Kawasaki Concours Forum
Riding => Rides and Stories => Topic started by: Jeremy Mitchell on June 26, 2011, 09:38:59 PM
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My wife and I took off today to ride to Davisville, MO to see the Dillard Mill and eat at a place called the Traveler's Table. So we left about 11 and took off on some great Ozark roads. Somehow, about 15 miles from Davisville my TomTom wanted to take us on a "shortcut". Well the road started out as hardball, but about half a mile later I was on gravel, and I figured that I was gonna be back on pavement soon enough if I just pushed on through. Well lets just say we ended up on a dead end after about 15 miles of trying to make my sport tourer into an adventure tourer. I was pretty ticked at the time, but when I stopped to get my bearings, my wife told me that I would be laughing about it as soon as we found some blacktop. A Wee Strom this bike ain't, but maybe with the right tires I could see myself making it through some pretty nasty roads on my trip to Alaska. All in all it was a great day and we covered about 400 miles (about 25 of that on gravel) the Traveler's Table was an excellent restaurant, and Dillard Mill was pretty interesting also. If you are in the area for the great roads you might as well take an hour out of your day to stop by and visit both.
Outside the restaurant and it looks pretty nasty
(http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m245/flygirl5485/IMG_1220.jpg)
This is where it looks really bad
(http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m245/flygirl5485/IMG_1221.jpg)
(http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m245/flygirl5485/IMG_1222.jpg)
(http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m245/flygirl5485/IMG_1232.jpg)
My wife was getting a little overheated so she had to stay cool somehow, am I really gonna say "no honey don't dump that cool water on yourself?"............................ Ummmmmm nope!
(http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m245/flygirl5485/IMG_1231.jpg)
Here is Dillard Mill
(http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m245/flygirl5485/IMG_1226.jpg)
(http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m245/flygirl5485/IMG_1229.jpg)
(http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m245/flygirl5485/IMG_1225.jpg)
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Nice pics!
My bike has seen its share of ADV off-road riding too around the mountain s of NC thanks to Garmin lol
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The funny thing was that I was trying to get my wife to take some video before we got lost........ errrr I mean took the scenic route. She said she wishes that she would have had the camera going while we were on the gravel roads because we were hitting bushes and tree branches that were hanging into the road. This wasn't a normal gravel road these were forest access roads in the Mark Twain National Forest. So they were rutted up and overgrown, any more and neither my bike or me could probably not have handled it. There were several times that I about wiped out and I am just happy that I didn't put the mother of my children into the gravel.
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I love them hard packed roads!!!! - Bring them on - although in all fairness I have only done them riding solo.
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Only had to ride a few miles on gravel with the wife. But it is defintely a little nerve racking! Looks like a nice day.......thanks for sharing.
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You "also" need a DR650 where you live!!!!!!! ;)
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I would love to have a KLR or a DR.
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I would love to have a KLR or a DR.
Oh my, no love for the HON-DUH's :o
(http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j180/stevewfl/LR/20110419-DSC_0039.jpg)
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I knew you would take the bait, Steve. ;D
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I have done far more gravel and dirt roads on the C14 than I ever imagined I would (all solo, thankfully). Not really intentional, but necessary.
My first test of traction control was through a really wet/muddy stretch of road construction up in the mountains. After that, we found we took a wrong turn, and the shortest route from there was 12 miles of fresh gravel. Ended up with a nail in the rear tire by the time we made it back to asphalt. Neither of us had a compressor, so I had to race against the leak about 20 miles to the nearest town. Thank goodness for the TPMS.
After all that, and crossing Teton Pass in Wyoming last summer during an active construction cycle (all dirt, mud, & some gravel), I'm not too worried about using this big monster as a dual sport. ;)