baptism with mire - long trip report

[Tumu Rock]

Well I finally got the KLR out of it's mundane commuting status and took her and my wife up to Vermont via the Taconic State Parkway. All that rain we've been getting in northeastern U.S. made a timely exit Saturday and left me with nothing but it's green afterglow by Sunday morning. The Taconic is 2 lanes each direction and twisty all over the place. A great ride!! You could touch the overhanging trees and the local wildlife was apparently overflowing (roadkill count: 3 deer - one of which was headless, maybe on somebody's trophy wall?; 2 skunks; 6 R.U.S.'s - maybe groundhogs or racoons). I was able to get the KLR up to about 90 indicated with about a 400 lb load...100mph on the downhill sections - at least until Kirsty, my beloved, gave me the death grip which means, "Slow down NOW!" The trip took about 5 hrs for 250 miles. The twenty minute stretch stops added considerably. Once in Vermont I was exhausted since I had worked overnight the night before so I called it a day and cracked a cold one. Monday afternoon I got to go explore on my own and was seeking out some gravel/dirt roads. After a visit to the Ranger station which was closed I just turned off the local slab at every opportunity and discovered a whole lot of long driveways...oops! Finally found a road which looked promising and it too ended at someone's house. However a right turn by the house took me to a road that was called "Road Closed" - I just couldn't resist. About a quarter mile up the road and I could see more slab coming...but wait! What's this? A left turn took me on to a fresh cut road. Excavating equipment still waiting for the end of the holiday weekend. I got about 500 yards up this muddy, rutted road when the mud seemed to get instantaneously soft. I stopped for a moment and looked it over. "If I gun it, maybe I can make it to the other side of this little bog." Wrong answer! The other side only looked dryer because it was deeper. The surface had dried a little but under it was still soft as quicksand. I got stuck in mud so deep I could barely see the passenger footpeg. Chain was completely submersed. Stock dunlops - utterly useless. So I got to hike out to the nearest pavement and begin what would have been a 10 mile hike back to where my wife was. It was interesting seeing the landscape that a moment ago was just a big green whoosh in my peripheral. I was laughing at myself the whole way out. Then I stuck out my thumb and after 6 cars whizzed on by, a local guy picked me up and took me back to civilization. I recruited a neighbor of our friend's coffee shop and his 4X4 F250. Turns out we didn't need the truck except to get us a little closer than a car would have. With his strength and mine combined we were able to pry the bike free of the suction generated by the mud (it tried to take my boot right off of my foot!). We then held the bike up while my wife and my recruit's son slid tree branches and logs under the rear wheel. Repeat on front wheel. Now we have basically created a mud raft for the KLR and were able to back it up slowly to more solid mud. AT this point I was exhausted and dropped the bike just trying to mount it. Then I gunned it out of the bog whilst straddling and running along with it. This worked great until I hit a rock on the outslope and couldn't get up on the bike quick enough. Down again! Cracked a stock brushguard, no other damage. Kirsty made me buy the Rally-Pros on the way home."You need them!" Damn I love that woman! Same for the bike. I stopped at the Ranger station on the way home Tuesday morning and he told me there were no designated areas for OHV use in all of the nat'l park areas in Vermont. That pretty much sucks. Learned a lot this weekend and had a grand time doing it! Can't wait to see what kind of trouble I can get myself out of in PA this Sunday! dat dirty brooklyn bum _______________________________________________________ Get 100% FREE Internet Access powered by Excite Visit http://freelane.excite.com/freeisp