Hi all, it's been a while since I've posted any reports. I've spent the better part of 2yrs. prepping for the Trans. American Trail!! Starting at Graceland and coming as far west as we could in the time we had. I'm the brother in law of 2 brothers and one guest, hence "TAT Brothers Ride 2013". One DRZ, one KLR, one 690R, And the old Stroker on the Trusty Husky. This will get you started while I sort out hundreds of pictures, It's a live Blog that covered the pre-trip prep until the present. I'll fill in the gaps when I get organized. Enjoy. http://tatbrothersride2013.com/
Ok ladies and gentlemen, the pictures I was waiting for aren't any good anyway so let's hit the TAT. We backed up to gates of the "Kings Castle", lit the fires and took off!!! I was stoked and amped!!! Did a big wheelie down Elvis Presley Blvd. in front of the House, and the Heartbreak Hotel down at the end of lonely street (no pictures, you'll have to trust me on that one). Then out to Bob Dylan's "Highway 61" to Pick up the trail on the Mississippi/Arkansas border. Finally on the road through Arkansas.. Stopped here to meet the friendliest guys in the world, and they new we were on the TAT. They said TAT riders come through all the time now. Home sweet home
Posting pictures is different now from when I last did it, but I'm getting there.. Miles and miles of this and the dust was horrible
We had a little fun here.... View attachment 28331 View attachment 28332 By accident, we ended up in "Ozone Arkansas" about lunch time, hungry and low on gas, I got an "Ozone burger" at the "Ozone Burger Barn" in Ozone Arkansas! It don't get no better than that!! View attachment 28333 Deep in the Ozarks, note, beer grows on trees in the Ozarks!!! My 610 takes me to all kinds of neat places... No such thing as a closed road on these bikes.. Or is there??? Built a ramp... Walked all of the bikes through but mine ! I fired up and dazzled the fans by riding through There is a video of that.... cool huh?? We are now officially in Oklahoma. More drama to come..
Oklahoma/Dukes of Hazard... About the only trouble we had was in Ok. The tree across the road, the "road closed" The hundred deg. heat, the 40+mph. winds. Chased down by cop, Sherriff, and a pissed off cowboy. Not to mention 10hrs. on the bike and the landscape never changes. If you ever take this ride, try to bypass Oklahoma, you won't miss much. No offense to the local people, they were as friendly and helpful as they come. In fact, we noticed that the people we met along the were the most friendly people we've ever run into! Oh yeah, 2 of our guys went down in a creek crossing made of concrete, (smooth concrete), slime grows on the cement and down you go. I wasn't one of the 2, and there are no pictures of that. We even had low gas issues out there. Pretty much 3 days of this Then this I was rolling down the road about 40mph., about to fall asleep when I hear sirens behind me, a cop and the cowboy in the cop car yelling at me to pull over. After getting us all rounded up, we got preached a sermon and a half about scaring some horses 40mi. back!! the cop had been chasing us (with the cowboy in the car with him) at 100+mph. speeds down those dirt roads for about an hour!!! They thought we were running from them. Then the big Sherriff pulls up and starts in on us as well. After a long conversation about what happened, and some apologies, they let us go. I think that's the most action they've had in a while. Then the 2 riders with the big tanks went on and the KTM's fuel light comes on which means I'm low on fuel too. You've seen the picture of the area so you know there is no 7/11 anywhere. Our chase truck was too far away, our other riders were too far away and here we are. Less than 5min. later "Daisy Duke" herself shows up in a tweaked out Jeep an with the coolest southern accent asks us if were ok. I said we're low on gas, about a gallon will get us to our guys up ahead. She said to wait right here and she'll get us some. Again, you've seen the pics. , where she went I'll never know but she came back in about 20min. with 5 gallons. Bear in mind, we are in Ok. she was from Kansas, she finds the gas and REFUSES to take any money, but let us get a picture. Cool huh. I asked her about spooking the animals around here and she said "YEAH, YOU DON'T WANNA DO THAT" !! Her real name was Jackie ( we call her "Kansas Jackie") and she saved the day. Stats for the first 3 days Yes, the max speed was captured on dirt! I love that bike man.
Buffalo City Ok. was really cool. Our motel was an old house converted to a motel. Complete kitchen, private bedrooms, laundry room, and a nice patio complete with a BBQ. So our guys went to the grocery store and got everything for a steak and chicken BBQ with all of the fixins'. It was awesome. Boise City was our last stop in Ok. We were going into New Mexico from here but only about 70mi. before hitting Colo. So we didn't buy the GPS tracks for this state, we decided I would lead with all of my dual sport old school odo. prowess until our tracks picked up in Colorado. It was here where my Ok. route chart ran out, and I discovered that I left my New Mexico chart in my suitcase in the motel!! Nice. I immediately got fired as leader for that section. That job didn't last long. 10mi. later my speedo quit working and now I have no odo. no map, no route chart and no GPS. tracks. So that was bitchen.. But we pressed on Now in Colo. Colorado was my favorite...... Day off in Trindad Colo. We serviced the bikes and rested for a long day in the Rockies to come. One of took his KTM to shop to get the work done, but I did mine old school, even called George a couple of times for some tips. The 610 ran fine in the 13,000ft. elevation but she was a little down on power. I still have and love the stock jetting,og. cam chain and I'm at 19,000mi. now. I love that bike man. Changing tire. Got 1800mi out of MotoZ Enduro IT. and it still was ok, but wanted good rubber in the Rockies. I'm sold on balancing the tires, besides a smooth ride, I think it helps them wear longer. The desk in the room was the perfect place for the stand. Some really good pictures of the big mtns. are coming, stay tuned..
Here we go. Fresh mounts, fresh bodies, nothin' to it but to do it!! View attachment 28470 View attachment 28469 View attachment 28468 I swear, this Moose was posing for us, we took a lot of pictures of this guy. View attachment 28471 View attachment 28472 View attachment 28473 From here on into Silverton was epic to the max!! View attachment 28474 View attachment 28475 View attachment 28476 View attachment 28477 Top of Cinnamon Pass 13,000'+ Bike running good but down on power. Dropping down to the Ghost Town of Animas Forks View attachment 28478 View attachment 28479 View attachment 28480 View attachment 28481 On into Silverton. I could have spent a week there!! View attachment 28482 View attachment 28483 View attachment 28484 View attachment 28485 Ophir Pass and into Utah next.....
Wow!! I've been gone all weekend riding and camping and swimming and I come home to this?? Awesome! And about that Oklahoma thing... Not much desire to ride the TAT route through there, but there is some incredibly beautiful country there if you know where to look. Obviously it ain't on the TAT route I'd love to do the western portion, though...NM to WA.
Nice report and pics. I can't think of a better bike for that kind of trip than a TE610. Can't wait for the rest of the story.
Yeah, this route took us straight through the Panhandle, but the route changes year by year, so he might route Ok. different by now. We had the 2011 and 2012 route mix. From Trinidad Colo. west is the most picturesque and the old buildings and Ghost Towns are simply too cool!!
Yeah, the 610 ruled man. Stock jetting, Uptite Pipe, and MotoZ Enduro tires. It handled the whole trip with ease. Over 2000mi. in 9 days. Most guys carry everything with them and end up overloaded, so they have premature breakdowns and crashes because of the extra weight. We had a chase truck for all of our gear and spares so we could ride "light" as possible but still be able fix flats and so on on the trail if we had to.
While I'm here, let's get on with more riding... Going over Ophir Pass. Look close, there 2 bikes on that road ahead View attachment 28499 View attachment 28500 View attachment 28503 View attachment 28504 Coming down from Ophir, and on our way to Utah. This place makes you feel very small... there are 2 bikes in pic. below.. We've seen Deer, Elk, Wild Horses, Snakes, Moose, and now even Buffalo... Wow!! Just found this one. Having fun in the Ozarks!! In Utah now. Because of a health problem, I didn't ride the last day into Moab. They were predicting 100+ deg temps. so I played it safe and rode in the truck with our chase guys, who by the way were AWESOME!! So I gave them a bad time on the 50mi. drive to Moab and don't have any pictures yet of the Moab area. Waiting on some GoPro stuff from the other riders. The picture above is a good one to remember me by.....LOL....
