Sick of people? Go to Labrador...Canada take 2.

[hardwaregrrl]

Journal entry, Nite 3...

I've forgotten why I'm doing this. Tears streaming down and nite fast approaching. I need to sleep, but where? I hate not speaking the language, or maybe I'm just too stubborn to ask for help. I'm seeing people coming home from work, or wherever, and I'm wishing it was me. Opening my front door to my dogs and my better half, but it was me who chose to leave and do this trip.

My friends kept asking me "why? Why are you going there? Is there a reason?" I thought there was. To say "I did it!!". To see what I'm made of, to accomplish a goal? No. I'm doing it because I can and because, it's there, and it will help me set things into perspective. My life, my love, my soul. There it is. To stop taking things for granted, and so begins my ride report.

This may be epic to some and minor to others, but if you've never done something like this, I highly recommend doing so before you're too feeble to see down the road and too weak to pick your pig up. Just remember back to your first big trip, and breathe the air that you were gasping for the first time your bike took a shit and you didn't know how to fix it.

I'm lucky enough to have a lot of good friends to make a small trip like this possible. Everyone I know in their own way has chipped in to make me spin the wheels. Whether it be a dollar donated, a shop or a tool to help, or just a pat on the back and a "good luck, this is gonna be awesome!" you helped me along, and I'd like to say thanks. So, first things first. Gotta fix up the bike.

A little maintenance goes a long way. The old girl kind of let me down in october, just outside of terrace bay ontario. Won't happen again.
I've got lots of help this time, for laughs while I piss and moan and bust knuckles is my buddy brett

Dude, if you're reading this and you're pissed I posted your mug. I just have to say thats what you get when you mess with my camera and take weird ass pictures of yourself.
Guru number 1 Nathan Mende at Boxerworks. What a crazy guy.

Guru number 2, not in any particular order. Dean Graham

Dean was doing some stuff to his crazy purple flake gold wing. That thing has a super weird looking Vetter sidecar and is on its way to Burning Man. So I got the bike sorted, now I need a drink and a going away party. Come on, any excuse for a party is an ADVrider tradition!!!


This guy was supposed to join me on the ride, but tore his ACL playing soccer, and hasn't been on the bike since. Hoping to remedy that this weekend.
I need more beer.

Hey, shove this up your nose, or down your thoat. Whatever?!


I planned 3 things on this ride. #1, Get my ass to Goose Bay and make the ferry on tuesday. #2 First nite I'll be camping in Luray VA. #3 Gotta be back by such and such date. Thats it. The less you plan, the more you'll stray and scuttle down a road you never would think to take. The more people you'll meet, have lunch with, and maybe just maybe, ride with for a few days. What could be better. So, be patient, open minded, and happy that any one of us can chose to walk out our front door and take a left instead of that right you always take.

[MK Bike]

[Ragin Rabbi]

In like flinn...

Great start, interesting pics, great writting...

Could this be epic?

Good luck (unless you're back) and be safe.

[hardwaregrrl]

thanks guys. yes, I am back. didn't have the means to RR on the road.

[GB]

Thanks for the intro... looks like you're well prepped...

[lakota]

i'm hooked

[Havoc]

Can't wait....glad your back

[the darth peach]

[scarysharkface]

[bgoodsoil]

glad to see you're on the road! I'll buy ya a beer some time and we can swap road stories. that's gotta be my favorite smiley

word of advice: that tab on the Sito exhaust is weak. Mine completely snapped off. To be fair, I was on hard, hard roads for thousands of miles in Central America.



If you plan on doing any dirt roads with the boxes on I don't think you should use the pipe as a support for your boxes. I'm about to start my first welding project, building my own box mounts. My little MIG oughta be sufficient to run a brace straight to your sub frame if you ever want to do it. You may want to see how my box mounts turn out before you let me go crazy with the welder on your bike though

oh yeah, I've completely lost first gear so my bike'll be back at Boxerworks too. This'll be the 3rd or 4th time I've had to take it back since the rebuild so don't feel too bad about the breakdown last year.

[Moooz]

I'm in too!

[MZcountryboy]

[Lost Rider]

[hardwaregrrl]

So I had pretty much decided to stay somewhere within 600 miles of my house. I figured that was a pretty good number to start things off with, so I just searched for campgrounds in NOVA. Some where so effin' expensive, I'm sorry, but $30 bucks for me to sleep on the ground?! I mean really? So I based my choice on price. $8 bucks!! Sounds like a winner, so I headed for Shenandoah River Outfitters in Luray VA. No one was around to take my cash so I set up shop pretty close to someones SUV. As I was setting up the owner walked up to the car and I asked if they minded if I camped here. I mean, I could never imagine someone saying "no. get your shit and move on!!". But you never know. Instead of a "no problem" I got a, "you hungry? we've got an extra steak if you're hungry.". Oh boy oh boy, I love VA!! So my first nite out I get a free, but grisly, steak dinner. I'm not complaining, they even gave me a coke to go with my wiskey!!! Heres my chef for the nite.

Sorry about the blurry pick. Too much wiskey, well, too much to operate a vehicle or a point and click camera in my case. Heres the grisly little bastard that filled me up.

If you notice on old boys shirt there is a logo. It was an honest to god embroidered shirt with the US embassy seal of Bagdad. He was with an army buddy and they just got away for the day to sit outside and watch "survival TV" as the fire was known. Never got his name, and after a while, I felt too rude to ask. His companion was about my age and would never let me take a pic of her. I got a lot of pics of her back, but I erased them so I would have more room on my card for ones like this:

Yes, I am an asshole. Anyway, they never really struck up a conversation with me. Told lots of stories about being out in the field, of which I didn't really understand the army speak, and being guests at Saudi weddings. I felt like a voyeur, and tried to say good nite several times, but they kept brining me back. As soon as the sun set, I said good nite for real. Heres my 8 dollar camp spot.

I wear a papa smurf blue 'stich and a yellow icon vest over it. I was thinking back on how I had stopped for lunch somewhere in VA and 3 or 4 people asked me "what do you do?". I thought it to be kind of an odd question. Kind of slang, such as "where you stay?". But the more I thought about it, I had forgotten I had my state ID in the window of the vest, hence the questions. I really wanted to say that I was a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, but then realized that blue would probably be a really bad color for an outfit such as that. Power ranger was also another thought, but I defaulted on "riding a motorcycle". I wish thats what I did. End of day 1

[hardwaregrrl]

Hey Brad, My rack isn't fasted to the sito. But I do need to figure out a better way to mount them. lost a puck somewhere in southern labrador and road the whole way with the bitch tied to the rack. I have to reinforce the back of the boxes, way too much flex for the kind of roads I was on.