NAFO - Get Home Safe peeps!

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home safe and sound. got in at 3;00 and logged 2641 miles. See all of you somewhere down the road.
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Just pulled in, dog tired. Saw some of the wests best sights. Lots of beautiful places out there with a lot of sagebrush in between. 4300 miles in the cage and only 450 on the fjr. Still a great trip. Thanks to the rally team, great event. Now to clean it all up.

 
Home in one piece.

2200 miles. Had 100 degree weather with 20 mph cross winds, rain with storms this morning, and my coffee got cold before I finished it. Bummer being in a pickup dragging my bike.
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Not this time.
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500 miles on the Tiger 800 2 up, which turned out to be a great bike for the roads I chose this time.
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OK-- not as much fun as the FJR would have been, but SHE would have beat me if I rode like that with her on board.
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Hwy 92, MDH, 2 National Parks. Good roads, good weather, good food, good friends--- except you, FYB.
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Only close call was my unappreciated remark about her driving skills with a trailer in tow.
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Too much face time.
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Bruises will heal.
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We arrived in Vegas just past noon today, after some additional touring / staying over in Kayenta and then Williams, AZ. Total trip = 1740 miles for us.

This was our first rally; I enjoyed meeting many interesting people at the event, as did my wife, son and daughter-in-law.

Many thanks to all those who organized the event, your efforts are greatly appreciated!

 
Home and safe.

Day 1: West to Utah, just to say I did; east to Denver with "I-70 is closed" detour to Leadville.

Day 2: Left submarine buddy's house at 3 am, passed through OK City, and had a Jeep rabbit escort me the last 2 hours into Memphis at 1 am local for a potential SS1K.

Day 3: Memphis to Atlanta (MS) to Atlanta (GA) with rain/drizzle from Birmingham to the house. That cool rain made me forget yesterday's 7 hours in a roasting Oklahoma afternoon.

About 2,000 miles getting home, with a potential SS1K -- since I was riding the miles anyway.

.......................................................................................

Thanks to everyone who rode with me -- it was a blast, believe me! The skill level of Forum riders is an inspiration.

Great to meet so many internet avatars, and to realize (again) that this group consists of mighty fine people.

Big thanks to the organizers! You made great memories for almost 90 of us! See all y'all next time, with sweet tea for FJRFarrier!

 
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Pulled a SS1000 on the way home. Started out on Mt Evans with Tony and Griff, when they turned west, I turned east and made it home at about 5:40 this morning. No hail, but ran into some serious side line winds with accompanying downpours northwest of Amarillo. Holy smokes! I was prepared to deal with one or the other, but not both together. Sat out a couple of hours for that until things cleared up a bit.

<edit> Hud made a good point about the resting thing, I left out that part. I chose to rest during fuel stops for a few minutes grabbing a snack while I was at it. That worked out well for me on this trip.

The equipment that was new to me on this trip were a Camelbak, and an evaporative cooling vest. They both were great to have.

Griff forced coerced let me volunteer to go along with him across the 102 degree plains of Colorado toward Lamar as he bagged up some TOH points. They have some of those sites in the most obscure places. Both of those pieces of equipment worked well and made that ride very tolerable.

 
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NTXFJR posted: Pulled a SS1000 on the way home. Started out on Mt Evans with Tony and Griff, when they turned west, I turned east and made it home at about 5:40 this morning. No hail, but ran into some serious side line winds with accompanying downpours northwest of Amarillo. Holy smokes! I was prepared to deal with one or the other, but not both together. Sat out a couple of hours for that until things cleared up a bit.
Nice thing for FNGs to realize: You can rest for several hours (maybe four) and still complete a SaddleSore 1,000. Nothing says the ride has to be continuous.

 
Made it home easily on Sunday, took a cold shower as the water heater had died Thursday. Replaced it on Monday. Had a 90mph rabbit for a hundred miles or so, and 20 miles after he pulled off another went by at 100. That'll shorten your ride :) .

 
griff posted: Not home yet. Went from Heaven to Hell yesterday with Tony and Rich (South Coast). 114 at Badwater at 11 last night
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Take your time and get home safely, Mr. Badass Tour of Honor Dude.

 
Home last night, another warm weather ride the last state and a half. Another personal distance record, not to compare with some of you hard *****, but 800 miles on the new Seth Laam seat felt a LOT better than 750 on the last day after Red Lodge on the stocker. It didn't get too hot until well after noon yesterday, but with lots of gusty cross winds in Utah and NV.

Colorado is BEAUTIFUL! The mountains the passes, the vistas--just breathtaking. I toured for three days after the meet and saw almost enough. Hope I get to do it all again at least once. The ride up Mt. Evans is incredible. Great memories of NAFO and the people I met or saw again, too. Thanks again to all!

 
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Got home last night (Thursday) at 18:30.

Sunday I left Montrose about 10:00 and took 50 to 149 and at Lake City pulled in for lunch. As I was getting off the FJR, lightning struck the mountain above me. I put my protective cover over my Russell, grabbed my tank bag, jacket and helmet and went into the outdoor seating area of the Cannibal Grill & Saloon and sat at a table under a lean-to just as the downpour started. It didn't rain too long and the waitress came and took my order. Just after my sandwich was delivered, it started raining again and lasted longer this time. After it stopped raining I tried to get a radar view of the storm on my phone but the data signal wasn't strong enough to give me any definitive idea of which way things were headed. After waiting a bit, I decided not to continue down 149 and instead go back the way I came and just check into The Western Motel in Gunnison where I had a reservation for the night. I was sure it wouldn't rain if I headed north so I didn't dig out my rainproof gloves or close the vent zippers on my Klim gear. Within two miles of leaving Lake City, the downpour started again and the temp continued to drop down to the low 50s. I turned my grip heaters on and the bottom side of my hands started to fry while the topsides and fingertips hurt from the wet and cold. My arthritis just loves wet and cold. After an hour the rain stopped a few miles before I reached US-50. The ride into Gunnison on 50 mostly dried me off before I reached the motel. That night I tried to plan a route to Greeley for the next day. Wanted to go back down 149 again but the forecast was for more rain in the morning. Looked at taking 92 and 133 north but again rain was in the forecast for late in the morning. If I'm riding when the rain starts, I'm one not to stop, but if before I start I know it's going to rain, I'm not likely to ride into it. So I chose to take 285 to 470 and I hate 285.

Monday's ride was cool at higher elevations. The one lane construction delays meant passing a mile of traffic each time. When finally reaching the sweepers of 285 the slow traffic blocked the fun. By the time I reached the Denver area it was a scorcher in the high 90s and finally reaching 101 degrees on US-85. Made it all the way from Gunnison to Greeley on one tank of gas and no rest stops. Tuesday was a day of getting clothes washed at the laundromat and a chimichanga for lunch at Alberto's. I took Mr. & Mrs. Linc plus daughters to dinner at Pho Duy (Vietnamese Resturant) to end a day of rest.

Wednesday I left headed for Lincoln, Nebraska which is the 1/2 way point to home in rural north central Illinois. The dry heat in the desert hadn't been that bad. The humid heat in Nebraska and Iowa on Wednesday and Thursday nearly did me in and I wasn't even riding 500 miles either day. I'm beginning to think as I get close to my 70th birthday and twenty years of osteoarthritis getting worse and worse, the pain on the one side of the scale is starting to outweigh the pleasure on the other side. This year, a hot shower at the end of the day isn't bouncing me back like it used to.

Even with those complaints, I still enjoyed the companionship of the FJR riders (and their families) at both Red Lodge and NAFO this year. Thanks to Big John, AJ, Marty and the rest of the hard workers for making these events possible this year. Even if I give up the FJR, I would still come in the car to see all you clowns. The body may be getting old, but as Jack said, we all are still just a bunch of kids.

P.S. FYB, for not drawing my number in the swag raffle.

 
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Sooze and I rolled into the homestead aboot an hour ago. Total miles for us was just under 4500.

We had a fantastic time - many thanks, again, to Bob, Marty, Greg, Wayne and, yes, even AJ.

We saw some cool stuff on the way home, but that'll be going into a ride report.

For the record:

1. I was not speeding. Until I followed AJ. I'm sure the folks who had been going faster than me wondered why I was tucked in behind a cruiser at, uh, "an advanced velocity."

B. I tried to buy lunch but AJ knocked over my iced tea when I tried to grab the check. Thanks for lunch, AJ - we appreciate it! That was one tasty damn burger.

 
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Arrived home in Salem, OR 2:00 PM Tuesday. Had a great time at NAFA with great people and great scenery and roads. Rode a total of 3100 miles.

 
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