In September of 2001, my friend John & I decided to take a little road trip on our dual sport motorcycles. We figured we'd ride the Blue Ridge Parkway end-to-end, then play around in the mountains for a few days looking for dirt roads and such before heading home. We also figured that since we were in the area, we'd see what all the fuss is about regarding Deal's Gap. Other than the ~2.5 hours of highway to and from the Front Royal, VA area, we planned on sticking to back & small roads the entire time. We left from my house in North East, MD, since John got out of work earlier than I did.

Writing a trip report was the last thing on my mind upon our return, and it kinda slipped through the cracks in my brain until now. I have a few scribbled notes to go by, but mostly, this will be from memory. I'm sure I'll forget stuff, but if it starts to look too bad, I'll just make more stuff up.

John rides a 1997 Suzuki DR650SE, and I ride a 1994 Honda XR650L. Both bikes are pretty much stock and are in good (used, but good) condition. We both did some standard pre-trip maintenance, and both installed a new set of Kenda K270 tires before leaving. John installed a custom adapted (read: junkyard) rear luggage rack, and I caved in and bought a new SRC aluminum rear rack. I was planning on making something, but the seat/fender/subframe setup on my bike didn't lend itself to easy adaptation (plus, I'm lazy), so I just splurged on the SRC. I had some Eclipse P-38 sportbike saddlebags sitting around, so I rigged up an aluminum support to keep 'em off of the pipe and threw 'em on. I also rigged a heat shield using cardboard & insulated aluminum tape. On top of that, I rigged up a hard plastic 'stop' to keep my sidecover from being bent around the aluminum support and into the pipe. All of this rigging worked fine, and allowed me to pack the saddlebags very full with no worries about heat from the pipe. For navigation, I used my Garmin StreetPilot GPS and a Touratech bar mount.

On the subject of rigging and 'custom adapting'... Both John and I have a strange interest in dirt-cheap mods to our bikes. It started with simply not having the budget (and it still applies) for the good stuff, and evolved into a 'sport' of sorts. If it's cheap and works, we like it. If it looks OK on top of that, well, that's just a bonus. Function over form is the motto I guess. One thing we did splurge on a few years ago is Collett helmet communicators, which allow us to talk while riding. On a trip like this, they're really invaluable, as they let you plan stops, etc., without having to pull over and have a conference.

On my bike, I carried a 10x10 tent, a Thermarest sleeping mat, a sleeping bag, maps, clothes, sundries, GPS, tools, spare tubes, flat repair kit, tire irons, flashlight, water, rain gear, electric vest, spare helmet shield, and plenty of other junk that I'm forgetting. After the third day, I also carried a Martha Stewart pillow from Kmart. I carried these items in the above mentioned saddlebags, a small dufflebag, a dry bag, and the tent in the storage bag that came with it. The pillow got bungied to the top in a black plastic trash bag. The load was spread beteen the seat, saddlebags & SRC rear rack. The biggest benefit to the rack is the fact that it provided places to bungie stuff down to. It also carried a fair amount of weight with no problems. The loaded bike(s) looked pretty comical, but handling was fine, and creative arrangement provided a much-appreciated back rest. Between the backrest, a Throttle Rocker and frequent position changes, the XRL turned out to be much more comfortable than I would've expected. On our return trip. we did ~500 highway miles straight, and comfort was acceptable the whole time. Acceptable is a relative word of course, but to put it in perspective, I'd do it again.

I'll try to get John's comments on his setup, but I'll give a quick summary of what I noticed. John carried pretty much the same stuff, minus some of the tools, the flat repair stuff and a tent. He attached an expandable tank bag to the rack, which worked well for a 'loose stuff' bag. He used a sleeping bag/air matterss combo that looked pretty comfortable. It packed a bit larger than my separate bag/Thermarest, but he was strapping one less item down every time we packed up... I think the size penalty was easily offset by the time savings. He also managed to remember a camera, which is something that I never seem to be able to do. His custom made rack worked very well, and other than one quick load re-adjust (to move some of the weight lower) about 8 miles into the trip, his luggage solution worked out just fine, and cost ~$100 less (more if you factor in the saddlebags, but I've had 'em for years, so they don't count...) than my setup. Most of his stuff was packed in a larger duffle/gear bag, while the sleeping bag & pillow were strapped to the rack. Neither of us had any luggage related (or other) problems with the bikes at all.

Day 1 - Friday, September 7th, 2001

We headed out at about 4:30 in the afternoon, after I got off of work. We planned on riding for a couple of hours to get the highway portion out of the way and get to/near the mountains. We had a quick dinner at McDonald's, then started keeping an eye out for campgrounds. We passed a couple of campgrounds early, figuring we'd put in just a few more miles, then seemed to hit a dry spell and didn't see any for a while. We checked out two in the Front Royal area, but neither looked appealing. We knew of a campground in Luray, VA that we liked, so we figured we'd head that way on Rt. 340 and if we didn't see anything else, we'd go there. Just ~10 miles out of Front Royal, we stumbled into Gooney Creek campground, run by a nice older lady. We got the best site in the campground (and possibly the best of the trip), set up, then headed back into town for a snack. After a bite to eat, we got some sleep... or at least tried, but both of us found that sleeping without a pillow was pretty difficult. We had figured we'd use clothes stuffed in small bags as pillows, but it turned out to not work well for either of us. We figured we'd adapt.

Day 2 - Saturday, September 8th, 2001

In the morning, we packed up and rode for a bit before having breakfast at a Hardee's in some town or the other. They had something called a Frisco sandwich, which as fast food goes, was really good. We were riding on Rt. 340, just west of Skyline Drive, since we've ridden it (Skyline) a few times and wanted to get on to new stuff. When we got to Rt. 211, I remembered hearing about "Cooter's Place," a roadside tourist trap run by Ben Jones who played Cooter on The Dukes of Hazzard TV show. When I was a kid, Bo and Luke Duke were just about as cool as you could get, so I figured we had to stop in to check it out. Rt. 211 up and over Skyline Drive is a fun road, and it was nice to get to ride some twisties. When we got to Cooter's Place, they weren't open yet. There were a couple of bikes parked accross the street, so we headed over to chat. It turns out that Cooter's doesn't open 'til 10, and we were about 1/2 hour early. There was a group assembling in the parking lot for a ride, so we decided to hang out and chat with them 'til Cooter's opened. We talked with a guy named David on a yellow Triumph 955 who turned out to be the somewhat reluctant leader of the ride. David was dressed in an Aerostitch suit and seemed like a 'responsible' rider. As we sat there, and other riders showed up, we realized that David wasn't the norm for this group, which probably explained why he didn't relish the ride ahead. I'm not sure how he got into that situation, but I think it had to do with posting an open invitation for a ride to a local mailing list. Riders were showing up in jeans, windbreakers, etc. and sporting bald back tires and other such clues as to their riding styles. Without sounding too much like a safety weenie, I'll just say that when you're showing up for a sportbike ride in the mountains, jeans & a thin nylon jacket probably aren't what you should be wearing. At one point, I mentioned to John that I had a bad feeling that there would be carnage in that group on that day. John agreed, and mentioned that one guy on a new GSXR600 (temporary tags and all) looked to be the most likely candidate based on how shaky he was in the parking lot. We hoped that wouldn't be the case, and headed over to Cooter's when they opened up. Unfortunately, Cooter wasn't there, but they had a bunch of neat trinkets, and I got to sit in The General Lee, which would've been much cooler if I were still 10. The car was really rough, but I guess that's fine when you're letting a bunch of tourists sit in/on it all day. Oh, in case you were wondering, the doors opened...

We spent about 15 or 20 minutes at Cooter's (and bought some junk), then geared back up and were ready to head out just as the group from accross the street was taking off. We figured that since they were on sportbikes and we were on heavily loaded dual sports, we'd just let them go and we'd take off a few minutes later. We made it about 3 (yes, three) miles when we came upon the aforementioned squid and his GSXR600 laying in the weeds. He'd made it 3 miles and stuffed it in the second corner up the mountain. He was OK, and was receiving first aid for some minor road rash on his leg from a passing motorist. We stopped to make sure everyone was OK, and ended up repairing/rigging the bike to get him on the road towards home. With a little duct tape and a stick that I found that happened to have a nice 90 degree bend in it, we fashioned a new end for his shifter and he was able to continue on. While we were doing that, the police arrived, and I think he got a ticket to go along with his fancy new shifter. A quick glance at his odometer showed ~600 miles. It was his first bike. With that all sorted out, we headed back down Rt. 211 and headed south again on Rt. 340 and then picked up the Blue Ridge Parkway at the beginning.

After a good roast beef sandwich at Mr. Foot Long in somewhere, VA, we took a side trip to Crabtree Meadows, which is off of Rt. 56 (I think), and involves a nice ride up a mountain on a dirt road. I wanted to try to find a campsite that I had used about 13 years ago, but for the second time (I had looked a few years earlier on another trip John and I took), I was unable to find it. I remember camping just on the edge of a cliff, with a great view of a valley below. Now, I can't remember where exactly it was. I'm told that some of the trails have been closed over the years, so I assume the trail in has gotten overgrown or is just off limits. The backside of the dirt road we were on becomes the Shoe Creek Trail, and it's a nice ride, but since our bikes were heavily loaded, and since we hadn't made much in the way of southern progress yet, we decided to pass and get back on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Later in the day, we saw signs for Natural Bridges and decided it was worth a side trip. We hopped off of the BRP and headed in the direction the signs pointed us. At one point, we were held up behind a slow moving minivan, which in turn was being held up by a slow moving Honda Valkarie. Nothing wrong with going slow, it was just sorta funny for a Valkarie to be holding up a minivan. Anywho, we continued on to Natural Bridges, only to find that the admission price was way high. I don't recall how much it was, but I'm thinking ~$15/person. We figured there wasn't anything there that could possibly be worth that much to see, and decided to bin it, but not before we tried to find a place to sneak a peek. They've gone to great length to install fences to prohibit anyone from seeing what's inside, so we saw nothing. We cruised down the BRP 'til late in the day and ended up camping at Roanoake Mountain Campground. After setting the tent up, etc., we headed in to town and ate dinner at a place called Famous Anthony's. Back at the campground, we suffered through another night of sleeping without a pillow.

Day 3 - Sunday, September 9th, 2001

We wanted to cover some ground today, so we were up and riding early. We stopped for a late breakfast at a place called Tuggles Gap Motel & Restaurant just off of the BRP. The food was good & cheap, and the place was nice - sort of a mom & pop place. The riding this morning was really nice, with lots of nice views, minimal traffic and great weather... Around lunchtime, the weather began to change, and we were treated to off & on rain for the rest of the day. We were prepared, and both had rain gear, so it we didn't mind at all. For lunch, we took rt. 80 down to a Wendy's, and it turned into a 30 mile side trip for food. Rt. 80 was very slick & twisty at the top, so it was very slow going for a few miles coming down the mountain. On the way back up, it was raining harder and the oil, etc., that gets brought up when rain starts had been mostly washed away, so it was a much more entertaining ride.

In the afternoon, we caught up with a group of six bikes, and had a great time riding with them in the rain. By about six o'clock, they all exited the parkway, and we decided to follow them and look for something to eat. We stopped at a gas station with a couple riding a Bandit 1200 and an SV650 and chatted for a while. Our original plan of finishing the BRP that day lost out to the new plan of finding a campground and getting some food. They directed us to Lake Powhatan Campground, where we got a nice site and set up shop for the night. We rode into town and had dinner at a Subway. Accross the parking lot from the Subway was a Kmart... that Kmart held the key to a good night's sleep for both of us... pillows. I bought the fluffiest pillow I could find, and slept great that night. Call me a wuss if you want, but I just can't sleep well without a pillow.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch... wait, wrong story. Anyway, we headed back to the campground and just as we got there, it really started to rain hard. We each took showers (whatta pain, you had to hold the button in to get water) and went to sleep pretty early.

Day 4 - Monday, September 10th, 2001

It continued to rain all night, and was still raining when we woke up. We lounged around in the tent for about 45 minutes and then hurried up and packed up when the rain let up a bit. I don't mind riding in the rain, but it sure is a pain to set up and pack up camp in the rain. It rained a bit more at higher elevations, but by mid-morning it pretty much stopped completely.

While we were riding the last 75 miles or so of the Blue Ridge Parkway, we came upon a group of officers wearing SBI (State Bureau of Investigation, I believe) jackets conducting some sort of search, including dogs & ATVs. The relaxed nature of their actions led me to believe that it was part of an ongoing effort, not a search for someone who had just been involved in a chase or somesuch. It quickly dawned on me that they must've been searching for Eric Rudolph, as this is the area that he's supposedly hiding out in. We stopped and asked who they were looking for, but got no answer. I asked if it was Rudolph they were looking for, and got a smile and "I can't answer that" from an officer. On to more important stuff, I asked for a breakfast suggestion. As it turns out, there wasn't any food in the immediate area, so we just decided to motor on.

Just before we got to the marker for the highest point on the BRP, I had the only 'scare' (in the crashing sense) of the trip. Some jackass on a Kawasaki Concourse heading in the opposite direction blew a corner and was using nearly all of my lane. Fortunately, I was able to change lines and move to the outer edge of my lane and get by without contact. It's funny, you always worry about the cars, and it's some idiot on a bike that almost does you in. Go figure. We stopped and took a picture at the highest elevation, and then another at a stop that we couldn't pass up before coming to a very unceremonious end of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I guess I was expecting a big party or something, I don't know...

The town at the southern end of the BRP is Cherokee, NC. There must have been a Harley rally of some sort going on, as the town was packed full of Harleys. The town itself is kinda freaky, but we passed through pretty quickly. On the way out of town, we crossed a bridge, and noticed something odd about the far bank of the river. It turns out that there are old cars stacked and buried to build up the bank. We tried to take a pic, but it didn't turn out so good.

We started making our way toward Deals Gap, and at one point made a bit of a wrong turn. The road we turned on was an absolute blast. I knew right away that I had turned in the wrong direction, but the road was so good, we rode about 8 miles of great twisties before finally deciding to turn around and continue on our way. Just after turning around, we saw one of the stranger things I've seen in a while... The roadside was a pretty steep uphill, and as I rounded a corner, I saw a dog in the road. As he saw me, he lept - in one hop - about 8 feet up the hill. Weird.

We stopped for fuel shortly afterward, and an elderly lady asked us if our motorcycles had mufflers. We said yes, and she told us how much she hated those loud bikes with no mufflers. She couldn't believe it wasn't against the law for them to be so loud, and wondered why they made 'em like that. We explained to her that they didn't come that way and that the owners were responsible for them sounding that way. I'm happy to ride bikes that don't piss off old ladies...

We got a bit more rain on the way to Deals Gap, but it was mostly dry when we got there. Just pulling into the parking lot at the Crossroads of Time, I had a bad feeling about the whole place. We stopped, took a pic or two and then looked around in the store. There are tons of pics on the wall of wrecked bikes & people, and it's displayed as some sort of 'squid shrine' or something. Before we headed back out to ride "the gap", a CBR600 came in on a trailer, and we heard that the owner had been airlifted out. The group that he was with had come from Canada to ride Deals Gap, and now one of them was in the hospital with some apparently serious injuries. Bummer.

It was time to take a ride thought Deals Gap and see what the big deal was... I was impressed & confused at the same time. The road is great (the impressed part), but I didn't think any of the corners were particularly terrible or surprising, and I really don't see why so many people are crashing (the confused part) there on a regular basis. Obviously, it's just ego overriding common sense, but it's still surprising. It's a great road to ride at a brisk pace, and there's no reason it can't be ridden without a reasonable expectation of staying upright. Truly a squid mecca. We saw a number of riders crossing the center line, and saw two different groups of riders picking a bike up (plus the CBR on the trailer) in the short time we were there. I wanted to leave ASAP, as the place just gave me a bad feeling... I've owned a number of sportbikes, and I enjoy riding fast. I also enjoy riding safe, but after seeing this gaggle of squids at Deals Gap, I'm almost embarrassed to have ever owned a sportbike. Again, without wanting to sound too much like a safety weenie, I suggest that anyone who enjoys riding at a brisk pace take a few minutes to read The Pace by Nick Ienatsch.

We headed out, without a real plan as to where to go next. I was thinking that I'd like to go to Two Wheels Only (a motorcycle only campground), but the more we rode, I started to think that we should've hit the Cherahola Skyway and Cades Cove road while we were right in the area of Deals Gap. After a bit of a conference, we decided to stay in a cheap motel in Murphy, NC and head back and do the roads we missed the next day. We unpacked, got cleaned up and headed out to a place called the Sirloin for dinner where we saw another one of those weird things. There was a couple with a baby sitting next to us, and when the man (spanish) was present, the woman (not spanish) spoke to the baby in spanish, but when he wasn't at the table, she spoke to the baby in english. Something tells me that kid has a screwed up childhood to look forward to. ;-)

Day 5 - Tuesday, September 11th, 2001

We had stopped at a Walmart the night before and picked up Pop-Tarts and drinks for breakfast, so we ate at the motel and then headed back towards Deal's Gap. The plan was to ride Cades Cove Road (a touristy loop thing with a dirt road exit onto Deals Gap), then do the Foothills Parkway & the Cherahola Skyway. We rode out through Deals Gap (it really is a great road), then rode the Foothills Parkway. The FHP was nice, but had no elevation changes and after the BRP and Deals Gap, it seemed sorta lackluster. Then we made our way to Cades Cove Road. We sat in lots of traffic on Cades Cove Road, but overall, it was reasonably neat. We made it to the dirt road exit and took that. This was a really nice road, with a bunch of creek crossings (with concrete bottoms, you could do it in any car) and really nice scenery. We took our time and eventually made it back to Deals Gap.

After Cades Cove Road, we road out Deals Gap again (this dirt road dumps you out in the middle) and then headed towards the Cherahola Skyway. I don't remember our exact route, but somewhere about 30 miles outside of Tellico Plains, TN, we stopped for fuel at ~10:15 a.m. (I'm not 100% sure of the time here).

While we were filling up, the man running the gas station asked us if we'd heard the news. As of that time, the radio station he was listening to reported that one plane had been flown into the World Trade Center, and there was some word about the Pentagon. Needless to say, we were stunned. We talked about what to do, and figured the next step was to get to Tellico Plains to find a television and find out what was going on. We weren't able to find a TV, but we found a restaurant and ordered some food and I hung out in the kitchen with the staff and listened to the news on the radio. By now, the scope of what was going on was evident, and I was feeling pretty screwed up. We had a bite to eat, then set about trying to get in touch with our wives/family. I was able to get in touch with my wife via my cell phone, and after talking to her and arranging for her to contact John's fiance, John and I sat down to figure out what to do. We realized that we were a long way from home, and that there wasn't any good we could be doing at home anyway, but still, we figured we should head towards home. Since we were right at the start of the Cherahola Skyway, we decided to ride it on our way out. Riding that road was probably the best way I could've cleared my head, and I felt much better by the time we reached the other end. By now it was pretty late in the day, but we figured we'd put some miles in and considered just riding straight home.

From this point on, the trip was nothing but a ride home with much bigger things on our minds. We had dinner at a Cracker Barrell and then rode 'til about 11:30 PM and found a cheap motel to crash in that night. We had thought about riding straight home, but figured that riding Rt. 81 at night (lots of deer) while tired was stupid, and didn't really gain us anything anyway. We got up early the next morning and rode ~500 miles home on the highway. While 500 miles on the highway isn't exactly how I expected to ride my XR650L, I was pretty surprised at how comfortable (relative) it was. Maybe it was just that I was preoccupied.

There isn't anything I can say about 9/11/01 that will make any difference, so I'll leave that alone.

Up until that stop at the gas station, the trip was a great time, and I'd like to do it again. We rode ~2,000 miles total, and didn't have any trouble (mechanical or otherwise) at all.

In no real order, here are some of my thoughts on the gear/equipment I used...

Collett Communicators - I don't know how these compare to some of the other brands out there, but we've been using them for about four or five years now, and on a long trip, they're a very nice thing to have. They make figuring out the small details on the fly as simple as it should be, as opposed to repeated stops to discuss this or that. Plus, if your buddy leaves his helmet on when he goes in to pay for gas, you can really screw with him while he's trying to talk to the cashier... ;-)

Fieldsheer Alpine? Jacket - I've had this thing forever, or at least since 1994 or so. It's starting to get rough around the edges, but it's just so comfortable that I've had a hard time thinking about replacing it. I've never treated it, so it's not very waterproof anymore, but that's mostly my fault. It has hard armour in the back, elbows/forearms & shoulders, as well as ample pockets for carrying lots of junk. I'm not sure what I'll replace it with when the time comes, but hopefully I can milk it for one more season.

Teknic Stinger? Cordura Pants - I've had these for a year or so, but haven't worn them all that much. This was the first time I had worn them for any length of time, and I was satisfied with them. The legs are a bit short, but I'm pretty long legged, so that's not surprising. The armor (knees & hips) settles into the right place when riding, and it feels like it would stay put in a crash. They claim to slip over boots easily, but for me, that wasn't the case. My only real complaint is that I have to put 'em on before my boots, and of course, remove my boots before taking them off. This wasn't a big deal on this trip, since I just left 'em on all day, but at home & around town, it's a bit of a pain. They stayed completely waterproof through a pretty good amount of rain, so on the next trip, I won't bother to pack rain pants.

Fieldsheer ?? Rain Suit - I bought this years ago before my first 'long' trip since rain was expected. I ended up riding through some very heavy rain, and stayed dry. It's just a typical PVC rain suit, with softer (cordoroy?) fabric on the collar. Nothing special, but it keeps the rain out. I used the jacket over my riding jacket when it rained on this trip, and stayed dry.

Widder Electric Vest - I ended up not needing this on the trip at all. It was pretty cool when it was raining, but with my rain jacket over my riding jacket, I was fine. I mention it because it works so well that I use it all the time. John did use his on the trip, since he was wearing fewer layers. This is one of the best motorcycling accessories that I've ever purchased.

Sidi On-Road Sympatex Boots - I bought these about 3.5 years ago and they're holding up great. They are 100% waterproof and very comfortable. They're comfortable enough to walk around all day in if need be, and eliminated the need for packing anything other than a pair of sandals (yeah, I wear those goofy things - mine are Nike's, I call 'em "Air Sparticus") for the campgrounds. When I bought 'em, the importer at the time was a pain to deal with. I understand that a different importer is used now, so hopefully things are better. I have also noticed that the price has come down a little. The four buckle system is sometimes a little slow, but not enough that I'd really call it a complaint.

Arai Quantum/e Helmet - Comfortable, light, well vented. Expensive. PITA system for changing shields. I much preferred the system on my Shoei X9, but the Arai just fits my head much better. I can wear this helmet all day. It's plain white, just like every full-faced helmet I've ever owned has been.

Summers Racing Components rear luggage rack - I had hoped to make a rack for much less $$, but I couldn't come up with anything simple and was running short on time. The SRC rack is a nice piece, but it's one of the more expensive racks available. I just didn't like any of the others out there. Lockhart used to make a nice steel one, but they stopped producing it a couple of years ago, and I couldn't find one anywhere. If you don't mind spending the $$, the SRC is certainly a very good rack. It requires minor trimming of the sidecovers, but that doesn't bother me - I buy my bikes to use, and a functional mod is fine with me.

Garmin StreetPilot GPS - I bought this a couple of years ago when Office Depot had 'em on sale for $129 - they retailed for $599 at the time. I'm not sure if it was a mistake or what, but I didn't waste any time asking. I really enjoy having the GPS for navigation, but it doesn't completely replace maps. It's certainly not a necessity for a trip, but it is nice to have, and it makes 'exploring' more fun since I always know my general position relative to where I started.

Delorme Atlas & Gazeteer - These are very nice maps with tons of detail. For exploring on back roads, a regular map just leaves too much out, and these are the ticket. These along with the GPS make navigation a non-issue.

Touratech Aluminum GPS Mount - A _great_ GPS mount. It's made of aluminum and looks like a million bucks. It's a little expensive at ~$80, but it works well enough to justify the cost. It holds the GPS securely through _all_ conditions and is vibration damped as well. I thought about making a mount, but after seeing this thing at www.cycoactive.com, I realized that nothing I could make would compare, and I'd end up spending way too much time trying.

Kenda K270 Tires - These are inexpensive 50/50 tires, and they worked well for our needs on this trip. We wore 'em to the edges in the twisties, and they performed reasonably well and were predictable when pushing them a little. In the dirt, they did as well as any 50/50 tire can really do. For a street oriented ride that still includes some dirt, I wouldn't hesitate to use 'em again. We chose these since we planned on riding ~2,500 miles and knew much of it would be on the pavement. It didn't make sense to wear out more expensive tires in a week. We were both pleasantly surprised at how well they performed overall. As it turns out, they hold up pretty well too - mine have about 3k on them now, and are still in pretty good shape.

1994 Honda XR650L - This is the second XR650L I've had over the years, and for me, it's the right dual sport. A KLR or F650 would've been better on the pavement, but I like the dirt too, and neither of those bikes work for me off-road. The other nice thing is the low price. I bought my '94 used with 1,600 miles on it for less than 1/2 the price of a new one. KLRs can be found in the same price range, but not F650s. For the trip we took, ANY of the dual sport/adventure touring bikes would've worked, but I just happen to like the XR650L. I've always figured that it would be easier to make the XRL work as well as a KLR on the road than to make a KLR work as well as an XRL off-road...

1997 Suzuki DR650SE - I don't want to speak for John too much here, but I know he's very happy with his bike. It works well, it has been stone reliable, and it fits him. If it 'fit' me ergonomically, I would've considered one when I bought my last XR650L, but something about it just doesn't suit me. Without a doubt, it's a great bike, and if it fits you, I'd recommend it. One really nice thing about it is the low seat height, and it comes from the factory with the option to be lowered another inch. For the short inseam crowd, this is a welcome thing on a dual sport.

Eclipse P38 Sportbike Saddlebags - These have been kicking around in my garage forever, but I've probably only used 'em 10 times over the years. They're a little small, but otherwise they work fine. I put stuff in 'em and it's still there when I reach my destination, so I guess that's all I can ask... ;-) They came with waterproof covers, but it just looks too easy to lose those, so I packed my clothes in large ziplock bags (this helped get stuff small too) and left the covers at home.

That's about all I can think of, but if anything else pops up, I'll update the page. I'll also try to get John to offer some opinions/insight and update the page with that stuff someday.

Hopefully you enjoyed my rambling babble, or at least stopped reading it when you realized that you didn't like it... If you have any questions/comments/insults/whatever, feel free to shoot me an email and let me know. I know that a couple of the pictures need to be re-scanned - I'll get to that soon. I also have a couple of pics that still need to be scanned, so I'll get on that too.