Wilsons Sandbox

----- Forwarded Message ----- Listers, Flagstaff to Chino Valley, AZ Travel time: 4 hrs 34 mins Distance: 129 miles Steve is sitting in his chair with a cuppa of wappafrappalappacino or something and he's watching the world come to life. He says he's been up for 1 1/2 hours and had to walk across the street twice to get his caffeine fix and then a refill. I slept well other than waking up on the ground on a flat air mattress. Steve takes the air filters and oils them and puts the special rim grease on and then installs them. I put my air cover door on and then install the side panel. We quickly strike camp and load the bikes. Both look ready to go so as quietly as we can we head out for breakfast. We go to the same restaurant that we had dinner at last night. We get another spunky waitress and it seems to start our morning off in a good way. Then Steve leads as we see if we can find the Kawasaki dealer just to see if they have any KLRs available. Steve has been talking about getting a new(er) KLR for a couple of months. He bought his a few years ago with about 19,000 miles or so on it and it came with the end half busted off the countershaft. Now he's got about 43,000 miles on it and little things are eating at him. It's a good bike but I think the new bike bug has bit him. The dealer has moved from where he remembers it and so he asks me if I can find the route from where we are. I look at the GPS and say yes. Boy are we getting ready to pay for that quick assessment. I head the way we were going with the intention of taking a few side streets and backroads and we'll be on the route. But after only three tries I know it's not happening from here. Steve is pretty familiar with Flagstaff and so he leads and we go back the way we came for a bit and then take 5 or 6 streets to get going in the correct direction. On 180 I take the lead and at our first turn stutter a bit as I see the DEAD END sign. We go up the road about 100 yards and take a good look at the GPSs. Then we take a picture and I suggest we ride down the road a bit just to make sure it's really a dead end. We go maybe 1/2 mile and the next turn is to the left. And it's gated. This area has been developed quite a bit. We can look across the field and see another gate about 100 yards away that probably connects with the road we'd like to be on. We decide to try another way and go back past where we were twenty minutes earlier. Then the options continue to run out and we finally decide to take I-40 west for maybe 12 or 15 miles to where we can again connect with the route. Let me tell you, riding in heavy traffic isn't fun after all the remote riding we've been doing. And interstate traffic is really unpleasant. I watch the country off the north side of the road where I wish we were riding and try to spot our planned route. It looks interesting and I wonder if maybe we had tried just a bit harder if we couldn't have found a way to ride the route out of Flagstaff. Finally we come to the exit needed to connect with the route and I pass Steve and lead the way. The road almost immediately turns to two lane gravel and dirt. We follow the planned route on the GPS and things are looking promising. After maybe 6 miles we come to a section of houses and some of them are quite large and nice. Then a mile later the road is closed. No warning, no prior announcement, just ROAD CLOSED. I smile and remember we're on De Tour. We try a couple of nearby roads and they all dead end instead of connecting as shown on the GPS map. We head back and I play with the GPS trying to find another way. We're stopped discussing what we can do when a guy in a pick up pulls up. He's got a large US ARMY sticker in the side window. We talk for a few minutes and he tells us to go up to the intersection and turn right. That'll get us to roads that'll allow us to get to Perkinsville. He says he has a small dirt bike and did that once a while ago. I ask him about the US ARMY sticker and he smiles and says he did 30 years and got a full pension. He really grins when he says that. I thank him for serving the country and then we say goodbye. At the intersection we turn right and maybe we're back in the game. The road is pretty nice and fast but also a bit dusty. Steve hangs back quite a bit and every mile or so I slow down until I can see his bike or headlight. Then I get going again so the dust will settle before he has to ride into it. After a maybe 6 miles I don't see him so I slow down some more. A sweeping curve is coming up so I figure I'll look back then and see him. No dice, he's not there. I pull up a bit more and wait on the side of the road. A truck pass me and I eat dust for a minute or two. Still no Steve. I decide that's long enough and head back to see what's going on. I find I kind of turn up the throttle a notch on return rides. And I really don't like them as you just don't know what you're gonna find. I pass a trailhead and see a couple of elk bedded down on the north side. Then a truck is coming toward me and I stop and wave it to a stop. I ask the guy if he's seen a bike similar to mine back the way he just came. He says yeah the guys on the side of the road just around the curve. I thank him and head off. Steve is just getting on the road as I approach. He's fine but had a horsefly issue. Seems like the fly, and may I add a large one, entered his clothing through his right jacket cuff. It quickly went up the sleeve and then since he was smelling so nice today entered his armpit area. It worked it's way down his back and decided to eat his way out. I can just see Steve trying to handle this situation and I smile. Steve had to strip down quite a ways to get control of the fly and help it continue it's journey to another world. Since he's fine we continue and I tell him about the elk. We ride past the trailhead and I return ready to snap a picture of the elk. They're gone. I go back up the road 50 yards and see one walking away maybe 75 yards back in the woods. Well, at least I got to see them. On down the road we go and we come to what looks like a small gathering of houses. We pass them and come to a "T" intersection. I stop for a minute to check the GPS and see that although we want to go to the left the turning right is what we have to do to get there. We turn right and see we're on the Overland Trail. We move on and in two miles are back on the planned route. I stop at the road we were suppose to come in on and it's open and looks like in good condition. Off we go and I really enjoy riding with confidence on roads I haven't been on before. We ride for a few miles and come to White Horse Lake. I ride past the campground entrance and in a couple of hundred yards realize the route is through the campground. So we turn around and slowly ride to the end of the campground. The map on the GPS is spot on with what's actually on the ground until we get to the very end. That's where our road should be and we can see it is closed and there's a pile of dirt and rocks there to prevent folks from trying to drive through. I look at the GPS again and think I see a way around the problem. We head out of the campground and continue the way we were riding. After maybe 3/8 mile I turn left on a small road with a sign saying JD Dam. We follow this road and it takes us past the back of the campground and we can see the pile of dirt and rocks that closed the road. This just goes right on by and we're back on track. The road is a two track and in nice country. It's in pretty good condition and I think we're riding at close to 30-35 mph. This continues for a few different roads and maybe 10 miles. Finally at Tule Tank Wash I stop for a rest and a breakfast bar. Steve and I are smiling like fools and talking about how this is exactly what we had hoped the trip would be like. And how well the KLR was suited for this type of travel. I walk around the area just a bit and catch Steve tying his breakfast bar wrapper to my bungee net. I have a bungee net from the GDR with his wrapper trash on it too. : ) As we're getting ready to head off from this wilderness Mecca a Saturn pulls up to us from the way we're heading and it has two older couples in it. I'm talking 75 year old older couples. They're just out for a drive and are enjoying a beautiful day. Our bubbles burst along with any thoughts that we were in tough country and we smile a bit sheepishly. We have a nice chat and then off they drive and Steve and I start laughing. Adventure riders heck, you can take a Saturn on our adventures. Wow, I'm laughing now just writing about it. Off we go and we take a few roads the Saturn probably wasn't on. Government Canyon is one area where we get in some steeper descents, loose rocks and rough road. We ride past the place where Steve and Kent and I turned around last year and I feel good that I recognized it from the other direction. There are some really nice switchbacks and nice views on this road. We pass a mine and then another. Finally we get to Perkinsville and we stop on the bridge for a quick picture. Last year there were a bunch of people swimming in the river at this point. Today, nobody's around at all. I lead off as Steve reminds me I have two different routes set up. He doesn't think the route we have planned will go through but he's willing to try. He spends two weeks here each summer and rides a bit in this area. The road is in pretty good shape and has lots of twists and turns and elevation changes and switchbacks too. We ride and ride and ride. I see some flowers on the side of the road and decide next time I see them I'm going to stop for a picture. And we ride and ride and ride and finally around a switchback there they are. I stop and get a quick picture. I guess in some ways I'm trying to take time to smell the roses. Steve is past me now and is leading the way. I fall back a bit to keep from eating so much dust and all of the sudden I realize we've missed our turn for the planned route. In fact I didn't even remember seeing it where it was suppose to be. I follow Steve and as we get closer to Chino Valley we get behind a dump truck and a service truck. We hang back a bit to keep from eating so much dust and I'm glad there's a bit of a cross wind. Finally we're near town and as I watch Steve's bike I realize his rear tire is low on air. About the time I get to him he's turn off the road and is parking. Yup he knows about it and it just happened. This is the second flat for him on this rear tire. I sure don't like the Dunlop D606 tires. We're right next to the town water park and there is a tree with a little shade. I suggest we push his bike into the shade to work on it. It's about 95 or hotter and we've had a good but tiring ride the last couple of days. We're both tired and now only about 3 miles from his in-laws he gets a flat. Well, if you're gonna have a flat you might as well do it near friends or family. Steve pulls his rear tire while I get the pail and tire wizard. We don't need the tire wizard as the bead is already broken. Steve puts some duct tape over the bearings to keep dust and dirt out of them and in a few minutes we're looking at the patch on the tube. It's come loose and we think it's from the heat. I still wonder if it didn't have to do just a little bit with the glue we used up at the Hole-In-The-Wall. Steve's unopened glue that we tried first was bad. I'm wondering if that didn't set us up for failure even though it seemed like we got all of it off before trying some of my tire patch glue. We look at the patch and quickly realize it's just a gooey mess and we won't be patching that tube today. Steve pulls his spare tube out and we put it into the tire. We started using little spray bottles from Walmart to hold premixed tire lube and it works well. The bead slips right over the rim and we hook up the air compressor. After about two minutes we figure out something is wrong. Maybe it's the compressor so we get mine out. Nope, my compressor won't inflate this tube either. We lever the bead off the rim and pull the tube. Yup, Steve bought a prepinched tube. I'm sure we didn't do that. Not us. Heck we've been doing this kind of thing for years. It was pinched right next to the valve stem. I get my spare rear tube out and we're pretty careful about it's installation. I start talking with a bit of a very bad German accent and determine Steve is now Weilhelm. Veilhelm, vhat ist taking zo long? Vhy are zu zo zlow? I'm Heinrich by the way. I guess this has to do with us both riding BMW Airheads vhich vere made in der faderland. At first Willie don't find it so funny. But after a few minutes of non stop questions and comments Willie gets into the act too. Villie, comt comt, zu must be more fast. Dis ist taking all day. Comt now, Schnell! Heinrich, I'm trying. Dis ist not going so gut. Yeah, I know this loses something in the written form but when it's almost 100 degrees and we've done this tire a couple of times it starts to get kind of funny. You vill laugh and you vill like it! Finally we get the second new tube in and the bead levered over the rim. As we're inflating the tire and seating the bead a car pulls up. Out climbs a local guy who can barely speak English. He gives us two ice cold sodas and says he's seen us working on the bike. He rides a bike too. He hopes things are ok. We tell him it's almost fixed and thank him for the sodas. Man do they taste good. It's things like this that can really make your day. I'll remember that a long time and I'm sure I'll pay it forward a few times when I have the opportunity. The tire goes on fine and we get reloaded and packed up. Steve leads off and a few minutes later we're at John and Calette's house. We park out back and find them home. And that's what it feels like at their place, it feels like home. We say hi and sit down to visit a bit. We have iced tea and boy does it taste good. Later I learn we go through 1 1/2 pitchers of iced tea when we first get there. Visiting is great and we catch up on the last year or so and tell them about the trip. Steve and I check my air mattress for leaks and Steve discovers a split in the fabric about 7/16" long right next to the pump housing. We talk about how to fix it and decide to get some kind of patch kit tomorrow when in Prescott. It doesn't matter tonight as we get beds to sleep in. We also get showers again which makes it two nights in a row. Wow, this is special. I take a very nice shower and go to bed. I leave the light on for Steve and in seconds I'm asleep. What a wonderful day this has been. End of Day Eight. Jeff Saline ABC # 4412 South Dakota Airmarshal Airheads Beemer Club www.airheads.org The Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota 75 R90/6, 03 KLR650, 79 R100RT . . ____________________________________________________________ 53 Year Old Mom Looks 33 The Stunning Results of Her Wrinkle Trick Has Botox Doctors Worried http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/4f1d738422d9d2cc8bdst03vuc [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]