Well,.. in a few days I'm signing off and sailing out.
I quit my job with one thing in mind. South.
No itinerary, no plans, no schedule, no timeline. Just head south.
The general idea of the trip is to somehow find myself in the seat of Malcomzilla's truck heading for Moab this Friday for a weeks "vacation" of riding. I've never been before. Super stoked. It's been a dream of mine ever since my mountain bike days and now finally becoming a reality.
From there I ride solo off-road through the Arizona desert towards the Grand Canyon. Once again, I've never seen with my own eyes. After the view is taken in I'll ride off-road towards Yuma and cross into Baja where I'll be back on familiar ground from our February trip. I figure it's a nice easement into the "unknown". In Baja I'll hang with the friendly Mexicans, camp on the beaches, meet new people, and hopefully not run out of gas in the middle of nowhere again... (I have 6.3+ gallons to fend off that issue)
Huge thanks go out to those helping making this happen. Mostly my buddy Greg for looking after my dog while I"m gone, and Malcolm, Demi and Dion for putting in a last minute trip to Moab and allowing me to tag along!
More to come. First need to tie up loose ends before I can find myself heading stateside.
Go, Get Lost Trip. 2011
Go, Get Lost Trip. 2011
Last edited by Shibby! on Fri Oct 21, 2011 5:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
03 Honda XR650R Dualsported
Re: Go, Get Lost Trip. 2011
the dog or greg?
Have fun, be safe! Ola!
Have fun, be safe! Ola!
Re: Go, Get Lost Trip. 2011
Sounds great. Have fun and play it safe in Moab so as not to ruin the rest of your plans. Have a beer on a mexican beach for me.
Re: Go, Get Lost Trip. 2011
Should maybe re-type that... Meant my DOG. Some of you know him. The Doberman running around in the staging areas.steve-o wrote:the dog or greg?
Have fun, be safe! Ola!
I will surely have a beer on the beach for whoever wants. That was one of the highlights of the last trip. All the meals overlooking the ocean/sea.
03 Honda XR650R Dualsported
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Dobi
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Re: Go, Get Lost Trip. 2011
Moab is the best!!
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dirtyboy
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Re: Go, Get Lost Trip. 2011
I hope you have a great trip, where ever you end up! 
Re: Go, Get Lost Trip. 2011
Have fun! 
Re: Go, Get Lost Trip. 2011
Looking forward to the trip roport, have fun. 
" Life's a trail, Dig it ! "
Re: Go, Get Lost Trip. 2011
D-day.
Last day of work. It didn't go smoothly but I got out of there in good terms and work mostly done. As much done as I could with the conditions.
Sitting here at "home", now an empty clam shell of a house. Hallow sounding. There is no dog running around, no creature comforts, no "home" feeling. Just the sound of the refrigerator running.
At this point, other then some minor cleaning and storage of items in the morning I am ready to hand my house over to a nice couple renting it for 6 months while they await their new home. The trip doesn't feel like it started. In fact it doesn't feel like anything at all. That's what worries me.
Our plans to drive to Moab were slightly offset to a Saturday morning departure. This is fine with me as last nights attempt at getting ready was a solid fail. 1:30 AM and I still had some house cleaning to do. On top of that I was stuck at work finishing last minute work, then the dreaded goodbye's. They aren't my cup of tea. I'm not emotional in any way, shape or form. That's what makes me a "man". Haha. yea right. Just something that wasn't built into me. It didn't pass down from my mother. I think I got it from my dad, but he's a hard one to read too. I'd sooner have said "catch you later" and walked out of the office. I didn't need people coming into the office to shake my hand all that sludge. I did score some beef jerky and a visa gift card though!
Looking around the house I realize I have nothing to do. I can't even do anything in fear of making it dirty. I used to be a neat freak. I'm scared of putting feet tracks on the carpet or leaving little lint fibers on the counter tops. Guess the only thing to do now is ride. I'm going to get some food!
Last day of work. It didn't go smoothly but I got out of there in good terms and work mostly done. As much done as I could with the conditions.
Sitting here at "home", now an empty clam shell of a house. Hallow sounding. There is no dog running around, no creature comforts, no "home" feeling. Just the sound of the refrigerator running.
At this point, other then some minor cleaning and storage of items in the morning I am ready to hand my house over to a nice couple renting it for 6 months while they await their new home. The trip doesn't feel like it started. In fact it doesn't feel like anything at all. That's what worries me.
Our plans to drive to Moab were slightly offset to a Saturday morning departure. This is fine with me as last nights attempt at getting ready was a solid fail. 1:30 AM and I still had some house cleaning to do. On top of that I was stuck at work finishing last minute work, then the dreaded goodbye's. They aren't my cup of tea. I'm not emotional in any way, shape or form. That's what makes me a "man". Haha. yea right. Just something that wasn't built into me. It didn't pass down from my mother. I think I got it from my dad, but he's a hard one to read too. I'd sooner have said "catch you later" and walked out of the office. I didn't need people coming into the office to shake my hand all that sludge. I did score some beef jerky and a visa gift card though!
Looking around the house I realize I have nothing to do. I can't even do anything in fear of making it dirty. I used to be a neat freak. I'm scared of putting feet tracks on the carpet or leaving little lint fibers on the counter tops. Guess the only thing to do now is ride. I'm going to get some food!
03 Honda XR650R Dualsported
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Dirtbuddy420
- Writer
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- Location: Vancouver
Re: Go, Get Lost Trip. 2011
Safe travels Quinn!
Hope you update us all with pic's and stories along the way. Do you have a "blog" going anywhere?
Hope you update us all with pic's and stories along the way. Do you have a "blog" going anywhere?
Re: Go, Get Lost Trip. 2011
Ok,
So we got on the road with a somewhat reasonable start, quickly making it to the border and through the security checks. We were finally in the states with a goal to make it as far as possible.
We decided to stay the night on the outskirts of Salt Lake City. Having past most of the inner city highway we would be sure to have a quick exit to the pass before dropping down in the flats before Moab.
We arrived around noon, booked into our reservation, unpacked some items and decided to ride!
My buddy's Christini 530
We rode Slick Rock Mtb bike trail, Fin's and Things, Morning Glory, then headed back to meet the other group who arrived that morning and were riding other trails.
That night we showered up and headed to Fiesta Mexicana in Moab. Amazing Mexican food and great service. The margarita's made the night!
The next morning we woke up around 8:30, strapped on our gear and headed out to do Poison Spider, Goldbar Rim, Rusty Nail, and Gemini bridges down.
Demi going up the waterfall:
Yours Truely on the cliffs above Moab:
Dion checking out the ledge:
Crossing "the" crack:
The Christini going over the ledge on Rusty Nail:
The same ledge on the 200EXE
At this point I have yet to drop the 650 and made it over all obstacles. Quite impressive that a 650 can go riding on technical terrain with MX styled bikes.
So we got on the road with a somewhat reasonable start, quickly making it to the border and through the security checks. We were finally in the states with a goal to make it as far as possible.
We decided to stay the night on the outskirts of Salt Lake City. Having past most of the inner city highway we would be sure to have a quick exit to the pass before dropping down in the flats before Moab.
We arrived around noon, booked into our reservation, unpacked some items and decided to ride!
My buddy's Christini 530
We rode Slick Rock Mtb bike trail, Fin's and Things, Morning Glory, then headed back to meet the other group who arrived that morning and were riding other trails.
That night we showered up and headed to Fiesta Mexicana in Moab. Amazing Mexican food and great service. The margarita's made the night!
The next morning we woke up around 8:30, strapped on our gear and headed out to do Poison Spider, Goldbar Rim, Rusty Nail, and Gemini bridges down.
Demi going up the waterfall:
Yours Truely on the cliffs above Moab:
Dion checking out the ledge:
Crossing "the" crack:
The Christini going over the ledge on Rusty Nail:
The same ledge on the 200EXE
At this point I have yet to drop the 650 and made it over all obstacles. Quite impressive that a 650 can go riding on technical terrain with MX styled bikes.
03 Honda XR650R Dualsported
Re: Go, Get Lost Trip. 2011
Tuesday:
One member of the group fell sick last night. Not sure what the deal is but he's still not feeling well even while I update this. We hope he's good to ride tomorrow.
Since the weather was calling for rain we decided to do a shorter run today with optional trails after. We settled on Cliff Hanger, with the optional Moab Rim as the optional one.
The ride was great. Lots of rock ledges going up and a few gnarly descents but we made it! Today I dropped the bike once on the last hill leaving the trail. Sand on the rocks climbing the ledge got the best of me and the bike slid back into a deep crevice causing me to drop it on it's side.
Sorry for the lack of pictures. Today we kept a higher pace which made riding pictures more difficult.
The weather now is cool and raining with thunder. Tomorrow it's scheduled to rain so we're determining our options and deciding what to do. At the moment Dion's rock crawling buddy's are visiting and I'm inside our rental cabin watching a movie and updating all of you, soon to join the others.
More to come as it unfolds. Not riding for a few months because of me selling my dirt bike and rebuilding this one has me hurting slightly. Just a bit stiff, but mostly my hands are on the verge of blistering. They've turned back into office hands... That'll change as the days continue.
Bike is running well. Suspension is a bit soft and I still have a slight off-idle stumble. I'll try to tune that out with a bit more playing. I believe most of it has to do with the pumper engagement point which is a easy tune, but difficult to get at with the seat and tank on.
One member of the group fell sick last night. Not sure what the deal is but he's still not feeling well even while I update this. We hope he's good to ride tomorrow.
Since the weather was calling for rain we decided to do a shorter run today with optional trails after. We settled on Cliff Hanger, with the optional Moab Rim as the optional one.
The ride was great. Lots of rock ledges going up and a few gnarly descents but we made it! Today I dropped the bike once on the last hill leaving the trail. Sand on the rocks climbing the ledge got the best of me and the bike slid back into a deep crevice causing me to drop it on it's side.
Sorry for the lack of pictures. Today we kept a higher pace which made riding pictures more difficult.
The weather now is cool and raining with thunder. Tomorrow it's scheduled to rain so we're determining our options and deciding what to do. At the moment Dion's rock crawling buddy's are visiting and I'm inside our rental cabin watching a movie and updating all of you, soon to join the others.
More to come as it unfolds. Not riding for a few months because of me selling my dirt bike and rebuilding this one has me hurting slightly. Just a bit stiff, but mostly my hands are on the verge of blistering. They've turned back into office hands... That'll change as the days continue.
Bike is running well. Suspension is a bit soft and I still have a slight off-idle stumble. I'll try to tune that out with a bit more playing. I believe most of it has to do with the pumper engagement point which is a easy tune, but difficult to get at with the seat and tank on.
03 Honda XR650R Dualsported
Re: Go, Get Lost Trip. 2011
For anyone still wanting to follow along, I have only been keeping the ADVrider one current. This forum somewhat differs and I can't simply copy and paste my updates. Plus it's very time consuming, especially on slow internet.
Catch up to me over here: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=735690
Currently in San Blas north of Puerto Vallarta soaking in the sun, watching the Mexican celebrate Revolution day, and thinking about doing a valve check and changing my pilot jet...
Catch up to me over here: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=735690
Currently in San Blas north of Puerto Vallarta soaking in the sun, watching the Mexican celebrate Revolution day, and thinking about doing a valve check and changing my pilot jet...
03 Honda XR650R Dualsported
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thirtyseven
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