Home is where the bike is - Day 1

After only 3 weeks, it was time to head back on the road. This time with the KLR and my buddy Tony.

The plan was to spend 3 days in Nelson with a bunch of guys on VFR's (long story, see http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=259950 for some background) and then head out from there.

We had pretty specific plans. They were "East for a while, then South for a while."

Tony left on Wednesday, a day before me, as he was stopping off to visit some friends in the interior before making his way to Nelson. I was going to take off early on Thursday, load up the Killer and make a straight easterly run from Vancouver to Nelson.

I'd had new tires (Cheng Shin 858 front, Trailwing 302 back), progressive springs and a new chain installed and changed the oil. So I was hoping the bike was good to go.

The run out to Nelson was fairly uneventful, I only stopped for gas and the occasional 'pit stop' so there are few pictures of the ride (plus it was territory I'd just recently covered on my sportbike trip).

It did look like things were going to be hot for at least a few days.



The bike ran great and I made Nelson by 3:30 pm. Tony wasn't even there yet, but they let me check into the room and put it on my credit card, so I grabbed a shower and headed to the bar for some cold refreshments.

Just as I got my first beer I saw Tony wander in with a bunch of the viffer folks.



And the drinking was on :)



Tony and Tammy had a "who has the better chest" competition.



It was close, but the guys picked Tammy after considerable deliberation ;)

We stayed in the lounge of "The New Grand Hotel" and the food was good and the service was friendly.



The night ended fairly early, mostly due to the *ahem* entertainment, which consisted of a guy in spandex shorts and a drum machine strapped on. It's a good thing we'd already eaten!

Tomorrow Tony and I were going to go exploring on the KLR's after meeting the group for breakfast and I was looking forward to getting started on the fun riding.

Day 2 preview:

The real riding begins: abandoned mines and ghost towns
6 miles and 3000 feet of climbing? (that's 10 km and 1000 meters for the metric folks ;) )
Idaho Peak followed by more food and drinking!