So, I should give some description of this trip I am referring to. It began as a plan to possibly travel to Alaska, then it changed to touring the West, including the inland states, such as Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Utah, excluding those further south. However, we finally decided to thoroughly explore the West Coast, taking only back roads up to the Canadian border and back. Having finished the trip, I can say that we did do just this. Up and back taking nothing but two lane secondary roads, sticking to the east side of the mountains going up, and the coast on the way back down. I have not worked out the final mileage, due to the fact that I don't really care, but it is somewhere between 3500 and 4000, I believe. Perhaps after I finish telling this story, I will have a better idea. Besides this, I do hope you enjoy the trip report, as well as any others that will inevitably come later.
And here I am performing some tests before the launch date. On the side of the Grizzly Road, not far from my residence, a few days before the trip.
My primary mode of two wheeled transportation is my 1990 Yamaha TW200. It has seen quite a lot in its life, so far. Before taking me on a loop through the states of the west coast, it was thoroughly beaten by it previous owner and friends. The bike was not in running order when I came across it. Somehow mixed fuel had made its way into the tank, gumming up the carburetor. Once cleaned out, it ran like a champ, and has ever since, with a few exceptions... However, I imagine the 2000 miles it came with were much more grueling than the 8000 miles I have ridden in the last six months. Here we see the TW in its former glory...
When acquired, nothing that was not firmly attached to the frame was missing; but luckily many of the missing pieces were later discovered, and the rest was easily replaced. The bike did not undergo any major changes for months, until this last summer. I didn't think it right to take it so many places with such a terrible color scheme. So in preparation for the then task at hand, I made some slight modifications...
Here is the bike after modifications (and a few days on the road). Still rough and weathered, but slightly more pleasing on the eye. The few modification made were as follows: fabrication and installation of luggage rack, installation of Jimbo Cafe Windscreen (much obliged, Jimbo, if you happen to read this), hand guards, new tires, recovered seat, repainted tank and new decals, new black fork gators, and a piece of duct tape over the hole blown out of the crankcase (the part covering the front sprocket)... I also changed the gearing, to give me slightly higher gearing for the high speed work I would inevitably encounter. So there it is...
There is one other important introduction, my wing-man/mechanic/auxiliary fuel tank, who will be known simply as Jack. Below we have him wielding his nuclear turbine powered adventure touring machine and helmet hair somewhere in Eastern Washington.
With his extensive knowledge of all things mechanical, and hundreds of thousands of miles under his belt, I was lucky he had the time to join this expedition. He has been rambling on two wheels across the U.S. since he was my age (in the 1970's). He is an ardent BMW fan, and probably for good reason; as his 5 gallon fuel capacity saved me more than once along this trip...
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