No rest

I can’t seem to stop grinning. All the way home this evening, from Shannon’s house to mine, I couldn’t stop it. Why? Well.........

Montana stream

We’ve been pretty busy lately, Charlie and I. I noticed that he has been as delinquent in his posting as I have. But rest assured, we are both still around and kicking, and riding the wheels off of the bikes. In time, as things slow down, he and I will both have the time to get back to the blogs and the ride reports; I can’t believe that the summer is already half over. It always flies by.

Back to the grinning.

I’ve received more than a few comments and emails in the past few weeks from folks regarding my lack of posts and ride reports and I wanted to be sure to let everyone know that I am currently working on the ride into the wilderness that Charlie and I took about a month ago.

My goal this evening when I got home was to give a quick report on our ride; 600+ miles of Idaho and Montana’s finest wilderness over a four day trip. As I reflected on the trip and how I would report the events, I couldn’t stop grinning. We had a blast.

Our wilderness accomodations

I have a lot to share and in time, I will. I’m just waiting for things to quiet down before I get back to my normal routines.

There will be reports of remote Mountain Vistas, and the wildlife. The back country locals both human and insect and even a report about ear wax (Trying to figure out how to fit that one in tastefully).

One of the locals

There were the frequent challenges of navigating through snow and mud, a flat tire and the subsequent theft of a bicycle pump by yours truly to get back to camp.

I am grinning as I type this.

Charlie navigating yet another flooded road

Hang in there, Charlie and I will both be back as soon as our schedules permit, until then.......

Ride Well

E.T.

Into the Wilderness!

Montana High Country

Charlie and I are off! As I type this the KLR is loaded up with gear and we will be in the High Country soon. We'll be exploring the backcountry wilderness of Northwestern Montana near the Canadian border. Reports to follow.

I can't stay and keep posting, it's time to roll!

Ride Well

E.T.

Tech day

Tech Day

A unique opportunity presented itself for me and the bike this weekend.

I recently joined a KLR650 forum (there seems to be a forum for just about everything nowadays) and one of the local members hosted an Eastern Washington Tech day in my neck of the woods. I decided that this would be a great opportunity to drop in to meet some of my fellow "KLRistas".

99% of my rides in the past have been mostly solitary; I don't expect many folks to log the non-stop saddle time that I have an addiction for, therefore, most of my rides end up as lonely affairs, just me and the bike and 500 or so miles together before the day is over.

My bike socializing with some of her own breed

I arrived a little late to the tech part of the day, because of this, I missed out on most of the "fun" of watching the various valve and chain adjustments and a couple of doohickey replacements (doohickey:KLR slangterm for the cam chain tensioner or something like that, I'm sure that I will be corrected by somebody on this).

At the end of the day, we took a quick ride south up to the summit of Steptoe butte (big friggin hill in the area).

We did okay for a spell, me and my bike that is, until we got about 15 miles into the ride. I don't know if it's the thousands of miles of solitary time that I am so comfortable with that coaxed me into breaking from the pack of Kawasaki's or the challenge of taking a shortcut to get far enough ahead of the group to buy enough time to dismount, pull out the camera and get a shot of everybody riding together. In the interest of not appearing to be a total social introvert, I will go with the group photo excuse. Whatever the reason, that's what I did and yes I did get stopped and the camera out just in time to get the shot.

The group riding south to Steptoe butte


More of the group

My bike is obviously not quite used to social situations like these just yet, I think that must be why she was sitting a little bit away from the pack.

More pictures of the event can be found on this link

http://www.klr650.net/forums/showthread.php?t=64175&page=7

All in all, I had a great time getting together with this group of folks, I would like to thank Joe for hosting the event, it was a fantastic experience to be able to spend the afternoon with a group of riders who all share a common interest. As a lifelong solo rider, I look forward to more days socializing like this and if any of these guys are as stubborn as I am and have developed that special callous (where the sun don't shine) that's neccesary to be able to drain that legendary "ship of the desert" tank two or more times in a single day, you are more than welcome to join me and my bike.

Ride well

E.T.