great ride

once we got up this morning, w loaded my dirtbike up in the van. he took my dakar since his klr is out of commission. we packed up some supplies for a friend of ours that lives off the grid in the desert south of coolidge.

this guy is amazing. he's close to 80 years old and tougher than nails. he actually owns a condo in coolidge, but rents it out and chooses to live in the desert. there is no electricity, no water other than what he hauls in. no air conditioning, no creature comforts. i could not do it. even when i camped in a tent, i never roughed it like this guy does on a daily basis.

so we brought him some dried beans and as many non-meat, non-perishables as we could. canned milk, pasta, lentils, peanut butter, etc. don't know if he will even eat it, but it's available to him tonight.

after feeding our egg mcmuffin ham to his most appreciative dogs, we unloaded my bike, left the van, and headed down a gas line road. before too long, we hit a locked gate with a no trespassing sign. so we veered off to the north and rode until the path petered out. then we rode some more. it was odd trying to find our way back to a road, but the terrain was pretty open. before too long, we found a power line road that took us south, then east until it too petered out.

we opted to take another road that took us through some deep sand washes. my bike was fine, but w could be heard practicing his "longshoreman" vocabulary not too far behind me. he took the lead and we traversed the open desert until we could find something resembling a path.

and so we continued until we were too hot and tired to continue. i remember thinking along the way "boy, this sure is fun!" i almost had to give it up because of my back. less than a year later, i'm riding hard and needing the grin slapped off my face.

life is good.