NAFO '08

[Old Michael]

Arrived home last evening from "the event."

Left at 3 am Sunday morning. 1179 miles and 16.5 hrs. later - home sweet home.

The wide open spaces out west - and a big, fast motorcycle- make it easy to cover long distances quickly.

And I enjoyed a sit-down breakfast in Rifle on the way.

Though I was initially skeptical, I tried Toecutter's suggestion about the seeds and staying awake. It works!

Here are a couple of pictures from the trip. I'm working on a bunch more. I'll have 'em up soon.

The man and his arena.

Mt. Evans - Early morning Friday.

The humanity.

 

[FJRONAMISSION]

What did you say??? .... you had some magic beans or seeds!?!? Welcome back .......

 

[Old Michael]

.... you had some magic beans or seeds!?!?

Sunflower seeds! Figuring out how to spit out the shells keeps you wide awake.

Left Sacramento just before 4 am Wed.

Sunrise in RenoJohn's back yard.

I met Eeeksnake in Ely, and we rode together the rest of the way there.

He'll never do it again, I'm sure, as I made him stop about 30 times for pics.

"Put away that f*#king camera, and let's GO!"

"I MEAN it now."

"I give up."

We must be going the right way.

We got there just after midday Thursday, after spending Wed. night in Green River.

A note of thanks-

Eeeksnake (Chris) noticed a few drops of oil under my bike in the motel parking lot. Investigating, I found my oil drain plug even

less than finger tight. I'd just changed my oil a couple of days ago. It wouldn't have stayed in much longer, and that would have ended

badly. I'm a dork and he saved my ***. Thanks Chris.

Back at the Marriott.

Kickin' tires. Madmike looking at some new guy's bike.

Highlander's bike. It was great seeing him pull in.

Bunch o' drunks.

An iconic figure emerging. (Running for a hug, the picture blurred.)

Proud of this shot.

This one, ...not so much.

It's gonna be a good coupla' days.

 

[big ears]

Great photos, thanks for the report.

 

[painman]

So, Mike, while eating seeds and riding, do the shells fill up in your faceshield or do you eat them with it open and they just fly back and stick to your face? Very interesting concept Toe has there.......Just askiin......and oh, great pics and looks like you guys had fun. PM. <>< :yahoo:

 

[Old Michael]

Friday morning!

Like most of the attendees, I took off hoping to see some of the local roads and sights.

Dr. Rich and I decided that Mt. Evans would be a good day trip. We were rolling at 7.

It's a short ride, and still early in the day, traffic was light, the sun was shining, the air was cool -

not a bad morning.

On the ride up.

Dr. Rich. He's the one on the bike.

We don't want no trouble!

Nice one Rich. Now at least bury it or something.

Some juvenile had carved this into the snow by the road.

Going down ...

...while others came up.

Teetering on the brink. Oh my!

Dr. Rich on the summit ---------- of a rockpile on the way down. I had to carry him up there and pose him ...

...and then put him back on his bike. He's quite an agile *******.

Last shot before heading back.

These folks don't sit around the hotel.

But everyone returned for dinner.

Saturday coming up.

 

[eeksnake]

Nice job OldMichael. Allow me to fill in a few blanks...

Having a late start with no sleep, when I found OldMichael, he was sleeping in a nearby park in Ely. What he probably doesn't know is that I was hoping he wouldn't wake up so I could catch a few winks under one of the shade trees. Unfortunately, he was too wired from his seed spitting and we were rolling in no time.

I got to watch the master at work taking his great looking photos. I think the trick is his commitment to getting the shot. This includes putting his body in extremely hazardous situations, like standing in the middle of a highway with a semi bearing down on you.

Not that mine come close to OldMichael's but here a few shots...

Here's Michael in a rare scene where he's not taking a picture:

If you look carefully, you'll see the offending oil spot under the left bike. Just a force of habit on my part (former HD owner):

NAFO parking lot on Thursday afternoon:

Even had room for the extremely rare, BMW FJR1300:

Speaking of thanks, big thanks to OldMichael for splitting a room with me in Green River, UT. You rock dude! I still owe you for that one.

 

[Old Michael]

Saturday.

Same story. Got up and out early with my riding buddy, Dr. Rich. I don't much like the *******, but

he's willing to start early, and he's agreed to pay for any speeding tickets I may get, so he'll do.

(Rich, I love ya man.)

We took the ride up to Rocky Mountain National Park, and opted for the west-to-east route, hoping it would

be the less congested direction.

We encountered a group of motorists clustered around a moose sighting just after entering the park. We kept on down the road.

The route then climbs quickly and the scenery is spectacular of course. Here ya go.

Beetles are killing the pines in the park, and they'll transform it in the coming years. This picture may not show it clearly, but huge sections of the forest here are dying from the infestation. Sad I reckon, but it's nature.

A beautiful part of the planet.

The elk here in Colorado appear very stout and healthy, but .....

... I think they're smaller than California elk.

Non-FJR sissy bikes we saw in the park.

Okay. The park was great. The ride back in the afternoon was - congested. Being from another state, and not

knowing the roads, it wasn't easy to figure out any back way to avoid the traffic. So Dr. Rich asked his electronic thing

to take us back to the hotel. It wasn't always pleasant, but we got to the Marriott by early afternoon.

A bit later, the group photo thing was happening, and here are some shots.

(Kinda like the "Pope-in-the-pizza." How many forum members can you pick out?)

Some ATGATT pics.

(Just parking lot speed runs. Nobody was gonna fall down.)

And here's my first attempt at one of those photo stitching things. Hey! I'll work on it.

And finally a where-are-they-now group shot of the 1973 Creston Crusaders basketball team.

L to R

Sacramento Mike, HYCLE, Silent, Warchild, and James Burleigh.

As mentioned in the first part of this mess, I left VERY early Sunday and burned for home.

Stretches of road like this are what make riding an FJR in the west almost as efficient as air travel.

Who among us wouldn't get behind that fairing and "make time" through here.

I've got a bunch of shots of the faces I saw at NAFO, and I'll gather and post them later.

Thanks for reading this and looking at my pictures.

 

[Groo]

And finally a where-are-they-now group shot of the 1973 Creston Crusaders basketball team.L to R

Sacramento Mike, HYCLE, Silent, Warchild, and James Burleigh.

:blink:

 

[FJRBluesman]

Great pix Michael! Thanks for sharing NAFO with us. :yahoo:

 

[FJRONAMISSION]

GREAT DUDE!!!!

nice pics.... what was the creston criminals BB team???...... :lol:

I wish I was there (Colorado) and your post helps.......

 

[Warchild]

And finally a where-are-they-now group shot of the 1973 Creston Crusaders basketball team.L to R

Sacramento Mike, HYCLE, Silent, Warchild, and James Burleigh.

:blink:

Isn't Old Michael funny?!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

That fourth guy from the left is, in fact, Old Michael, not me.....

 

[raclow]

Great Pics and Report. You know I'll be looking for more.

 

[03HiYoSilver]

Old Michael,

Wow!, looks you had a great time. Thanks for sharing your excellent adventure.

 

[petey]

Old Michael, that was me coming up Mt Evans....I thought to my self, there is brave soul, parking his bike sooo close to the edge.

BTW, nice pics, thanks for sharing. :clapping:

 

[SacramentoMike]

And finally a where-are-they-now group shot of the 1973 Creston Crusaders basketball team.

L to R

Sacramento Mike, HYCLE, Silent, Warchild, and James Burleigh.

And finally a where-are-they-now group shot of the 1973 Creston Crusaders basketball team.L to R

Sacramento Mike, HYCLE, Silent, Warchild, and James Burleigh.

:blink:

Isn't Old Michael funny?!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

That fourth guy from the left is, in fact, Old Michael, not me.....

Thank God! I was wondering if you were sick or something.

 

[FJR_pig]

Those captions on your photos killed me. Great posts.

 

[FatNakedGuy]

FANTASTIC images! Love the angles in a lot of them. That S5 captures quality doesn't it!

 

[Bokerfork]

Glad you had a good time despite Dr. Rich's bathroom habits. And forget what Warchild says. We all know you're much younger and far more handsome than the guy(warchild) in the picture.