The GRAND Adventures Sidecar Duo

Day 14: August 14, 2017: SLC Started out the morning with a massive breakfast burrito from the foodcourt and two seminars with Opa. The first one was with an MOA Ambassador from California, Randy Owens; Adventuring with a Sidecar, Off-Road and otherwise. We walked into the building for the seminar and see Randy's Urul covered in stickers not to mention some boards covered in photos. He talked about taking his sidecar to all of these wild routes, getting stuck and unstuck. It was pretty interesting to watch his use the winch to pull the sidecar across the room. To top it off, I got to ride in his sidecar holding his photo boards while I gave him directions to our side of camp, so he could look at our sidecars. He had parked and started to look them over by the time Opa had walked back across the field to meet us. What a great way to kill time between the hour between seminars than to have a little sidecar convention. I was floating on cloud nine, even registered for the longes...

Day 13: August 13, 2017: SLC The first official day of the rally. The campsites are springing up like weeds on warm afternoon after a heavy rain! We have been asked not to park our bikes on the grass, Mostly, everyone is following that unless they are just driving into the grass to drop all of their stuff-which seems to be acceptable. There is no way that I dare move the bikes, we will never find parking again! We finally found some of our buddies; Doug and Fletcher, no sign of the Vickery group, yet. Since I am working with the entertainment segment of the rally, I have dinner provided. Sweet! Tonight was the Moonshine Swillers and Hogan & Moss. It was great to set up under the pavilion and sell some merchandise. You could spot people all around the fairgrounds enjoying the music, even if they weren't directly in front of the stage. I found a few seminars that I plan to go to tomorrow, that'll be really interesting. What better way to finish a long day and awesome concer...

Day 12: August 12, 2017: SLC We collected our laundry and went around the corner to the Laundry Barn. I was in charge of the laundry, Opa ran to Wal-Mart to return his Ozark tent, after he picked up his new Eureka tent and Big Agnes bag/mat from FedEx and UPS. He called just after I had put everything in the dryer. It seems that we have a pretty solid system when it comes to laundry and errands. As we pull the laundry out of the dryer, Opa found 3 baby socks and two other socks with his stuff. Opa joked that he never loses his socks but, this was the first time that he has ever found socks. We went back to camp to poke around as the vendors start to set up for the Rally. I even got invited onto the "Black Ops" team but, we don't talk about that. I raced off to help Sue set up for the evening  after Opa had settled with some ice cream, before the Ambassador's Dinner. It was so hot today that even the motorcycles are looking for shade!

Day 11: August 11, 2017: SLC Got up this morning, worked through breakfast while struggling to determine which was more blinding: Opa's legs or his shirt. Once I finished breakfast, I raced to meet up with Sue, Kim, and Lisa. We probably spent an eternity folding shirts for the everyone to snag at the rally's Country Store. Sue came buy and told us that lunch was on her, well, actually on Bob, her husband. Who was I to argue? Kim and I couldn't get out of the building and into her rental fast enough. We stopped at the Red Iguana, which was phenomenal! Had it not been for those mouth-watering tacos, I don't think that any of us would have survived the wild goose chase looking for last minute supplies for the rally. I went to the Volunteer's Dinner with Kim. Opa and some of his friend's wandered off to the food court for Pat's BBQ. They said it was pretty tasty. We probably should have gone to the bbq place, too.

Day 10: August 10, 2017: Salt Lake City, UT: 45m/72km The rally won't start for a few days but, we figured that we should drive around Salt Lake and get a look around the neighborhood where we would all be set up at. Found our way to the UPS and FedEx locations that should have Opa's stuff today or tomorrow. Of course, he doesn't think to call either place before we drive over there. Neither location had received his stuff, that was a bit of a waste. Although, I did enjoy walk by while they stared at the bikes. Who can blame them? We left empty-handed and headed towards Rally Central. We pulled into the Fair Grounds, saw some people already setting up, and decided to move. Back to Provo to tear down the tents, pack up, and relocate. We made it back to the Fair Grounds, spent a few minutes driving around and found the perfect spot. We were setting up between two shady trees, in front of the food court, and just a short walk from the bathrooms and where the shower trailers wo...

Day 9: August 9, 2017: Provo, UT: 228m/367km Today I learned that I need to eat with or before my medication. I found a few places in Fruita for breakfast. Opa decided that they were all too far from the freeway, so we would pass. I saw a sign stating that there would be nothing for another 55 miles but, we kept riding. I was feeling pretty rough when we pulled into Green River. Opa had picked a location from the GPS, once we pulled up to it, we weren't very impressed with the place. I mentioned the Tamarisk, a place that looked packed as we drove in, we made our way over. Opa ordered a large breakfast. I ordered bacon pancakes. After a medically induced hot flash, I couldn't finish eating, couldn't stand the thought of being near food. I finished what was probably an entire pitcher of water before I was ready to go again.  We settled on Provo as our next stop. With my weird heat waves and Opa getting drowsy on and off most of the afternoon, it was the best decision. We end...

Day 8: August 8, 2017: Fruita, CO: 178m/286km Turns out that the vampires only attack in Durango after Opa goes to shave in the morning! No worries, it was just a shaving accident! I even posted a picture of Opa washing the windshields on the bikes on facebook. My grandmother joked that she would have a list of household chores for him. Since she now knows that he can cook and clean and cannot argue that he cannot-since she finally has proof. After plugging the address for Grand Junction's REI into the GPS we were off. We ran the Million Dollar Highway. It was a tad nerve-shredding to run along the pass and the highway along the mountains with no shoulder or railing. We made it through the mountains, all the while smelling the hot brakes of every semi, camper, and rv. Luckily, no one behind us lost their brakes-that would have been terrifying! As we pulled into the parking lot, Opa tells a story about how he and his friend had come through on their last trip and had gone t...

Day 7: August 7, 2017: Durango, CO: -- After sleeping in until 8:00, unheard of with Opa, we decided to get up and start to plan our day. Mesa Verde was the first stop for the day. It was a pretty short ride from camp, the parking lot was packed but, we had no trouble parking. Went to the gift shop to look for a bumper sticker. After fighting our way through the thick crowd, I found the bumper stickers and a replacement shirt for Opa's shirt that got a grease stain on it last night. It was perfect: neon/high-vis green, synthetic/athletic fabric, long sleeves. Opa bought it with our stickers- he stepped into the men's room to try it on, he said it fit, too.  We left the crowd and began to make our way towards the abandoned village. After a wonderful Ducati rider took our picture, we wandered down the trail to the overlook. Turns out you now need tickets and a guide to go into the village. First available tour was at 3pm. That just wouldn't work with our timeline or ...

So. While on our way to Durango, we were driving along a winding mountain pass and decided to pull into the scenic overlook. What do I see but the Prius with the trailer that Opa spent 15 minutes admiring after we passed it through an intersection! I mention it to him as we park. Opa goes to examine it, he is always intrigued by most people's "stuff"; anything modified or added- campers, trailers, sidecars, etc. As we finish getting our helmets off, we notice a couple approaching. This couple immediately recognizes the rigs and Opa! We all start to talk. Turns out they talked with Opa while I had been washing dishes and brushing my teeth after breakfast in Marion! They also camped in Amarillo, TX (although, we didn't run into each other)! AND, they were definitely the people that we had seen in Alamosa, earlier! The husband, Ben, mentioned that he was writing a blog of the adventures with his wife, Lyn, and that we were mentioned and would be mentioned again! We exch...

Day 6: August 6, 2017: Durango, CO: 149m/239km Pulling out of Alamosa this morning, Opa spent about 10 minutes admiring a trailer that we passed at an intersection. Opa talked about staying two nights in Durango, going to Four Corners and Mesa Verde-that depends on the heat, I guess. We passed a Urul sidecar, this is the second sidecar that we have seen on the road so far. As we enter Durango to look for a place to sit while hunting for a campground, Opa tells me that I am in charge of hunting through the street signs. I spot a Denny's. "SOLD," Opa says as he swings the sharpest right turn. After a milkshake and an apple crumble with ice cream were devoured and a campground found, we decide to make our way over. The campground is nice. The downside is that we are at the bottom of a steep hill and the bathrooms/showers and laundry are on top of said steep hill. We did our first load of laundry on the trip. Opa used a washing machine that left a grease stain on one of his...

Day 5: August 5, 2017: Alamosa, CO: 345/555km Pulling out of Amarillo, I started the countdown; 99,985 miles on the odometer. "15 miles." "10 miles." "5 miles." "2 miles." "NOW NOW NOW NOW!!! PULL OVER NOW!!" We pulled over to the shoulder, took pictures of the odometer for Opa to join the 100,000 mile club. He has never really paid attention to his miles or cared to carefully log and track them, until now! He took a few pictures of me on the bike in-between bursts of dancing in the middle of the freeway. Decided that we had finished celebrating and were ready to log some miles for the day. We wandered around two small Texan towns looking for fuel, found some just before we crossed into New Mexico. Before we knew it, we were pulling through Colorado and went to two different gas stations to get gas. One station was out, we each barely got $1.00 worth. The second gas station was fine. The problem came 10 minutes later when we we...

Day 4: July 4, 2017: Amarillo, TX: 149m/239km Amarillo looked to be the best bet for the night. Was a relatively uneventful drive, minus a discussion in a gas station parking lot where I was repeatedly asked, "Are you sure you ride that? Shouldn't you be in the sidecar...?" A real wise guy. Best KOA campground that I have ever seen. The hundred of precious little rabbits did not play any part in that. Okay, maybe a small fraction. One tent down, Opa decided to get a KOA Kabin. We sat in the bunk room of the cabin connecting onto the wifi to use his laptop, my tablet, and both of our phones to track down a new tent and have it shipped somewhere. After about an hour and a half, more than a dozen calls, and hundreds of websites he had his tent on thew way to Salt Lake City. One task down, two to go. We locked the cabin and went on a scavenger hunt, a mission; find a temporary tent and What-A-Burger! Of course, I have a knack for remembering where my favorite fast food p...

Day 3: July 3, 2017: Elk City, OK: 343m/552km I thought that we were never going to get out of Mena! Everything was wet, it took forever to pack, and figure a system for wet items. With everything being wet, Opa decided that we should have breakfast in the lodge/resort. Fine by me. The decision was made to ride in rain gear; it was too foggy and dim to not expect more rain to come. Although, the rain gear and lack of our Airhawks was short-lived, just 100 miles. We settled on Elk City being our destination for the day. We pull into the KOA on the side of 40 and begin to go through our usual motions. Dry out the wet tents before setting them up, dropping his trailer, getting our chairs and his table out, the whole nine yards. With everything situated at camp, we race into town to look for a usb plug to update the gopro camera mounted on my sidecar. Wally World, a local shop, Dollar General, Walgreen's, and back to the local shop. Back at camp, Opa is cooking, I'm working with ...

Day 2: July 2, 2017: Mena, AR: 262m/421km My grandfather LOVES to wake me up in the morning by shaking the rainfly or vestibule of my tent. He was sipping his coffee and making breakfast. I was desperate for another 10 minutes of sleep. I can never function at 100% before 9am, asking that I wake up at 7 is unheard of! I emptied my tent and took it down while Opa finished his breakfast. I washed the dishes while Opa took his tent down. The mornings are generally smooth with our little system in place. Yesterday was the longest I have driven in one shot. Maybe I can manage to figure out how to stand up soon without getting wobbly. Had a delightful little random detour. We went the wrong direction after leaving a gas station, only a 10 mile round trip. So not too much was lost. Funny enough, it happened twice. The icing on the cake was that he forgot about his sidecar cover being left open-TWICE! Boy oh boy, what a mess. We pulled into a hazy Queen Wilhelmina State Park after windin...