Adventure is overrated

By Mark

So if you walk into a motorcycle shop (particularly one that sells adventure-touring bikes), and start looking at a bike that can "do it all", you will inevitably hear the buzz word: Adventure. Let me tell you. In real life, its not as glamorous as it might be in your mind. An adventure is an endeavor with an uncertain outcome. Two days ago I talked Katie into riding Ophir pass-- a 4-wheel drive road connecting the Telluride and Ouray areas. The crest is 11,743 feet above sea level. On the map this road looks like a glamourously red dotted line-- a true scenic route at the very least-- at the best, an adventure. Hey, I've drank the Kool-aid from time to time...



So we start up, and Katie rides like a champ. We kept our cool, and with our intercoms on, we could warn each other about hazards, recommend left or right sides of the track, etc.





I was headed up through some loose scree (rocks of similar size), and with a heavily laden bike (Arrrg climbing gear!!!), basically slick tires (which I should have let some air out of), and generally the wrong bike for the job, and I dumped it. Fell onto my left hand side. Katie was coming up behind me, and I directed her to the other side of the track. This was a squeeze, but she rode it perfectly. She got to a spot higher up on the track and parked. So now we were having an adventure. There was an impressively steep slope dropping off to my right, and I wasn't sure I was skilled enough to ride the rest of the road. Doubts flooded my brain. I don't think I could turn the bike around if I tried-- what if I had fallen off the side? This is supposed to be our honeymoon! This isn't fun anymore--at all. The dark side of this huge marketing scam-- Adventures can turn out poorly. You'll never see that written on a poster in the motorcycle shop.

So then our guardian angel showed up in the form of a (nameless) man riding a KLR 650. He was calm, strong, and helped Katie and I pick up my bike and walk it up the rest of the loose rock. I'm glad I had the presence of mind to take a photograph.


We owe a great debt to this gentleman.

My bike wasn't damaged, and the gentleman had encouraged us that the road quality improved higher up (before mysteriously disappearing down the trail). We talked, decided to carry on, and soberly began shuttling some of the extra weight from my bike further up the trail.

The road quality did improve, and Katie and I finished the ride to the top without incident. Eventually the anxiety started to leave our bodies and we were able to celebrate a bit.

Couldn't have done it without you (Part 2)

By Mark

It's amazing how much can happen in a few short days-- We're taking a rest day in Gunnison, CO today (staying with our favorite teacher-ranger-teachers Mitch and Brittany. They've provided us with a real bed, good food, and a place to let our guard down a little bit. Here they are, managing the wildlife of the Curecanti area (they manage human adolescents most of the time).



So before we get too far into the travels of the last few days, we need to give some more shout-outs to folks who worked extra hard to make our trip possible.

First, Jason Ward at Happy Trail Luggage in Boise, Idaho. Short story: Katie's motorcycle, (KLR 250) has been in production since the 80's (I think). Although the bike is now out of production, no racks were available for the machine. No racks mean no cases, and this great little bike that suits Katie's riding needs had no way to carry her gear. This was a problem. Enter Jason and the rest of the staff at Happy Trails. We told them about our trip and begged them for a rack. There was a prototype, but nothing had been put into production. Being springtime, Jason was BUSY with all the other motorcyclists who needed something urgently for their own trips-- but he put the rack for Katie's bike at high priority and it's beautiful. We got #1 off the production line, and it fit perfectly, and has withstood the few bumps we've put into it. Thanks Jason and everybody at the Happy Trails office in Boise! Here's the rack, brand new, just a few weeks ago:



We have many great friends in Salt Lake City. I could write a lot about this subject, since contemplating leaving for a year brings to mind all the folks we'll miss. We're guilty of taking our friends for granted. It's easy to say, "we'll go over to so and so's house another night." Well, it's another night, and we're gone. We know better--time is of the essence. So here are folks in SLC who are not only good friends, but who own houses, and have donated room in their basements, closets, and garages to store our stuff. We could not afford to pay for a storage unit big enough for all our crap! You've literally made it possible, friends! Here's Scott and Tracy Hove, who took the lion's share of our pile:




Another couple in town who have been good friends to us through thick and thin: Polly and Eric Dacus. Eric is our official trip beginning and end photographer, whom we don't pay, but takes photos for us anyway.




And of course, we couldn't leave out our musical friend Chad Sanders. His basement swallowed an awful lot of gear and furniture. His band the (one and only Peter Harvey, who also played at our wedding) was playing the night before we left, which was great-- I'm so proud of how much better of a musician he is every time I see him.



Okay, our next post will have more trip updates and photos, promise!

Couldn't have done it without you (Part 1)

By Mark

In any trip, there are lots of people to thank. The first installment of "Couldn't have done it without you" is here:

Katie and I have long desired to be able to talk to each other while riding. For our upcoming trip (especially Phase 2, Central America), I believe being able to communicate will increase our safety (slow down, Monkeys in road!). So there were some setbacks: First, our chosen brand of intercom device (Autcom) has changed U.S. distributors, so the items we need have been tough to get. Secondly, we had some of the Autcom bits (we DID have) stolen out of the garage. Beleagured, I called Matt down at BMW Motorcycles of Utah enough times that he simply hooked me up with the new U.S. distributor, who happens to live here in Salt Lake City! Enter Troy--he patiently listened to our sob story (we're leaving in 8 days!!!), and went far above the normal call of duty-- he came to my garage, brought the equipment we needed, and stuck around long enough to make sure it all worked just the way we needed it to. A rider himself, he had some great installation and operation tips, and of course, showed up just in time.



You may notice Troy's shirt color changes between these two photos-- that's because he actually came over TWICE-- on successive days. This also proves that, unlike me, he changes his clothes on a daily basis.

T-Minus 4 days, or maybe 5

By Katie

Okay, here it is folks, the last pre-trip blog. I should be cleaning or packing or doing something productive right now, but I can't bring myself to do so. I'm so over all those little details. It has been a good but hectic last couple weeks.
For those of you who didn't know, last weekend was particularly packed. We had my mom, my bro and his gf Kasie, my grandparents, and Mark's parents all in Salt Lake for one last visit before we leave. Of course we were also celebrating my graduation (from Westminster with an MAT, woot!), my birthday, and my papa's one year anniversary. Whew, it was quite the weekend. But so great that everyone could be here to join with us.

Some photos of grad weekend. I kind of felt like a wizard in the costume..




My gramps and I showing off our fancy shoes!







This last week has been filled with packing, cleaning, logistics, and of course our good-byes to everyone. It's funny how easily I take my community for granted, until I get ready to leave and I think about all the people that I want to make sure and see before departure.

Here is our little friend Alexander giving the big motorbike a testride when he came over to say goodbye.



Also, as a sidenote. Anyone with blog experience- help me out. How could I post our itinerary on the side bar of the blog so that people can see where we are? And is there a way to put a tracker of some sort at the top of the blog to keep count of the number of days we have been on the road? Any advice gratefully accepted.

Breaking the piggy bank

Over the course of the last two weeks we've moved most of our stuff out of the house, our parents have taken our vehicles to their respective states (Idaho and Colorado), and we've celebrated Katie's new status of Master. She's a master at many things, but this time we are celebrating her Master's degree and a new career.

One hobby that my wife enjoys is collecting pocket change. Seriously. If you have a few nickels, give them to her and watch how excited she gets. She seperates the silver from the pennies, and we cashed them all in today. She guessed that there would be $214 total. I guessed $150. The guy at the bank (who does this stuff every day) guessed $65. After being run through a coin-counting machine (what a country! it turns out that there was 211.69. When we stood there astonished that Katie's guess was $2.31 away from being exact, she shrugged and stated matter of factly, "must have been all the Sacajawea dollar coins I stole out of the pockets of your jeans!"

Closer

By Katie

So here we are, one month from departure. Things are happening a lot more quickly now. We are madly packing things up in the house as new roommates move in to take our places. The last little bits of motorcycle maintenance are being completed (no thanks to me), we are solidifying plans for summer visits and getting ready to say our goodbyes to Salt Lake. We are excited and a little bit sad. For the next nine months it will just be the two of us--something which we have yet to experience in our marriage! And we are so excited to see all of you this summer. For those of you that got our letter (and those that didn't!) please let us know if the rough dates we gave will work for you. It's really important to us that we make it a point to see as many people as possible on our little western U.S. tour. Our dates are fairly flexible too.

The weather this spring has been a little bit worrisome when we think about the fact that we will be returning--on motorcycles--at about this time next year. We are hoping for a more typical Salt Lake spring. This photo was from May 1, we received almost three inches of snow in town!

Leaving

by Mark

The time is drawing closer to leave for the summer. It seems too easy to rejoice in the coming adventure. We’ll gain free time, tropical climate (no winter for us next year!), exotic new places and people, etc.. I’m thrilled to spend time traveling by motorbike with Katie, and learning Spanish in a Spanish-speaking culture is more fun and effective than sitting in a classroom. I intend to learn how to slow down a bit. I plan to continue practicing patience and humility with my wife.

Despite the excitement our destinations hold, I’m inclined to mourn the things we’ll lose by leaving Salt Lake for 9 months. Here I have a stable existence. My work is as meaningful as I make it. I have Sam and Eric and Chad to hang out with and talk—to keep me sane. There are a bunch of friends on the periphery as well, who I could easily call to climb or ski with. The Bossart and Vought families and Sunday night group has provided a tremendous support to me since I’ve lived here. Salt Lake has lovely mountains and it is easy to “get away” for an afternoon. The park is nearby to run. There isn’t an area in the city I am afraid to be in during nighttime hours. There is safety, which is the necessary corridor to activity, and a great playground that’s accessed easily. There are people with which I can share as much of my life and love as I choose. I have a great job and love all my co-workers more than they know. I could go on, but suffice it to say that on June 15th Katie and I will ride away from all of this. We will be too cold, too hot, scared of other drivers and have to watch our backs. We plan to return to Salt Lake, but it will be different. We’ll look for new jobs and start again. Is this the behavior of people who are looking for something?




Here is Katie's new bike..it has a kick start.