2020 Retirement and the TAT Trip

Wednesday, July 1st 2020


We got up this morning feeling rested and thought while we were actually in a town it would be nice to have a warm breakfast along with some real coffee. We walked through the main drag of Silverton and found the Coffee Bear Restaurant in the W.C Rogers building. After ordering our food at the counter we found out it had a roof top dinning area so we climbed up the stairs and enjoyed our breakfast there. I haven't found a bad view in Colorado yet! While in town the evening before I picked up a few items for the family back home in NC. I went by the local post office and mailed the items back instead of carrying it with me. The XR was already heavily loaded and I didn't want to add anything else to it. We left town around 9:30 AM.


It wasn't long before we were back on the dirt roads and ascending Ophir Pass. The views were outstanding like the day before. Once we reached the summit of the pass the elevation was 11789 FT. We met a few gentleman from Utah who were riding part of the TAT from a West to East direction. They were only riding to the New Mexico boarder with Colorado. They warned us about how slippery the road was ahead due to the rocks. There was an avalanche at some time recently and the repair crew cut away a new road for the mountain pass and used the same rocks from the hillside. One of the riders was on a Royal Enfield Himalayan and he told us that his center stand had gotten caught on the rocks at one point. We proceeded with caution and found that those guys were not exaggerating. The rocks were loose and would shift around easily with the motors weight. I kept my man card in the back pocket for this area and stayed very close to the inside edge of the road. Good news we all three made it through without any real problems.



After the pass we made it into the actual town of Ophir which didn't have that tourist trap feel. There were a lot of signs posted for ATVs and the side by sides were not allowed on the city streets. I guess they wanted to keep that small community image. We ran across a couple kids with a lemonade stand so a stop was in order to help the young entrepreneurs. :) We made good time on the dirt roads all the way up to Groundhog Lake. We had given this location as a possible camping spot the day before but we couldn't have reached it before night fall. One issue we ran into through most of the trip was determining how far we could travel per day on the maps. With the constant changing road conditions it was real pain. We got into a good routine at about 3 PM each day we started looking at the GPS or maps on our phones to find our stopping location for the evening. It wasn't perfect but it was flexible.

After leaving the Groundhog Lake area the mountain range landscape changed over to a more high desert look. It wasn't long before we were crossing the state line entering Utah. We picked up some needed supplies in the town of Monticello UT and online searched for a camping site. We located the Dalton Springs Campground just a few miles outside of town in the Manti-Lasal NF which had plenty of spots available. The camp hosts were very friendly and when they found out how far we had been traveling for our trip offered us some free fire wood. We didn't say no and for only the second time on our trip we had a campfire for the night.

In all we had traveled 150 miles for the day.




Video Link to us on Ophir Pass.

Enjoying these reports. Great trip!

A few questions....

Are all the Colorado passes on Sam's route that you were using? Or did you add some in? So far I think you've done, Marshall, Cinnamon, and now Ophir. I've read a few TAT RR, some with Sam's, some with Kevin's, and I'm curious if both included the same passes, or if folks add passes.

Looks like you're using Klim jacket and pants...which model? What boots did you use?

Thanks for taking the time to create this.

All of the Colorado Pass we traveled were on Sam's route and that is the route we stuck pretty close to. We did make a few deviations here and there. JW had Kevin's route which had a few more of the Colorado passes on it. JW did mention that some of the Eastern parts were out of date and he found some closed roads.

The jacket I am using is an Alpinestar Cape Town Drystar Air Jacket. I have taken the standard elbow protection out and upgraded it with Alpinestar's Sequence elbow protectors. This is a personal choice due to a bad elbow injury I suffered from a previous motorcycle crash. The pants are the previous style Klim Tranverse and get two thumbs up from me. The boots are Forma Adventure Boots which has performed well for a middle of the pack boot. Helmet is the Scorpion EXO Modular.

I'm glad you are enjoying the report. It's therapy for me while waiting for the next riding adventure.

Thanks for keeping the RR going. It's therapeutic for me to read.

Some additional photos

Too bad you skipped 3 Step Hideaway in La Sal, pretty much a must stop destination if your in the area. Great report, makes me want to ride the TAT again.

Great RR. Thanks for all of the pics, vids and color commentary. I've had enough of Covid self quarantining (and work) and am planning on riding the TAT June/July 2021 solo. Based on your experiences, it seems like there's a lot of people riding the CO passes so if I need assistance I wouldn't have to wait long, correct? I also plan on carrying a Spot locator as the ultimate contingency. Looking forward to the rest of your RR.

Thanks for the info! For the Forma boots, did you go with the low or regular version?

There were a good amount of people in Colorado but when we were in Utah not nearly as much.

I carried a SPOT also with us just in case. It's good insurance.


Walter the Forma boots were the regular version.

I have another friend that is retiring in the three years and he wants me to ride the TAT with him so I will add it onto our route.

Thanks for the information.

Great shots of the big XR in it's natural habitat in the mountains. Loving the RR and good to see another well-sorted XR tackle the TAT.

Excellent @T3/T4 Hybrid! Enjoyed the video of you thumping up Ophir pass; every time I see one of the CO passes like that, I want to get there and capture aerial footage of riding up or down. I know pictures don't do it justice, but really like what you captured - stating that it's magnificent doesn't seem enough.

Totally unrelated, but have wondered about your screen name. Tell me to piss off if it's none of my business, wondering if it's a back injury or possibly something else.

@eb1562 - like the pics you captured too man. Really cool you guys stopped to be patrons of that girl's lemonade stand - that type of behavior sets good karma for the rest of us riders.

Have been running the Forma boots for the last several years - they've been great boots. A bit on the hot side when the weather's warm, but the only time they've let water in is when I went for a swim with my WR during a failed crossing a couple years ago...lol.

Appreciate the report continuing fellas, look forward to seeing updates each time I check the forum.

I'm glad to see that your Forma Boots are doing well like mine. The only time mine have gotten wet inside like yours is when water has gone over the top.

As for my sign in it's from a different time in life when I use to dabble with older Mopar turbo cars. The T3/T4 Hybrid Turbo was my favorite!

Thursday, July 2nd 2020


We were up early this morning and was able to get the campsite broken down and packed away pretty quickly. This day was number 21 for us being on the road away from NC. Before leaving town we stopped in at a Subway/Gas Station combo for a quick breakfast plus some drinks to put on the bikes for later in the day. Sam's route had us turning back east of HWY-191 and we could see the Colorado Rocky Mountains off in the distance. I wish we would have stopped in the 3 Step Hideaway for a quick look now that Bill-Dirt had me look it up on Google. I will stop in there the next time! We continued traveling North and it wasn't to long before we entered into the Mant-La Sal NF and crossing over the Geysler Mountain Pass at a height of 10,500 FT it was a welcomed surprise. Another great spot with wonderful views.



Once we descended out of the mountain pass we entered into the desert area traveling towards the city of Moab. We had to make an unexpecting stop when JW picked up a large nail in the rear tire of his DR so we helped him get the tube replaced out. This was the first time we had real tire troubles on the trip. It amazes me how a nail of that size can find its way into a small motorcycle tire.



Sorry selfless shot of the XR.


The ride through the desert was a first for me and the views were stunning. Before entering MOAB we stopped for a few minutes to take in the views.



We were looking on the GPS and noticed that Moab had a few motorcycle shops so we were in luck for JW to find another inner tube for his DR. That nail had ripped the tube badly so it couldn't be repaired and he needed a replacement. Plus Evan Yonkers was in Moab with his broken down DRZ-400. He was having electrical issues and was there waiting for more parts to arrive. Evan had made a trip to Rocky Mountain ATV Sales in Payson, UT getting parts for his DRZ and while there he had also picked up JW a set of soft panniers. JW had had enough with the hard panniers on his DR so he was going to change it out this evening. With everything going on we decided to look for a place to set up camp. I made a telephone call to Moab RV Park which was close to our TAT Route and spoke with the office person. The campground had open tent camping spaces so we were in luck. When the office person found out we were on motorcycles they warned me that the camping area was gravel which made me laugh. She told me later this was for the Harley Riders because in the past they had quite a few complain. Once we set up camp Eric and I decided to stay at the campground ordering a pizza along with enjoying a few adult beverages which were for sale at the RV Office. JW instead went and had dinner with Evan. The campground had a lot of good amenities but had one negative; road noise! I had to sleep with ear plugs to shut out the noise. Just a warning if anyone else decides to stay there.

Some related pics

Great points! thanks again, I'll keep you updated on my adventure!

Good stuff, thanks for taking the time. I'll keep you all in the loop as I go.

Friday, July 3rd 2020


The weather was perfect overnight with a temperature in the low 60's along with a good lower temp to start the morning at before entering the desert. This was also deceiving because it was going to get hot with what I learned later was called the dry heat. Being from the southern part of the USA we have humidity and you know how hot you are by the sweat in your clothing. The desert we found to be a lot different with that dry heat, it evaporates your sweet so we found out you can over heat quickly if your not careful.

We topped off the fuel on the motors and grabbed some supplies from the local convenience store. While in the parking lot this guy pulled up in a desert modified 1967 Ford Galaxie XL coupe. It's the blue car in the pictures above that Eric posted. The owner was in a hurry getting to where he needed to be but stopped for a few minutes to talk with me about the car. Pretty much he runs it on the desert roads and has a hell of a good time with it. He asked about my ride so I pointed to the XR and gave me the approval smile. I wish we could have talked more being the motorhead that I am but we both needed to be making miles.

Once getting back to our campsite JW was putting the final touches on packing up his campsite with his new soft Tusk Panniers. He was extremely happy to be changing out from the hard panniers. If you wonder how much? He left it sitting next to the dumpsters at the campground. Kind of reminds me of the old 80s song once bitten twice shy. LOL While JW was packing I went across the roadway and took some pictures of the Colorado River which was very close to our campground. All I can say is majestic!



We traveled North on US HWY 191 and near Arches National Park we made a left turn away from it onto a dirt road. When I looked back at the traffic starting to back up a good bit at the Parks Visitor's Center Entrance I liked the direction we were heading a lot better. It was to far before we pulled over to take a few pictures of the landscape. It was completely different from any place which I had experienced. We ran Sam's route which was the middle of HWY-191 and the Green River. We crossed over I-70 and run on a section of dirt road which paralleled the Interstate. It was funny looking at some of the passengers in the cars watching us. The kids took the most interest in us so we gave them a few waves which we could tell made their day.




Once we reached the town of Green River we topped off the tanks for the motors and grabbed a few more drinks from inside of the convenience store. I finished off a Gatorade because the temperature was already starting to rise quickly. We then turned out of the town and back into the desert. The road was hard compacted dirt but there were many sections which had sand had covered it which made it very slick. We really needed to keep a good focus on the road. At one point while I was in the lead there was a lizard which ran out in front of me like the squirrels back East.

Part 2



Before crossing over I-70 a second time JW had another flat on the DR. After talking with him we found out that he had only purchased another 21" inner tube for his spare replacement and didn't by or replace out the 17" inner tube needed for the rear tire. We knew this was going to cause issues for him. Anyway we helped him to get that inner tube replaced. We looked at the tire but couldn't find anything causing the inner tube to loose air.





Once we got moving again we were making good time towards the San Rafael Campground on Buckhorn Draw Rd. There was a rather large rock in the middle of the road so I called out over coms to warn Eric. Unfortunately he was behind JW so he did not hear my warning due to the distance. Eric centered the rock with the front tire on the KTM. His view was compromised from the dust with the two motors being in front of him. It blew out his inner tube but luckily it didn't cause any real damage to the front rim or tire. So we had flat tire number two for the day to change out. I was just happy that Eric didn't crash. He was carrying an 18" spare inner tube and I was carrying a 21" so I gave him my spare. We had it changed out in less than 30 minutes. The center stand on the KTM was nice to have.



After changing out the KTM's tire it was starting to look like rain and we could tell part of the road had already had some rain due to its wetness. With the muddy roads we continued on past San Rafael Bridge Campground which appeared to be completely full. While riding North we could see the engravings on walls at the Buckhorn Wash Pictograph Panel. I wish we would have taken some pictures but it was pretty slick through there with the wet road and we needed to keep the motors moving. Before entering Castle Dale the roads cleared up and we were making good speed again. A stop at Fatty's Pizza and Grill filled us up so we didn't need to fix dinner at the campsite tonight. After looking at the GPS and iOverlander we found some campsites on the TAT route near Jose Valley Reservoir. We decided to fill the motors up again at a convenience store along with purchasing a few adult beverages for later.

We set up camp on a section of BLM land above the reservoir with an awesome view of the area. When the moon came out later that night it was extremely bright. I didn't care that it lit up the tent because after 260 miles today with the heat I was completely wiped out! The picture taken below was taken at 2200 hrs!

Where there some areas that looked interesting in the desert area that you could ride off the road and go check out? are you allowed to ride anywhere besides on the road?