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May 14 Day 16 This Morning I left Kaibab a little disappointed I didn't get to see north rim, but there's still the southern side, so I headed for Grand Canyon NP and the south rim. It started pouring as soon as I got off the bike there so I only had a minute to snap pictures and accidentally left my cam on manual focus for the first 3/4 of shooting so it was all bs accept for the last 10 pics. I got soaked all the way through and was dry within 10 minutes of riding out of the storm. I had considered camping I or near Prescott Az but in the end I decided to skip the rest of Arizona and head for Joshua tree tomorrow. So tonight I've made camp in the needles KOA to charge up shower and head into the desert. The ride here was beautiful and by far one of the most interesting things I've seen so far was the little shelters along the road in cliff dwellings AZ. Tomorrow I'm headed for Joshua tree which will be the southern most point in the journey. Sorry for the lack of pictures I'm charging my camera and GoPro batts tonight so tomorrow should be a great day for riding and shooting! I am thinking over the next few days Joshua tree, Death Valley and then sequoia parks. For Death Valley I'm thinking of heading through ash meadows towards to Ryolite into Death Valley through Titus canyon and then to tea kettle junction and racetrack playa then out towards sequoia. Feel free to chime in here guys let me know about some good spots/trails/gas station through Joshua tree, Death Valley and Sequoia! Thanks for reading! Check out my tracks here http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0vOdQ17Gkzl75o9nCrbjzbmjyUZI7hDtx I'm not sure if I'll be around there then but if I end up within range I'll be there!

Update: good intro video on what this whole topic is about This is a great question that comes up time and time again. I think the first company I heard about avoiding was Camelbak due to their funding groups who want to shut down riding areas. I'm not an adv-fascist and you are certainly free to do whatever you want with your money. These companies are the problem, not you. I'm not going to try and shame anyone. This is simply for you to make an informed decision. On the one hand we have rabid OHV activists who are ever vigilant in protecting and preserving our off road areas and I applaud that. On the other are the die hard green environmentalists who pretty much want to shut down everything to access via anything that isn't "human-powered." In the middle you have those who say we have to work together to share outdoor spaces and support the outdoor industry. I'll let you decide where you are and leave it at that. 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I learned to ride when I was 12 years old. There was 12 inches of snow on the ground and only ruts to ride through from the garage to the road (about 100 yards). I took off from the back of the garage on an XR 80 and promptly hit the fence. Since I didn't get hurt, I kept on trying. So I pretty much self taught myself in the snow how to ride. When spring came, I was hooked. One of my fathers friends left his Trail 110 one summer, so I moved up (sorta). It gave me the freedom to visit my friends who lived miles away. I live in Shingletown CA then. Most of my highschool years went by only riding quads or 3 wheelers. I left at 18 for the Air force and was station in Okinawa. Being an E1 and broke didn't let me afford much. I found a honda areo for $125 and took the MSF class on base. After a few months on that scooter, i was ready for something else. I got a Honda XL200 for $1000, ordered tires from Jcwhitney, and my adventure riding began. All my friends had crotch rockets. In japan, they had 400cc katana's and ninjas. They were wicked fast for 400cc. So I always got left in the dust. I could only beat them across the intersection. Our destinations were usually a beach or seawall and that is where my bike was suited. I would ride up the stairs and get up on the seawall or leave the ninja's on the side of the road as i road all the way up to the campfire on the beach and take their girlfriends riding though the ocean. =) After my time in Okinawa and back stateside, I got a Suzuki Quadracer. After toasting a piston a few times, I sold it and went toyless for a while. I tried my time for a while on a Honda Shadow VLX600. Used it to go to college at UA. It started having issues and wound up in a BMW dealer. I was floored when the sales guy said "wanna take on for a ride?". Never had any dealer offered me a test ride. The only bike I could remotely afford was the 1997 F650 Funduro. I rode the bike for two hours, traded my Honda for it and was hooked. About 4 years on the BMW as my primary transportation my first daughter showed up and I had to sell it. 5 years later, I picked up a new XR650L. Great bike, bullet proof, and powerful when uncorked. I had a lot of fun on it, but uncorked and riding in sand got me a great 50 miles range till reserve. Never got a desert tank for it, so it was a usually short day trips on that bike. Five years later I sold it due to divorce. All this leads up to my current girlfriend, err motorcycle. Living in Yuma leaves me with one dealer, Honda/Yamaha/Polaris. I looked hard at modifying an CRF450X. It just would do what I wanted though. I wanted to be able to ride 50 to 100 miles, then go off road and then come home. I went back to what I knew and found the F800GS. I researched it for a year, then the F800GSA came out and I was sold. It fit all my requirements. I am still developing my skills but I find this heavy bike very capable of going where I want to go.

Maybe try Woody's Wheel Works in Denver?

Yeah I had seen a video on YouTube of lippencott and it's a no go. And after seeing racetrack I am going to go back out to tea kettle and take the route you've recommended for sure. Right now I'm stopped off 95 south checking out the desert. Im headed towards salton sea and Joshua tree right now.

Come hang out at Overland Expo next week (thur-sun) at Mormon Lake. It's a huge ADV gathering.

Those first scratches always cut the deepest! A well used adventure bike is like a pair of the old cotton fatigues we wore in the Old Army. You had to break 'em in and then they took starch better. They seem to wear forever. Those scratches are battle scars.

Thanks for documenting and sharing your journey. I have the same bike, same year. Great to see you out there on it. Hope to do it someday myself. White Rim sounded epic! What tires are you using? Thanks again. I'll be following the rest of your posts. Ruppbike