The North America Africa Twin Summit 2010- Eastern Oregon Edition

[coyotetrips]

A few of my photos from Day 3:

The Sea of Greg, seen from the other shore, with our photographer getting ready for some action shots.

Chris crossing the sea on his Africaalp.

I didn't take many photos that day, because I was pretty busy trying to keep the bike upright. But, like most others, I didn't entirely succeed.

Then at the Bearcat Lodge I had some Beer, Tequila and Scotch, and didn't feel like taking photos anymore.

[Belgian Waffles]

Originally Posted by coyotetrips

Then at the Bearcat Lodge I had some Beer, Tequila and Scotch, and didn't feel like taking photos anymore.

I think that was the case for everyone. Especially Ray, I might add



As for my pictures from that day, here they are:





















Right after Chris fell over in the mud. No picture of his bike taking a mudbath since Chris was stuck under the bike and I felt I should probably help him get out...









Mini Sea of Greg? Greg was already warm and toasty with a cuppa coffee in a cafe somewhere around this time












Someone crossing the Sea of Greg, I believe.


All in all, a fantastic day of offroad, despite being only around 20 miles. I was up for the next 60 throughout the day, but some of the group wanted to split to HWY 26, so it was best not to split up in the tough stuff. Oh well. Awesome day.

Thanks for the great writeup E-Bum!

BW

[A-Wind]

Originally Posted by E-Bum

Awesome Movie Lighting. YOU ARE A PRO!

Oh, are those Betty Davis eyes?


Greg, hope there is no harm. I'm just kidding with ya.

[Papa Pete]

Originally Posted by E-Bum

The only thing we've gathered, I believe, is that it has 77k miles (or km, the guy didn't specify to me) and the tripmaster wasn't working. That's all I know.

That bike was sold from Florida about two years ago for some where around $9,500.00 It is KM. The guy who bought it wasn't into ADVrider.com so it wasn't ever posted here for sale. It was on ebay last week and the last time I looked it was only up to $2,500.00 or so with reserve not met.

[E-Bum]

The goal for the day was to get down to Fields, south of the Steens Mountain, then ride out to the Alvord Desert. This meant heading into Burns, getting gas and some food, then doing 80 or so miles of fast gravel through the desert to Fields.











The day started off with good weather. We slowly packed up from the lodge. We were planning on taking some dirt roads into Burns, when about a mile form the lodge, the TransAlp started acting up. Determined to do a quick fix, BelgianWaffles and alainmax turned back and let us go on without them.

The group, lead by the amazing navigational skills of Jim's GPS, followed a two track dirt road down into a canyon. Then it turned into a single track trail. Then it turned into a game trail. Then a dried river bed.



Jim went down in the river bed, which prompted us to rethink our route. Chris and I ran ahead to scout, but came upon a fence...

So it was back up the canyon in the single track which, despite what G-Funk may think, was shitloads of fun.


Found the road again, and blasted down it like a bunch of raging banshees. Too much fun.



After stopping in Burns for lunch and gas, it was down to The Narrows, reknown for their mosquito invasions, and then off to Fields.





It was after some 15 miles of 70 mph gravel and Dakar-like dust that I noticed the lack of anyone behind me. There had been BelgianWaffles, alainmax, Ladder and Ladderson, but there were no headlights in the dust behind me.

I waited and waited at a turn off as the rest of the group continued on but no one showed.





After 20 minutes of waiting, I knew something had happened or they had taken a wrong turn. I headed back 2 or 3 miles and came upon the carnage.






A look of disappointment and despair on BelgianWaffle's face as I came upon the scene. He was ok, but the TransAlp was not.





Apparently, as he was crossing over from one track to another at high speed, some soft, deep gravel overpowered him and he lost control after fighting with the bike. The bike highsided, flipped him off and he rolled and slid about 90 meters.










Gear held up well!










It was decided that it'd be best to head back to the Narrows campground and rest up and assess the damage.

The 5 of us limped the bike back to the camp.

About 30 minutes after getting to the camp, the group showed up . they were nice enough to turn back and see what happened, so many thanks to all of them.. great group. Some of us decided to camp at the Narrow swhile others headed into Burns for a motel.




Jim Rowley and alainmax reworking the bent front subframe of Jim's bike.










Still in good spirits.








And that was that for the day.....


Oh yea, except that I spent the worst night of my life with food poisoning, keep everyone awake every hour as I burst out of the tent to puke everywhere, recover while dry heaving in my own vomit, attempt to make it to the bathroom, then repeat. 9 times.

Needless to say, the next day, the Belgian Africa Twin contingent barely made it to Burns, OR, where we stayed in a motel for the night with Ladder and Ladderson trying to recover.

The rest of the weekend was all about limping the TA back home, as everyone shook hands and went their separate ways.

The 2010 North America Africa Twin Summit came to an end, but the legend lives on .

[Belgian Waffles]

Thanks for a great report E-Bum!! This was definitely the best week of motorcycling I have ever experienced... despite the crash. Oh well, you live and learn!

I cant wait for the video montage now!

BW

[Menasco Pirate]

Here are my shots from the event. Please add to the library.
First is of the Eagle Victorian Inn I stayed at in Eureka on the way up. Very bike friendly.


Here are the 3 of the 4 survivors of the OH F&ck Creek crossing.


This my departure Tuesday morning from the first camp ground.
The rest of my shots can be found at:

http://fieseler.smugmug.com/Other/Or...61575936_rmxcn

Steve

[coyotetrips]

From Seneca we headed south on some back roads. Here we waited while BW had a minor fuel problem, so we split up in two groups.

Jim's GPS lead us on this tiny road, but it had even a number on my GPS. Can you find the "road" in the photo?

It ended up in this dry creek, and that is where Jim went down.

So, we turned around, and finally made it to Burns, where we then had the Lunch Of Death at the Country Kitchen. After The Narrows we hit some gravel, and as E-Bum was the last of our group he waited at the next intersection for the others. We rode another 30 miles or so, and then waited all at the next intersection in the middle of nowhere ...

... with NO shade.

After 20 min. we said that they couldn't have missed the turn, because E-Bum was there. After 30 min. we said that it might be a fuel problem again with BW's Transalp. We marked the turn off, and where ready to head on, but didn't.

After 45 min. waiting we decided to head back to find out what happened to the others, actually G-Funk made the decision, and we agreed.
When we got back to The Narrows we quickly found out why the others hadn't followed.

We stayed at the mosquito infested camping in The Narrows, except for a few of us which rode to Burns to stay at a hotel.

Day 5 of 4 follows tomorrow.

[coyotetrips]

After a rough night with mosquitos and E-Bum puking out of his tent all night, Jim Rowley, TooTallJeff and I headed down to Fields on pavement. We fueled up, and since it was 25 miles of gravel to the desert Jim and Jeff decided to push on towards Colorado.

Then it was up to me to finish the ride, and I was determined to do it.

When I finally saw the desert I wondered if and how I would get to ride in the actual desert.

Until I then finally found some tracks leading to the desert.

A short video of the desert: http://www.flickr.com/photos/coyotet...7624455962309/

What should have been a group photo of NAATS 2010 ended up just being a photo of me and my bike in the desert.
The rest of the ride on the gravel road had some nice scenery ...

... but was pretty uneventful for the most part.

In Burns I reported back to Ladder and the Belgian contingent, before taking off towards Portland again.
On the way back I stopped at the Bearcat Lodge for a rest, and noticed the total lack of guests. They had canceled their guests, as J.W. had tried to avoid a deer on a gravel road, and crashed. He is okay, except or some bruises and a aching knee.

For the rest of the way home I took small roads, which were really nice for the most part.

In the Mount Hood National Forest I took some gravel short cuts ...

... and arrived home safely on day 6 after a total of 1198 miles.

What a fun time it was!!!

[Belgian Waffles]

Originally Posted by coyotetrips

What a fun time it was!!!

Thanks for the full report, Stefan! Great to see what we all missed out on

...Sorry guys!


BW

[Ze Viking]

The last desert part shots are really great!

[blackx70]

Looks like you all had fun despite the bike carnage .

[tserts]

Not bad for an africa-less country!

I really enjoyed the narration and the photos, BW, I hope you sort out everything on your TA and get it back on the tarmac (pun intended ) even better than before!

[E-Bum]

Thanks for the comments, and congratulations to coyotetrips, who was the only one to make it to the desert.

[johnnyadventurepants]

Great Report! Thanks for posting. I'll have to make it down to that desert area sometime. Those pics are great!