Home is the sailor, home from the sea

Travel is fun but eventually it ends and you end up with this. 

Super Moon

Out for a late night walk to enjoy the view.

Merry Christmas

A Christmas walk in Connecticut. To be followed by hot chocolate beside the fireplace.

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J. Braun: Finally got the tree lit. Ho Ho Ho  View video You received this mail because J. Braun shared these photos with you. If you no longer wish to receive email notifications of shared photos, unsubscribe here. Get the Google Photos app Google Inc. 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy Mountain View, CA 94043 USA

Why I keep going back

This is the Hurrah Pass road heading to Basecamp Lodge and the Colorado River

Where earth and sky combine

Where earth and sky combine

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J. Braun: Colorado River west of Moab. What a sight wake up to!!  View photo You received this mail because J. Braun shared these photos with you. If you no longer wish to receive email notifications of shared photos, unsubscribe here. Get the Google Photos app Google Inc. 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy Mountain View, CA 94043 USA

J. Braun shared 1 photo with you

J. Braun shared a photo with you  View photo You received this mail because J. Braun shared these photos with you. If you no longer wish to receive email notifications of shared photos, unsubscribe here. Get the Google Photos app Google Inc. 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy Mountain View, CA 94043 USA

Trip Prep

Everyone knows that a great trip begins with great stickers!

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Death March Tours goes to Skull Valley

I admit that I haven't been good about keeping up a log of my adventures this past summer. First, there wasn't many of them. And second, they were merely mini-adventures. However, it's time to get back on the trail and start writing again.

My friends Jill and Brian joined me for a day of riding on the high desert south of Tooele last weekend. We started on the Pony Express trail and followed it up and over Lookout Pass. 

Brian wanted to find out if a cruiser guy could learn to love a dual-sport bike and Jill, well she's just all attitude and eat my dust!

The little black dots are horses.

From there we kept a lookout for the wild horse herds that live in the Onaqui Herd Management Area to the west. They are completely wild and are in a fairly isolated area that gets few visitors. We didn't get too close so that we wouldn't disturb them. The area didn't look too managed to me except for the sign saying that the horses would bite and kick silly tourists.

A canyon looked interesting so we tried exploring it but found it to be a dead end. You never know until you try.

We got back on the road and just followed Jill as she blazed across Skull Valley. We finally turned around when we were starting to think about the approaching darkness. We had gone far enough west that we decided to head farther north and pickup UT 199 to save some time. UT 199 is Utah's version of the "Tail of the Dragon". Even more fun on knobbies!

72 miles of dirt trails with a little pavement plus a few wild horses made for an enjoyable day with good friends.

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Death March Tours Application Form

Following up on my last idea here's the application for joining a Death March Tour

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Death March Tours

Tour Application and Profile

Name ____________________________________________

Address __________________________________________

City State Zip ____________________________________

Phone/text ______________________________________

Tell us about yourself:

1. Knowledge

 I'm a young punk and I think I know everything.

 I'm a millennial hipster and I know I know everything.

 I'm an old fart and I've forgotten more than those ice holes will ever know.

 I'm just starting and have a BMW GS 1250 so I'm cool.

2. Experience

 I've been to Baja.

 I've been to Bushwick and Berkeley.

 I've done the TAT and was bored.

 I just park my Beemer and stand around looking cool.

3. Favorite Tires

 Whatever knobby is on sale.

 Continental TKC80.

 Dunlop 606

 The ones that came with the bike. They still have those cool little spiky things sticking out.

4. Favorite Destination

 Nearest enduro

 Nearest Starbucks

 Nearest woods

 Nearest biker hangout that's cool this week.

5. Current bike

 KTM 1290 Super Adventure R

 Triumph Tiger Explorer XCa

 Honda Africa Twin (RD07)

 I told you it's a Beemer. Be cool!

6. Road food

 Mickey D's

 Brew pub

 Denny's

 I don't eat. I might get some on my jacket and that wouldn't be cool.

7. Gear

 MSR - sturdy stuff.

 Rev'It - all my friends have it.

 Something I picked up on Craigslist - cheap.

 Klim - I want to look as cool as my bike.

8. Helmet

 Shoei (red / white / blue)

 Arai (flat black)

 Bell (white with scratches)

 Bilt (cool graphics that look like a P-51)

9. Store

 Twisted Throttle

 Street fairs

 Rocky Mountain ATV

 Cycle Gear has cool stuff cheap.

10. Maintenance

 I take it to the dealer

 I take it to an independent shop in Red Hook run by organic, vegan, free range, artisanal, fair trade, lesbian and trans-gender holistic mechanics.

 I change the oil every winter and spark plugs on odd numbered years.

 I haven't gotten enough miles to get the cool free first check.

11. Beer

 PBR

 Panty Peeler IPL

 Rolling Rock

 Wine cooler

12. Non-bike activity

 Nitro Circus dvds

 PS4 - MXGP 3

 No such thing

 Cool vampire biker chick movies

13. Pet

 Pit bull named Honda

 Cat named Dog

 Dog named Wrench

 Hamster named Mr Cool

14. Food

 Burgers

 Sushi

 BBQ

 Fruit salads with Cool Whip

15. Color

 Honda Red

 Artisanal Flat Black

 20-50 Brown

 Kool Lime

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Tourism 101

My new tourist idea. Pick up a couple of dirt bikes, and let other people pay for my fun. No frills, no fancy dinners, posers will be left to fend for themselves.

My tag line:

Fly in, get beat up,
and fly home with bruises and memories you can't get anywhere else!

Let me know if you want to sign up for the Beta group. Suggestions for a name will be gratefully accepted.

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Go with what you got

I used to teach a beginner's photography course at the Ocean Beach Free School. At the first class I would lay out several large 16x20 prints and my Canon SLR with some lenses. They would have their Nikons and Pentaxes proudly sitting in front of them. Everything they needed to start taking perfect pictures.

I would let them ooh and aah over my prints and then I would pull out an old Kodak Brownie from my camera bag and explain that I had taken the photos with it, not the fancy pro equipment. I then took out more of the cameras that I had found in yard sales and passed them out. I explained that for the first third of the class they would be using these to take their pictures. I explained that it was the eye and the heart that took pictures. The cameras were merely electro-mechanical devices that recorded their feelings.

Some of them got it, some of them handed back the cameras and left.

What has this got to do with motorcycles? No much but everything to do with the spirit of adventure. A fancy camera will produce only snapshots in the hands of a person who does not know what they are looking at. A person with the best adventure motorcycle will fail to find the experience they are looking for without an open heart and mind.

What is the perfect adventure bike? Simple, the one you are riding right now! One guy rode a Kawasaki Ninja to Alaska and back with only a sleeping bag tied to the seat. I know a crazy 17 year old kid who rode a Honda 50 from San Francisco to LA down US 1. then on up to Yosemite, and topped it off with a return to the Bay Area. Lois Pryce rode solo from Alaska to Argentina on a Yamaha XT225. And is still going ...

 Adventure doesn't mean far away places and months long trips. It starts by taking a different route home from the grocery store to see what is down that road you've never taken. Stopping for coffee at a place that looks nothing like the usual places you stop at. Setting aside Google Maps and Siri and looking at a paper map to plot your next trip. I look at bikes loaded down with gps and nav gear and wonder where the adventure is in being told what to do by a robotic voice. 

You're never lost, just misplaced. Look at the world with your eyes and your heart. The world is waiting for you.

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Ready for new adventures

Sometimes you feel like 2 wheels. And sometimes you feel like 4. Especially when all four are pulling together. A pickup is nice but, as the old saying goes, "Everything in a pickup is either wet or stolen." The Taco plus a trailer seems to be the best compromise between comfort and carrying capacity.

On the way back to Tooele UT from the Bay Area with my new Taco.
I can't say Tahoe, it sounds too soccer-momish.

This is the stop on the way back that looks forward to returning to the salt flats and finally getting the Moriwaki into the record books.

I'll post pictures from Moab with the 4x4 engaged. I'm looking forward to Murphy's Hogback and Lathrop Canyon on the White Rim Trail.

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Pony Express Trail - 2017

I did the first section last year and then got distracted by home ownership. Who ever lets that happen?

Today was the day to take it a bit further.

One needs to be careful in this area. It's a long way between gas stations and there are very few vehicles on this road to lend a hand.

Rush hour. I can assure you that those sheep were in no big hurry to get wherever they were going. One of the shepherds asked me to wait which was no burden since I was taking my time to begin with.

Lookout Pass. It was amazing to see how the trail wound around the topography. Very relaxed and natural to follow the curves and rises of the hills. I imagine it was easier for the horse to run a little farther than to climb a steep grade.

Beautiful, and desolate.

This is the best I can do for the wild horses. I saw a herd that was near the road but they took off as soon as I got near. Amazing that they exist out here. Not everything is civilized and roped off yet.

I gave this road a miss since I had the wrong tires for really gnarly stuff. Maybe next time. It was tempting though ...

Heading north to get home before dark. I was surprised how many trails and roads there are out here. It definitely requires more of my attention.

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This is from my friend Jenni. I believe she speaks truth to power. Go to her Facebook page and comment or, better yet, reprint and repost this everywhere you can.

I'm proud to have her for a friend.

Jenni Eiswerth

Yesterday at 9:20am · 

I am not a "disgrace to women" because I don't support the women's march. I do not feel I am a "second class citizen" because I am a woman. I do not feel my voice is "not heard" because I am a woman. I do not feel I am not provided opportunities in this life or in America because I am a woman. I do not feel that I "don't have control of my body or choices" because I am a woman. I do not feel like I am " not respected or undermined" because I am a woman. 

I AM a woman. 

I can make my own choices. 

I can speak and be heard. 

I can VOTE. 

I can work if I want. 

I control my body. 

I can defend myself. 

I can defend my family. 

There is nothing stopping me to do anything in this world but MYSELF. 

I do not blame my circumstances or problems on anything other than my own choices or even that sometimes in life, we don't always get what we want. I take responsibility for myself. 

I am not held back in life but only by the walls I choose to not go over, which is a personal choice. 

Quit blaming. 

Take responsibility. 

If you want to speak, do so. But do not expect for me, a woman, to take you seriously wearing a pink va-jay-jay hat on your head and screaming profanities and bashing men. 

If you have beliefs, and speak to me in a kind matter, I will listen. But do not expect for me to change my beliefs to suit yours. Respect goes both ways. 

If you want to impress me, especially in regards to women, then speak on the real injustices and tragedies that affect women in foreign countries that do not have the opportunity or means to have their voices heard. 

Saudi Arabia, women can't drive, no rights and must always be covered. 

China and India, infantcide of baby girls. 

Afghanistan, unequal education rights. 

Democratic Republic of Congo, where rapes are brutal and women are left to die, or HIV infected and left to care for children alone. 

Mali, where women can not escape the torture of genital mutilation. 

Pakistan, in tribal areas where women are gang raped to pay for men's crime. 

Guatemala, the impoverished female underclass of Guatemala faces domestic violence, rape and the second-highest rate of HIV/AIDS after sub-Saharan Africa. An epidemic of gruesome unsolved murders has left hundreds of women dead, some of their bodies left with hate messages.

And that's just a few examples. 

So when women get together in AMERICA and whine they don't have equal rights and march in their clean clothes, after eating a hearty breakfast, and it's like a vacation away that they have paid for to get there..

This WOMAN does not support it.

Next...

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Snow Day

This is the National Weather Service forecast:

A 50 percent chance of snow. Cloudy, with a high near 34. East wind around 11 mph. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than one inch possible. (my emphasis)

This is the real world:

Today I will be playing my favorite game - Find the Miata

Tonight is the Utah British Bike Club annual Holiday Dinner. I'll have to get The Beast shoveled out if I go. I don't think the Bonneville or the Miata are appropriate for this trip.

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Stranded

This is my rental car. It won't let me in no  matter how many times I press the unlock button. I'm getting a nice tan while I wait for the service truck. It always happens to me!

Amazing But True

My friends Kiran and Srikar called and asked if I wanted to go for a hike with them. As the alternative was mowing the lawn it wasn't a tough decision. We decided to try out the Deseret Peak Trail about 45 minutes west of my house.

The road was paved until it wasn't but they assured me that it was like many roads in India and was no problem. The top down on Kiran's Mustang made for an excellent view of the fall foliage.

The trip up through the canyon was tight with Flash Flood warnings in places but it wasn't a concern for us in the warm, dry weather.

The trail is a steady climb with an elevation change of ~2500'. We got a late start and decided that we would go as far as we could and then return before it got dark.

Autumn in the mountains is endlessly beautiful.

Everywhere we turned there was another sight to bring a smile to our faces.

My camera is a poor recorder of the magnificent palette nature had on offer.

A frozen waterfall of snow was a reminder of the cool temperatures at night. The sun had dropped behind the ridge so this is where we decided to head back to the car.

What was the "Amazing But True" part of this adventure? Simply the lack of drama. No injuries on the trail. No Search & Rescue team looking for us in the dark. Not even a Band-Aid required. Just a relaxed walk in the woods with friends. So much nicer!

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