October 2009 8

Today I had to do some work online in the morning then slab it home to be back in time for a meeting. Definitely the least interesting day of the trip – all part of the wind down I suppose.

I covered about 1650 miles, most of which were in the dirt.

A dirty bike is a happy bike.

When I got back I chained it up in the carport, took a shower, and the trip was done.

Thanks for following.

I’ll be giving the bike a thorough pampering and will be off to Baja again very soon. Ferrying to Mazatlan, then down through Central America. I’d like to go as far as Argentina, I’ll see how that pans out.

Cheers! :freaky
-Evan

I had to take some pavement today to make up a few miles. I have a meeting in LA tomorrow and have to be back in time.

Still managed to find some fun dirt riding though.

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My eyes opened when I heard the rumble of an engine.

I jumped up and looked out the window. Coming down from the hill in the east.. . . salvation?

I threw everything in my bag so if it was a truck willing to help the driver wouldn’t have to wait for me to pack.

The headlights turned into 2 sets, which turned into 3, and then 4. A caravan! My spirits were boosted.

It was a group of utility vehicles coming down the mountain about 1/2 mile apart. I stood in the road by my bike and tried to flag the first vehicle down. He drove right by. . . . . seriously?!

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What was odd was that the checkpoint was at a fork in the road. The map in the checkpoint didn’t show any sort of fork. I realized I had gone way too far south. I also realized I didn’t have enough fuel to get to any gas station, so my objective became to get somewhere I would find other people. The fork off to the right curved north and went up through the canyon. It looked like the best way of making progress in the right direction.

I went up a few miles and the trail vaporized into a riverbed. I went up and down the riverbed in both directions looking for where the trail crossed. There were several feeding rivers that might have been covering the tracks, so I went up a couple. No luck, the trail was gone. The tank reserve went dry and I threw in the towel. Here:

I sat down and thought about my options. I opened up my bag and pulled out my spare gallon, good for 40-50 miles.

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Yesterday I rode 14 hours and covered 65 miles as the crow flies.

I packed up early and headed out.

I found some dirt right away and headed west.

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I left Tuba City early today. The weather is much nicer now, and there was only a light chill in the morning hours.

West of town the dirt starts immediately.

Heading west in search of the Grand Canyon. I don’t have any maps or directions, but figure it can’t be hard to find.

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Today I just winged it. I don’t have a map of Arizona, and I don’t have any particular place to be. I just headed west based on the sun and hoped to find some good riding.

It didn’t take long.

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I flew out to Denver last weekend and picked up an XR650R to try and squeeze in some late season riding in the rockies. Then 1500 miles offroad back to Los Angeles.

Took it out for a 100 mile shakedown immediately. Had some minor jetting issues and needs a little grease here and there, but a very solid bike. The previous owner let me keep the license plate so I don’t look too suspicious.

A day later I headed out on a 300 mile dirt route to Alamosa.

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