This gathering is not exclusively for KLR riders although it started in the late '90's as such. It grew quickly and was redefined as an open rally. After a few 100+ degree events, the crowd dropped off to the present hard-core enthusiasts, mostly KLR650 riders. The weather was beautiful this year: cool mornings, blue skies, lower eighties in the afternoon, no wind and pleasant evenings. Domestic obligations limit my visits to only one night but I'm always glad I went. Early arrivals on Thursday helped Fred with shopping, errands and tasks around the shop.

I rode over on a Friday, stopping for coffee and a visit with Mike Colby — who was out for an early canyon ride on his FJR1300 — at the Outpost in Gateway. Back on the road, I met a DR650 and two KLR650s a couple miles up John Brown Canyon. Later, I mentioned this to Fred and he said it was rally-regulars Zack from Oregon, Don from Texas and Sid from Kansas, riders I had met and liked at previous rallies. After lunch I decided, with Fred's encouragement, to ride up the Shafer Trail and back down Pucker Pass for old times sake. I did, riding out past Potash to the Shafer Trail. The road from the Potash tailing ponds and the Shafer Trail itself was rougher than I've seen it since the late '60's when the Shafer Trail was not in Canyonlands National Park and was marked by the BLM as a 4WD road. The steep narrows at the top of Pucker pass, a section that can vary from passenger-car-suitable to impassable, storm to storm, season to season, was also very rough with much of the sand they haul in washed or worn away from the boulders it was intended to cover. Nevertheless, the bad spots were of short duration and I made good time and was glad I went. Back at Fred's, Zack, Don and Sid arrived. After talking to Fred who told them I had seen them in John Brown Canyon but didn't know who they were, Zack came out proclaiming, "We identified you before you knew who we were." They had met Mike at Gateway Canyons Outpost. Surprising how many people cross paths there.

Friday evening, in front of Arrowhead Motorsports, Fred hosted a hamburger cookout with Rick Lawrence flipping tasty burgers while his wife Chris and a couple other women set up the serving and condiments table. (Rick and Chris, described in last year's rally report, are actual adventure tourists who have ridden their matching KLRs to Alaska and Central America and are tentatively planning another 6 month adventure in Central America with targets being Panama and Costa Rica.) It was a fun evening. Conversation was lively, interesting and sometimes educational.

Saturday is usually tech day, mostly dedicated to upgrading balancer chain adjustment levers and springs. The past couple years, these duties were presided over by Fred and Mike Cowlishaw of Eagle Mfg. & Engineering, San Diego, CA. Mike makes the replacement parts and has generously donated his time in the past but didn't make it this year. Stepping up in Mikes place was Todd from Happy Trails in Boise, Idaho and a guy from Denver I didn't meet and know only as Sgt. Marty. I was there long enough to witness inspection of the balancer chain adjustment lever on a 2008 KLR with only 1000 miles on it. The spring was found to be incapable of supporting any adjustment at all -- an often described problem I've now seen for myself. Something to think about.

I had intended to leave for home by 10:00 A.M., retracing my path up Sand Flats Road, around the north end of the La Sal Mountains and back to Gateway via John Brown Canyon. I didn't get away until more like 11:00 A.M. and once rolling decided to go south on US191 to La Sal Jct., east through Paradox Valley to Naturita, then try an unpaved road known as the Nucla to Delta road over the Uncompahgre Plateau although there was some reason to believe the road on top the Uncompaghre might still be snowed in. Not so. The road was dry as a bone all the way and, other than small patches of snow under shadier trees in the heavy forest on top, the snow was all gone. Even the barriers on Divide Road were open so presumably that road is open too. The road was in excellent condition and appeared to have been open for some time. I had almost no traffic from US191 in Utah to near Delta in Colorado and, riding at a brisk but not outrageous pace, made it home without stopping in barely over 2 1/2 hours, thus matching my average time going the "fast" route all on pavement.

My trip to Moab began at 7:00 A.M. Saturday Morning with a ride over the Uncompahgre Plateau on unpaved roads from Delta to Nucla. It was a perfect morning, exceptionally beautiful in a land of exceptional beauty. In 50 miles of good unpaved roads, I saw one vehicle near the end. I did see plenty cattle on the road -- a herd strung out for miles with no human in site. This herd was ambling towards some unknown destination, perhaps to pristine meadows remembered from past summers atop the plateau. From just north of Naturita I turned onto CO90 through Paradox Valley to Utah, UT46 to La Sal Junction and US191 to Arrowhead Motorsports in Spanish Valley, just south of Moab, My mid-morning arrival found an always entertaining and informative doohickey clinic well underway under the watchful eye and helpful hand of Mike Cowlishaw (if you don't know what a doohickey is, you will just have to do a Google search for "KLR650 doohickey").

This small rally always attracts some of the most interesting people I've had the privilege of visiting with at any rally anywhere. Fred Hink of Arrowhead Motorsports is to be commended for doing this rally. Yes, it's his customer base, but it's a lot of work and responsibility and not something he has to do. Other's deserve thanks too. Mike Cowlishaw of Eagle Mfg. & Engineering, San Diego, CA and his lady help with meal preparation, cooking, shopping and serving, both Friday and Saturday, with Mike providing the Saturday evening meal free, a gesture that could only come from the generosity of a very nice person. The small profit Mike may get from the sale of balancer-chain adjustment levers and subframe-bolt upgrade kits could only be a miniscule percentage of the cost for his weekend. Rick Lawrence, in another act of generosity, provided free beer with Saturday's dinner for those who wanted it although many were attending on their motorcycles and did not partake. Eric Hougen of Wolfman Luggage always brings numerous items to be given away in the evening name drawing. This year there were so many gifts from several sources that names were recycled and drawn again.

There were a lot of out-of state riders. On guy rode his KLR from New York. I talked to attendees who rode from California and Arizona. There were many people I didn't talk to who may have ridden long distances. One rider stands out in my mind, though. Last year, a 73 year-old Gentleman from the Gulf Coast of Texas not only rode his KLR to the rally but did several unpaved passes in the Colorado Rocky Mountains on the way. This year he rode to the rally again, visiting, among other places on the way, Muley Point near Mexican Hat. He said he would ride to the rally next year too.

The Kawasaki KLR650 may be an inexpensive motorcycle but the comradery it has generated is priceless.

The trip home was another good ride. I left Moab at about 7:30 A.M. by way of the Sand Flats Road and didn't see a single vehicle until the Castle Valley area on the north side of the La Sal Mountains. I stayed on the road to Gateway via John Brown Canyon. There was a half dozen miles or so between the La Sal Mountains and John Brown Canyon that was soft, sandy silt deep enough to cause some riders trouble on big heavy motorcycles, me included. It was a beautiful ride, though, and I got to Gateway about 9:45 and had the great breakfast I've come to expect from the 141 Diner.

These people were educated, intelligent, knowledgeable and some of the most interesting people I've ever had the privilege of visiting with at any rally anywhere. Fred Hink of Arrowhead Motorsports is to be commended for doing this rally. Yes, it's his customer base, but it's a lot of work and responsibility and not something he has to do. Other's deserve thanks too. Fred had a recently rediscovered highschool friend helping. There were more helpers. Most notable was Mike Cowlishaw of Eagle Mfg. & Engineering, San Diego, CA. Mike and his lady helped with meal preparation, cooking, shopping and serving but Mike and Fred also had a Saturday clinic for upgrading KLR650 balancer-chain adjustment levers. They have done this before and Mike does these clinics in other parts of the country. This definitely is not a profit-making venture. They do this out of the goodness of their hearts for any KLR rider who wants to participate. Sure, Fred sells the adjustment lever upgrade manufactured by Mike but it's an inexpensive part and there can't be big profit, not even token compensation for use of shop space and equipment, special tools needed for removing parts, other tools the owner might not have and expert assistance the owners might need replacing the lever. This operation can only be motivated by kindness.

Fred produced an evening meal both Friday and Saturday. I was there for the evening meal on Friday. For a modest $5.00, one got a ticket good for a door-prize drawing and all one wanted to eat. Choices were excellent: grilled hamburgers, brats, hot dogs, chips, cold slaw, potato salad and all the expected condiments. There were sodas, lemonade and maybe other drinks, even chocolate cake for desert. The meat was cooked outside Fred's shop on a big, impressive gas grill. Everything was served buffet style in Freds shop. We ate outside. Great meal, great fun. Thank you Fred, Mike, ladies and everyone who helped.

After the meal, names were drawn from a box and Eric Hougen, President of Wolfman Luggage in Longmont, Colorado, presented door prizes. I got lucky. My prize was a one-off waterproof stuff bag which looks well made and has already proved useful. Thank you Eric. There were other prizes donated by both Eric and Fred.

I regret missing the Saturday evening meal but I needed to get home and I was afraid to make the 200 mile ride in the late evening when deer on the road would be a certainty on the twisty secondary canyon roads I intended to travel. I don't like to ride slow.

I have only one picture. I absently-mindedly left my camera in my motel room on Friday. I left before the crowd reassembled on Saturday. I tried to take a picture of Bogdan Swider and his 68,000 mile KLR650 but unwisely neglected to request that he move out of the shade. With a bright, sun-lit background, his image was far too dark to use. I did, though, get an acceptable picture of his KLR. So who is Bogdan Swider?

Several years ago, shortly after I bought my first KLR650, I joined an Internet KLR650 email list. The list at that time had a few hundred members, many of whom were very interesting people. One who made a big impression on me was Bogdan Swider: Art Professor at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, yearly traveler to remote places in Mexico on his KLR650 and a wealth of information on the KLR650. Most of all, though, Bogdan was intelligent, worldly, bright, funny and genuinely interesting. I met Bogdan in Moab the next spring and he was even more interesting in person. I hadn't seen him since. The email list had grown to over 5000 members and I had dropped out long ago. Last I knew (recently) Bogdan was still a presence there. It was great to see him again in Moab. I'm sorry I screwed up his picture but here's his motorcycle: Bogdans well used KLR650.

There were other interesting people. Probably all were interesting had I talked to all of them. Some stand out in my mind: