Gettin' DIRTY with DirtySouthJacket

So I finally got a Hero GoPro HD camera, so I can share my follies!

Anyways, this motorcycle diary will mostly feature me with the bike on top of myself. So far, I'm up to 13 drops. I'll try to chronicle all of them. None of them bad so far... (fingers crossed)

Also, thanks to everyone that has helped me out with advice, ride planning, ride leading, parts, and most importantly laughs.

And Bandy, I wouldn't even be doing this if it weren't for you. Thanks man.

And She-Bandy, thanks for putting up with my antics while dragging your husband along with me.

Bandy and She-Bandy picking up the 2007 KLR 650 near Charlotte NC from lostmarbles. Stellar guy, I'd buy from him in a heartbeat again!

Fast forward, to this past weekend and my first rally, RDV 2012 in Laurel Springs. Pics to follow. Had a great time. Unfortunately since I'm still pretty new, I was beat most of the trip and we missed dinner both nights riding late, so I didn't get to talk to nearly as many other inmates as I wanted to. But hopefully I will see ya'll at more events.

Here's the most recent mishap...
I got the GoPro camera just in time for RDV 12 in Laurel Springs. Promptly left the protective case at work while charging it.
Rode up to RDV with Bandy and stopped by his brother-in-law's house in Hickory, NC to borrow his old GoPro.
Took insane, intense, bitchin video and pics all weekend.
Deleted everything by mistake on Sunday afternoon after leaving the mountains.

Seriously, I'm still pissed at that stupid camera. Heading up to Charlotte to hang out with friends for Memorial Day weekend, planning on getting some footage in this weekend.

So in the past two months, I've got a good bit of riding in. Close to 6k miles since I purchased the KLR in mid March. Quick catch up on some of the more memorable trips

Went to Charlestons for the local ADV dinner, had a great time! Got to hang out on a boat and got rained on the whole way there and back.

Went to Uwharrie Forest in NC to ride offroad trails with lostmarbles. Also had a blast and tore a bunch of shit off the bike on a rock climb. Up to this point I'm now at 13 drops on trails for the KLR. The worst one wasn't even me, but a dude in a Jeep just decided to jump on the bike and ride it up the last bit of trail to the top. He ended up falling off, breaking the clutch lever, bending the shit out of the left crash bar, and bloodying up his knee pretty good. I was too exhausted to be pissed. It was tough to ride the bike with no clutch, but once I figured out how to get it in and out of first, I was able to ride it out of the woods and back to Charlotte without many problems. I'll post some pics from after we got out of the trails.

Organized a short ride a few weekends ago to coincide with the Columbia ADV dinner from Lake Murray to downtown Columbia. Hit some dirt roads and then explored the old ruins of the State Mental Health hospital. Pretty creepy, but definitely going back again to explore. Got a video I'm trying to upload to Youtube of that!

Here are some pics from riding in Uhwarrie... Of course I forgot my GoPro, so no pics or video from the trail. Had an awesome time and really developed some confidence riding in dirt. Even caught air a few times.

Me and Lostmarbles


Lostmarbles airing the tires back up on his DR650



Some non-ADVers that hopefully will join the site. One had a gorgeous TransAlp

Went to a coworker's house to borrow some tools and checked out his 4 rides. Pretty sweet. My favorite was the ZRX-1200. His GPZ-750 he bought new in '83. I'd love to borrow his XR600L sometime too.

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We toured the old abandoned mental health hospital in downtown SC. This place has been around over a hundred years and was infamous in the Southeast back in the day. But took three KLRs through it before the Columbia ADV dinner this past month. Maybe we will get the balls up to go back at night!

So Bandy and I have brought our SOs from Columbia SC to the Outer Banks. By some miracle we made it to Cedar Island Ferry last night at 1am due to tons of traffic and one suicidal sleeping bag. Got about 3 hours of sleep and caught the first ferry to Ocracoke and are having brunch. Pics to follow and we've put the over/under for drops at 4. Hilarity is already ensuing. And yes the bugs are the size of small birds up here!

Let's see some pics

Ok, still working on getting pics downloaded and such. I think most of them are on Bandy's wife's camera and the Go Pros

We rode around 350 miles after work Friday and got to Cedar Island Ferry around 1am. Got tents up around 2am and went to bed with the plan to catch the 7am ferry.

3AM big loud crash outside the tents and Bandy says... "I think my bike fell over". DROP #1 :eek1



Keep in mind that the over under on total combined drops was 4.

Woke up to a beautiful sunrise over the ferries.



Last minute gear checks in the ferry line.

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The ferry pulling up to Ocracoke Island. Its about a 2.5 hour boat ride. Be careful on the deck, its slippery parking the bikes!



Awesome breakfast at DAJIO on Ocracoke Island, seriously one of the best breakfasts I've had in the past several years.





More to come, I don't have many pictures on my phone because it was dead most of the trip. I'll put some of Bandy's cell camera pics up tomorrow at work. Eventually we'll get the point-and-shoot and the Go Pros.

Ok quick rewind to the first evening's ride to OBX. We stopped in a Burger King for some quick food in Elizabethtown, NC. I inadvertently knocked a completely full cup of coke directly on she-Bandy. She took it well, but she was down a pair of jeans and the trip had barely started.





Anyways, back to day 2 and Ocracoke. Here's a shot after brunch of Bandy adjusting some gear at a hardware store. I needed some more nuts and bolts for the KLR (any guesses why?)



We left Ocracoke after brunch (we all agreed we should have spent more time on Ocracoke) and caught the second short 30 min ferry to Cape Hatteras. I've got a video of riding off the ferry I'm working on getting on Youtube. One suggestion for this ferry is to get on the port side (left) of the boat, You'll be in the shade of the control tower which is nice since A) its really hot B) this ferry is smaller and a rougher ride and you have to hold your bike up the whole ride because of the risk of tip overs, this keeps you from hanging out in the lounge like the first ferry.



We climbed up a dune to check out the beach on Cape Hatteras. You can see the Pamlico Sound in the background.



We didn't stay long on Cape Hatteras. We didn't see much to do besides hanging out on the beach and seeing the light house. We were planning to check out the Rodanthe pier, but totally drove past it and didn't feel like turning around. The fact that it was pretty damn hot all weekend kept us riding on the bikes a lot.

We found out that the rules for driving on the beach on Ocracoke and Cape Hatteras have changed. Its a $50 fee for a week long pass to drive on the beach, and motorcycles are specifically not allowed.

I think this is because they haven't taken the time to differentiate between Dual Sports and dirt bikes. Understandably they don't want dirt bikes and ATVs on the beach. So that was disappointing. We had to wait until the last day up in Corolla to be able to get the bikes on the beach.

So we made our way up to South Nags Head to Oregon Inlet campground. It was late afternoon, made camp, got some food, checked out Nags Head and went to bed. We considered calling the cops on the kids playing "asshole" until 2 am 2 tents down, but it didn't matter because no one could sleep anyways because of the heat and no breeze. We almost joined them.

DSJ, just saw the link for this thread in your signature line. Pretty good stories thus far, but what's up with not updating for the bike change?!

I know I know! I'm almost as bad as Kalonji and CayceK!

I was hoping to get the rest of my OBX trip finished and then post the new bike. Today is kind of a slow day at work, so thanks for the reminder.

How are you healing up??? I saw you rode up to the dinner Saturday? I was in Charlotte for a football game. Now that those are pretty much over, my weekends for riding are going to be back in action.

Ok, another couple updates to the OBX trip... I want to get back on updating regularly as soon as football season is over. I've still been riding, but the number of real trips has taken a big hit.

The night at Oregon Inlet was pretty terrible. Hot, buggy, muggy, loud campground, barking dogs. Everyone woke up a little cranky. We were hoping it would be windy being near the beach and make it comfortable. The ranger office even recommended us to be prepared.



So what to do? We rolled north up Hwy 12 and looked for a Brew THru. Its basically a drive thru convenience store. We got some adult beverages for later in the day and headed to Jockey's Ridge. Its a huge sand dune range.

Here is the Bandy's checking out the selection.




Walking out to Jockey's Ridge... drinks in hand.





Goofing off with the GoPro



The adult beverages completely wore off by the time we left, the place was massive, and walking in deep sand is pretty tiring.

We headed back up the road, past Kitty Hawk, Duck and Pine Island. I got some funny videos on my other computer I will have to post up from that area.

Finally we made it to Corolla which is where the highway becomes part of the beach. It was pretty cool. Here it is legal to take street legal vehicles on the beach, since it is a highway all the way up to the Virginia border. No special permit needed. We found it was the only place in all of the Outer Banks that it is legal to take a dual sport on the beach.

If you are riding two up, getting on and off the beach is the hardest since that is where the thick sand is. We had the ladies dismount til we got the bikes down to the hard packed sand by the waters edge.



You have to go half a mile on the beach before you can legally stop. A lot of people pull their trucks and all wheel drive vehicles over to hang out and party on the beach. We did see several dummies that took passenger cars out that were having to get a tow. There is a company that parks tow trucks right at the entrance to the beach specifically for them.



Saw some sweet sand rails.



We made it about two miles before we decided to turn back because it was getting dark. Bandy had already had one spill trying to go around a group of highschool girls that didn't want to get out of his way.

And then one of the highlights of the trip. A herd of wild ponies had come out of the dunes and was cooling off in the water. It was pretty cool.





And then the inevitable happened... On the way back off the beach, the KLR decided it was tired. I almost saved it, but alas, gravity won yet again...



Had to stop and get ice cream on the way back into Corolla, I think we collectively ate about 2 gallons on the trip.



And on the way to dinner at Sunset Grille and Raw Bar (which has amazing views of the sound, food not so much) I caught a monster bug in the eye. Was being a little lazy with the visor. Damn it sucked, had to have surgery performed on the back of the KLR.



We ended up finding a small bed and breakfast on Roanoke Is to spend the night in. It was a nice break from the hot tents. We loaded up and road back to Columbia SC amid cloudy skies. We rode back by way of 95 and ended up getting stuck in some rain near South of the Border.





Made it home safe and sound. I think total on the trip we had 3 sand naps between the two bikes which is pretty good. Dual Sporting to the Outerbanks is definitely different compared to a trip in the mountains. But definitely still fun. However, the camping is limited and the trip would probably be best for a late fall, early spring trip since the weather and bugs can be rough. Also it gets crazy busy in during the peak summer season when school is out.

Here's a long and short video of riding on the beach. The first shows how to get on and off the beach. Wide Open on the throttle is best!

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And then a video of the wild ponies, its a good bit shorter.

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Glad to hear it! I've heard that Manchester is really sandy, so haven't gotten a chance to get out there yet. But glad to hear you are healing up well. Don't push it to hard!

Ok Draechon, here's your update.

About three months ago, I decided I was ready for my next bike. I had put around 8k miles on the KLR, dropped it almost 20 times in the dirt/sand and felt that my riding ability had gotten a good bit better. So I started looking at options and narrowed it down to the F800GS and the KTM 690R. Both very different bikes with similar horsepower. Of course the BMW is more street oriented and the KTM is sex on wheels. However, in the end I found a gentleman that was willing to trade me the KLR for his 6 month old F800GS. Honestly riding two up with my GF played into my decision. She obviously would be immensly more comfortable on the BMW. And as much as I would love to spend 50% of my time in the dirt. The amount I'm on the street and taking road trips is still a lot more than the times I get to play in the dirt, which is where the KTM shines.

So I ended up riding the KLR halfway to Alabama to meet the PO halfway from Texas. We met at a bank in Montgomery AL, ride each others respective steeds. Agreed that we still wanted to do the deal and exchange bikes and a fistful of cash. The ride home was a AWESOME. I think I had gotten over leaving the KLR by a half mile. Took about an hour for me to really start to feel comfortable with the bike. I will say the handling felt completely different. Maybe because of the rake angle of the bike? Not really sure, but setting up turns is totally different than the KLR.

The bike came with a headlight guard, Motech Crash Bars, windscreen, Vario cases, Sargent seat, and a few other goodies I'm sure I'm forgetting. The bike is mint. Not a scratch on it anywhere. At times I think it is way too nice for me. I kind of need to put some dings in it so I stop worrying about it.

Here's a pic when I stopped off in Auburn to get some food on the way home.



Without the cases on it.



At this point, I'm perfectly content to ride it. Only thing I've done is put thicker hand grips on. I haven't thought too much about doing anything too it besides regular maintenance. If I do get the itch, I will probably put a carbon exhaust on for the looks. The only complaint is the throttle is really snatchy from stops (typical of the F800GS) and there are a few mods to improve it. If I start getting crazy with it, I'll put an aftermarket skid plate on it. But other than that I love. Very happy with my purchase! If you are thinking about an F800GS, you won't be dissapointed!

Decided to ride the bike home for Christmas to my mom's in Winston-Salem NC. About a 400 mile round trip. I decided I needed to wear something a little more hi-viz to keep the cagers out of my lane.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!




and
ho ho ho, fyyff!

Wow, holy sh*t driving home was an adventure. May just have to retire the Santa suit over it.

Riding to NC, no problemo. Cute little kids stare and wave. Seniors chuckle and nod.

Riding back to SC, totally different storry.

I've been on the road all of 15 minutes and the dude next to me keeps weaving into my lane trying to take pictures one handed with his cell phone.. He of course keeps speeding up and slowing down every time I try to evade him (while I'm trying to maintain some acceptable level of legal speed limit). I finally just say F it and pull off the interstate.

20 minutes later, white trash chick has been riding behind me in her Disgustang (I can say that, I used to own one) since I got back on the road. I'm doing 5 over the limit. The left lane is closed ahead for construction. I of course see her move over in the left lane to try to floor it past me at the last possible instant. Normally, I would just slow down and not risk life and limb and the new motorcycle and most pass. But this time I'm in a Santa suit, so I give her the long leaning over bird and not a damn inch of my lane. She backs off. I'm going to Santa hell.

Well, added another toy to the stable last night. Left work on Friday with an empty trailer, and made it to Beckley WV around 1am. Got up hit the road and made it to Granville OH around 2pm. Exchanged money, loaded up the trailer, and made it home last night around 1230am.

I haven't even been able to ride it yet because of the snow up there. Only spun the tires on the Jetta a few times.

98 KDX 200


More details once I get on it this week. Really needs nothing but for me to add oil and gas. Hopefully I don't tear it up!