The Trail is long. This country is big. We exceeded 7000 detour and TransAmerica Trail miles.
So, my presumption was that we’d cross paths with a number of motorcyclists out there doing what we were doing. Maybe we’d even camp near some of them.
Nope. We mostly had the place to ourselves.
We crossed through
>North Carolina (love that Blue Ridge Parkway),
>Tennessee (country roads take me home),
>Mississippi (Ozark dirt),
>Arkansas (buy fireworks),
>Oklahoma (hot and straight),
>Kansas (we were only there for the storm)
>New Mexico (pronghorns),
>Colorado (elevation air ahhh),
>Nevada (bring water),
>California (almost home), and
>Oregon (500 more mountain curves).
We did not encounter our first TAT riders until Mississippi or Arkansas.
And they weren’t on motorcycles. They were bicyclists:
People like Hal Russell (68), Tanner (30s), Aaron (40s), and 2 Kiwi/Spanish tandem couples. These are gnarly individuals, riding their own self-supported race across the same hot deserted western roads we crossed. On endless roads in Utah or Nevada we’d follow snaking bike tracks for hours of miles before catching up to advancing cyclists. I asked Aaron (whose tent was destroyed by the Kansas storm we encountered) how he crossed the 120+ mile Nevada sections. “I carried nine liters of water [20 lbs.] and I was dehydrated at the end.”
Son Paul informed me that Hal just finished Aug. 2; 18 days after us.
We met no fellow motorcyclists until Dove Creek, CO at Utah’s border, about 2/3 of the way through the TAT. They were Swiss-man Ralf on a BMW R1200GS and his Austrian Uncle Christian on a KTM 690. OhMyWOW: That GS looks so big in context of Oklahoma mud and Colorado’s sheer passes and Utah’s hairpin talcum rocky inclines. In fact, Ralf relates falling with some frequency. In Oklahoma, he encountered a water hazard that partially submerged his German motor. In a day or 2, his electrics began to fail, necessitating a truck ride to an Oklahoma repair shop with a 4 day delay. Buried within the GS motor, the alternator lay dead. The engine was extracted from the frame and $2400 later, their TAT journey resumed.
[Yes, if elected, I will be advocating malpractice prison for certain mechanical engineers.]
Ralf and Christian did shortcut a few segments in their quest for home. (And we chatted enough in the Dove Creek snack store, that Ralf sent Paul a Swiss computer job offer.)
Otherwise, we pretty much had the trail to ourselves.
A different approach to crowds:
“When [Jesus] saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Matt9:36
What a fantastic journey and I enjoyed following along both online and literally behind you. We were really hoping to catch up to you along the trail. We departed on July 9th from Andrews NC and finished July 31st in Port Orford OR. We were following Sam Correro’s trail. Check out our journey at transamtrailadventure.blog
Thanks for the advice and sharing your trip.
Jb
Hey Jb, Wish we had met you on the trail. You were a couple weeks behind us but going faster. Would like to compare Sam’s route to Kevin’s. I’ll enjoy viewing your blog. We have some shorter postings appearing on Motorcyclistonline.com for a couple months. Good job getting to Battle Rock!
DB
Hello Dave and team,
It was great meeting you guys! You were also the first and only other motorcyclists we met on the TAT. We met the Spanish couple on their tandem bicycle as well, up on Cinnamon Pass in Colorado, and were thoroughly impressed by their feat. They started out at 04:00 in the morning at the foot of the pass to reach the summit the same time we did at about 10:00 in the morning.
About the GS: You can read a lot of advice about not taking heavy bikes like the GS onto the TAT. Personally I mostly disagree. My personal opinion is that the weight of the bike does not matter too much. While the weather does a lot. For most of our time on the trail we were a couple of days ahead or behind you guys and it made all the difference with the storms, the mud, and all. If you are on a heavy bike just make sure your uncle trails you and helps you right the bike when you drop it. Again. And again. Thanks Christian! (Over the whole trip I dropped the bike maybe 10 times?)
Ride safe and keep the rubber-side down!
Ralf
Hey Ralf,
Great comments.
BTW: Your written English is better than most/many Americans. (The literary brain stem of many newer Americans has been fried through use of social media and changes in our education system.) (Oops: That wasn’t a motorcycling comment.) Today is eldest son TAT rider, Paul’s, first day at his new Air BnB job in San Francisco.
Yes, I also read the “650cc max size” TAT advice, etc. and we put it to the test with the A-Twin. It certainly was doable BUT we conclude that the most fun will be had with the lightest & best power-to-weight ratio bike. I think that the closer you can be to 300 lbs. and over 35 hp, you’d be excellent! Our 250s had something like 21 hp (and 360 lbs. with gear) and they handled all tasks, long highway (ow, my butt) and steep rocky single-track. But the bigger adventure bikes are much better on open roads dirt and asphalt.
(BTW #2: In the ADV category, the Africa Twin is touted for its lighter weight, but it’s only about 28 pounds lighter than the GS before the chubby BMW bags go on, (Wet weights. naked bikes: 539 – 511 = 28).
As of 2007, the R1200GS was BMW’s best-selling motorcycle, exceeding 100,000 units. In 2012, Cycle World called the R1200GS “the most successful motorcycle in the last two-and-a-half decades”.. My wife and I rode the bike that started the adventure bike craze, a 1986 R80GS, across the Sahara in 1989. In top sales for beginning of 2016, the GS BMWs were in the middle of the top 10 but the Africa Twin was #2 (beaten only by a Honda 125 Fireblade scooter.)
And, it’s true, Ralf: have good traveling companions who can help you out and pick you up.
Thanks,
DB
Ralf,
Quick followup: Yes, those cyclists are tough. That Spanish couple’s in one of our vids somewhere. As is Aaron, and the rest of them, peddling 140 miles and more with no water source.
And: I liked your offer to Paul, our software engineer boy, to come to Switzerland for work. He would love motorcycling those Alps during lunch breaks!
God’s good to us to give guidance to raise kids that are doing the right thing and giving us opportunities like we had together on That Trail, and meeting cool folks like you!
Hi to your uncle.
DB