lets show the Northern Contingent how its done!

[rhpaw]

Damn, sounds like good trip. I wish I could go... Inane and I could caravan down.

Can't make it this time though. :(

[inanecathode]

No worries dude, maybe i could make this september gig you and paw2 were talking about.

[akvision]

Hey Inane,
Your on.  We are planning to take off south August 29 and return on September 5.  Some kind of loop down to Roswell or there abouts.
Get together with Rhpaw and map a route. Based on him reporting a sore butt, maybe 200 to 250 mile lazy days are in order.  I have never seen this part of the country and am looking forward to the tour.
akvision

[funkamongus]

try to come through the Tahoe area on the way down or around!! Some prime riding!!!

[dminor]

I have my reservation, I'll see you there. I'll be there Friday afternoon.
Don

[funkamongus]

Still trying to make sunday.. we'll see,, I got your number Rick

[inanecathode]

Ok well, i'm off to work. Then brothers house after that, then off to arizona!
Rick, i have your number on my cell, we should be by friday evening some time. We'll snag a motel for the first night, cause house guests are like fish, they start to stink after two days ;)

And, away!

[kwells]

Rick,
I won't be in attendance.  I got a bit overwhelmed with the swirl of other things going and wasn't able to ge the V legal in time.

We'll have to meet at the next rally.

Ride safe guys....or at least fast.

[fiddlesticks]

Hope u have a safe and fun ride.  ;D

[h2olawyer]

Hope Inane & his brother are having a good ride.  Looked pretty wet across southern Colorado yesterday.  At least that would mean cooler weather.   ;D

I'll get down for that ride soon!  Need to make sure I can get more than 1000 miles out of my stators now.  About 90% certain I've got it licked but need actual proof.  Plus I need more seat time before undertaking a ride like that.  Lastly, avoiding a holiday weekend (especially the one honoring deceased veterans) would help.  I really want to go to the ceremony at Fort Logan National Cemetery this year, since that's where we buried dad last fall.

Everyone in attendance: ride fun, fast & safe!!!  I'll be thinking of y'all & wishing I was there.

H₂O

[Tiger]

 8) If you guys have half the fun & laughs we had at the OnROV ride last weekend, you'll have a great time...ENJOY 8)

                 8).......TIGER....... 8)

[Rick G]

So far its been a hoot!! :D :D I was out side around 3 o'clock and my cell went off . It seems that Inanes brother had broken the drive chain on his GPZ750  about 15 miles east of Seligman, on I 40.
So I dropped everything  and hooked the trailer up to the Dodge and headed east on 66. It started raining just past Valle Vista and continued until just before Peach springs, it was clear in Seligman tho. After an hour and a half trip, I pulled into Seligman and tracked Inane (Ben) down. We left his bike and we proceeded east, Ben,  Freckles and I . we finally resorted to using one of the emergency turn around's , intended for the DPS. I wasn't willing to go all the way to Williams to turn around. When we arrived ,Don Minor was there keeping Ben's brother company!!! :o :o
We loaded the GPZ on to the trailer and had an uneventful ride back to Kingman.
Every one is bedded down in their respective motels and the GPZ is in the back yard. In the morning they will pick up a new chain, at Kawasaki Suzuki of Kingman and we will install it and hit the road

[h2olawyer]

Glad the Colorado boys & Don (hi Don!) all made it there safely!  Wonder if Ben's brother wants another chain drive bike?!?!?   ;D

Have a great weekend!

H₂O

[Rick G]

Saturday Morning they eventually got a chain , from Route 66 for the Kwaker and we installed it , making for a late start.
One of our local CMA riders, Joel Donnenfeld and his new Buellisseys joined us for the ride , but the delay caused us to loose one rider , Frank Amico, to cancel out.

We headed out 66 with a clear sky and soon arrived at Truxton to gas up. temps dropped steadily as we climbed.  The road has a few pot holes but is really pretty good. At one point on 18 it was 61 degrees, but as we approached Supi it rose to 71 . Perfect riding weather. I spoke to one of the Havasupi , who was hoping one of his friends would ride up with a spare horse , so he wouldn't have to walk the 8 miles down to the village. Its a 2 1/2 hour walk (3 1/2  up) down to the Village.
I wish I was either young enough to hike down or rich enough to afford the helo ( 90.00 down and 90.00 up)
We received a few rain drops , so we  loaded up and headed out  on the 60 mile ride to 66. The scenery was magnificent and the weather perfect . We stopped at the Hualipie Lodge restaurant , and I enjoyed stewed pork and peppers stew , with Indian fry bread, delicious!!
We stopped in Truxton for gas  and discovered that Ben had managed to do the ride on one tank . I added a gallon  at Supi , just in case  and only needed 3  gallons to fill up.
We headed back to adjust Robs new chain and brace our selves for the next day.

We finally got started around 11 and headed down I 40 to Shinarump road and old 66 . We had a brisk ride to Oatman , stopping on the  way at the fish bowl , only to find all the fish gone !! The water is murky so they may be hiding , but there was not a sign of them. Don pulled up  and told us he would be returning to the motel, as a result of the big Beemer going sideways on some of the fresh oil patches on the road. His Bionic arm was causing him some pain.
We continued on and  stopped in Oatman to observe the gunfight and shop for souvenirs . There was only one donkey in town!!  After we left , we came upon  the rest , down the road in Old trails, blocking traffic , mooching snacks .
We then enjoyed a quick ride to Golden Shores , gassed up and headed for Fort Mohave. We crossed the Colorado at the Avi casino and road through California and Nevada  to Laughlin and back across the Colorado Temperater  topped out  at 101 and the Colorado boys were melting in the unusual May heat. Temps soon dropped as we climbed up 68 , towards Kingman. It was 84 at Coyote pass and 86 in Kingman . My wife and I joined Don  for dinner at the Golden Coral , ending a great day.

I managed to leave my camera home both days , so I'm depending on others to send me picks . I'll post as soon as I get them

[h2olawyer]

Other than that bit of he sounds like a good time.  Sorry I missed it.  I did manage to attend two Memorial Day Services here, though so all was not lost.

Wishing all attendees a safe trip back home.

H₂O

[inanecathode]

Hey kids! Got home earlier today (about 4 or so mtn time) heres a quick ride report as im tired and a bit jet lagged, or vision lagged  :o

We left denver at 5am, and instead of going down through fairplay as planned (36 and raining in fairplay was the forecast) we went down to beautiful walsenburg and took a hard right and went straight across colorado. Lots of straight road down to walsenburg, but its a shame the weather didnt cooperate on wolfcreek pass, its quite a road!





It threatened to rain on us all the way to farmington, but other than a freakish downpour for about 30 seconds outside of wolfcreek pass, it only sprinkled a bit here and there. I was very glad i decided to gear up for cold that morning.







Three tank loads of fuel later, robert put his kickstand down at the stop and *TINK* it along with the return spring fell off the perch! I had to teach him how to center stand his bike (he'd later learn all about this later ;)) We found a carquest in town and got some hardware to replace the long gone bolt. A bit of tinkering by yours truly and it was ready to go, er, park.







We cruised a bit west, then took a hard left at carbon junction and motored down to my uncles house for an unhealthy amount of frybread and navajo tacos. We decided to forgo the full gear and just wear jackets and helmets over there along with regular jeans. Good thing too, otherwise our riding pants would have likewise been as absolutely soaked as we were!



An early rise meant we got out of town fairly quickly, and ate up some miles eastward across the normally blistering reservation, but now covered over in threatening cumulous clouds.









I was pretty excited for monument valley, until we reached kayenta arizona, and i realized i totally misread my map and thought we were going to go down through there. I was pretty bummed, but the sun did come out for a moment or two for a picture.





Quite a few uneventful miles later we were closing in on the grand canyon.





It's only 12 bucks for motorcycles, and its SO out of the way we were already there, so into the park we went. Then we got to oogle the wonder that is the grand canyon, at least the picture of it on the side of a pop machine  :o



Because here's what the grand canyon looked like when we were there.



Thankfully, the low ceiling began to lift and move on slowly.



In the meantime, i got silly and tried to get creative and also took a picture of a most interesting shrub. Robert was amused at my interest at the local shrubbery, probably because its a fun word to say. Shrub.





Finally the clouds cleared out enough for some pictures!









Something i forgot to mention, in kayenta, robert complained of the bike taking off "herky jerky" and kinda "chunky feeling". We center standed the bike and rotated the rear wheel. The drive chain was kinking pretty badly, and i decided some lubrication was in order. Some wd40 drove out the water that was on it, and some engine oil served to limber the chain up a bit. This worked well all the way through beautiful (cold, and expensive) tusayan arizona.

We cruised south to williams, through another brief sprinkling/downpour and got onto I40. Going straight west now, I overtake a semi, and robert begins to, when i notice suddenly hes not behind me anymore, so about a mile ahead i pull over and my pants begin vibrating (cellphone). So i answer the vibration and who would have known its robert, two miles behind me on the side of the road with a missing chain. Dismissing on the fly chain robbery, the likely explanation is his chain broke and spat out the bottom of the run and left the rear wheel unconnected. I asked him if he was safe, he was, and if he was far enough off the road, he was, and if he wanted to walk back and try to find the chain for later, he was reluctant but did it mostly because how boring it was going to be :)

I rode on to the gas stop (near) seligman, arizona, just off i40 and us66. I gassed up (needed it anyway) and called our local hero and savior, Rick G. He then drove all the way out to where we were (80 miles outside of kingman, in fact) to rescue us. In the wait between calling him and him showing up, i got bored and took some silly/artistic pictures (a couple VW trikes showed up too!)











In that same wait, you wouldnt have guessed but the only person to stop and see if rob was alright was the only other person that showed up to the azrov, dminor! With his (and freckles the wonder puppy) help we loaded up the trailer with the stricken gpz, and parted ways to meet in kingman. To discuss further action.



We decided the best thing to do would be to locate a chain in the morning, and change it out at ricks house. Next morning we did just that, and after swinging by the harley/yamaha/honda dealer and getting the chain me rick don and joel (honorary rov rider) got the new chain on and rolling (only after some spirited discussions over chain tension  ;) ;D ;D).

Later that day, we all took a ride out to supai (actually, near supai, the only way to get there is either an 8 mile hike or a helicopter, i left my helicopter at home and to hell if im walking 8 miles in moto boots, anyway the trail was closed ;)). A long, long road leads to the canyon, and it left some time for pictures. After the road to the 5 curves in the road, theres a spectacular but short curvy awesome section of road that winds through a small sub canyon till it suddenly opens up into a very deep and very large tributary canyon of the grand one.







We cruise on back to kingman, and split off for our separate evening meals. The next day holds for us a shorter but no less awesome ride. We're going to legendary oatman! Home of night owl donkeys, gun fights, and stomach fluttering road dips!







After oatman, the road drops down in elevation quite a bit. As we drop the temperature increases and suddenly we find ourselves in 96 degree air! We find temporary refuge at a shell station, where the cold tap water comes out luke warm :o! It was too hot to stop and take out the camera for pictures, just imagine in your head a sun blasted expanse of flat, ringed with distant mountains and inhabited solely by cactus, sage, and the occasional local retiree on a motorcycle  ;) ;D

An old ford relegated to garden gnome like art status at the gas station before leaving town, and a most interesting looking yamaha.






We then end up swinging over the colorado river (huge!) and into california for a few miles, then back over the river into nevada and lovely Laughlin nevada where we stop so rick can top off his visions crank case, and i can go stand inside a safeway and drink a liter of fridged water. One very long and very steep hill and we go up and over a ridge and drop back down into kingman again.

Me and brother get to the hotel room, set the A/C box for siberia, and watch a bit of hilariously bad local tv commercials and news. Then we were off to ricks to adjust the chain again (them suckers slack out fast!). During some more spirited chain tension discussions i err on the side of wanton disregard of my brothers safety and adjust the chain for factory slack and go by the sticker on the chain guard that rick is probably writing a letter to Kawasaki USA about as i write this  :o :D :D

One more night in the hotel and we're off in the morning for beautiful expansive downtown grand junction, colorado.

Down through the hoover dam, by the giant new bypass road and bridge, and out into the desert again.







We shoot up 93, connect with I-15, then take I-70 through utah and on into colorado. At this point we just want to put in miles, weather everywhere is starting to suck and we both dont have the time or patience to properly enjoy more scenic routes.







At this point, you'll probably note the distinct lack of pictures. This is due to the simple fact that my digital camera is not built to work properly underwater, therefore i couldnt have it out of its special ziplock baggy in my trunk. It rained from green river utah all the way to grand junction. Good thing i put on my rain gear before dropping down into green river!

We have a quick and efficient night and morning of eat, sleep, pack, eat and go in that order on the 26th. This is the part where the trip takes a sharp turn into the shitty territory. The weather does NOT cooperate all the way back to our home area, and it rains on us almost the entire time back. The temperature also drops off very sharply, and suddenly we're climbing vail pass in the rain/sleet at 36 degrees. We stop a few times to walk around and regain some body temperature before heading out again. After going through the Eisenhower tunnel it suddenly gets VERY cold and we find ourselves in air temperatures somewhere around 30 degrees. Thankfully it's not raining on this side, but it does start up again around georgetown.

At this point we're both on the home stretch and we're so close its not such a bad ride. I bee line for home on the central city speedway, and brother continues down i70 to denver. I arrive wet, cold, but still enjoying the whole trip in my head :) I couldnt have asked for a better trip (other than maybe some minor weather modifications ;)) and other than brothers chain explosion and my stator probably dying a quarter mile from my house, it all went very very well. I learned alot about moto-touring, and saw some terrain, people, and roads that i'll never forget.

Thanks for hosting rick, i speak for my brother as well when i say i'm eternally grateful for your rescuing (and vacuum cap purchase ;)) and for hosting the biking adventure! Those are some sweet roads, i hope to swing by there again some time. Maybe this time on my way to crov :)

And now, for random pictures!


Thirsty bees!


Heeeeeer lizard lizard lizard


My god! It's full of stars!

[h2olawyer]

Great write-up & fantastic pix!  I like the Quicksilver fairing on that green VW trike.  The weather sounds worse than I figured - especially the homeward trip.  Glad there weren't any major breakdowns beyond the chain.  And, if your stator did fry, at least it waited until you were close enough to home so you weren't stranded.   8)

H₂O

[inanecathode]

I might be stopping by your house some day soon, h2o, and stealing one of your roasted stators so i can take it apart and wrap myself a new stator :D

[h2olawyer]

I don't have any more old stators.  They're on loan to another local visionary.  I'll see if I can get one or two of them back if you really need one.

Thawed out yet?   :D

H₂O

[Kid Jedi]

if your buddy needs gpz parts lemmie know I got a whole mess of 82 Parts. I am guessing he has an 84? my riding buddy rides a 82 gpz 550. what a cool coincidence.  ;D