The Rootbeer Run, Chasing the Sun, and other misadventures

[kwakbiker]

Know how you feel with that, luckily most of the riding are of similar pace, just the stops always take longer in a bigger group and sometimes it is nice just to crack on at your own pace

Originally Posted by Parepin

Yeah, the pace being set did develop into a bit of tension across the group. Adrian and I tended to take our time a bit, while Ariel and Brenden seemed to be more focused on burning miles and the final destination. At the time, it didn't really strike me as being that big of a deal, honestly. We always met up down the line.

Different strokes for different folks. After 15K miles of riding solo it took a bit of a learning curve to find the groove.

[Parepin]

Originally Posted by FloorPoor

Loving it still!


P.S. Where the hell did you find a bunch of horses on the side of the highway...in Alaska?

I wondered the very same...

I don't think that was Alaska. That's somewhere in Northern BC, if I remember correctly.

[Parepin]

We would eventually meet up at a Denny's a few town over, but not before Adrian and I got hopelessly lost searching for the leading pair. I admit, I got pretty annoyed here with the the situation. Not my proudest moment, and I was sure to apologize once I had cooled down. We moved on, down through Williams Lake and Hundred Mile House. From here on out, it was all new territory for me. I had come up from the east, and we were now heading due south towards Cache Creek. The decision was made at this point to push on and make a night time arrival in Seattle rather than make camp for another night. This would put us ahead of schedule by a day. I can't say I was too excited about another long day, but there wasn't much I could do about it.














With that, we moved on. Through Layton, and down into Hope. I remember the weather being pretty crappy and overall fairly cold until we reached the mountains just north of the US border. As we dipped down into the valley the sky just seemed to clear right up and it turned into a fairly enjoyable ride. The road became increasingly twisty as it hugged the contours of the mountain in a very organic way. Tunnels popped up here and there and at one point I found myself racing a freight train while simultaneously marveling at the railroad tunnels across the canyon. I was pretty envious that boxcars full of Hyundais and Sony Televisions got more tunnel time than I, but was pretty happy with what I was given anyway. We neared the border as the evening continued on and we made our crossing just as the sun was setting, just south of the town of Mission.










We gassed up just on the other side of the border after a fairly uneventful crossing and I made sure to secure a caffeine fix before hitting the slab again. From here, the road continued to get busier and busier until we found ourselves weaving in and out of traffic on the four lane highway leading into Seattle. The goal for the night was Ariel's apartment in the city, and we all made sure to get the address down before leaving the last fill up just in case we were separated. Sure enough, separated we were. I think I was the first to finally pull up to the apartment, followed shortly thereafter by Brenden. As we waited for the others, I took the time to dig around in my air box and fish out the last of what little herb I had to celebrate. Ariel came in next, somewhat flustered at the separation of the group. Within the hour we would all find ourselves reclining in a nice, warm apartment. There was a couch, internet, hot coffee. My god, heaven. And all was right with the world.

[daxxruckus]

That last shot of the train is awesome...almost looks like a scale model.

[DelHess]

This trip has ended remarkably different than the first one. Thanks for the reading material I'm enjoying it!

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk 2

[Jettn Jim]

hahaha ooooh it's not over yet. But his return to the lower 48 has been alot more... or less airborn that the last eh.

[TH]

I just started following this thread and wanted to express my thanks for the great RR. I admire your ability to just get up and go and overcome adversity (the insertion of titanium into your leg). I'm about 1/2 way through the report and look forward to the continued reading of it.

[Ol Man]

Alex, I am the guy on the Valkyrie you met in Amboy on Wednesday. Hopefully your trip south of there went well.

[Parepin]

Originally Posted by Ol Man

Alex, I am the guy on the Valkyrie you met in Amboy on Wednesday. Hopefully your trip south of there went well.

Glad you popped on here. It was a pleasure shootin the shit with ya a bit, albeit briefly. I dig your ride, by the way. Needs more knobbies, though.

[jazzmans]

whew! great RR!


what else can i say? I found this thread from the short one you posted in Jo Momma. (I really need to read RR's more often, but there's so many forums now, I can never figure out which one to peruse)

anyway, I'll be thrilled to hear the conclusion of the second trip. . .


I've got a 97 KLR that looks virtually Identical to yours, (except the rope, make sure you never use kernmantle rope, stick to manilla since the gasoline will make the kernmantle dangerously weak really really quickly)


subscribed!
jaz

[Ichristopher]

Stumbled upon this RR last night and just finished it from start to..well obviously not finish but to here anyway. I'm a sport rider and the extent of my adventure riding ideas up to now had mostly consisted of maybe picking up an old KE100 to explore all the dirt/gravel roads I see here around E.TN. While I could never just take off like you have, this thread has me considering short weekend or vacation jaunts to where ever a whim takes me. Maybe I'll have to fit some knobbies on my old 74 GT185 for that job. While my wife may not appreciate the seeds that you have planted, I thank you for the great read.

[Jettn Jim]

Originally Posted by Ichristopher

Stumbled upon this RR last night and just finished it from start to..well obviously not finish but to here anyway. I'm a sport rider and the extent of my adventure riding ideas up to now had mostly consisted of maybe picking up an old KE100 to explore all the dirt/gravel roads I see here around E.TN. While I could never just take off like you have, this thread has me considering short weekend or vacation jaunts to where ever a whim takes me. Maybe I'll have to fit some knobbies on my old 74 GT185 for that job. While my wife may not appreciate the seeds that you have planted, I thank you for the great read.

Let them seeds grow Maaan! WooHooo

[fadingfastsd]

Originally Posted by Ichristopher

Stumbled upon this RR last night and just finished it from start to..well obviously not finish but to here anyway. I'm a sport rider and the extent of my adventure riding ideas up to now had mostly consisted of maybe picking up an old KE100 to explore all the dirt/gravel roads I see here around E.TN. While I could never just take off like you have, this thread has me considering short weekend or vacation jaunts to where ever a whim takes me. Maybe I'll have to fit some knobbies on my old 74 GT185 for that job. While my wife may not appreciate the seeds that you have planted, I thank you for the great read.

Alex seems to have this effect on everybody he meets. I'll tell you that having him live at our house for about a month was pretty solid inspiration to get out and ride as much as possible! My brother and I are all stoked on planning trips since having the filthy nomad get us pumped up to do it!

[Tucson Jim]

great, I have a ton of shit to do and I find myself trying to read all 42 pages of this ride report.

You are the phreakin MAN!

Rode my KLR to 'frisco and back a few years ago and admire your writing and riding style immensely. We are headed for Calgary in 5 weeks. It would be a great pleasure to buy you dinner and beer some time.

[Toadride]

Great morning read for me. Tryin to figure the timeline. Are the last photos current? Can't figure if this is last fall or this spring in Alaska.