Escape From the Prison Planet

[DRIVEN]

Saturday was supposed to be an easy day-ride. We got a late start but Marc managed to whittle down his load to around 60 pounds. We rode pretty hard from Poison Creek stage stop over to Spanish Charly, then headed to the horse traps. Between 2 tire pump-ups, a few water breaks, and having to reconfigure all the stuff on the back of the KLR's broken subframe, we got way behind schedule.



We finally got to the horse traps but not before the KLR went down a couple times. The last being at the turnaround. Unfortunately that caused the airbox to be filled with fuel and it wouldn't start. Minor disassembly to Dump out then air out.


Marc was overheating, out of water, and medically unstable. The thermometer showed 115 and I was a little nervous. We got the KLR started and I noticed the tire was low but kept my mouth shut. We needed to get out of there. We ran up the trail about 4 miles and met an old guy on a side-by-side who offered us cold water and Marc drank about a gallon. He was the only other guy we saw on the trail all day.

About 6 miles later he was flat again. Pumped it up and headed for Leslie Gulch to cool down.


He pumped up one more time and made it almost 100 yards. Of course, he had no new tube and the old one was wasted. Best we could do was stuff my spare 18 in his 17" tire and hope for the best.


47 miles later we were back home. He was planning to leave at noon the next morning. As he left, I suggested he check the air pressure on his tires at the gas station. An hour later I was on my way with a trailer to pick him up. After a run to Cycle Gear and yet another tire and tube replacement, he was headed to Bend just after 5.


TW did just fine, as did the Jerod Loop. One more thing...

I'm still not dead yet.

 

[81cutlass]

If you ever need a side gig you should just buy a few extra bikes & gear and charge people to be a guide. Similar to those dude ranch horse rides they have out in the Rockies.

As long as you filter out the yuppies it would be a fun way to make some extra coin.

Heck I'd pay $500 to ride out there for a few days with someone who knows what they are doing!

 

[ssn696]

Agree. This tenderfoot, however, needs a road bike and pavement. I admire the amazing photos. Glad there is still some solitude out your way. Gorgeous place to GAFIAte.

 

[DRIVEN]

I'm a huge fan of money but I also know I don't have the patience to babysit like that. I didn't like having to worry about my friend out there, let alone some idiot strangers. I'm not exaggerating when I say that the old guy in the side-by-side with the water may have saved his life. I won't be riding with him like this until he gets his medical sh*t sorted.

 

[Turbolq4]

Solitude. You could go for weeks without seeing anyone in southwestern Idaho and eastern Oregon. Huge expanses of open desert that are beautiful but also very dangerous.

 

[DRIVEN]

Wasted most of my Sunday on this. I've been sharing this sprayer with my dad for the last year or so and it's been awkward on the best of days. We've both tried various methods mounting it on our 4wheelers with disappointing results. Finally decided to just build a trailer for it. Everything except the wheels and hitch came from the scrap pile. I even used leftover paint from my little flatbed trailer restoration.





I configured the boom sprayer so that I could offset it to the side to spray the ditches and it can also be stowed lengthwise for storage and transport.








If the hardware store is open tomorrow. I'm going to pick up a couple bags of salt. Rather than keep using expensive weed killer on my driveway, I'm going to experiment with nuking the soil so the weeds just can't grow there.

 

[DRIVEN]

There may be some progress on the new shop soon too.

 

[ssn696]

Wasted most of my Sunday on this. I've been sharing this sprayer with my dad for the last year or so and it's been awkward on the best of days. We've both tried various methods mounting it on our 4wheelers with disappointing results. Finally decided to just build a trailer for it. Everything except the wheels and hitch came from the scrap pile. I even used leftover paint from my little flatbed trailer restoration.





I configured the boom sprayer so that I could offset it to the side to spray the ditches and it can also be stowed lengthwise for storage and transport.








If the hardware store is open tomorrow. I'm going to pick up a couple bags of salt. Rather than keep using expensive weed killer on my driveway, I'm going to experiment with nuking the soil so the weeds just can't grow there.

Just don’t drive on it when it’s wet in any car you care about. 🤪

 

[DRIVEN]

The GMC got a tune-up and an oil change. I also welded up a rattling cat heatshield. My dad is going to put a few more miles on it and get tires ordered up.

 

[ssn696]

Nice magnet!