Where Have You Gone With Your Sidecar Rig ???

I better get this posted before the clock strikes midnight, as otherwise I would have to say....this is what I did with my sidecar rig YESTERDAY.

So....left Russell Day Long seats today at 2:15 pm, and rolled UP Interstate 5 northbound, and arrived 525 miles later at my house, at exactly 10:15 pm, so it was 8 hours exactly....rain and fierce wind for the last 80 miles, took the turn for the road I live on, and almost expected to see a large tree across the roadway, as debris was everywhere.

This fierce wind got me a'thinkin.....because of what Thane posted yesterday about the horrible wind in Nebraska, so I did some research and it turns out that the Sioux native americans came up with a word to describe Buffalo's breaking wind. They came up with the word...thane.

No, I can't make this kind of stuff up, it's in the dictionary of the Old West. The Sioux tribes learned to make camps from North to South, but never from West to East, as the buffalo breaking wind would blow from West to East, so if your camp was downwind of the buffalo breaking wind, it was a terrible smell, and turned the air a hazy color, with visibility down to less than 10 miles, and these Sioux needed to have good visibility for seeing smoke signals.

So, it turns out that the word 'thane' was something that the Sioux tribes came up with, rather than always saying...buffalo breaking wind.

And, geographically speaking, given where Thane Lewis (the man) lives in central Nebraska, it makes complete sense that the herds of buffalo (and a few bison) that are clustered in Wyoming (even a town in Wyoming named Buffalo), that all those buffalo (and a few bison) in Wyoming all breaking wind, it would blow eastward toward...Nebraska.

Also, one of the Son's of a Sioux Chief was named Breaking Wind Buffalo, because he could run as fast as a Buffalo, and they didn't want other tribe members to confuse his name...Breaking Wind Buffalo with the bad terminology of what a Buffalo does when it pharts, which is...Buffalo Breaking Wind, so they just came up with 'thane' to keep it short, and not embarrass the Chief's son.

It's all in the Old West dictionary...you are just going to have to look it up if you don't believe me.  

To summarize:  525 miles yesterday going down to Russell seats....525 miles today, coming home from Russell seats...and somebody in Nebraska was given the Sioux Indian name for Buffalo's Breaking Wind.

I think we should drop the word "Today" from the title of this thread.  (IMHO)  There are a lot of folks here who have a heck of a lot more experience with sidecars than myself and therefore there are a lot of pictures of sidecars that are not being seen.   Here's some pics of my Ural 2016 to 2018.

Idaho Falls area

Mt. Borah, Idaho.  You can see a recent earthquake escarpment at the base of the mountain.

Wallowa Mountains,  Enterprise area.

SE Idaho Skyline Road,  Caribou Mountain in background.

Idaho Falls

Uinta Mountains

East of Dutch John

Lander Cutoff, Wyoming

Wyoming Range

Medicine Lodge Road Idaho/Montana

Gravelly Range, Montana

Island Park Caldera, Idaho

McDougal Pass, Wyoming Range

Union Pass Wyoming

Green River Lakes, Wyoming

North Colorado

Calamity Ridge Colorado

Echo Canyon, Dinosaur National Park

Uinta Mountains

Cache Crest Trail, Northern Utah

Dave @metalcarver, I will ask one of the moderators to remove the word..."today"...from the title of this thread...because, as usual, YOU are correct.

And, we had a secret ballot vote on who, or whom, posts the best sidecar pictures on these forums, and YOU won by a landslide.

Always appreciate the pictures you post, they are excellent quality, and show that you are living the life of sidecarist(ism).

I agree about the word "today" in the title, however, Moderators are unable to change titles of threads.  All we can do is nuke them to dark places or kill individual posts. 

I believe that the Boss Admin can make title changes, though...

The original poster should be able to make the change by clicking the edit on the first post.

I used to do that for my GSA build whenever I put up an update.

Posted by: @andrew-baker

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The original poster should be able to make the change by clicking the edit on the first post.

As advised, by the wise and all powerful Drew @andrew-baker I had modified the thread title.   

Well Friends,

Someone has to post pics after Dave's, even though they pale by comparison to his Idaho/Utah mountain vistas!

Went on a little pavement roll with the AZRatpack, today.  Had the luxury of starting the ride with the group in Skunk Hollow; 283 miles out and around the Kitt Peak Observatory, towards Tucson.

Out of cell service some of the time, so Google didn't exactly trace the route with precision, but you get the general idea.

2nd gas stop; maybe 20 riders or so?

Twisty paved road up to the Observatory was fun!  Switchbacks up to 6,800 ft. elevation.  Weather stayed coolish, like maybe high 60's F.

When we pulled into the parking lot, we were greeted by a Western Scrub Jay that had some sort of night agenda he wanted to share with us:

Turns out that he was mostly interested in pan handling cheetos from the crew...

Observatory parking lot, good views in most directions:

Headed down the mountain and stopped for a few tacos at Nico's taco stand on the highway leading up to Kitt Observatory.  Food was decent, would definitely repeat.

Wound our way up through Oracle Junction to Florence, and went our separate ways.  Overall, was a very pleasant ride in near perfect weather.

@miles-ladue 

Well, thank you for the kind words.  I posted the Ural pics because on all of those pictures I used a 2mp Panasonic point and shoot camera with no processing.  Most phone cameras now can take pictures as good or better.  Another point is that if there is a sidecar in the picture it doesn't need processing.  It's kind of magic. 

So with thousands of sidecarists traveling thousands of miles a day taking at least 1 picture for every ten kilometers (6.2 miles!) I should be able to kick back and look at 2.3 gazillion pictures of places I should try to see.  Domestic crap has put a damper on my long trips for a few years so I need the diversion.

And then there's the things that you would not have seen had you not been riding your sidecar outfit.

Well Friends,

Temps dropped a little, with today's high at 91 F (33 C), and the starting temps at about 69F.

A good riding buddy (Greg) with mad dirt skills and a KTM790 was interested in exploring, so we headed out west of Skunk Hollow to see what sort of mischief we could get into, out and around the scene of the crime, where I got the large slash in a back tire.

I had not been out in this area, since the infamous tire shredding incident, but was curious to see what it looked like in the day time.

It is a mix of BLM land and private party ranches. Fortunately, the ranchers post nice signs to help you understand where the borders are!

Not a lot of shade to be had, but we found the shadow of some powerlines to stop and hydrate.

Greg had not been out on 2 wheels for a few months, so it took him a little time to get his "sand legs" with the KTM. There were a few deep sand washes that were a cause to pause for, before he got back into the swing of doing the sand dance.

It had not rained for months, so the sand was very fine and fluffy. During one longer, deep strech, I stopped for conversation, and found that when I had done all the electrical work, and had the battery out for an extended period, all my preset traction control settings had reverted to maximum. Not a great way to get underway in the sand. Finally figured out how to turn TC back off, and life got significantly better!

As we wound around in the rat's nest maze of two track trails, we found some nice hills to climb that afforded both a little breeze and some views around the area!

Moon had not quite finished setting, and was still visible over the ridge.

We figured out that we had made it as far west as the south end of Goodyear, AZ, from the "no dumping signs" that were mostly ignored by local idiots.

Greg had decided that airing down was a good idea for 2 wheels... I probably should have, but didn't. I was very pleased with Black Betty's (that sweet girl) performance in the rocks and sand. Nothing broke or fell off, and no tires were harmed (much) in the making of this movie.

As we got back to pavement, after about 4 hours of desert 2 track riding, it had started to warm up a little and we were both getting a little peckish. Headed back to Skunk Hollow and went our separate ways. I got home and for some reason or another, decided a nap was in order, after a late lunch.

It was definitely a great ride; one that I could not have done in my days of solo African Twin romping. I just don't have the sand skills or confidence climbing steep rocky trails on 2 wheels. I was very happy to cheat and bounce along on 3 wheels while Greg showed me how it is done!

This was a case of a rig doing exactly what it had been designed to do; explore the Arizona Desert with some impunity.  

My rides have been nowhere as glamorous, the breakdown trip was a bummer, but learnt a lot. Should never have done it it really, too much medical crap going on. Made the rally in Luca Miss the less said about the location the better, but i did meet a bunch of decent people including Varn Cummings the previous but one owner of my rig. The ride itself was a stretch first long ride for me 500-600 plus each way; but its the only way to learn. Texas DMC was next for triple trees and i beat the storm as the stars aligned for me as they often do. Overnight stop getting there and the return trip was done in a longer day no stops, chuffed with that 500 plus, played safe and avoided cities mostly interstate; that was a pretty ride.

Gas station in Dallas was an eye opener paid at the counter and realized that the staff had no idea when you asked for 5 gallons, it did not compute with available combined brain power. Ask in dollar amounts was ok; could have been my accent of course but as usual i was able to understand them perfectly =)

I found that summer heat was generally too much for me when i am not actually riding. Lots of 40 mile round trips to the store or the Dr, even those short trips are the best pick up ever; big silly grin still firmly in place. Best answer to where you been provided by my dad :"there and back  to see how far it is" =)

Thane did you try the Saeng airlift on the sidecar windscreen?

Did not.  Been mostly focused on getting the convertible top built. It's currently in the workshop being built and will hopefully be done next week.  This weekend is tricky because we are installing new kitchen cabinets that I evidently ordered. 

Posted by: @thane-lewis

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... This weekend is tricky because we are installing new kitchen cabinets that I evidently ordered. 

🤣 So easy to forget the "little things".  😉 

Posted by: @none

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 did meet a bunch of decent people including Vern Cummings the previous but one owner of my rig. 

Gas station in Dallas was an eye opener paid at the counter and realized that the staff had no idea when you asked for 5 gallons,

Oh, Steve, what are we going to do with you ?  

His name is VARN Cummings...not Vern.

And, we all know that when talking to a gas station attendant in Texas, ask for fuel in liters, or litres, not gallons, as they are used to buying their whisky in a 5th liter bottle, as in 1/5th.

Now, about that Hungarian accent you have ?  

But Miles it does give you something to poke literary holes in =)

AHHH is that what they mean by the arse in Texas