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I just found this thread and think it is a good idea to share experiences. Rather than retype my ride home I have copied an email I sent to a friend about my trip home. First, I want to thank AJ and the other organizers for a great rally. Also, thanks to all the other members of the forum that made me feel welcome, it was appreciated.

On the way to the rally, I hit a deer in the Lolo Pass. On a blind corner he/she was just standing in the road with oncoming traffic. I stood the bike up, did an emergency stop but knew I was going to cream the little guy. I braced the bars and aimed for the hindquarters, spun the deer around so hard it hit my side case and left a mark. I found a safe place to stop about a mile up the road and other than deer poop on the right fork, no damage. I could hear it hit plastic hard so it was likely a fatal blow. My ride home was more interesting as I described to my friend.

Hi Gary,

I left Montrose at 3:45 AM on Sunday. I traveled the same way I came and checked out the roads I mentioned. I think this is a good way around Salt Lake City on some twisty roads. I hit a rock, about the size of a football, on the Douglas Pass on 139 hwy. The tire held pressure but I bent the front rim. I decided to push a longer day while I still had an operational bike and ride to Arco Idaho, just over 900 miles. Hwy 139, 191, north of Vernal, hwy 44 around Flaming Gorge were all twisty roads and a good way to get around Salt Lake City.

Next day I left Arco at 5 AM and arrived in Omak WA at 7 PM pacific time. (gain an hour riding) My rear tire was shot after running the Salmon River Valley. From past experience the peeling rubber means maybe 500 miles left. When I reached the Lolo Pass I rode it British Style, sort of like a dirt bike, to keep it on the side of the tire. It was kind of fun actually, you seem to have a heads up view and it is less fatiguing as long as you don't run out of lean angle.

The next morning it was raining, which was good for the rear tire. Left Omak at 5:30 AM and ran the north Cascade route through Washington Pass in the rain. No traffic in the morning. I arrived at the ferry at about 10:45 AM as it is only about 400 miles. The rear tire was really shot. The centre of the tire was down to the steel belt and half of the belts were sticking up or were gone. Due to a marine emergency the ferries were delayed and I did not get to the island until 3:00 PM

Once on the island I was within trailer range so I just wanted to see how far you could ride on the totally destroyed tire. Home is 90 miles north of the ferry. It was raining harder on the island and I rode through the city of Nanaimo to keep my speed down and then followed the scenic route along the ocean. My speed was kept down to 40 to 45 mph and with the rain the tire remained reasonably cool and I arrived home in about three hours.

I changed the tire yesterday and some of the steel cords had broken through on the inside but still held air. One area of the tire was down to the bias casing. This layer is very flexible but seems strong, as long as you don't abuse the tire or hit something sharp, it may last a lot of miles in an emergency, until a part of the casing actually wears through.

I had the Tire Pressure Sensor screen on the dash to watch for any loss of air. I bet I could have traveled another 100 miles or more at a slow speed on a good highway before a failure. Obviously, I would rather not. I will test the thinnest area of casing with a screw driver to see how tough and thick it is. I have a extra front wheel due to hitting a pot hole a few years ago. Green’s in Vancouver do a good job of re-straightening. I will need new bearings and swap the rotors over to the other wheel to get this bike back on the road. I’ll ride the GS until I have time to get parts and make repairs.

Anyway, it was a good trip with hundreds of corners. My trip was 5205 miles with very few straight sections of road on a new rear tire. I will photograph the wear and send it to you when I get the time. During conversations with a few guys at NAFO we talked about a route to the Pacific Northwest on twisty roads. I may write up a post that describes my route so others have a basic travel route up to Washington that they can refine and run some of the twisty roads. The Pacific NW guys likely have lots of other routes that we don’t know about but this one works for me.

David

 
Arrived home about 45 minutes ago (12:45am). 5874 miles completed. Bob and I left Lebanon, KY this morning and toured the Maker's Mark facility then beat feet back home. We split up in South Boston, VA after enjoying some final twisties for the trip. What a fantastic adventure....a really great trip! Thank you Bob, Lisa, and Petey for the ride! Thanks to the NAFO team for putting together a great event!

I have a metric ton of photos, but I'll sort those out later. I've posted just about everything on Facebook, but have yet to post our Mt. Evans and Rocky Mountain National Park stuff since my phone ran out of room to absorb my camera's photos.

Here's our total trip (Bob left out of VA). Going out to NAFO, we saw very little interstate as we stuck to mostly secondary roads. On the return home, it was mostly interstate, with some secondary roads at the end.

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BURNSPOT SAID " toured the Maker's Mark"

What did you buy?
drinks.gif


Nice little loop! I wish the weather was a little cooler and I would have done a couple of more days of back roads home. Slab sucks.
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BURNSPOT SAID " toured the Maker's Mark"
What did you buy?
drinks.gif


Nice little loop! I wish the weather was a little cooler and I would have done a couple of more days of back roads home. Slab sucks.
bike.gif
Heh, I bought a $45 t-shirt...Bob gave me the bottle of 46 we'd been taking nightcaps from. ;D

 
I rolled in at 0115 this morning.Scott and I were chasing a storm and started riding on wet roads just as it got dark. We stopped in south Boston, VA and checked the radar. It didn't look good for me. We had a sandwich and a drink and I said I may as well get going fully expecting to run into the storm. Just a few miles of wet roads and then dry. Yes, DRY! I looked up and saw stars. Super! Now all I have to worry about is deer. I saw many, but none in the road.

What an epic trip. Big last day to finish. I have many photos. That will come later. I now have to spend some quality time with my love!

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Finally made it home after 16 days on the road. About 8900 miles and turned over 52K on the red head. Kinda got used to that dry heat out west - the last two days through OK, AR, MS and GA were pretty tough in the wet heat. A fun trip with lots of TOH grabs
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Got home about a half an hour ago..... 8,000 kilometers on the truck and hauler, 5,000 kilometers on the FJR. Thanks to all who came to the rally and a bigger thanks to the group of people behind the ...... well you know what!

 
Got home about a half an hour ago..... 8,000 kilometers on the truck and hauler, 5,000 kilometers on the FJR. Thanks to all who came to the rally and a bigger thanks to the group of people behind the ...... well you know what!
It's about time, Tom!

 
And you all thought this thread to be dead (?) I rolled into my driveway about 9 pm tonight. After leaving Death Valley, I spent some time near Monroe, LA

I think 3 or so days as my memory best serves me… Florida had scattered showers which were great for cooling down.

I actually took some pics this trip and will post after recovering my gear.

Had a blast at NAFO this year!

Oh… the front tire was not looking too good after the "Heaven to Hell" ride, but held up nicely all the way home. That was over 5k since having the rear

changed and being told the tire was trashed… oh… no shoe goo needed!
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