Where is everyone? Hey Tony did you get the sprocket yet?

 

Been out of town for a while. I'm finally going to get to ride tomorrow though! Hitting the OHV park for a few hours of serious off road!

 

Hey Todd, I got a few minutes to ride on the gravel last Friday, and I definately need a smaller sprocket on the front or a bigger one on the back. I'm not concerned with highway speeds over 60, so I think I can stand to drop the top end speed. Where are you ridding tomorrow, take some pics and share. Later man.

deej

Here's a picture of a moped that I bought a few months ago, I thought I was going to ride this to work (two mile commute) but it wouldn't get me up the hill to work. Oh well it's good for camping.

[IMG]local://upfiles/897/E79949EEB968412CB9A349D3C51B3603.jpg[/IMG]

 

Deej,

Sorry about the lack of activity, but when you own multiple bikes, it does take a lot of work keeping all of them happy and content. For some reason, just like women, they will let you know when you're neglecting one of them. It ain't pretty, but a responsible owner has to do the things necessary to keep them all happy.

My A-1 Concours had gotten itself into a snit - kind of a "you don't love me anymore" kind of scenario. I had to do something as I could see the old gal really needed some attention - and attention is what she got. Just got back from the trip . . . . . . .


Johnbryer, Jollymon24 and myself got to talking about making a trip down to Key West over the days between Christmas and New Year's 2005. The trip went great, the weather was ALMOST Chamber of Commerce perfect and it was a whole lot of fun. We decided to post a report here so y'all can enjoy what we did.

To begin the trip, Jollymon24 rode in from Alabama, Johnbryer from North Carolina and I just sat and waited until they got to my place. We all got a great night's rest and were headed out the next morning to ride down to the Florida Keys. We chose to ride most of U.S. 27 down through the middle of the state of Florida and made the almost 350 mile trip in about 6 hours.

We won't bore you with the trip down to the Keys, as in those 318 miles to get there, we only ran through about 11 curves, so the trip wasn't all that interesting. A lot of cruising along at 75 mph on mostly straight and level roads. Johnbyner rode his FJR, Jollymon24 kept his KLR650 up with us and I took the Concours for the trip.

After riding the majority of the day - we started to see the road getting wet from a small localized storm that we could see blowing across the area. We took a break for lunch and by the time we were done eating, the storm had moved out, so we rode the rest of the way down to our camp ground in Fiesta Key.

Here we are after getting the camp set up . . . . lots of folks came over to Jollymon24 and wanted to tell him just how great a bike the KLR650 was. When we mentioned we each had one, they were even more impressed.



Some of us slept on rocks and tree roots. While it could have been considered a Shiatzu-style massage by some, I did not think it all that enjoyable at the time. Must pick up an air mattress before the end of the day. So, since we all couldn't sleep soundly, we got up and took a picture of the start of the day.



While we were riding down to Key West - 70 miles away - I started thinking that the letters in KLR must stand for Keys Light Recon as it is the perfect bike for down there. The maximum speed limit is 55 mph - strictly enforced - and it is truly a multi-surfaced environment. The KLR is just the right ride while you're down there.

As we got into Key West the crowds were really big and the whole place was really crowded. Then we saw the reasons for that . . . . .



Yep, not one, but two huge cruise ships had docked for the day. We saw so many tourists, that we just tried to blend in.

We got a chance to visit around Mallory Square which is THE gathering place downtown Key West. Each evening in Mallory Square there is a crowd to observe the sunset - a daily tradition in Key West.



Here's several shots from the Mallory Square area . . . . .











After doing the tourista thing and trying to stay in the shade - did I mention the temps were in the low 80's ? ? ? ? - we decided to head down Whitehurst Street to get some more of the tourist shots. As you can see it was rather crowded and a bit on the tight side there.



Now, Driller . . . . here's a challenge just for you! We have a picture of the southern terminus of U.S. Route #1. Can you post a shot of the northern end?



For all you folks to think about - here's proof that the southern most point in the continental United States is located in Key West, Florida. Not as some of the folks from the Lonestar state have claimed.



Next we stopped along the eastern beach - Atlantic Ocean side - to watch swimmers and parasailing before heading north towards a great dinner and then return to camp.



Here's a shot while riding of the Atlantic Ocean near the flats of the Keys. It's quite shallow in areas, but look at all the colors you see!



This picture is just above Bahia Honda State Park. This is a bridge that carried both railroad and vehicle traffic. The railroad was on the lower level, the vehicle traffic on the upper level. This is just below the 7 Mile Bridge the runs out of Marathon.



If you remember, I talked about the ALMOST picture perfect weather that we had for our trip - 60's at night, upper 70's, lower 80's during the day. Yes, we had a 1 percent chance of rain and here's the proof!



And just as an enjoyable a day as it was, it did come to a close - a rather breathtaking one - do you agree?



Now that the trip is over, Connie is quite content and happy. Now it's time for "Tour de Apalachicola" to begin in another 9 days!

Multiple Bike Ownership is a challenge, but one that is quite enjoyable and does have it's benefits!

Dirt time is here again, and I will be riding a lot!

 

I spent the day with my 11 yr old on his XR80 at this massive OHV park in North Texas called Rocky Ridge. 10,000 acres!! (or so close it don't matter). Every kind of terrain you can imagine and so large that you never have to worry about it being crowded.

Got some more air today out at the MX section of the park! In fact, I managed to snag my inspection plate hanging down below the license plate in back. Grabbed that sucker with the back tire and ripped it right off [:@]

Two of my KTM riding buds came along too. They both rode the KLX and pronounced it major fun

 

Sounds like fun, my son is 9 and I have been thinking of a bike for him, and wondered what you guys thought? What size or make, he is small for 9. Any ideas?

deej

 

Marty, Great pics! Looks like a really nice trip!

Deric, my son is 11 and tall for his age. His XR80 was fine when he was 9 but he's out grown it now. At the time, only the Honda fit him. Now the Kawasaki 125 is right for him. Take your boy around to each dealer and have him sit on them.

 

Great trip Marty and great pix, only 1 comment if you don't mind, the 2nd pic and the last pic need the flash on, you still get the great sunrise / sunset but you also get the bike light up as well.

cheers
Garry