Heading to the Overland Expo
Bikes lined up at the Overland Expo
It has probably been 20 years since the last time I rode from Denver to Durango in one day. My recollection of that trip was an exhausting ride that was not a lot of fun. I was just trying to burn up the miles so I could catch up with John and Bill, who had left several days ahead of me because my bike was still in pieces in a cursed shop that fortuitously is no longer in existence.
I did that ride again Wednesday, except this time I went beyond Durango. The first time I was on my 1980 Honda CB750 Custom; this time I was on my 1999 Kawasaki Concours. There is a difference. The Connie is a much better highway bike, it cruises comfortably at a much higher speed, and I also wasn’t stressed out by being held up for days and being totally pissed at those jerks in the shop. In short, it wasn’t a bad ride at all, and I could have kept going, though I was glad to stop.
As I mentioned previously, I’m now down at the Overland Expo, at Mormon Lake, southeast of Flagstaff. This is an event for people who are into adventure travel, both two wheels and more, and the two-wheel portion is getting much bigger each year. If Sturgis is the place to see more Harleys than you’ve ever seen in one place, this is the place to see my BMW GSs than anywhere else, plus various other adventure bikes.
I came to this thing last year, down in Amado, AZ, but it was an afterthought tacked onto my main trip, which was to Arizona Bike Week, in Scottsdale. I only got to spend one day at the Expo then and came away feeling I had wasted my time at Bike Week and missed out on a lot at the Expo. So here I am again.
I truly am not an adventure rider type, I have no desire to ride a bike around the world, but it is so amazing listening to these speakers who tell and show pictures of their incredible journeys.
You learn all sorts of new terms. Here’s one: human dip-stick. That’s when you have to ford a river on your bike and you want two people, one to ride the bike and one to walk ahead. If the person in front, the human dip-stick, drops out of sight, you know you want to change course or else be prepared for some serious riding. Yow! I might have considered that when I was 20 but at this point I’m just not interested. But hearing other people’s stories is pretty dang interesting. And this place is full of those stories.
Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Heading overland to the Overland Expo
Biker Quote for Today
Full face helmets: Because you can’t get laid with dead gnats on your teeth.
Tags: Overland Expo
