South America and back on a 250 Super Sherpa Minimalist Adventure

Hola Ricardo,

Give my best to your family in Colombia. You are lucky to have a good reason to head down there on a regular basis.

I never know how long the jobs I take on are going to last. It may be hard to get out of Texas this year. I can't say. I will make it to the Carolinas. I'm just not sure when.

Have fun in Colombia!

John , you missed the TTR 125 in the carport!
Also have an XR 70 at Grandson #1 's house.

John has been sipping the Cool aid



Now has a Perma Grin !

He is going to have to change the name of this Thread now! I don't think that 990 Adventure will qualify as a minimalist moto!

Maybe not, but stealing other folks bikes for a spin is!
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Hi Donnie,

You got me there. Nothing will put a smile on your face like a 990 Adventure on the Texas gravel, dirt and paved backroads. That thing will take anything you throw at it.

My thanks to bigdon for letting me take it for a spin today. I can see why you chose it as a two-up Latin American cruiser. Have been enjoying your ride report. Keep up the good work.

Saludos,
Juan Naranjo

Took a break from painting and setting tile to go camping up in Arkansas this weekend.

Here are my partners in crime, bigdon on the 990 Adventure, olebuddy on his DR650 and LD on his sweet Triumph Tiger standing in front of the Roadhouse Cafe in Paris Texas at breakfast:



I was riding bigdon’s KLR. Didn’t stop to take many pictures this weekend. Heading up into Oklahoma on backroads we stopped for lunch at the Hateful Hussy Diner in Talihina. Pretty good eats if you’re in the area:



Rode up the Talimena scenic byway to the Queen Talimina Lodge campground and set up our tents before heading down some nice Arkansas gravel county roads to Mena. Here is LD crossing an old country bridge on the way:



Ate dinner in Mena at the Branding Iron Restaurant and wound our way back up the mountain to camp. They had a neat little miniature train that was taking campers around the campground:



Woke up this morning to a hellacious thunderstorm. The rain was coming down in buckets and my tent was floating in 2 inches of water, so I had to pull the pegs and drag it over to the pavement where my bike was parked to get it on dry land. There was so much lightning that I could read my non-illuminated watch. Without my glasses I couldn’t tell if it was 12:15 or 3 AM. Fortunately it was 3 and after another couple hours of sleep I got up and went over under the covered awning at the camp bathrooms and hung out playing Sudoku on my iPad until it was time to pack up in the rain.

Then it was torrential rain riding back through Arkansas and Oklahoma today until we finally hit dry pavement and sunshine across the Red River into Texas. It was a fun weekend though. Especially during the good weather yesterday.

Remodeling ADVrider’s houses certainly has its benefits.

more later…..

Thank goodness John was uninjured !



My Wife would never forgive me if I let something happen to John, before the Kitchen is finished

Lol sounds like my wife

The rest of the story:

Because it rained so hard my tent was standing in water yesterday morning so I pulled the tent pegs and moved it to the pavement. Of course after I got up and went up to the shower room, a big wind came up and blew the unpegged tent over. Being a minimalist means that there's nothing in your tent to hold it down. A sleeping bag, pad and pair of socks was my only luggage this weekend. No match as ballast against a 40 mph sidewind.

bigdon took a lot of fine photographs this weekend. My tent collapsed like a blue slug yesterday morning may have been the best. Pretty funny.

Sounds a treat, John. I luv Men's and surrounds. Always camp at the private campground at the east end of the Talimena Trail.

Having a ball in Northern India, but not much access to WiFi.

Saturday was a lovely day ! John is a lot of fun to ride with.

John any remodeling pics? I'm one of the ones that likes to see some pre and post pictures!!!

Later
John

John,

Thank-you for sharing your adventures, photos and philosophy. You have taken me on a journey and kept me thoroughly entertained while stuck at home healing 4 broken ribs. I wish you many more adventures to come.

Hi ElleDubs,

It is my pleasure and duty to keep you entertained while your ribs heal. Broken ribs are no fun. Especially when your buddies keep cracking jokes and making you laugh.

Time heals all. Here's to more fun riding in the future.

Cheers,
Juan Sin Costillas Rotas

Hi Eagletalon,

I'm trying to keep this ride report focused on riding motorcycles this summer while I work to save up some travel money for my return to South America in a few months.

I might throw in a remodelling pic or two. Haven't taken any yet.

Saludos,
Juan Contratista

Good to see you're still able to have some fun while working!! I'm now in Colombia and adore it! So hard to leave this awesome country, but Panama awaits!


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Mi sobrina famosa,

So good to hear from you!

I just got caught up on your ride report and see you have to fly the mighty Honda to Panama since northbound sailboats aren't able to take motos as of this month. Ouch!

Ah well, glad to see you are doing well. I sent a paypal donation to help your moto travel finances. Funny how 20 bucks is nothing when you're home working in Norteamerica, but it means the world when you're traveling on a shoestring and far from home.

As an aside I would encourage anyone who enjoys reading about big fun on small bikes in Latin America to check out:

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=929097&page=17#

And maybe paypal a few bucks for gas to my intrepid ADVniece at:

elisarw@gmail.com

She's right up there with Becktastic as a favorite ADV niece I've met on the way to South America.

Saludos,
Tio Juanito

Hola Tio Juan!

Thanks so much! That's so nice of you. Good timing too, as I just spent a freaking fortune to airfreight my bike from Medellin to Panama. Sailboats can no longer take motorbikes from Colombia into panama. I know there are other options, but can't wait around too much longer. Hoping to be home by early Sept. Then might turn around and ride back to Colombia :) Best country ever!

Time to go watch the Colombia/Greece game- the streets of Medellin are going crazy!

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Took the day off today after another week of ADV remodeling. Went this morning to the local 7AM Saturday breakfast at the Red Barn Cafe in Sulphur Springs.

Jim on the left arrived on a nice Transalp. Bigdon on the right rode his DRZ:



I rode this KLX250S:



The KLX is a smooth cruiser. I really like it. After breakfast we headed back on dirt, gravel and paved back roads.

I was interested to see what used KLX250s bikes sell for so checked:

bikefinds.com

It's a handy site I recently discovered for finding used bikes for sale around the country. KLX250S sells for similar prices to used Sherpas. Since I started writing Super Sherpa ride reports, the price has gone up. I doubt if there is any connection, but dang, people are asking 2500-3500 bucks for 14 year old Sherpas. That's more than I paid for mine 7 years ago when it was only five years old. A five year old KLX250S sells for about the same. And they are also usually low mileage wife bikes. I think it would make a nice North American bike. The Sherpa is still hands down my favorite third world bike since it is air cooled, can take a bigger gas tank and has a lower compression ratio for low grade gas. But I 'm seriously thinking of selling my XR250 and getting a KLX250S for riding around back here in the states after riding one today. It's a snappy little number.

Father's Day meant bigdon had to fire up the Honda 50 for the grand kids coming over later for BBQ supper. Here he is ripping it up on the race track in the front yard at Casa bigdon:



Tried to get a pic of him popping a wheelie but I wasn't fast enough on the draw.

More later.....