So Will BMW Make The 450? I still think yes....

Here's a link to follow up my post October '06

Back in the DAKAR again (sing to the tune of Back In The Saddle Again by Gene Autry)

Scouting New Mexico

This year is running past us with the speed of WFO throttle position. It's the tenth anniversary of our motorcycle club. We are closely approaching 2500 members throughout the orange planet. The idea is to celebrate this decade of comradery, adventure, and the spiritual joy of giving of ourselves by riding our asses off, hosting and attending as many club rallies as we possibly can.

When Steve Johnson the founder of The Chaingang asked me for the fifth time in so many weeks, "When are you going to set some dates for your rally this spring?", it stumped me momentarily.

Procrastination is a fault that is in the top three on one of my file folder filled with lists of very bad habits. My not so famous non-commital response was simple. "I dunno, when do you want to go and take a look at the place?"

To which The Prof said, "Let's go this weekend if the weathers good".

So we did.

At first it was just going to be a dynamic duo, Steve and I. When Thumper returned home from his overseas post in Brazil for a couple of weeks, we both knew that he needed to go riding. So we voluteered him to drive his truck and haul our efsicfiddys out to Truth or Consequences.

Los Tres Amigos Locos head into the Wild Wild West for a short recon into the arrid regions of The Land Of Enchantment.

We had plenty of power and averaged about 14 mpg with the Cummins Turbo Diesel. Motos locked down, time to burn assphalt

For those of you who have never ridden in or driven one of these huge duellies I have to let you know that it is a miracle of modern engineering. With a little weight (like a ton, including bikes, trailer and gear) that silver bullet sails down the highway like a big ol' jet airliner

Thanks again to our pal Thumper for haulin our asses out there and back!!

Thumper checks the straps on Steve's 1997 Classic "The Black Cat" with over 117,000 miles on the odometer

We got underway late for the long haul out I-10. From San Antonio its just over 660 miles. As we left the skies were gray with temperatures hovering in the 50's, with a light mist falling. If the other travellers were feeling the squirmy guts like me they did not get any sleep the night before either. Looking forward to seeing new territory we hit the trail.

Our founding father made up a batch of his special brownies to help shorten the long haul, which made it more of a trip than a journey

For the first couple of hours I kept promising clear skies, and at about the 300 mile mark into the voyage the cloud cover showed signs of breaking

The promise of a beautiful sunset help to lift our mood

At days ends we rolled along at 82 mph into another time zone

Stopping only for fuel and to stretch our limbs helped us to make good time. Better yet in Fort Stockton I retrieved a message from TTNB1629 who words told me of a fine fellow by the moniker of Jet Gorilla who had offered a free place to stay and cold beer at the Garage Mahal in El Paso, Texas. Chris is a pilot and he was in the middle of a trip with a one night stop over. After getting some good directions, the concensus was to stop for a couple of beers and head on to our hotel so that we could get out riding first thing in the morning.

Mr. Gorilla who was looking somewhat disheveled, welcomed us heartily with cold man sodas. Even though he had been up all night with his flyboys burning the midnight jetfuel until the wee hours of that same morning his hosting skills were impecable. Being a knowledgable and very worldly sort with much offroading experience, Chris was able to fuel our excitement with advice on the terrain in store and some places to ride.

We look forward to seeing you at the rally Jet G! I want to see just how you make Bill Mallin eat purple enchanted desert dust.

I finished the short 120 mile span from the compound over into New Mexico to the Charles Motel and Spa. We were instructed by the receptionist and by a sign on the office door to ring the night bell and wait five minutes for a response. After 10 minutes had passed I could see my companeros were getting just a bit ancy. Frankly I was boiling mad, as I had made the reservations and spoken to the lady just hours before arrival. The night bell is one of those Radio Shack intercoms and has a talk button, so I gave that a try and got a response. In just a couple of minutes a long haired, bearded fellow came down from above the office and we got the room key.

Even though it was past 1 a.m. the promise of what dawn would bring kept me awake for some time.

Day one ends with anticipation of waking up in a new state, a new town, and to a new adventure.

Stebel Nautilus Compact Dual-Tone Road Blaster Install Guide

I received an air horn for Christmas and most of the WIB crew already have them, they are LOUD.

First of I went to NB's maintenance log and read through his install, mainly because when it comes to wiring I freeze like Texas in an ice storm. As in, everything shuts down. No thought patterns, nothing.

Fabbing up a little bracket from a flat bracket was easy enough, grabbed my channel locks (think vise) and hammered to opposite 90's on either end. I had to make the holes bigger, so I grabbed my portable vise (channel locks) and was careful not to cut my finger off all the way while the drill did its work.

You can see the bracket and mounting position, this was the easy part for me, the part you cannot see is where it attaches into the same bolt as the engine guard (which was a big pain in the a$$ to remove)

Here is a view from the front. Most likely will take a likken next time I tump over on the right side

I got to looking at the thing, and decided a little insulation from the vibes and any rocks hitting from the front might be good, so I cut out some pipe insulation to fit

So most if not all of the WIB doods hooked theirs up direct to the battery. To complicate matters for myself I wanted to connect it to my wire terminal under the seat, and ground it to my frame.

I had planned on spending some time cutting and soldering this rats nest and making it nice, but my wrenching day wound up being a lot longer because I could not figure out the wiring for a looooooooong time.

The white wire is hot which goes onto #30 on the relay. The black wire with the blue plastic is my ground attached onto the frame with my heattroller and running lights. I snaked those wires beside the frame and nicely out of harms way down to the horn.

The relay mounts right to the radiator shroud with a nylok nut. The tape I used is the old cloth type and is most likely older than I am. Hopefully it's quite water proof.

I was going to leave the original horn hooked up. I replaced the stock with a Fiamm when I first picked up Betty after we got home from OKC. It was only slight louder than stock.

Soldering some extensions onto the original horn wires and wrapping them in some cloth tape was my final decision, this way when the Stebel quits me I can just poke the wires back through their hole to the stock horn location and I am beep beeping on my merry way.

You can see the horn wires wrapped. The hot horn wire goes on the east terminal, the negative horn wire goes onto the west terminal of the relay.
The black wire is the hot back to the horn from the relay #30, and the white is the hot from the fuseblock to the relay #87 (these terminals are north and south if you look at the relay with the tab on the bottom).

The finished product has the insulation with a little cut out to allow the drain to operate forward and two BFTW's holding it fast against the engine guard.

Though I used the push on/crimp terminal connections everything is soldered so the wiring will not vibrate loose. All the wiring (though not schematically beautiful) has held fast to date in Betty's sweet innerds.

BMW To Release A G450X???

There are pictures of real live G650 models in offroad (21/18 wheels), cross country; (19/17) wheels, and super moto versions; (17/17 wheels), all with slightly different suspension tweaks and other small variances.

The rumor that really catches my attention has been floating around the internet is that the Der Korp might actually have a 450 version with an Aprilia V twin wedged in the frame. Can you say 55bhp and less than 300lbs?

That combination of engine would make a great deal more sense that putting a 2.5 gallon tank on a trio of 650's would it not? Even if you rode those 650's like a girl you would still only get 170 miles max!

If the rumor about the 450 comes to fruition it's gonna be a darn fine hooligan commuter and all round grin broadener

Can you say
"Ve Kan Now Dominate Der Dakar Rally Vonce Moa"

Claims also state that those three different G650 models will not be replacing the antiquated but much revered F650GS/Dakar. I am not buying it, but at the same time it would seem foolish to drop your best selling model. Will they keep the F650 until the F800GS appears?

Looking forward to seeing all the good stuff at Intermot

Man I don't think I am going to sleep at all tonight!

You may think I am way off mark here, but I am standing by this prediction for a Dakar contender. Time will tell.

Another Item for the "I Need List"

UPDATE 1-22-07 ARTICLE ADDED

Its seems that my personal list continues to grow as each day dawns and somebody makes another motorcycle, electronic, farkle, widget that would enhance my well being.

From looking over a few articles the biggest improvement news on the 2007 BMW R1200R (besides more horsepower) is an integrated braking / stabilization systems that actually works without being too intrusive.

A dream? Fiction? Different sources besides Der Korperashun say "it's so". Purist's among the ranks usually say ABS is a crutch for poor riding skills. My opinion is that if a system gives me confidence, helps to keep me safer and does not intrude with the ride experience then let me have some more!

The 4th generation ABS system claims to offer virtually no pulsing brake pedal feel.
Braking is still integrated. Good or bad?

Automatic Stability Control (ASC) on a bike? Yes indeed, and best of all you can disable it by choice. Demonstrations were given where a test rider layed over into a patch of gravel at 40mph giving it lots of go handle. Other than some unusual farts and pops from the 1170cc boxer motor, the rider and machine arced through the turn without drama.

Lots of meat out back with 180/55zr17

Performance is up and weight is down over the R1150R. More compression, bigger valves, and a larger throat to breath in air and fuel are some of the little ways the engineers made much more power despite a tiny 40cc displacement increase. Cruising at 120mph all day long won't be hard on this motor, but without the available windshield I might get tired before too many miles pass.

109 bhp and 85 foot- pounds of balancer shafted torque.

Susan Carpenter wrote this killer article Jan. 21 2007

BMW's new R 1200 R is a doppelganger. It may look like the R 1150 R it's replacing, but the entire bike has been gutted and replaced.

For the latest and last of BMW's R model overhauls, the mission was simple: up the power, cut the weight and wild the ride a bit. Boosting the compression ratio, valve diameters and displacement yielded 28 percent more horsepower than the R 1150 R, while trimming blubber from all over the bike made it 28 percent lighter. Do the math, and it adds up to 109 horsepower at 7,500 rpm and a shockingly light 437 pounds.

So it isn't the fastest pony in BMW's stable. The R 1200 R, with its horizontally opposed, or boxer twin, cylinders, would be eaten alive by BMW's vastly more powerful K series bikes, most of which are transversely mounted in-line fours. But for riders whose egos aren't wrapped up in their engines, this versatile roadster has more than enough power to put the giddy in giddyap.

Riding the rain-deprived hills of Cleveland National Forest, near Los Angeles, the R 1200 R had all the grace and fluidity of a premium sport bike without the bragging rights or screaming pipes. The cylinders now have a balance shaft to make this already low-vibration motor even smoother. Instead of using forks to serve up the front suspension, there's a spring-and-shock telelever to gobble the bumps and make the brakes less divey than your local bar, while a paralever out back not only improves traction, it encompasses the low-maintenance, noise-free drive shaft.

Crickets have been louder than the R 1200 R. BMW is probably the only major motorcycle manufacturer that's proud of being quiet, the idea being that you don't have to incur hearing damage to have fun. In addition to the exhaust, which is well below the EPA's 80 decibel maximum, the six-speed transmission uses helical gears that are ridiculously easy to shift and quieter than traditional spurs. And there isn't any ticking in the cylinders because the four-valve high cam uses tiny pushrods that don't clang around like their longer forebears.

Technically advanced and compact as the engine is, the standard seat is fairly high at 31.5 inches. Like the Germans who build them, BMWs have a reputation for being tall, so the R 1200 R has an optional 30.3-seat for the vertically challenged, while folks with longer inseams can go with a 32.7-incher. Narrowly contoured on the tank end, most riders will be able to sit flat footed when stopped but tall as an SUV while riding.

The tall, upright seating position has its up and downs. In the plus column, it made me feel like I was leaning more than I actually was out in the canyons. The only minus: mirrors. Until gas prices go through the roof and four-wheelers start dumping their SUVs for stubby cars, lane splitting can be tricky. Cut between side-by-side Land Cruisers, and you might smack mirrors.

Luckily, the brakes on the R 1200 R were powerful enough to slow me down on the few occasions I was about to lock mirrors like a ram. BMW has a reputation for being more safety-conscious than your grandma, and nowhere is that more evident than the new integral ABS II system it's putting on all '07 bikes, not only the Rs but the K, F and soon-to-be-released G 650s.

Operated with a lightweight, noise-free valve system instead of a plunger, ABS II only partially integrates the floating-rotor, double-disc brakes out front with the single disc in back. So, whereas squeezing the front brake lever automatically activates the rear to prevent an unintentional stoppy, trail brakers will be relieved to know that pressing the footbrake by itself will only put the squeeze on the rear.

As of March, some R 1200 Rs will even be equipped with Automatic Stability Control, a new traction-control system that notices if the front and rear wheels aren't speaking each other's language and are moving at different speeds. If that's the case, the bike automatically reduces the engine's power until the two wheels are synced. That's a factory option that can't be added as an aftermarket accessory, so it costs. Yes, $365 is a lot, but it pro-rates at a dollar a day for the first year and is probably worth every penny for folks who aren't scared off by rain.

Other safety features that will ease riders' minds while simultaneously emptying their wallets: A tire-pressure monitor that senses when tires are losing air ($260) and an on-board computer that not only calculates average gas mileage but lets the rider know how many miles he has left until he's spinning on vapors or stranded ($225).

That's possible but unlikely, because the R 1200 R is amazingly fuel efficient for its size. A lot of manufacturers don't give out mpg numbers because they don't have a lot to brag about. BMW does. It claims 44 mpg at a sustained 75 mph. I traveled 220 miles on the 4.6-gallon tank before the light on the display started making me nervous -- pretty impressive for a 1200 twin with four valves per cylinder.

Like all BMWs, the R 1200 R is fuel-injected, with an oxygen sensor helping to optimize the air/fuel mix. It also has a three-way catalytic converter that uses a ceramic substrate to oxidize the exhaust, reduce pollutants and maybe even put a smile on Al Gore's face.

The R 1200 R is everything you'd expect in a modern BMW -- nimble, safety-conscious, smooth-running and so quiet it won't annoy the neighbors. Although it might just make them jealous.




My list grows daily, but I need one of these. Really!

DAM

How This All Got Started

Back in England when I was ten years old, there was a schoolmate named Mark Samples who owned a beautiful Honda TL125 four stroke trials/enduro that was sort of like an Elsinore but has a small single seat. I fell in love with his bike even before he would even let me ride it. It was way too tall for me, and very intimidating, and it purred like a mighty jungle cat. All my thoughts were consumed by getting a bike.

We lived at 79 Abbot's Garth in the village of Seamer, which is just inland from the seaside holiday resort, Scarborough in North Yorkshire. Our house was the last one on the street, which continued into a building site where new homes were being constructed. Less than a quarter mile from my door were miles and miles ofcountry lanes and seemingly endless crop fields and woodlands that beckoned me to explore them.

Of course by now my parents were being begged constantly, pestered endlessly about my need of a motorbike. I had even been into town to the motorbike shop and had one all picked out, returning home with brochures of a nice shiny yellow 1975 Yamaha TY 80 Trials.

The one I owned was a 1975 and models sent to the UK had a different seat and less of a rear fender as I recall.

This one was more my size, in fact it was a tiny motorcycle with ultra low gearing for climbing, and a lot of ground clearance. The day that wee beastie was sitting out in the garage was the point where the talons were set, from this day forth it was known that "I am, and will be a biker".

Riding for hours on my own through the local countryside near the house showed me the freedom. Getting completely covering in mud at the building site next to the house was incredibly fun, except when it was time to go home and show my muddy self to my Mom. She was not impressed by my creature from the black lagoon impressions.

Riding with Mark and his Dad Barry rekindle the fondest memories of motorcycling. Barry would load up his blue Aermacchi/Harley-Davidson, along with Mark's Honda, and my scrappy little Yamaha and we'd head out to an old Army base called Low North Camp towing the bikes behind his old Morris.

The 5500 acre site (which is huge in England) was purchased by a private individual and designated to offroad motorcycling. They held scrambling (before the word motocross was invented), and trials competions on most weekends. During the off times for a small membership fee one could ride freely thoughout the entire wooded area.

I was immediately addicted, and always have held a strong passion for most any motorized vehicles. Like many of my fellow club members over at the ChainGang, my ownership hiatus only just recently ended when I purchased my first street bike (my efsicfiddy) back in summer of 2004, not owning a bike for almost twenty years. Revisiting the joys of motorcycling has been a great means of pleasure and therapy, and to ride once again often envokes memories of the days as a child back in Seamer.

Feeling the freedom of the wind, breathing deeply of the scents of the roads, and the habit-forming feel of the machine laying over through the curve are as refreshing and as exciting today, as those first rides were so many years ago.

DAM

2008 KLR Revealed

All I can think of after twenty one years to say is, "It's about time........, and why less suspension travel?"

Any position you spot this bike it looks more attractive than the outgoing models, to me the black and green color combo is a pleasing palette.

From reading a few articles it seems that a lot of changes are angled at better on road manners and long range touring capabilities. My F650 yearns for a large fuel tank like the KLR's 6.1 gallon flask, me and Black Betty could ride about 300 miles on that amount of fossil juice. Before you even think it, the Touratech tank is out of the question for my 650 model.
Bigger luggage rack, skinnier back end for mounting up panniers more wind protection all sound like good stuff. Counterpoint that some observers take is that the bodywork looks flimsy and easy to break. Don't be dropping your bike motoman!

Electrical upgrades include dual headlights and a 36W alternator. Whoa, you call that power? My Hella's and Warm and Safe Jacket Liner running in tandem would smoke that puppy, and quick!

Lots of upgrades to the engine and an all round improved look will guarantee that this classic model will thrive for another decade, at least! Let's hope Kawasaki awards it's customers with a couple of more revamp's before 2016.

DAM

Win a bike and go take a testride!

Click here to check out BMW's "Get Serious Sweepstakes"

I ordered an R 1200 RT when I win!



Thor be sure to check out the "Journey Through Norway" video advertisement

9-19-06 Ride Report - Crazy Eights Jailbreak In The Clouds

After considerable hemming and hawing my mind was made up, arrangements were made for an overnight stop-over at Beavers Bend State Park, OK. on the way the eighth annual Jailbreak In the Clouds at Queen Wilhemena State Park, AK.
Email verifications and phonecalls made to firm up plans with my riding buddies, Firefucker, Thumper, and Brewer and all that remained was for me to do was pack my grip and hit the trail.

As usual I packed Jed Clampitt style.

No last minute wrenching or tinkering needed to be done so we just chilled at Chez Thumptek, and got to bed at a decent hour. Thumper hooked me up with the green rack of torture to crash on Wednesday evening. He guarateed me that the "cot" aka the rack would be much comfier that sleeping on a pocket of air. Well it seems that he wanted me to feel like I had been hit by a Taurus too. Sounds fair to me, everyone on equal standing. In the morning well before darkthirty, FF met up and we were ready to hit the road out of Texas into Oklahoma.

Firefucker seemed to having a little trouble as his tankbag was mounted in reverse fashion, all the while he assured us that this was the way it works best for him. "Riding is easier while standing with the Wolfman in reverse position because of my unfeasably large testicles".

We took off from Thumpatek and our fearless leader was fully kitted out with his $600 map in a box. He led us on a forty five minute tour or East Austin, and let me just say that is one pretty piece of the country as dawn is breaking and cagers are scurrying to their 8x8 gray cubes while drinking Starbucks and cramming down Krispy Kremes. Talk about a stimulating wake up ride. What we were doing back only ten minutes away from his house you will have to ask him. I was just enjoying the near death experiences.

Mr. Sunshine was well up over the eastern horizon as we made it out on to 79 heading into his bright shiny smile, and glad to be moving along. It was a little humid but still crisp enough to warrant some extra layers that we would be peeling off closer to lunchtime.

We paused for a morning repast at a Pitt Grill Restaurant along the trail somewhere on the west side of Palestine. FF is a man with an off or on switch when it comes to imbibing, whether it be food, drink or other substances he certainly goes for the gusto. For instance his waffle came with an ice cream scoop sized lump of whipped butter, he smeared it all in and then drowned the Belgian flapjack in a good twelve ounces of syrup and left it to soak. I was completely amazed, I think he even drank the rest of the syrup.
Pitt Grill serves breakfast all the time, and the chow is decent as long as you are good and hungry. Rating is just an average five out of ten.

Gearing up and heading northwest I was only able to make it about an hour. Too many glasses of tea at breakfast.

Nature Break!

West North West over to 259 and then up into Broken Bow Oklahoma was pretty flat but at least there were some good high speed sweeper going through the fields just south of town.

Immediately after we pulled in to the liquor store, two rollers pulled in and I was confused because I only remember obeying all the road laws since with reached the outskirts of town. Sgt. Purdy then relieved my angst by stating that he only wanted to check out our killer badass'd BMW mo'sickles. The Sarge went on to speak in general about his KLR and how much he loves the dual sport stuff. He paused for a breath and Thumper blurts, "Yeah, you shoulda seen Joisee George on his pals borrowed KLR down in Big Bend, man parts where flying off of that piece of shit all the time!!" HAHAHA!. Needless to say I was concerned and trying not to let the sarge know that I was scrutinizing him carefully to try and read his thoughts about this string bean Texas redneck that just called his bike a pile of crap. So with my usual couth I asked, "Did you just hear what I heard Sergant Purdy?" He replied in the affirmative. So asked Thumper, WTF are you thinkin' about? We are in this mans town and state and you are callin' his Kawasaki, Jap Crap right to his face. Obviously you have heatstroke and we need to get you to the cabin straight away." So we bought a six pack of Sam Adams (regurgatated and filtered larks vomit) and a six pack of warm Lone Star (simply delicious), a fifth of Hornitos, and a pint of Lord Calvert. The Native Indian lady told us to take as much free ice as we needed. Cool! Anyway the coolest thing about the whole police encounter was the fact that his lady deputy who was riding shotgun had a pair of pink handcuffs, and even though I held out my hands and pleaded, she would not cuff me up.

The road into the park (7.9 miles from town) was twistee and had a lovely fresh pine scent

I am not certain what kind of proposition Thumper made to the nice lady but just check out the look on her face!

We got all settled in, nice but old cabin with central air and heat for $80 bucks per night.
The park seems like a great place and we should go back to explore further

Just about that time Brewer pulls in from Austin with his PIAA's blaring, those are set on 35 watts, just imagine how those cagers feel when he is coming down the road!

Dunno what Thumper is taking a photo of with his imaginary camera??

Darkness came upon the forest and the piney trees began to sway from the strong winds. The lightning flashed non stop but no rain fell. We drank a few beers. Thumper and Firefucker were told more than once, "You might be a redneck if you drink Crown Royal and diet Dr. Pepper."

Morning came a little soon, we packed up and returned to the Stephens Gap Cafe near the park for another cholesterol brimming breakfast of eggs, sausages, bacon, biscuits and gravy, pancakes, coffee, and iced tea. The previous evenings meal was also tasty and hearty. This is a plain jane cafe with friendly staff, big portions and inexpensive prices. My rating is a 7 out of 10 for good ol' fried food and good service.

Brewer had been working with his GPS software and had a 90 mile route plotted, 60 miles of dirt through the Ouchita National Forest over to the rally site on the Talimena Parkway. We had to run a few miles up 259 and stopped for gas. The lady attendant informed us that there was a possibility of rain and that FEMA were just up the road as a tornado had destroyed a few homes the night before. We had a lot of lightning at the park but not even a drop of rain and we were just a few mile south as we slept through the storm.

The dirt roads led into exhilirating two track trails through the forest. If Brewer decided to take off it may have taken most of our full tanks of fuel to find our way out.

The first obstacles were a couple of downed trees, perhaps from the storm the night before?

Look down the hill, a 30 yard stream crossing. Wanna go for it?Swampfoot!

We talked back and forth about the merits and pitfalls of doing a water crossing with a full load of gear on efsicfiddy's that IMO, are not truly suited to any type of serious offroading. At least I am not really big and strong enough to muscle them around.

One positive aspect is gaining a sense of pride at having accomplished something that is a daunting task on these heavy bikes, even unladen. Another plus is that if you do go for it, your pals won't call you a pussy for the rest of your living days. On the negative slant, you could crash, drown your electrics, break some bones, or even worse, a turn signal could get snapped off. Myself, I just didn't want to spend the rest of the weekend with stanky wet boots, so I voted for turn around. I was mostly concerned about Thumper reinjuring his already weakened shoulder, that's my story and I am sticking to it.

Thumper was taking his time and he landed on a boulder

You can see the culprit there by his right foot

Trying to keep my feets dry, cos I don't want to wind up with pussyfoot like the rider formerly known as Dakarl

Almost lost it on the way out

Brewer was the quickest pass, and he almost took me out, so I saved this for posterity

The rocks and boulders in the bottom of this creek were mostly human head sized and I feel confident speaking for the group when saying, "PHEW WE MADE IT" On we go from the crossing and by now we are all soaked to the skin from the tropical humidity in the forest from the rains last night.

The uphill slope is very rocky then smooths out as I take off first. Even though there have been numerous large puddles and muddy parts they all seemed to have had good traction, up until this patch of red clay that me and Betty were approaching. I stood up on the pegs and got ready, the front wiggled in the mud. Rolling on the gas the rear let loose as the front tire gripped with tiger claws into the slop. The front end climbed a three foot wall as the the rear end began to head rapidly in the direction I was moving along just a split second earlier. Simply stepping off of the machine I sat down on her haunching and waited for the cameras to get pulled out.

Thumper almost lost his cookies laughing so hard
On the road again, what would Willie do?

Brewer insisted that we only had another few miles to go, and that was very encouraging...... As long as they were no more rocky creeks to navigate.

The trails remained technical, and we were all pretty tired. Brewer dropped his bike a couple more times by his own admission. No cameras to prove this claim unfortunately. Things were going very well until we came across a locked gate with more than one no trespassing sign. Being the Brewer was the only one packing heat our democratic vote was to turn around and go back the way we came. Even though we tried a couple of alternate tracks we did have to back track and cross the creek one more time. My feet remained dry and we got back to the main gravel roads before too long.

On the way to Mena we lost Firefucker and Thumper. Brewer and I turned back for about 14 miles without any Dakar siteings, so we settled on picking up some 18 packs of beer and heading to campgrounds to get set up. They both showed up and we commenced to meeting and greeting.

Evening sets up on the hill

The evening turned into night and we broke out the Hornitos and Ken brought some shine that he passed around. Mighty fine times indeed. Although the wind was whipping to 30 plus mph and there were a few showers I slumbered soundly until after dawn.

The weather channel indicated that we were in a tornado warning and the rains came. My riding gear got wet and so I spent the rest of the morning dozing, reading and watching the walking sticks fight each for space on the roof of my tent. As the weather broke I made my way to the lodge to find Las Vegas Bill heading into town to do some laundry. He was kind enough to dry out my riding jacket for me while I spent some precious time drinking Fort Collins Chocolate Covered Farkleberries and other delicious malted beverages with the Denizen of Doom. Flash was in need of a catnap so I meandered back down the hill and spent the remainder of my day drying out the camp.

It was good as always to see old friends and to meet the newcomers. It was but two years previous when Bill Mallin and I shared came as Jailbreak virgins (in separate tents). The warmth and generosity of this band of travelers constantly warms the cockles of my soul. So until next year, or sometime sooner keep the shiny side up and the deer out of your way.

DAM