alfalfa

Going as fast as FLames can, we actually shaved about 17 miles off the Google Maps distance.  (mileage at mom's)

The woman what welped me.  89, virus survivor (with NO hospitalization), with her 83 year old boy-toy.  He was hospitalized, but as you can see there were no ill side effects.

Sample of mom's world famous chocolate cake and off to bed.  Part two of the ride north was scheduled for the next day - Boise to Stevensville, MT.

See ya, mom!

with less than 400 or so miles to do to MT, I didnt have to take off early, but the heat of the day convinced me to eventually get going.  The route:

Along the way, the overheated buddy from SoCal texted me his location and we decided to meet in Challis for lunch.

He got there about 20 minutes ahead of me, but found a good little watering hole, the Challis Roadhouse.  With the Covid stuff happening, each area and each state seemed to have different takes on what you could or couldnt do.  Pretty much everyone was doing takeout for food, but this place was more along the lines of "we aint dead, so come on in and sit down and have cold one".  One of the guys at the bar turned out to be a pro rodeo rider and his very good looking mother was the bartender.  

Of course, the rider's name was Ruger!

(sorry, no pics of mom :()

Ruger's been doing this insane stuff since high school and is currently recuperating from hip surgery.  I guess we found something even stupider than riding motorcycles.

My 89-year old, covid-surviving mother (yes, i have one, Bruce) lives in Boise. I had plans to ride thru Boise on the way to Montana, and wanting to maximize my riding time, i decided a one day jaunt from SoCal to Boise was the only way to accomplish that.  its only 865 miles and i've done it once by motorcycle and three times by car.  I think i like motorcycle better, but not by much.

An early takeoff (4am) was set and the plan was to meet one of the other idjits about 40 minutes east of home.  I woke that morning at O dark 30 to a text saying "I dont think i will be able to have the bike packed in time in order to meet you".  No biggie, except this was from a guy who had all week to pack his bike.

As i said, no biggie. For this kind of run, i actually prefer to be solo.  I can explore, stop when i want, drive my own pace, etc, etc.  Kind of the reason we ride motorcycles to begin with.  The upside is that my buddy, leaving later, chose to ride to MT instead of Idaho, which took him out thru Las Vegas, Mesquite and Cedar City.  So, why he was wilting from 120 degree weather, i was enjoying better temps that might have maxed out at 92!  Score.

Lu's opinion on the temperature differences 

while he was still nestled, all snug in his bed, i was experiencing no traffic, cool temps and this kind of scenery

Being a mad dash to Boise, pics from this leg of the trip are few and far between.  I did find a new route along the way, stopping to take a shot in honor of Ghost Rider - Neil Peart

The route from my home to mom's

The new section, for those who dont like crowds:

Ok, ok, i can see you are all chomping at the bit by the way you voted from my most excellent bike picture at the Continental Divide sign, so here goes:

We (AGALOS - see above) try to get together once a year and do something that either ends up epic, or EPIC.  After doing this for 14 years, it was bound to happen.  And, in this year of the kung fu virus, i guess this is a better time than any other.

I should have known by the number of illustrious idjits backing out of the ride (planning of which started back in March) that something would be amiss.  But, since i've never been accused of being too intelligent, i went ahead and set up this year's ride.

Originally, the plan was to head to just north of Elk City, ID to sort of finish the IDBDR (Idaho Backcountry Discovery Route - dirt roads thru a state) that we started a couple of years ago.   But, as the start day approached, mama nature started sending signs, which in hindsight should have been a clue.  This was our road into northern Idaho:

Undeterred (another word for "stupid") we pressed on with Option 2.  We decided to ride the Continental Divide Route, a series of mostly dirt roads that run from Canada (eh) to Mexico (si).   As my brother lives in Montana, that was our pre-arranged meetup point.  Of course, as it turns out, since the only riders who actually went were all from SoCal, we could have just started anywhere.

your sissy bar and get back whip?

2 hours ago, Pedro said:

Oh come one, I meant it as a complement

I've a thick skin and have heard worse (should forward all Bruce's jealous comments), so i did take it as a compliment. 

Pedro must have run the last amurican elections, predjudicing the vote against my photo with that hurtful statement about Flames!

6 hours ago, Tym said:

USI™ is a registered trademark of Fuckdown Corp.

haha!!!

1 minute ago, Pedro said:

Is AGALOS a bike?

AGALOS - Aint Got A Lick O'Sense.

Made famous by its crazy antics and by Bruce here: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=agalos

And, here:

15 minutes ago, XTreme said:

Not exactly a rare occurrence is it Rick? 

Not to spoil the story, but the bike in the picture has 120,000 miles on it.  Lots of hard miles.

Just now, XTreme said:

Gotta be a Beemer Breakdown in this! 

How did you guess?  You been stalking me, boy? 

After moto-touring for 14 years, something had to have gone wrong...eventually.

These will help set the stage.

Little tribute to Neil Peart

Nice looking bike.  But, why does your country issue blank license plates??

Love history-traveling!   Could hear Sergio's music playing in the background, and see Henry Fonda's finger up that barber's poopchute!

1 hour ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

Thurded turded third  ahh feck never mind me to 

4th'd.  Or, i bet he is fibbin.  Unless its one of the Corrs.  I love me some Corrs ladies!

Excluding the guy (no offense to Bruce), i would definitely start at the left and work my way to the right! 

3 hours ago, XTreme said:

You've been to Spain Rick?

Yes, rode the Pyrenees a couple of years ago. Love Spain!  Like a clean California and i almost speak the lingo (from immersion here at home <G>)

Mongolia is one of the last remaining items on my bucket list.

On 06/07/2020 at 15:21, Buckster said:

That’s a two day trip for me with a petrol engine.

and, 12 quarts of oil

17 hours ago, Tym said:

Wow! What great pics!  

Ignore everything negative you've ever heard about Mexico. It was a ride that rivals the Alaska ride, but we had pyramids!!!   And, Mayans.   12 people had said they wanted to do the ride, 3 went.  i guess the other 9 believe the amurican press too much

19 hours ago, XTreme said:

@alfalfa........how can you manage to get away for so long? Are you retired?

Have been at this company for so long that i get 4 weeks vacation a year.  Until doing all this motorcycle traveling, i hadnt really taken advantage of it.  Thanks Charlie and Ewan

The Mexico trip was a little over two weeks. Flew into San Antonio and crossed in Laredo.  Flew back from Mexico City (there is a story about being an illegal alien in Mexico i should write about some day)

4 hours ago, Pedro said:

 

I was just about to ask wether the guy enjoyed a 640 on all that wide open road, but that question is now answered 

We did hear a lot of whining from the guy.  He had never done a trip that long, and that wasnt the best first bike for a trip of 10,000 miles.  He was going to ride it all the way back to Ohio, after Alaska.

We named that trip the "KTM Enema Relay".  You can probably guess why...

19 hours ago, Earache said:

Nice pics!

Let me know if you have any openings for next year's trip. haven 't been able to ride this year for shit, so I'll save up for a longer route next year.

 

That bear in the glass case looks like the Anchorage Airport bear - have a pic somewhere of me next to it.

Standby for next year

Yep, that is the Anchorage airport.   Last time i was ever there.

he also does the BDR movies, doesnt he?

Maybe i will throw up  some pics from our 2013 trip all the way down to Guatemala.  Beautiful and fun country.  (all paved, tho)

Oh, from my house to my brothers was longer than the 1100 miles you referenced.  its a bit of a large country.

1 hour ago, XTreme said:

Can't get my head round that distance as I'm used to UK/EU parameters.

As an example, from Malaga on the Mediterranean in the south to Le Havre on the French coast in the north is 1100 miles!

If you look at the map, the distance from Fairbanks to Prudhoe and back is 1000 miles!!

The 4th guy in our group was someone from Ohio that was buying my brother's KTM 640.  He decided he would go to AK with us, not understanding the mileages involved!.  We were in a restaurant somewhere and i was showing that the distance we had traveled was about 1/3 to 1/4 the total distance JUST to Alaska.  He almost turned around right there 

This was our route north