The KLR Deal... what did I get myself into?

So here I am in the middle of nowhere south of Gillette, Wyoming.

And I bought a motorcycle.

You'd think I would remember that when I showed up in this place it was -55 degrees.

How often do I actually think I'll be able to ride this bike?

Anyways, I am now the owner of a 2004 Kawasaki KLR. If you don't know, the KLR isn't a pure road bike (and definitely not a crotch rocket) and it's not completely a dirt bike either. Maybe "hybrid" is a good word? Either way it's a cross between road and dirt bike, known better as a dual purpose bike. I really have had a crash course in learning about the benefits of the bike, and the KLR's in general.

I have wanted a motorcycle for several years now (since I sold the DT250 to help pay for Aundrea!).

But a KLR? What the heck! I wanted something that rumbled, something built for the road, something that I could have a biker babe ride on the back end (I think the trick would be finding the biker babe and keeping it a secret from Samantha).

Anyways I ended up with this...


Ok, ok so it does look pretty cool! Or at least cooler than this... (dad's bike)



And it doesn't take much to be cooler than this... (Christopher's bike)



Although the dork in the picture doesn't help the last one much!

So now I have this bike and I'm not sure that I can afford to ride it! I just found out the other day that it's going to cost me $140 to have the dumb thing licensed! Then to make matter's worse I have to fork out another $20 to take a written test and a "skills" test. A "SKILLS" test? What the heck is a skills test? I guess if I don't fall off then I have all the skills I need!

Oh, did I forget insurance? Insurance for 12 months on a bike that I can ride 6 months? How does that make sense?

It get's worse... next year round this time I'll fork over more money just so Wyoming can give me a sticker for the miniature license plate.

Remember me saying that it was a dual sport bike? Well that means that it also goes on trail to... and guess what... more money for another sticker that say's ORV. Isn't that a peach?

Ultimately, I have three people I will be blaming for this purchase! Of course I had very little to do with it!

Those at Fault:

#1 Samantha Aileen Strong- Samantha is well known conniver. I've had troubles with her since somewhere around... oh... August 6, 2005. It all started when she convinced me to marry her, maybe even before that. Anyways, I was minding my own business one day... probably doing the dishes... when Samantha called me out to the living room. She typically likes to cruise the Tiger's Website or ESPN.com, whichever catches her attention first. That day, she was on ebay. If your not familiar with ebay, great! Stay away! If you are, contact your local crisis center and ask them about a support group! So, Samantha calls me out and shows me this motorcycle. I refused to look at it but she persisted! Finally, I looked it over and found it in fairly good shape, but overall I was not interested. Before long Samantha told me that (and I quote) "Real men drive motorcycles." Now of course, I am hoping that one day I become a "real man." I figured if that was the case then I had better really consider a motorcycle. So I put in a bid... hoping that someone/anyone would outbid me. It didn't happen. To make it worse, the dumb thing was in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. I am a little familiar with Minnesota as it is home of Paul Bunyan, perhaps the goofiest fictitious character ever thought up (Babe the blue ox makes it just to unbelievable for me).

Let me move on...

#2 Bob Strong- The one and only. (He currently works 7 to 7, 5 days a week and sometimes 6, so if you call him, he may tell you about "pink ponies"... just ignore that!) Anyways, this individual bought the same bike a few weeks ago and was looking for someone to "walk the plank" with him. He spent ALL of his non-working hours convincing Samantha that she needed to get me a bike. Ultimately, the "old man" knew that he was up to his neck in quick sand from "the old woman" that he wanted to at least make sure someone else went down with him. Sad. In the end revenge for me came in the form of a drunk guy, a boot, and marital problems (you can ask me about this another time!).

Wrapping up this blame game...

#3 Christopher Strong- No, that's not a ZZ Top wannabe with a terrible ability to grow facial hair. That's my brother. He's the original owner of a KLR. He got one a while back and spent almost two years trying to convince my dad to get one. To make matter's worse, he's put a bunch of junk on his, which he calls "mods" and cost a boat load of additional money. Fortunately the one Samantha picked out already had a few of these modifications done and I won't have to make all of these so called "mods". We'll see how that pans out. Anyways, do you see how this all worked? #3 to #2 to #1 to me? What a crappy way to live life. Disgusting. Almost as disgusting as that
trash on his chin.


So now what to do?

I'll tell you...

In about 18 months I'm going to take the thing to Alaska. If I don't, at least two of three individuals listed above will get the Tonya Harding to the knee act.

In all seriousness I hope to use this blog as a memoir for all of our preparations for the trip (among other things). Dad is just absolutely psyched about it and is making his plans known in every conversation he has!

Dad and I are planning a trip out to Yellowstone next summer as a prep for the big trip. Hopefully we'll be able to have a good clue as to what we did right/wrong and be more prepared for Alaska. Christopher, Rebeca and Matias will probably be back in the US by next fall. Christopher is planning a southern trip (sounds like at least Panama, maybe farther) before he rides his bike back. Either way it should make for a fun ride.

I've put about 175 miles on the bike since I picked it up last weekend. I've enjoyed it, but see the need for much more practice!

Don't plan on frequent posts. My life isn't that interesting! But I will occasionally post about whatever we're up to, the kids are up to, or Samantha's intriguing thoughts on life!

Here's another picture of the bike...