forrest1

Paypal sent, $20+. First time that I've ever sent money by Paypal except to buy stuff: hope it worked... I would have rather sent a check, but the wife tells me we don't have a checkbook any more Culture Shock! Forrest

You're not too old. I suspect that us baby boomers are the behind the purchases of most new bikes, even if they might be for our kids/grandkids. And especially the higher-end stuff like adventure bikes. You have a huge amount of knowledge and experience, and a huge number of friends that ride and would buy bikes from you. I don't want to buy a bike from a kid who was only 6 years old when my current bike was brand new. The people that interviewed you screwed up, IMHO.

WOW! I'm a confirmed map geek, and this is great! I downloaded it and burned it onto a CD. I wish California would do this. Are the TOPO's more highly detailed than the JPEG's? I don't have TOPO!, but if the TOPO maps are better, I'll get it. Thanks for posting this!

The Jamboree is pretty big, with guided tours and big group rides, BUT, it centers on Richfield, I believe, so it's a long ways from Beaver. I would think you'd be OK, but to be sure, I'd phone one or two of the info numbers and talk to a local. Everybody there is very nice and accomodating, and I'm sure they'll be happy to give you the scoop. It might be worth a trip to Richfield to see the vendors exhibits if you have an interest: we went there on their last day (first day of our trip) and they have everything you can imagine for ATV's, and then some. Most is geared to the heavier, utility ATV, but there's a lot of sport ATV stuff as well.

Welcome, hope to ride with ya soon. Ya know, I bought my bike at Motoworld, about 1996 or 97...'bout time for a new one...

Welcome!

It's been 5 or 6 years, but we used to go every Fall with our neighbors. The Paiute Trail is a great area for a family trip, and perfect for an 8 year old. The riding is more scenic than technical: trails vary from smooth graded fire and access roads to jeep roads, tow-track, to quad trails. The quad-only trails are the most technical, and have some rocky areas and a few steep areas, but even those are short stretches. I don't recall anything dangerous or high-exposure. We had our wives with us and everybody rode everything. The scenery is varied and spectacular. There's a good trail map you'll want to get, it clearly shows the trails and marks the difficult spots: http://www.marysvale.org/paiute_trail/contents.html ATV Utah has good info, too: http://www.atvutah.com/southern/paiute.htm Unless you like lots of people, avoid the Jamboree weeks in June and September. The fun thing is that quads are accepted there as a standard means of travel, and you can ride down into the little towns for lunch, gas, and ice cream. Quads are allowed on the roads in the towns. Car traffic is minimal. There are lots of nice little mom & pop places in the small towns to eat. And just a few miles out of town, you're back up at 8-9 thousand feet, in the big trees, with stream crossings (none real big), lots of scenery, old mines, etc. We liked to go after the leaves changed, and one year we got snow at the higher levels, which is a real treat. It's cool to cold up high, can be warm in the valleys. We carried about 5-6 gallons of extra gas between us (6 people) and used it a few of times. It's nice to carry extra gas, lunch, drinks, etc, so that you can stay out and go farther. There are almost 2000 miles of trails and side trails, so there's plenty to keep you busy for 3-4 days. It would be easy to plan a loop trip, either camping or even in motels each night, if you wanted.

Welcome! you'll find lots of good riding here, and a good bunch of people.

Welcome aboard! Great pics, too

Sounds like fun, but looks doubtful for me. We need to finish up our do-it-ourselves remodel before out-of-town family arrives for a two-week (!) visit. If I can earn a hall pass I'll be there--I'll watch the thread.

Good stuff. It depends how much weight you want to carry, and how far you're going. I take one front tube everywhere I go; when I went to Baja for a few days, it's 2 tubes and a patch kit. I carry CO2's to inflate, but you need 3 or 4, and it's a one-shot deal, so I take a bike pump on longer trips. The pump is more work, but you can pump up an unlimited number of tires, and they're pretty light, if bulky. If you're with a group, you can share a lot of stuff, of course. I don't carry a sparkplug on a 4-stroke; I would on a 2-stroke. Also, you'll want to get some rim locks for that DR sometime, if you haven't already.

Dying to read how that went...please tell us what BS had to say.... I've been trying to remember the exact words, but I can't. The old memory isn't what it used to be. It was more than words, though, more like a gestalt, a hint of great things to come and great times to be had. I sort of had to read between the lines a little bit to appreciate the full meaning of his words. I think it was in the form of an email, with a long disclaimer at the end ("...confidential and/or privileged material..."), so I'm not really sure that I'm at liberty to share it. But I will take a chance. It was something like "Be at McCain Valley tomorrow at <time>". Brief, but it told me all I needed to know... Back on topic: couldn't get by HRO today. Next window of opportunity is Wednesday. Hope they will still have a VX-170 in stock. 73, -.- -.- -.... -.. -..

Mimi, Thanks for the pics and for leading a great ride! And it was a great ride, even if I missed the "second half of the second half". Thanks also to BS for putting this together. It was really nice to meet some more people: Mimi (Dirtdame), Dave (Daveb) and Chris (DRZrider). This SDAR group sure does have a bunch of riding talent.

WOW! I didn't know they still have fish that big in SoCal!

I'll see you at 9:00. I just can't make 0700 after a 12 hour day of tilling the soil...