes for good luck. Basically, Mike took Ewan leaving me with Mark Hamill. That son-of-a-bitch. We zip tied the mofos onto the windshields and finally started the bikes up around 4. We rolled out of the garage to get a few quick photos before setting out. Mike’s roommate, Adam, played photographer and then we were on the road just in time to miss rush hour traffic on I-66 heading out of DC. Thank god.





I’ve made the trip down to Blacksburg on 66 and 81 about a dozen times now to see Tara on various weekends so it was pretty much autopilot the whole way. I don’t think it really sank in that this was actually THE TRIP that we had been planning and talking about for the past two years. Shit, the f*ing trip is finally here!

We had a great ride to Blacksburg and only hit a little rain before the sky cleared up and the temperature cooled down. Perfect weather for the end of the ride and our spirits were high. We rode straight to Cabo to meet Tara and a couple of her friends for guac, a few celebratory beers, and the most amazing fish tacos you’ve ever had (again, not a euphemism, really…Mike. Grow up, dude). On the way home from dinner we apparently had our first close call of the trip as a buck ran out in the street and almost hit me. I never even saw the thing but apparently Mike saw the maniac SOB run out, almost gore the shit out of me and then run along side Mike as he figured out what was going on. Anyways, we headed back to Tara’s to have another beer before getting some sleep. 5am came quickly…

It was nice to meet you two.

On Wednesday night, after the short ride to Blacksburg, and killer fish tacos, I optimistically switched out my shaded visor for the clear one, hoping for a pre-dawn departure. 5 AM came early, and after hitting snooze a few too many times, a good cup of coffee and saying goodbye we were on the road just as the sun rose around 6:30. We broke the day up not by hours (too conventional) or miles (too daunting) but by tanks of gas. We have a bit of a difference of opinion on what a comfortable fuel range is, due to the classic fuel strip failure in Tayor’s GS, the his low fuel light goes on after about 100 miles, I’ve learned that I can safely go about 200 miles, but for our sanity, and for the sake of our bodies, we stop at the first gas station we see after 175.
I-40 was long, Tennessee lost its allure after about 100 miles. The trip West to Arkansas was hot, humid, and boring, with the boredom punctuated by terrifying thunderstorms, and horrible drivers. The bikes were running smoothly, the second hand tires I put on to get to New Mexico were holding up great (Thanks to Wes and JVB) and my doubts about my bike dissipated.
Our goal for the day was an ambitious 770 miles. As the day drug on, we kept our commitment to maintaining some semblance of health with a 1:1 ratio of salads to Dairy Queen Blizzard, and powering through our first day of what Taylor has termed “The push-up challenge” which means pushups at every gas station. The benefit is two-fold, we now have a disincentive to stop before needed on long days, and our girlfriends might still be attracted to us when we come back.


As we crossed from Tennessee to Arkansas the roads took a turn for the worse, construction was everywhere; the potholes were frequent and too deep for the Ohlins to suck up. Fortunately, WAZE redirected us to a secondary road where we flew past a 10+ mile, 5MPH backup. Recalling the long ride now, nothing stands out, boredom interspersed with conversation, laced with stupidity.


Note to self, find picture of Taylor eating Mark

We rolled into Conway at about 8:45 PM, after picking up an hour of time change, we’d been on the road for over 15 hours.



We used Tentspace to find accommodation, where we stayed with Tinks, Ryan, Scott, and Autumn. There aren’t words to express what amazing hosts they were. Great conversation, chili dogs, chocolate chip cookies, and the best possible coffee in the morning made for a fantastic stay. If you’re ever stupid enough to try to cross the country in two days, I highly recommend Conway.

subscribed, only because of the promised gnarventure sagaquest

Fantastic stuff!! Stay safe and shoot me a PM when you are in the Vancouver area if you want to get a drink or want any info.

Cheers,
Dan

Excellent. We love info, and Drinks! We will be in touch.