travel tips (non bike)

[Larry Hall]

Great post - love the part where u said "you're on a KLR get away from the main highway!" Agreed why ride one at all if you're not doing that. Might as well sell the KLR and get a Rebel 250 haha Sent from my iPod

On Nov 20, 2012, at 11:36 AM, "bryanonfire" wrote: > > > > So budget? I figure $120. Average, $70 for the room, $20 food, $30 gas. > Wow. I budget less than half that per day, including gas. But then, I only go with a town night about once a week, to clean up and catch up on e-mail. > > Out west, except in National Parks and along the Pacific coast where public land is scarce, you can camp for free on any BLM, State, or Forest Service land that doesn't specify you can't. I just pull off on any likely looking logging or mining road, find a nice flat spot away from the main road, and camp. Besides, there are no motels or developed campgrounds once you are way off the main roads in prime KLR habitat! > > National Parks can be nice to ride through but the popular ones are jammed with traffic, seriously overpriced, and lacking in quality camps, by which I mean remote, solitary, and with a great view. The best exception I've found in a popular NP is Point Sublime on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It's a rough 4x4 road out to an incredible undeveloped spot, about the only place in GCNP that you can camp away from crowds without hiking. It does require a backcountry permit, I think $15, but there's a good chance you'll have it to yourself. Some other western parks have similar opportunities, but they are few and hard to discover. Just assume in a National Park you'll always pay. To enter, to camp, to do anything, so if your trip plans include a lot of NPs, buy a yearly pass and bring an extra $20 a day for campgrounds or backcountry permits. > > For food, get a butane cartridge camp stove, a small titanium pot, a knife and spoon, a steel cup, and you're in business. A regular sized cartridge will take you three to four days if you do instant coffee and oatmeal for breakfast and a ten minute supper. I also carry a cheap frisbee-type plastic disc for a combination cutting board and plate, and eat everyting else out of the pot. I know you said "I don't really want to try and cook meals" but it isn't really "cooking" if you just pick up stuff off the supermarket shelves that can be heated in a single pot. > > If you can heat water, you can cook. Not only is it cheap and easy, by staying away from Denny's and McDonalds you'll gain health and lose weight. > > You'd be surprised at how many good meals you can make from supermarket foods with a little creativity. Examples: a pack of ramen noodles, add a packet of tofu-miso soup mix, toss in a little sausage or a packet of albacore tuna, and you have a delicious soup in about three minutes. Or, a can of roast beef, a pack of dried potatoes, and a small can of mixed veggies, and you have a tasty stew. Just spend half an hour walking the isles that carry instant rice, potatoes, noodles, and canned goods and you'll see dozens of great meal opportunities. To keep it simple, check the cooking instructions and skip stuff like some noodle or potatoe mixes that requires milk or butter, but you can still do those by using dried milk and olive oil. Don't forget the health food section, where there are great dried soups and asian meals that don't have a lot of salt or preservatives added. All this for a fraction of what freeze-dried backpacking meals cost in a sporting goods store, with much better variety. > > Pack rolls, cheese, and fruit for lunch, granola, jerky, or energy bars for snacks, instant coffee and oatmeal in the morning... > > Eating like this costs about $10 per day. Add $25 a day for gas. Pick up a bottle of wine or bourbon, discretely decant it into a water bottle to get rid of the glass while in the parking lot of the store, and you can live quite well on $40 a day if you have a comfy sleeping pad, good bag, and a nose for a nice campsite. The extra $10 a day in the budget goes for a cheap room now and then and a restaurant meal every two or three days. > > You're on a KLR, not some chromed-up road touring monster. Make the most of it and get away from the main highways! > > I camp out at least fifty night a year. If you want specific recommendations on gear contact me off-list. > > Bryan > > > > > I'm enjoying all your travel tips. Thanks for posting. > > > > My question is how many $ do you budget per day? > > > > I'm thinking of staying every 4th night or so in a cheap hotel/motel and traveling around the western US. I haven't decided what to do about food, yet. I really don't want to try and cook meals, maybe eat one meal at a mom and pop diner per day with samiches and fruit for the others. > > > > I don't know. What do you plan on? > > > > Thanks. > > Jim > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Eddie]

Gas: With non-ethanol gas being more and more scarce around here, it's no wonder my fuel injected bikes still exhibit some stumbles and hiccups every so often. We take extra care to not let gas get old in my girlfriend's GS500, riding it enough to need adding gas every outing plus some ethanol treatment, too. So far, so good. The KLR would act a bit odd on certain fill ups. But, I kept fresh fuel in it often enough I was never worried about it separating out with the alcohol in the bottom of the tank ready to sabotage my carb. =) Tires: The TKC80s on a FZ8 thing might not happen this go-round. But, I'd still like to try them eventually. Maybe when the Tenere needs rubber. Who knows? And yes, I really would ride the FZ8 down a two track in the woods (very cautiously) just so I could a.) say I did and "justify" the tires. LOL and b.) take a photo of it sitting in a shallow creek crossing. After all, I took my picky ex-gf 2 up down several miles of twisty, somewhat hilly, 1-lane gravel road on my former Gold Wing. {She didn't speak to me for the entire 30 min. ride home. It was great!} Oil: Use what you want while avoiding the energy conservation symbol of clutch death, change it often and things should be fine. Me? I get Spectro oils' synthetic blend at a slight discount. That's what my 09' KLR got after break in and it didn't use much oil between changes. Shifting felt better than with the Valvoline m/c-specific oil I broke it in on. If I lived where oil choices were less plentiful, I'd probably go with a good diesel oil in the KLR. It's cheap and seems to get favorable reviews. The Yamaha owner's manuals for the FZ and the XT advise against it, though. Perhaps due to to additives & cat. converters. Who really knows? -eddie in Columbus [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]