Whelp... figured this would be a decent way to introduce myself. Been riding airheads since I was a kid with my dad. Did lots of 2-up trips on his '71 R60/5, then even more on his '95 R100R Classic. When i turned 16, i got to ride the /5 behind him, and we put even more miles on. here's a terrible (though the only one i have) pic of the /5. The bags are "enduro" bags that were molded specifically for the /5 (originally bought by a friend for his /2, but alas, they didn't fit). After school, i moved back to the east coast (went to school in Colorado), and decided I needed a bike of my own. So i bought an airhead, of sorts: 2002 Ducati Monster 620 dark. "The Ugly Duc" Its fun, but not exactly a high mileage machine... i've done 400+ mile days, and you know it the next day. So this summer, i decided to add to my fleet, and found a KTM 250 XC-F. And promptly caught the dirt itch. Raced a few WNYOA hare scrambles (got properly wrecked in the first one). After a few more long weekends on on the Duc, a new bike was decidedly in my future. enough with the background, now on topic: The R100GS PD. Found this on Craigslist 83k, well maintained, circlipped. Called the current owner, turns out he's the father of a guy that used to work with me. Small world right... So the bike's in Denver, CO, and i'm outside of Watkins Glen, NY. The only thing that seems reasonable here is fly out, and ride it home. Of course, if you've ever driven through the plains states, you know how horribly flat and straight everything is (sorry plains people, it really is boring). To make the trip a bit more interesting, it only seemed right to make New Orleans be a destination on the way home, thus making an even better excuse to check off some states i've not been to yet. Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee will make 47 states for me (with solid plans to make AK number 50 next summer, another reason for the GS) I fly to Denver tomorrow! Of course with this threatening, route changes may need to be made, but only time and weather will tell for those. I'll be updating when i can, otherwise, i'll be back on Tuesday after Labor day!
Looking forward to this!!! You've got a lot of airhead friends in and around Atlanta if you need a hand (beer or place to stay)....ride safe!
Safely in Denver. On the bus to Golden to meet some college friends and have a fresh cold one at Coor's Lab! Other than the standard "the guy in the sear next to me is taking most of my seat as well," flights went just dandy!
Hotelling it tonight in Athens, Alabama. 1540 miles in the last 3 days. Headed for Deal's Gap tomorrow! Still on my phone, so no photos yet, but the load is certainly ADV worthy; knobbies included!
Almost home! At the 'rent's lake house for the night. I'll see if i can get some pictures up. I didn't take too many, but got a decent amount of video. Rode through a LOT of rain today coming north from Seneca Rocks, WV. WV 72 south of US 219 is a terrible roadway in torrential downpours... though it could be worth a second look in sunny weather (even if the sun never shines on the road. its that buried in the woods). Total right now is 2700+. Don't remember the exact number. Started to lose oil from the head gasket on the right cylinder in Tennessee, but kept an eye on it, and added oil when i needed to (only an ounce or so a day). Not super stoked on that, but it's been running just fine, humming along! Deal's Gap was amazing! Got GoPro of it, which i'll have to upload at some point. You can see that GS suspension getting its work out. There are pics on some of the "dragon photo" websites, late afternoon on the 31st. more to come!
Yes it is! Couldn't find you on Killboy, must've been too fast for them! I can't post the pic without buying it.
I was stuck behind a suburban that was all over the road, and wouldn't pull over when i went by the killboy tent/sign. Lame
Alright, time to type something up. Day 1, Monday, August 28th Golden, CO to Great Salt Plains Lake State Park, Alfalfa, OK 570 miles Met up with Rick at his warehouse in Denver to pick up the bike and do the paperwork business, after stopping by the Redverz shipping/fulfillment wearhouse to pick up a dry bag my dad had ordered. Turns out Rick is the father of a guy that I worked with before he moved on company wise. Small world, considering i just found the bike on Craigslist Denver, and gave him a ring! Also turns out Rick has a spectacular collection of vintage motocross and trials bikes... that i did not get a picture of. He also has another GSPD (94 i think?). So upon completion of paper and what not, we went for a little spin, up to the Mt. Evans road. Man, there are a lot of turns on that road! Made for a great shakedown ride. Back to my friends house, helped changed the oil on another friends R32, and pulled the plywood off the back rack. I love how this bike looks 'naked.' Next morning, got myself packed up and hit the road East. Tires came with the bike, along with the front air dam. I was showing my friend where the air dam goes, and forgot about it when i was loading up the bike. But luckily, i stopped for gas on my way out of Golden, and found the air dam bumping into the headers and had melted/burned a bit. That smelled. Bad. Also, upon burning, it seems that the plastic turns into some sort of gooey, liquiedy, petroleum like product. that makes a mess Got that tucked under the tires for the rest of the trip, and worked quite well there! And off i head, down 85, and out East on CO 86 to Limon, then southeast on US287 and onto Lamar. From Lamar, out US50/400 into Kansas. Where i found some construction. Sat there for long enough to get off the bike, drink some water, walk around, and consider taking the grassland route around the the construction (since i'd already tried the gravel roads heading south... that promptly ended at a closed, and very locked gate. Bummer). Then rode behind the pilot car for a few miles, past the blast furnace of a road paving machine they were running. A few miles outside of Pratt, KS, i cut south on a whim towards "Croft, KS." Good luck with google maps... you have to been zoomed southwest of Pratt, KS before GMaps knows where it is. Had a bit of an "Oh !@#$" moment, when the nice, hardpacked dirt turned into 6" deep sand with little or no visual change... a few big wobbles/tankslappers, and i came out of it Ok, though a bit shaken. COntinued southeast through Sun City, KS, and eventually to Great Salt Plains Lake, OK, where i spent the night. Got a bit lost in OK, but found the campground eventually, and even chased an armadillo around a field on the bike for a few minutes! No pics here. i should have though, it was pretty rad looking, and smelled very oceanic. A bit strange to wake up to that (and a school bus?) in western Oklahoma.
Day 2: Great Salt Plains Lake to Ozark National Forest, AR Miles 570-1040 (470 miles) Woke up to a school bus, rolling through the campground, picking up oilfield children... a bit different... Beat feet across OK... didn't miss a whole lot here. Took almost all back roads, certainly no Interstate. That being said... a lot of back roads are in OK are 4 lane anyway. Oh well. I cut south around Tulsa, since I've been there for long enough that I know i didn't want to ride through it. I did ride through some "classic" oilfield towns, including past a "dealer" that I found out later buys old equipment from our company and sells parts back to us at exorbitant prices... shady business at its best! He had a whole fleet of our old equipment there, including tractors/chassis that they don't even make anymore, like cabover dual steers! Anyway, nothing was missed until far eastern OK. OK route 80, to be exact. It follows (roughly) the south east edge of Fort Gibson Lake. Spectacular road... (sorry, no pictures, i think i have video somewhere) Then, into Arkansas: I came into AR and headed directly for the Ozarks. This is why I came here. And my goodness, what a reason it was! AR 16 across the north end of the Nat'l Forest is beautiful! Picturesque woods, gorgeous pavement, and most of all: NO TRAFFIC. Honestly. 100+ miles of spectacular roads, and I saw maybe 20 other vehicles the whole time! Somewhere in there i made my first 1000 miles of the trip I cut South on AR 7, which is a "scenic Arkansas Byway," or something like that. I stopped at a "natural bridge" site. the last natural bridge i've seen was in Utah, so it was neat to take a short hike and see another! I camped at a nice little National Forest campground, i guess with some ATV trails around (Which i wanted to take a short spin on, but it was dark...). While OK had basically no cell signal across the state, i had 3g service sitting in my tent in Ozark National Forest. A check in with some friends and family brought me up to speed with what Tropical Storm Isaac had in store for me the next day: (this was an early prediction of Isaac's path, so not quite what it did) Basically, New Orleans was getting pounded, and i needed to make a more northerly plan to blast East the next morning
Day 3: Ozark National Forest to Athens, AL. Miles 1040-1540 (500 Miles) Isaac, Round 1 Got up early, knowing that i needed to beat feet across AR or ride through a Tropical Storm. Figured the first was a better option. a few miles from the campsite, the storm began to show its colors for the first time Beautiful, though incredibly daunting. A few back roads to avoid Little Rock, but, unfortunately, a fair bit of highway in the morning. There are only a few places in AR to cross the Mississippi River, and since i really wanted to stay as south as i could (but still avoid Isaac), i headed for Helena-West Helena area to cross on US49. Found out later that i was lucky to make it through when i did, because they has some significant flash flooding there. Riding the last 30 or so miles to the river was absolutely BRUTAL. The crosswind made it all i could do to keep the bike upright, and tree lines, where the wind wasn't as bad, had me swerving as much as 3/4 of a lane before i could get the bike straight. Luckily (?) there wasn't much rain until i cross the river. Into MS, where my phone/gps tracker worked the best of the whole trip. Basically, i took MS 4 all the way across the state. Nice piece of road! Really, one of the best "put some miles on, and enjoy the whole thing" roads i was on the whole trip! Into small towns, out of small towns, through fields, into pine forests. I love this picture. When i came into the area, i knew that was the photo i needed, so i waited for some cars to pass, and pushed the bike in the middle of the road and snapped a few. I got on the Natchez Trace around Bay Springs Lake. Interesting, though i don't think the whole 444 miles of the Trace is something i really need to do. I crossed into AL on it as well: and got a picture of the MS sign too, since stopping on the bridge was a bit unrealistic In AL, i took US72 along the north side of Wilson and Wheeler Lakes. Looking back... it sucked. I was tired, dehydrated, and hot, and stop and go shopping center and state park tourists' traffic was about the end of me... But i made it to a hotel in Athens, AL safely. A hot shower, numerous bottles of water, and a steak at the roadhouse chain next door made up for the ride there at the end of the day. Did some laundry, and called it a night
Day 4: Athens, AL to Cosby, TN Miles 1540-1909 (369 miles) A day of Turns. I got up early, though after unpacking my whole bike in the hotel, it took longer to get packed and moving in the morning. The comfy bed didn't help motivate either. Again, US 72 through AL, and up to I24 with a quick jaunt on the highway around Chattanooga. Onto US64 in Cleveland, and off towards NC and the Dragon. That was the destination here! I took very few pictures this day, but simply took in the sites, sounds and smells, and most of all, the roads. I did ride US129 from Deal's Gap and it was AWESOME. I have some video, that will maybe eventually get uploaded to something somewhere... I got stuck behind a suburban for a while that would not let myself and a Harley by. I finally stopped at a wide spot (the only significant wide spot?), and got off the bike. Got to talking a couple there that were waiting for the tow truck to come pick up their bike. Not because they wrecked, but rather, had been pulled over. The comment was made that "It turns out they tow your bike when you get stopped with no motorcycle endorsement." Really? Here i thought if you were stopped with no endorsement, they'd just write you a ticket, and send you along on your way - on you motorcycle that you're not allowed to ride. Only seems reasonable to me . After US129, i headed North along the Foothills Parkway, then into Townsend for some much needed fried catfish, grits, whitebeans, and more water. Rode from there through the park to Gatlinburg. Wow. That is... something else. Come out of the woods into a mini Vegas, complete with traffic, Tourons, and more neon and T shirt shops than should be in one place... Needless to say, I didn't spend long in Gatlinburg. Only long enough to talk to an employee at the Nantahala Outdoor Center, who recommended Cosby Campground as a slightly cheaper National Park Campground (at only $12... i long for the BLM/National Forest Land in Colorado from my college years). Anyway, rode along the edge of the park, and camped at Cosby. Wicked tired, slightly dehydrated (i really noticed how much the curves were making me sweat here. Hard work, hot, and humid), and ready for some off-bike time.
Makes me homesick. From the Ozark Mountains. Looks like the r90 is going to have to get there so I can recreate your sojourn there.