tntmo

Carlsbad Caverns.

Roswell UFO stuff. Lake Avalon by Carlsbad, NM

Krampus will be pleased.

The lake I camped by outside Dodge City Camp site. Sad there was a lot of trash, I packed out two grocery bags but didn’t make a dent. Dodge City.

My parents farm. Two tractors side by side. My cousin in Omaha, he runs a sports medicine place.

My reason for adventure, Zelda, my granddaughter. My buddy used to call it the Blue Beast, but we renamed her Blue Beauty. The tire...yikes!

Theodore Roosevelt NP in ND Rural roadblock by a $300,000 combine. There were three of them. PBR sign at the TumbleWeed Pub

Here’s the total package, $600 Ténéré transport. Montana is always something nice. Good museum at Hill AFB, free! My son and I dress alike, poor kid! My good friend Mike from Billings.

Can’t go wrong with a DRZ400, good all around bike. Welcome to the group, see ya on the trail.

Hey Frank, I think you might find a bit of what you’re looking for here. Welcome to the group, see ya on the trail.

Day six: Fairbank, AZ to San Diego, CA Another friend of mine who sleeps late....well I can't lay around and watch videos all morning, got tires to mount! I get a bottle of water and head outside, it's already warmer at 0730 in AZ than it was in most of the places on my trip. I set the new tires in the sun on the gravel to warm up while I start getting the front wheel off my bike. I wanted to see if I could do a complete tire change with the things I regularly carry. Bike on the center stand, my right pannier works under the skid plate to hold the front wheel off the ground. I have enough tools to get the wheel off but no bead breaker. Well, I just start prying at the bead a bit with a tire iron and move about 1/4 of the way around the rim getting it set down just a bit. Then I put the curved end in and move the bead off just a bit more. After that, two levers together and use leverage to pry the bead down even more. It takes about 2-3 minutes but I get the bead broke....success! I flip the tire over and it goes well on that side also. Lever off the old tires, spoon on the new ones with a bit of soapy water in a PBR can. After that, my 12V compressor slowly inflates the tire and the beads pop on. 30 minutes or so and I'm reinstalling the front axle. My buddy finally ambles out and is surprised that I'm already one tire into this. The rear tire went almost as quickly, but my compressor wasn't getting the tire to seat. I think it would have, but we were getting sick of being in the sun so we used his 12V compressor which had just a bit more volume. I was able to see some soap bubbles and pressed down on the tire in that area and it seated right up. Anyway, I guess I am somewhat capable of doing a tire swap with the items I carry. The buddy I stayed with is the only guy I am still in touch with from boot camp. That was a couple years ago, so we are old grumpy guys now who constantly berate each other (in good humor) and it makes his wife laugh hysterically. Needless to say, I'm always invited back. They took me out for a nice lunch in Tucson, then back to the RV park for some more hanging out and stories. I decided that riding home in the nice warm weather was going to spoil me, so I left at sunset. Nothing too exciting, I-10 to I-8. It was still high 80's or so after dark until I got to the mountains leading into Jacumba and back home. Of course it cooled off well there, and I wasn't ready for it. One last chance to feel cold before getting home. I pulled up to my garage about 0130 or so. 2567 miles on the bike, 6 days/5 nights, 10 states, 3 friends/family accommodations, 2 camp sites, one new set of tires. Good times. Add in the truck trip and it's another 2000-ish miles, 6 more states, one week, all staying with family/friends. I'd say that's an adventure! I'll get some pics up soon, didn't take as many as I should have of course.

I just wanted to add a short note about some of the stupid things I do. This entire trip was just sort of stupid. Taking an untested truck and trailer halfway across the country, not entirely smart but it's adventurous. Sometimes there is a fine line between stupid and adventure. The bike tires likely would have made it all the way to San Diego. After getting to AZ, I don't think they were any more wore out than they were in NM. I probably should have put fresh tires on for the trip, but that ship sailed so I guess it gave me something to think of. All said and done, a smart man may have drove the truck up there on fresh tires and took a one way flight back to San Diego. So call me Forrest Gump if you like, "I'm not a smart man, but I know what adventure is."

Should be an awesome machine

Day five: Carlsbad, NM to Fairbank, AZ After a night of rain, I woke up to a beautiful sky. A guy had camped out in his truck not far from me, drove over from Texas to do some fishing. I made some coffee and spread my tent out to dry. Nothing opened until 0900 so I couldn't make any call on what I wanted to do. I decided that I would ride the 30 miles to Carlsbad Caverns and do some thinking inside a deep hole in a ground. The ride into the park was really nice, more green than I anticipated. I didn't know exactly what to expect at the caverns. I had seen photos, but I thought it might be a 20 mile drive from the visitor center, or you had to take a bus or ??? Nope, just take an elevator down if you want or a nice downhill stroll into the mouth of a cave. The ranger said it was approximately a 2.5 hour trip if you did the walk, but I finished it in a bit over an hour. I walked fast but saw it all. I know I will be back with my lady at some point and will take as long as I need, but I had to figure out what I was going to do with my tires. The cell reception at the park wasn't good so I stopped at the first gas station outside. Looked at my tires and was not surprised that they still looked like they had no tread. I lowered tire pressure slightly, my stupid logic being that I might wear a bit more on the outside edges instead of the non-meaty center. It was 440 miles to my buddy's place out near Tombstone. The tread had been on the wear bars already for a bit. Hmmmm, I believe my friend is crazy enough to come a few hundred miles but I haven't verified that yet. I called the AZ dealer and ordered a set of Continental TKC 70's. Quick shout out to Chochise Motorsports, they were easy to deal with and gave a great price on a set of tires.....as good or better than anywhere else I found. Then I contacted my buddy and said I was riding his way, could he please pick up my tires? The ride from Carlsbad Caverns to El Paso, TX was really nice and quite nerve racking. Highway 180 goes through the Guadalupe Mountains and not much else. No towns for about 150 miles. I kept seeing small desert dwellings off the highway and remembering the mile marker they were on in case I started to see cords in my tires and I had to walk back. Kept the speeds down and enjoyed the first day of my trip with the vents open on my jacket. It finally warmed up! I keep doing math in my head, 1/10th of the way there, 100 miles down, El Paso! I pass a few small bike shops there, I'm sure there are a few more. The tire tread looks the same as when I left. For the first time in my trip, I get on the interstate. I didn't want to do it, but figured it's for the best. Onward, boring but somewhat safe with places to stop every so often that have businesses. No real drama, the bike continues to just go and tires seem to have found a no-wear spot. Even though the remaining tread barely catches a fingernail, it's not appreciably less than when I left in the morning. My friend has just moved his family from Maine back to AZ and they are living in a 40 foot toy hauler in a park outside Tombstone area. He's waiting with a cold PBR for me when I show up about 1800. Now that's a good friend! I got cleaned up and he took me out for a big slab of prime rib.

I would consider it, if only it had some high quality photos. Did you take those pictures with a potato? 😂