Two Moto Kiwis Arctic To Antarctic May 2012...

[Night Falcon]

Its bin wet alright, but dont panic I hear a drought is on the way for summer Lovin the RR guys, keep it comin

[hondav2]

Originally Posted by Padmei

Kia ora lil people
Another 3rd gear to add to Nordies list.
Don't worry about us over here - The wettest winter in history is continuing & I know you'd be missing it

Stop having fun & get back to work

I was talking to Kiwi Kev on Skype about 3 days ago and he said Te Anau had a really mild winter this year .

Re Suzuki Reliability , I was talking to Micheal who hires out bikes in Cebu Phillipines , he said the old Honda XR200 would do 70 -80k and no problems till they started making them in Thighland and cam chains are shitting at 10k , Kawasaki KLR650 were ok till about 06 when they also assembled in Thighland and they all burnt oil , labour charges have risen so the manufactures are getting things manufactured out of japan at cheapest price , bastard being stuck where u r , You would hav missed Bonnerville Speed Week . I leave here in 3 sleeps Andi and Ellen , Im going to miss the laid back life style of not getting fined for , driving and riding on wrong side of road, illegal parking, having a few beers to many , passing with less than 100m , in 6 months I have been stopped at road blocks 2 times to check rego and they never asked to c drivers liscence . Ride Safe ...... Toddy

[Two Moto Kiwis]

Originally Posted by Night Falcon

Its bin wet alright, but dont panic I hear a drought is on the way for summer Lovin the RR guys, keep it comin

Well at least you are getting both ends then, we have been through the hottest July ever recorded here, was 103 F going into Glacier park!! ... that is 39 deg C in our normal language.

Originally Posted by hondav2

I was talking to Kiwi Kev on Skype about 3 days ago and he said Te Anau had a really mild winter this year .

Re Suzuki Reliability , I was talking to Micheal who hires out bikes in Cebu Phillipines , he said the old Honda XR200 would do 70 -80k and no problems till they started making them in Thighland and cam chains are shitting at 10k , Kawasaki KLR650 were ok till about 06 when they also assembled in Thighland and they all burnt oil , labour charges have risen so the manufactures are getting things manufactured out of japan at cheapest price , bastard being stuck where u r , You would hav missed Bonnerville Speed Week . I leave here in 3 sleeps Andi and Ellen , Im going to miss the laid back life style of not getting fined for , driving and riding on wrong side of road, illegal parking, having a few beers to many , passing with less than 100m , in 6 months I have been stopped at road blocks 2 times to check rego and they never asked to c drivers liscence . Ride Safe ...... Toddy

Heta Toddy, have a safe trip home mate, we are heading back to the US to Kalispell tomorrow hopefully to pick up two freshly motored Dr650s, any more trouble and we will take them to Suzuki Corporate and give them back.

We have lost a month faffing around with these things, I have accepted it in part but I am still a bit pissy about it.

Lets hope all the news is good from here on in.

[Two Moto Kiwis]

This what Andi saw when he woke up this morning



The truth is the owl was sitting on a tree...



Then there was salmon in the river...



and more...



back to yesterday, met Neville in Nakusp, photo for Griff





Can't believe meet these guys from Ausi, same bike, almost same set up as us



Walk up to an old mine this afternoon and some more photos...

[Two Moto Kiwis]

Finally picked up our bikes from Lelands, although Hobbit’s third gear still noisy, we have wasted so much time waiting for them to be fixed, time to move on or we will never see half of what we want to.



Just before we left, Larry’s neighbour Al came over, Andi and he talked about motorbikes (as ya do). He said he had a few “old” ones, including an Indian. Andi said to him he saw a great one in Kaslo a month ago and will show him some photos only to find out Al is the owner!!!

We both jumped on the fully decorated Indian in the morning before leaving Kalispell and took turns at taking photos. Then AL offered us a ride in his baby car...a 1966 Shelby signed personally by Carroll Shelby .... how cool is that.!!!





The Indian



I think it suits Ellen better



Finally we hit the road to Bitterroot, catching up with the lovely family we met at Caribou Creek nearly a month ago.

Katie was working for the food bank that day till the afternoon, Tom and Nori came home after working on their lake house near Flathead Lake. We all ended up arriving the house nearly same time! Katie showed me her pottery workshop and all the art work displayed around their house. All of her three daughters have inherited her talent, they can draw, design and make beautiful stuff.



Katie and Tom's cat likes our bikes



Their eldest daughter Meg http://www.naturaldwellings.com/ came back the next day in the morning from Missoula to catch up with us. She is an Architect, we are very impressed by her design concept, using natural and recycled material to build cool houses that are sensibly green and easy to heat/cold control.

Tom, the only man in the house, cooked us huckleberry pancakes for breakfast, used his grandmother’s sour dough starter which she gave to him about 50 years ago, yummy!

Unfortunately, we don’t have too much time to spend with them either. Ellen would love to make sushi for them, we have to save it for next time meeting them again, maybe in NZ!

We took 93 down to Salmon. Must be very close to the some serious forest fire, smoke became thick and strong, we even passed one firefighters camp and saw hundreds of tents and vehicles at one place.





The smoke made for some spooky backdrops



We saw some really cool fence work too .... well at least I liked them cos we don't get them in NZ like that



Andi found a place to get his knee down near Idaho Falls just testing the Klim pants and Heidenau tires ... it all worked ok.



We called Mark who is the Klim marketing person and the man that set me up, we contacted him along the way, we had also contacted Edward from ADV rider as tent spacer, Mark invited us to stay with them however we had already sent a request to Edward so we rang Mark to tell him where we were at.

Well small world strikes again, I rang Mark and told him who we were staying with ..... Mark replies “I work with him” ... so now we know the Idaho Falls motorcycling circles are very communal.

With some work to be done to the bikes and Edward having tools etc he invited us to take care of it all before hitting the road, we took the opportunity and went to get some wine for a treat .... we had a groovy night of talking travel, shit, motorcycles, Klim and all the other good things in life.

Dunno who these dodgy buggas are..





Next morning was our official business meeting with Klim being a sponsor of my gear, we met Mark and Edward and we were taken for a secret squirrel tour of Klim including “area 51” which is limited, secretive, sensitive, secured and under surveillance, although we have been sworn to secrecy I can say with authority to watch this space with Klim .... you will not be disappointed!!!

At Klim HQ with Edward



Such was our status we were allowed fotos on the "star of the week park



Heise Hot Springs also called us for a relaxing plunge and mum nature dealt to us with a thunderstorm of epic proportions, we spotted a camp ground area with a building and a soffit so we piled in under that for cover.





After 10 minutes the rain was still going hammer and tongs, we walked around the other side of the building to the bigger soffit and a lady (Rose) greeted us and welcomed us in out of the rain, next thing she says Klim gear, my husband works for Klim!!!

... me.. who is your husband?

Lady .. Mark,

me ...you are kidding me we just had lunch with Mark!.

Lady ... so you are the Kiwis staying with Edward

... me ... well ... yes

Lady ... r e a l l y she says.. I will just ring him

me ... doh!!!

He wasn’t in trouble but it was a very funny phone call, seems that if you don’t know Mark from Klim here you are not a local!!

Friday night Paul from Klim came around to Edwards place on his F650 Bemma, we helped change his rear tire out and replaced the chains and sprockets for him.

Paul very nice meeting you mate and a pleasure to help you as well.

Saturday morning was a lazy start, Edward and I attacked his KTM 950 SE (note to oneself I must not to slobber on other peoples bikes) this bike has a setup that would make any ADV rider envious including 30L tank and winch ... too many things to list.

A tire change and some adjustments, then it was onto the DR’s, I did our headlight turn off switch and both our new chain guards got RTV behind them and inner tube washers with flat panel washer to try and give them more support and stop them from breaking.

Hopefully this will work.

Saturday evening with groovy tunes playing and some Smirnoffs and beers we had an entertaining night, again mum nature dishing up a thunderstorm with lightning galore and thunder that rumbled the house...luckily we were not in the tent.

Sunday morning is departure day to Yellowtone National park .....

[soph9]

The KLIM croo....and you stayed with Edward eh? HI Edward! You guys are sure getting around and love that you always have smiles on your faces. Keep it up..enjoy you continuous riding adventure while the rest of us work! You sure look like you are having a blast!

[Kiwi Dave]

Just back from a quick overnight-er to Franz. Weather was perfect and I had the new Hiedenau's scrubbed in by the time I got to Wanaka.
I have to say I think your knee slider photo really should get a nomination for the ADV Rider gallery. Fully loaded to the gills and still giving it the message. Brilliant.

Loving the weekly catch-ups so thank you both for the effort you put into them. We all love the read.

Dave
Arrowtown

[Questor]

Hey Kiwis.

Thanks for visiting with me.
It was great having you here.

Almost too much fun!


Good luck with the rest of your trip.
If you need anything, I'll do what I can to help.

Q~

[H96669]

Looks like you finally got some Huckleberies. Funny seeing you guys on the road a couple hours later.You could have stopped to buy a bottle of homemade Rhubarb wine from under the table at the veggie stand.

Smokey allright later on.....Phew!

And just because of that pic above.....there's a beear for you.Cheers...

[SkycamNZ]

LOVED the photo with your knee down Andi! That deserves true 'Classic' status!!!! :) Did you have any trouble picking the bike back up afterwards?

[hondav2]

Originally Posted by SkycamNZ

LOVED the photo with your knee down Andi! That deserves true 'Classic' status!!!! :) Did you have any trouble picking the bike back up afterwards?

Looked a bit dodgy a ( no sparks )
Im back in NZ Andi and Ellen , weather sucks , im at dorkland till sat, will call in and c Cag and Malc on way home . PPD is starting to set in allready. Ride safe guys . Toddy

[Two Moto Kiwis]

Originally Posted by H96669

Looks like you finally got some Huckleberies. Funny seeing you guys on the road a couple hours later.You could have stopped to buy a bottle of homemade Rhubarb wine from under the table at the veggie stand.

...yeh then we have to put it somewhere too

Originally Posted by SkycamNZ

LOVED the photo with your knee down Andi! That deserves true 'Classic' status!!!! :) Did you have any trouble picking the bike back up afterwards?

Heya Pete ... just picked it straight up eh!

Originally Posted by hondav2

Looked a bit dodgy a ( no sparks )
Im back in NZ Andi and Ellen , weather sucks , im at dorkland till sat, will call in and c Cag and Malc on way home . PPD is starting to set in allready. Ride safe guys . Toddy

Heta Toddy will catch up on Skype when we have better Wifi, heading south tomorrow to Bonneville Salt Flats.

[GISdood]

An ADV tentspace sleepover and nobody painted Q's toenails? Hmph.

[H96669]

Originally Posted by Two Moto Kiwis

...yeh then we have to put it somewhere too

Heta Toddy will catch up on Skype when we have better Wifi, heading south tomorrow to Bonneville Salt Flats.

Them flat bungee cords ???? Apparently good for bottles....or not!

Wine skin? Just like a camelback for the drunks.....some sweet red wine and add Alcohol or Vodka to taste, just like Quebec and called Caribou.

Hum the salt flats....that's where Ken was heading when he met the US border guards.

[SkycamNZ]

Right oh then, what speed did you get out of the DRs on the salt?? From your Spot tracks, looks like you had 7-8ks to get them wound up.