Forth and Back, TOR '22

[RBMann]

Hey Flatty, good to hear from you.

[RBMann]

Day 8-Desert View to Capital Reef 392 miles



The longest riding day of this year's trip. Also the least photos. Started warm and was hot by the time we drove through Cameron, AZ. Somewhere along the line Ralf discovered he KTM was missing one of the main fairing bolts. We stopped in Page for food, water, gas and parts. Always fun working on the bike when it is 106ºF. in the shade. We left Page hoping to take Cottonwood Canyon north to Capital Reef. We turned onto Cottonwood and Ralf tossed it in some sand while trying to tell me to turn off my ABS. Another big sand spot about 1/4 mile in and I stopped. We didn't know how much sand would be in the next 60 miles of this route. I didn't want wrestle Bessie in sand all afternoon in 95º+ weather so we took the paved route. Only took five photos and they all looked the same until we made it to camp to watch the deer-

[RBMann]

Day 9-Fruita to Torrey, UT 22 miles

We had big plans for the day, a ride into Cathedral Valley but it was just too hot. We walked over for the morning cinnamon rolls and pies. We stayed around camp reading and games then rode into town in the late afternoon for showers, food and a call home. Photos from the ride back to camp-

[RBMann]

Day 10-Fruita to Paonia 388 miles



We bid farewell to Capital Reef and ventured out for more desert riding. In Hanksville we turned south planning to go through Blanding, Monticello and Dove Creek to pickup FS25 from Nucla over the mountain to Delta-



Beekeeper the stunt rider-



On the dirt road out of Nucla we caught up with some beemer riders also heading to th rallye. For some reason there were a number of big trucks kicking up dust. At some points we lost the trucks but then I found myself behind one of the BMWs whose rider would veer left every time they look at the scenery to the right. This happened several times but after they almost ran off the road and up a bank I decided to get past them so if anything really happened I wouldn't see the ugly aftermath-



Coming into Delta is a really cool and organized junkyard with old car-





We made it to Paonia in one piece but I don't know about the people we passed.

[RBMann]

Friday at TOR no mileage.

Spent the day walking around town and talking to people. A good sized group of riders came up from Mexico. One of them with a water-cooled GS that developed a loud knock in the engine and his riding was over. Bummer-



Paonia is really a nice little town that likes having the rallye. Big involvement of the local people and especially the schools in running the food at the rallye-



One of those 50' vehicles that don't look as good up close-



Old tri-plex on the way to ice cream-





Sitting here trying to remember who I saw this year but after 13 TORs it all runs together. Talked to JarheadRider, CKCarr and Tomvv11 but not even 100% sure of that. I also think I talked to Bill Mundis or he was there but I didn't talk to him or he wasn't there and I talked to him.

[RBMann]

Day 11-Paonia to Crawford loop 38 miles

Saturday at TOR we decided to ride down to Crawford and find Joe Cocker's grave-



We also found a fellow coffee shop owner for Ralf to talk to about business issues-

[RBMann]

Day 12-Paonia to Steamboat Lake SP 272 miles



We got our usual early start at 10:00 AM. By then the city park was almost empty making us some of the last riders to leave. Weather wasn't looking so good-



We took the Newcastle-Buford Road up over the mountains where we planned to go east. Beautiful aspens and forest but then it started to rain. Thought we could just ride through it but it rained harder and we stopped to suit up in the mud-



Just before it really started raining-





When we arrived at Buford we decided to abandon the dirt roads, cut over to Meeker and then through Craig. In Steamboat we were wet and cold but found a nice restaurant with good pizza for dinner-



On the way to the campground you could see it had been raining most of the day, the air was full of moisture and everything was really wet-

[RBMann]

Day 12-continued

You never know what you will find in camp-




Before sunset the clouds cleared and we were treated to a lovely evening-

[Droptarotter]

Great write up RB!!!

Thanks

[wswartzwel]

Nice KTM Ralf! I sure miss mine.

[RBMann]

Talk to Ralf, he has bought a Norden 901? Maybe you can buy the KTM.

[RBMann]

Day 13-Steamboat SP to Wind River CG 272 miles



Up early at 5:30AM to use the warm liquid dispenser-



Still close to 100% humidity then half hour later the same shot-





Gorgeous morning but waiting for things to dry out-





It can be hard riding with multiple personalities, but the main problem today was my navigation. Within five miles of starting I made a wrong turn. I didn't realize that fact until about an hour later. Not real out of way just not how I had plan to go. It did mean we had to ride over Battle Mountain Pass in southern WY which was fun-



We turned off the Battle Mt. Road and drove through Aspen Alley. Short but nice-



Heading up Hwy 71 toward Rawlins-

[RBMann]

Day 13-continued

Old church in Rawlins and a hiker doing the Continental Divide Trail-



Ralf saying hi to an old friend, Dino the Apatosaurus-



North of Rawlins I was feeling drowsy and while looking at a gas station on the right I completely missed the left turn onto Hwy 287. About ten miles later we stopped for a quick rest. We continued but my GPS kept telling me to turn around. Sometimes I disagree with its route and say whatever but when I zoomed out we had gone 17 miles in the wrong direction. OOPS! The spot where we rested-Nowhere, WY-



Hwy 135 descending toward Riverton-



Found a good campsite on the Wind River-

[RBMann]

Day 14-Wind River/Big Horn Mts. Loop 370 miles



The morning was bright and sunny. Today's planned route is a loop up to GreyBull,WY over the Big Horn Mt. on Hwy 14 to Sheridan then back over the Big Horns on Hwy 16 to our Wind River camp-





Along the Wind River-



We didn't get a smashing early start so we stopped in Basin, WY for lunch. Across the street was a tavern whose sign looked like a pig with antlers to me-



Chimney Rock on Hwy 14 as we start the climb-



The road along Shell Creek as you climb is entertaining and scenic, we had fun then stopped close to the top in a meadow-





We had ridden the east side descent on Hwy 14 before and knew we could let the horses run. Ralf shot some video but we did not stop for photos. Hwy 16 going back west was okay but not as good as 14. It was getting later than planned and cooling off in the mountains so we only stopped for a photo of the natural hot springs in Thermopolis, Wy-

[tomvv11]

So is Ralf thinking of starting a branch in Crawford, maybe a partnership?

[signit98]

Here is the video from that day... I am kinda new to video editing so forgive me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOuBSeGmZqM

[signit98]

Also, NOPE to both:
1) Selling the 690 and
2) starting a branch in Crawford.

I did send Julie some of our coffee and she liked it... but it would not be feasible to even think about something like that.

[wswartzwel]

Lots of nice scenery in your Video Ralf. Thanks for sharing that.

[Droptarotter]

Hey Rick, I cycled some of those roads, Wind River Canyon, and stayed at Thermopolis when I did a cycling trip in 2019.

Great pics, thanks.

[RBMann]

Mr. Rotter-

I knew you had been on the roads north of Cody but not down Wind River.