Wilsons Sandbox

My first night in Moab this year I met an older gentleman in front of the store at Canyonlands Camp ground who was riding a 1998 KLR with 46,000 miles on it. I asked him if he was here for the rally and he said with a southern accent, "no, I'm just passing through". "I am on my way to Alaska". "Where are you from ?"I asked. "Mississippi" he replied. I noticed that his KLR 650 had a tall windshield with a sign that said "Please don't clean the bugs off my windshield" He had a Russell Day Long seat, highway pegs, centerstand, a large round disk welded on the end of his side stand, a Kawasaki KLR tank bag, and hard luggage saddle bags. He told me that he had another KLR at home with 80,000 miles on it and a garage full of BMWs but he preferred his KLR for long distance travel. He had been to Nova Scotia and Mexico all with in the last year, and with the exception of traveling south of the border, he camps out every night and has a daily budget of about $30.00. About this time, I noticed that a guy named Kris on a Honda XR 650 from California was riding into the campground. There had been a lot of buzz that day that he had ridden straight through from California in one day, a distance of over 1000 miles in 13 hours. I pointed to him and said to the old timer, "hey, see that guy over there? He just rode 1000 miles in one day. The old guy said "hell, that's nothin. I used to do that all the time back in the fifties before it became fashionable". I asked him how the misses feels about him going off on these long trips (cuz my misses definitely has a problem with it) and He said that she used to ride with him everywhere back in the old days but now she is content to stay home and research the family tree. We compared notes abut our KLRs and had a wonderful conversation about touring. The furthermost I have ever ridden in one day is 350 miles, and I have no long distance touring experience, so the old man was a real inspiration to me. When it was time for me to head back to my campsite, we exchanged business cards. His said: John Lyle Over 70 years old Over 700,000 M/C miles ridden North to Alaska South to Honduras East and West Sea to Shining sea Mississippi IGOFAR Mike Roberts Vancouver WA A14 88 Honda GT Hawk NT 650 89 Honda GB 500 74 Ducati 750 GT 70 Norton Commando (Kenny Dreer special) 57 Triumph TR6/B 55 BSA Gold Star Ps. If any one wants his phone # or address, contact me off list