Rockout Part 1

Well, the ride into Pryor was uneventful. The tires on Jeff's and Russ's bike continued to disintegrate and throw lugs off for the 175 miles over here. After we setup camp,  we headed over to the local Walmart for some mead and a disposable cooler, and the Martin Bros. called every motorcycle store in a 100 mile radius for replacement tires. COMPLETELY SOLD OUT!! Turns out this is the half way point for those heading west on the TAT as we were told by local member of ADV. Finally Daniel called a place he knew in Rogers Arkansas who had some replacement Dunlops. So the boys are driving the 1.5 hours each way to get them replaced today. Anyway, we had a great time last night looking at the locals and watching Buckcherry (Hey Your a Crazy B!tch), 3 Days Grace, and Godsmack. Check out the picture of one of the locals!

The Long and Winding Road

Well Day one is DONE. This was our first and only marathon day, at least on the super slab. Jenn and I were up at 3:30 AM in order to meet the Martin Bros. over at the Waffle House in Cartersville at 5 AM. We got there a little early and ordered coffee while we were waiting. Danile and Russ showed up shortly there after, so we all ordered breakfast while we waited for Jeff. A text message was received saying he was leaving home now about the time we were finishing eating. It was decided we would press on and meet up with him in outside of Chattanooga. We stopped at Chicamauga (sp) Battlefield on the way and took some pictures.    A lot for crossed signals and missed communications, but at the end of it all we dinally hooked the whole team up and we were on our way as a group non e the worse for wear. Danile had laid out a route that kept us off the interstate for most of the day, which made it a pretty enjoyable ride. As the day wore on it got pretty hot, some places up into the mid 90's. Something happened with my Bushnell GPS during the day as I started getting the live feed weather services on my map and I could see that we were surrounding by lightning strikes most of the afternoon, but we never encountered any. However, we did run thru about 1/2 hour of heavy rains late in the day, but all-in-all, we got thru the day pretty much unscathed. That is except for Russ and Jeff's tires. As you can see the tires have lost a a bunch of lugs off these brand new Shenko tires! So it looks like they will both searching for new rear tires after we get to Pryor Ok. today. We finally finished the 700+ mile day at around 7 PM and as usual settled into a local pub called the Fox and Hound for nourishment an mead!

Gotter Done!

Well Jenn and I spent last weekend doing the things we “put off” from the previous week. We started the morning swapping out the tires on my “Green Meanie” and then moved on the Jenn’s “Ole Blue”. Before last year’ s Arctic Circle trip, we changed the tires in our driveway using the tools that we were bringing on the trip to prepare us in the event we needed to swap out a tube on the road. Now confident that we could do it in the field if needed, this time we used the equipment at the garage which made things way easier. However we still used our Motion-Pro tire spoons that I carry in my tool tube, because they work better than anything we have. After finishing each set we let them sit a while to make sure that they are holding air and we didn’t pinch the tube, but everything was cool and we “static balanced” all and moved on to oil changes and chain lubing. I took a good part of the day, but at the end of it all, we high-fived each other and placed the “official” trip log on our bikes. This Monday a group that we “wrench” with in Atlanta, the Monday Night Motorcycle Gang, are getting together for a send-off Pizza party where to swap road stories and “make up” some new ones. Always fun, and we will get the group back together after the trip for their now famous “Travel Log Night”. I will post some pictures from the event on my “Load Out” post right before we leave.

Well it was too Damn Nice!

Well, Jenn and I had big plans this weekend. Spend some time dusting of the cobwebs on the KLR's by running a combination of paved and fire roads on Saturday;  then spend Sunday spooning on the new tires, changing the oil, lubing the chain, and generally getting things ready for the trip in a couple of weeks. So Saturday started according to plan. We got on the road around 10 and pointed the bikes towards Locust Stake. For those that don't know, it is a national ATV park north of Toccoa Georgia. It has a good mix of gravel, and single/double track trails that lends itself to most levels of off-road riding. We spend some time runnning the fire roads and getting re-acquainted with our bikes. Although we have had them less than 1 year, they have over 8k miles on them and have spent a lot of time in the "junk" (See Martin's Up and About link). However, after we returned from the Artic Circle trip last June, they have mostly be allocated to the back of the garage in favor of the bikes that we use on the street. Anyway, the weather and road was perfect, so after a while on the trails, we decided to buzz the 30+ miles over to Helen and had a wonderful lunch down by the river at a place called "The Troll". Afterwards, I asked Jenn if she was up for some more riding and she said she would follow me! So I headed up route 17 to route 180 and struck out over to Suches and "Two Wheels Only". So we shot "Wolfpens Gap" and drove the 40+ miles over to buy a Diet Coke, talk some $hit with the moto crowd, and hot foot it home. What a great day, perfect weather (70's & Sunny), perfect company, a worthy machine, and beautiful roads to ride. As we pulled back into the lake house we thought they day couldn't have been much better. After tossing back a couple of liquid refreshments, we decided to screw the work tomorrow and we would take another run at the roads.  Sunday was a little cooler, but still a spectacular day. We again rode up to Helen in search of a fire road we found on a map. After a couple of false starts we finally found the road, and what a road. The first mile or so started off easy enough, just dirt and some loose gravel, but soon it started a steep climb with sharp counter pitched turns, filled with deep stones the size of golf balls. We climbed the switchback trail until we reached the waterfall in the pictures. We stopped grabbed some water and after checking the time decided we had better head back. This road we will take a nother run at, but not today. Overall a wonderful weekend riding with my beautiful wife. The bike performed as expected (after all it conquered the Dempster!), and the testing of our new equipment proved we were ready for the TAT. Next up, the Final Prep and Load!

Test Run

Well, it has been a while since I last posted, but the time for launch is fast approaching so I thought that I had better get back into this. Jenn and I are planning a set of test rides this weekend in the north Georgia mountains as a final prep for the upcoming trip. This saturday (5-8) we are planning to hit some fire roads and trails up near Helen Ga., to test out the settings on our new front fork pre-load adjusters and the new rear shocks that we have installed since our last adventure. Sunday, we are planning to spoon on some new TKC80's, change the oil, and do the final steps to ready the bikes for the TaT journey. I will post some pictures of our trip next week as Jenn is testing out her new Hero camara in the various mounting positions to figure out where she can get the best shots. If all goes well, we will put the KLR's "to bed" Sunday and let them sleep for a while so they are well rested for what we have in store for them starting 5-27!

Prepping the bikes

Well, if you remember from our last blog (see link Martins' Up and About), we had performed over 40 modifications to our KLR's in preparation for the northern assault. Although we could have certainly made this trip without any additional modifications besides tires, there were a few more things we found in our last adventure that we thought could make things a little better. As noted, we are totally sold on the Continental TKC80 tires, and we have 2 sets in the garage ready to spoon on the rims just before we leave. As for pure mods, we have added the following to our 2008 KLR650's:

1. Vista-Cruise Throttle Locks
2. Hella-Optilux 2500 Running Lights
3. New RICOR IAS (Inertia Active Suspension) Rear Shocks
4. Moto Wizard Front Fork Pre-Load Adjusters
5. Bushnell Onix 400 GPS/XM Radio/ Real-time Weather Map

I know that we could have done without everything except the new tires and the new shocks (they  blew out on the Dempster Hwy last year), but like I said last year, Jenn and I are relentless planners. Plus we needed another excuse to keep adding "farkles" to our bikes.

The Itinerary

For those of you that are interested in a more detailed plan, here is what we are projecting to do each day. I am really psyched about the Rocklahoma festival (see link), I will just need to wear a skull cap to hide all of the grey hair so they don't think I'm a Narc!

The Trip's High Level Plan and Basic Itinerary

• 11 Days -  2949 Miles
• May 27 Thu (All Freeway)
• ATL to Springfield, MS 645 Miles
• Lodging: Comfort Inn (4.1 Miles from Bass Pro Shop off Hwy 65)
• May 28 Fri (All Freeway)
• Springfield, MS to Pryor Creek, OK (Rocklahoma) 154 Miles
• Lodging: ROCKLAHOMA CAMPGROUND
• May 29 Sat (Relax day)
• ROCKLAHOMA!
• Lodging: ROCKLAHOMA CAMPGROUND
• May 30 Sun 287 Miles Total (Highway & TAT)
• Pryor Creek, OK to Newkirk, OK (178 Miles)
• Food: StageCoach BBQ
• Newkirk, OK to Alva, OK (109 Miles)
• Lodging: RedBud Inn Best Western 800 E Oklahoma Blvd, Alva OK
• Food: Cowboys, Chopsticks
• May 31 Mon 303 Miles Total (TAT)
• Alva, OK to Liberal, KS (192 Miles)
• Liberal, OK to Boise City, OK (111 Miles)
• Food: Seafood & Taco Shop or JoAnn's Country Resturant
• Lodging: Branding Iron Bed & Breakfast orBlack Mesa State Park & Nature Preserve 
• Jun 1 Tue 450 Miles Total
• Boise City, OK to CO Border (38 Miles) TAT 
• Freeway Return to East side of Tulsa,OK (411 Miles)
• Lodging: Keystone State Park or Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Catoosa, OK
• Jun 2 Wed 345 Miles Total (TAT)
• Pryor Creek, OK to AR Border (81 Miles)
• AR Border to Clinton, AR (263 Miles)
• Lodging: Best Western in Clinton, AR orWhispering Pines Camping Park
• Jun 3 Thu 320 Miles Total (TAT)
• Clinton, AR to MS Border (221 Miles)
• AR border to Holly Springs (99 miles)
• Lodging: Chewalla Lake Campground (Holly Springs)
• Jun 4 Fri 248 Total Miles (TAT)
• Holly Springs, MS to Decatur, AL (186 miles)
• Decatur, AL to Corinth Campground (62 Miles)
• Lodging: Corinth Bankhead National Forest
• Jun 5 Sat 197 Total Miles (TAT & Hwy)
• Double Springs, AL to Piedmont, AL (115 miles)
• Piedmont, AL, to Canton, GA (82 miles) Highway
  Next up, The Final Preparation!