Muncho Lake
This is still very much not finished, but considering how long it's taken me to write the first leg of my run, I might never finish off the whole ride... so here's what I've put down so far!
(In keeping with Seattle’s tradition of eco-terro... (er, nature respect), this report has been entirely written using recycled letters and words from Mr. Joseph Zulaski’s trip reports scavenged from my email inbox.) (Except for the expressions "erect manhood" and "monkey butt" that I burned on an open pyre, as I would never in a lifetime want to see such filth in black and white in one of my trip reports, especially in the opening paragraph.)
Muncho Lake
Joe Zulaski had been "hinting" for some time (if you can call "hinting" sending a 2-page message almost every day to the LDR list :-) ) at a long distance motorcycle rally linking Mexico and Alaska. I have done a few of the IronButt Association "qualifier" rides, SaddleSore (over 1000 miles in less than 24 hours) and BunBurner Gold (over 1500 miles in less than 24 hours), gone to a few LDR (Long Distance Riders) get-togethers, and done a bit of "free" joy riding, but have only participated to one full bore rally so far – the ’99 Northwest Passage, organized by Señor Zulaski hisself. After my participation in that event, Joe seemed to have decided not to put that particular rally together again. Cause and effect? I don’t know, and it seemed logical to try to test that theory further and sign up for the new rally. We’ll see if there’ll be another iteration for this one, won’t we, Joe.
I originally come from France, and have lived in the US (Seattle) for the past 15 years. Between work and family life, I haven’t really traveled too much in the US, and still have a lot of places to discover. One of the advantages of LD riding is that you can cover a lot of ground and see (albeit briefly) a good many things, and still be back in time and not miss little Johnny’s Christmas play. Cool. Going on rallies, or to LDR rides-to-eat or whatnots, is a good way to find interesting places to go without expanding too much energy in finding out where to go (er, yeah, I’m kinda lazy.) It gives also great incentive to push oneself a bit more so as not to turn around or stop in the middle of loooong ride. I had never done much riding at night before the LD bug bit, but now, some of my fondest moto memories are of crossing the mountains of Idaho or zooming through the deserts of Nevada at 3 AM. I get the biggest rush out of the quiet roads and the gorgeous, peaceful riding (critter-less, knock on wood.) I have never been to Mexico, and all I know of Alaska is Hyder. Awright, time to go expand my horizons a bit. I had planned on doing a 4-corner ride this year, but the Rendez-vous should barely take longer, and sings its siren’s song to my ears. OK, deal is done. I’ll follow Joe. Fool me once, fool me twice…
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