NC to CA with Henry

Well, here goes my first attempt at a decent distance ride report. So bear with me!

I'm planning to try to keep this updated as we go, but in all reality, it's entirely likely to not be my primary priority.

The players:

me, I'm Dave, 36 years old, been riding bikes off and on since I was about 7. Currently trail ride a lot, do a little GNCC racing, and have been really enjoying this 950 I bought this spring.
Me and my wife...


Henry, the most rowdy old guy i know!
After taking a few years off bikes, he bought a 650gs, then promptly traded it in for an 800. I'm still not entirely sure how I convinced him this was a good idea, but he's in!
Here he is receiving his illegally imported bad Puerto Rican beer (long story as to why anybody would want it, but...)


The plan....
Leave our houses in asheville Friday the 18 and head kinda southwest. No real plans as far as routes, but planning to try to cover about 350 miles a day. We've got 2 smart phones and a garmin, and a bunch of pages torn out of a walmart 2007 atlas,how hard can it be?
1st major stopping point is intended to be Carlsbad NM. spend a day exploring and hanging out.
Next is a day or 2 in Phoenix with a good friend
From there, we are planning on heading up to the Hoover dam and over to Vegas to spend a night.
Through some of Death Valley, over to San Francisco. down the coast for a little while and ending back up in Johnson valley to do a little desert racing.

The prep... )
Henry has a brand new Beemer, so he's just been buying gear and camping supplies, I on the other hand am riding a KTM with 32k on it, so...




It's amazing, once you dig into one of these things, they are really pretty simple, and come this far apart with a minimal number of tools!
Valves done, generally gone through, luggage loaded, and as ready as she's gonna get!

so, we were hoping this trip would begin with one of our typical scenic sunny riding days





unfortunatly, we have had a couple of pretty nasty days!
this bucket was empty on tuesday!

and now its turning to snow!

Give it hell guys and be safe!

Man I am envious! Maybe next year I can tag along. It was not in the cards this year. Damn lawyers . Have fun and be safe. BTW you missed some awesome bar busting single track this past weekend!

Hope you got out in time. I'm in Greensboro and it looks like we received several inches of snow in the last couple hours. Good luck on your trip and I look forward to following along.

Makes me proud - be safe, and keep Henry out of trouble !!
Dad

Subscribed . Take your time and create life long memories.

:dllama

I'm in! I can't wait to read about your adventures.

John
CharlestonRider

well, due to the impending snow storm (expect 4-6 inches) we opted to leave saturday instead, which turned out well, as we got no snow, and a bright sunny friday, oh well, i guess its not that hard to be a weatherman!

On the upside, i actually decided to do a little planning...

got several sections "nailed down" and a lot of it we are just kinda going wing it!

got the bike all loaded, gear and boxes combined at about83 lbs, not too bad and im packed pretty heavy!


all that done, it was time to head out and have a beer at our local brewery, The Wedge!


well, its 25 degrees here, heavy frost, and i guess its time, to put on some heated gear, and see where this adventure takes us!

That is a great plan...minimal. The old guy will come in handy when you need to pick up chicks. Evidently "old is cool".

I am in Mt. Airy this morning and headed up to Squirrel Spur on the K100 RS. There is some black ice in places; so take it easy until the sun is out and it warms up.

have a great ride guys! thanks for doin a RR. will be nice to see how this one unfolds. wish i was coming with, but will look forward to sharing a few and hearing some tales upon your return.. be safe and enjoy every moment cause in 3 weeks it'll just seem like a dream. now go cross the continent!

Bon Voyage!

cold start this morning.28 degrees aparently!


meet up, to get this underway, here we go

i think we had just given up on getting our intercom's to link up


Well, been a long day, but we made it to Huntsville,Alabama!

The KTM is giving me problems, appeared to be running out of fuel, with a nearly full tank. Assumed it was a dying fuel pump, so bypassed it, same issue! Reconnected it and limped it down here.

So, tomorow I'll tear into it and try to figure it out. may be a really short uninteresting ride report at this rate!
on the upside, Henry had the scala manual, and now we are linked up!


and, if we have to be broken down somewhere, at least we can hang out with my new nephew!

Oh I'm in.

Vapor lock?

Pinched breather tube when you put your tanks back on?

Just a couple of photos of the adventurers at departure

Dave



Henry


Chris and I are much less adventuresome and headed to brevard for a beer and to test a new pair of socks







Have a blast fellas!

I had this problem on a BMW. Replace all the fuel lines. I had one that had deteriorated on the INSIDE. It looked OK, but was not.

Glad you made it to rocket town.

according to fb he thinks his engine is shoot... :huh

that sucks!

Gabriel says "your KTM blew up"



shoulda got a KLR!