Brian A. Hopkins
Adventure Stylin' Made Easy

Oklahoma Dualsport Rally
12 - 15 Oct 2006

-- "Let's Ride!" (or "The Octopus is With Us") --

After breakfast, James called folks together so we could go riding. There was a short riders' meeting -- primarily a CYA session for James.  ("I'm not responsible if you fall down and go boom...") The plan was to follow the creekbed out of camp and then up and over the mountain. The trail over this mountain is rather steep and a bit treacherous in spots, so I had avoided it last year because James had told me it might be a bit much for the Dakar. Bypassing the nasty stuff is a simple matter of leaving camp via pavement and then meeting up with everyone on the other side of the hill. I was a good deal more experienced now, however, and quite accustomed to the heavy Dakar, so I opted not to be a wuss.

We stormed out of camp, twenty-some-odd riders, raising a cloud of dust. There was a person or two that crashed climbing the hill. I didn't have any problems on the Dakar, even though there was a gnarly spot or two: lots of rocks and ruts criss-crossing the trail, plus a few steep sections complicated with more of the same.

The back way out of camp: through the trees and down into the creek bed, then up and over the mountain south of Clayton Lake State Park. That's Ed (blue helmet and red jacket) talking back over his shoulder to his wife Cyndi -- great folks!  Cyndi is Terry's sister. She rides a DR-Z400 that's been lowered -- quite a handful for a woman, but she rode like a champ all weekend. I only recall picking her up once. (Photo courtesy of Rich Desmond.)

Ed and Cyndi again.  Up ahead you can see Rich on his yellow DR-Z and, just in front of him, is Daniel. I was just in front of Daniel if I remember correctly. (Photo courtesy of Rich Desmond.)

At the top of the hill, it became obvious that we'd lost some folks. James rode back to check on them. We waited. And waited. "I'd go back and see if James needs more help," I told Kay, "but I don't really want to ride the Beemer back and forth on that hill." (I'd probably be fine, but didn't really see the point in risking a drop.) Kay told me to take her little TTR250, so I did. I rode a mile or so back toward camp, but never found anyone. At that time, I reasoned that perhaps the hill had been too much for some riders and James was probably leading them around the long way on pavement, so I rode back up the hill to rejoin the others.  Riding Kay's little 250 up and down that hill was a breeze. I could do it all day long. Of course, the Beemer scores more style points than the TTR. Ha!

We wound up waiting quite a bit longer; I'm not sure I ever did hear exactly what had happened. Someone had obviously fallen -- evidently pretty close to camp, since I hadn't reached them when I backtracked -- but I'm not sure what took so long to get going again.  Eventually, however, the group was reunited and we continued on.

The ride that morning was very dusty, but fun.

A break somewhere in the Kiamichi Mountains. Danny leans on my bike while everyone appears to be watching for tailgunners to arrive. I think it was on this break that a couple hunters in a pickup truck stopped and chewed us out for riding a trail that they said was posted "No Trespassing." We promised not to ride there again and wished them luck slaughtering deer.  As far as I'm concerned: the fewer deer, the better.

Phil and his KTM 640 Adventure. James and I teased him about it being one of the ugliest bikes ever made (it is!), but they sure are a capable machine. And Phil is an awesome rider, much better than me.

Terry and his XR650L.

Cyndi and her DR-Z400.

This is still free-grazing country, so you need to watch for very large and mobile road hazards ... such as these leather-clad fellows. While sitting there, I was trying to get Terry to ride over to the cute little one with the horns so that I could take their picture together, but Terry wasn't having it. In my mirror, you can see riders lined up behind me.

In addition to cows, I've heard that the octopus lives in these hills. I think Kay might have happened upon the octopus at this stage in Friday morning's ride.

She doesn't look real thrilled about having her picture taken, though, does she? Might have something to do with me taking the photo instead of helping pick up her bike.  LOL.

Here comes Terry to her rescue.

All weekend, we encountered only one water crossing that actually had water in it -- this was Friday morning.  The rocks were covered in slippery green goo, making traction an issue, and there were a number of large rocks just waiting to take you down. A couple riders bit it here.  There goes Connie ... while James stands nearby, coaching and encouraging.

D'oh! Connie down! Connie down!

Connie wrings cold creek water from her shirt.

Of course, none of us picked on her over the course of the weekend ... certainly not me and Gary Miller. (Photo courtesy of James Pratt.)

My turn on the Dakar. Terry watches on. (Photo courtesy of James Pratt.)

Then Terry follows me across on his XR. Nothing to it, eh, Terry? (Photo courtesy of James Pratt.)

Ed and Cyndi.  (Photo courtesy of James Pratt.)

Apparently, there's something very interesting inside my helmet. (Photo courtesy of Terry McLeod.)

Chris Marlow standing with his and Rich's DR-Z400's. (Photo courtesy of Rich Desmond.)

Later, back at camp, James demonstrated proper log-jumping technique with his DR-Z400.  (Everyone has one of those DR-Z's but me!) If I'd had my CRF with me, I'd have joined in. James tried to get others to give it a try -- he even offered to let Phil use the DR-Z -- but no one stepped up.

(Photo courtesy of Terry McLeod.)

Ed and I discuss our riding prowess ... or lack thereof. (Photo courtesy of Terry McLeod.)

When we finally got back to camp, Ashley made me a ham sandwich.  Thanks, Ashley! After eating, I was all set for a nice nap, but James came up to me and told me that he was planning a "spirited ride" for the afternoon. Kay wasn't going, so James wanted to know if I wanted to ride her TTR250 instead of the big expensive BMW.

He didn't have to ask me twice!