On Sunday it was time to unload the Sherpa.  I had my friend Lee Lawson come over and give me a hand, and he was a huge help.

of course, after the bike was unloaded, I was sitting on it, and "dropped it" and foolishly grabbed it in a way that wrenched my back as it slowly descended.

Despite my minor injury I felt I had to go on a ride.  I geared up and rode up Old Fort Road, bypassing the busy Highway 97.  Sticking to back roads I was able to arrive at Hagelstein Park, north of Klamath Falls.  On a long straight stretch I accelerated and got it up to 72 mph, and it would not go any faster.  I decided to ride up the gravel road to the top of the ridge  I really enjoyed the way the bike handled...where the rear end of my Ninja sliding around feels like impending disaster, the Sherpa's rear end sliding a bit under power felt fun.  Where the Ninja's front tire felt like it might dig into gravel, the Sherpa's front wheel felt like it was floating over the gravel, and I know I whooped and laughed in my helmet.  Perhaps this was the missing aspect of riding I had missed since my mini-bike days.

I came down off the mountain, and as traffic was very light, I decided to ride the highway home, and the Sherpa handled better on the pavement than I had thought it might.  Yes, this would be a good bike to ride on roads to the places I want to explore off-road.

When it rains, it pours dualsports?

So having arranged the purchase of another KLR 250 "project" bike, I was hoping to get to Seattle and bring it home.

No sooner than the dust had settled a fellow in Portland mentioned he had a Sherpa he was "thinking about selling".  Intending to just put out a feeler I pm'ed him and we started a discussion about the bike that revealed he did want to sell it, and I did want to buy it, but having spent the money on the KLR 250 project bike, I was a bit short of funds.

Dede countered "you have the money earned already to make up the difference, you just don't have it in your account, and I would be willing to loan you the small amount to make up the difference".  Okay.

Sometimes its actually rather a scary feeling to see a long term goal being achieved...

The negotiations started in earnest.  Mark had commented he would like $2100 for it, but added, "but that is with room to negotiate a few hundred off".  "Few" to me seems to imply "about five", but $1600 would have been a screaming good deal, and likely an insulting counter-offer to even propose, so I offered $1700.  We settled on $1900.  A bit more than I would have liked, but considering the bike had nearly ALL the modifications I would have done, or variations of the mods I would have done, I felt pretty good about the deal.

On March 23rd Kenneth and I drove to Portland.  I really enjoyed meeting Mark, it felt like we had known each other a long time, and had VERY similar outlooks and attitudes towards motorcycling, and to a degree, how we each approach life as well.  I felt more like I had reconnected with a long lost friend than I was just buying a bike.

The bike purchase went though, and Kenneth was able to play with Mark's son Adam.  Here's a picture of Mark saying goodbye to his Sherpa - don't worry Mark, its going to a good home and will get a lot of love and attention!

I drove over to Carl Forgey's home in S. Portland and he helped me better secure the bike in the back of the Baja, and Kenneth and I drove home.  It made for a long, but satisfying day!

Edit - and since I am tracking the counties I ride in, by technicality of the test ride east of Milwaukie, Oregon, I picked up Clackamas County.

Please note the link to the county mapping program in an earlier blog entry no longer seems to work.