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2009 DDSR Rally Blog-3rd Weekend in June, 2009

Started by LittleJacket, October 07, 2008, 03:37:46 AM

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Dustin

Brett - I'm building my own skid plate to be ready for the BIG ROCKS this time!! With any luck if I start now I might be able to finish it before June.

Hopefully I will be a little warmer too!

The Yeti

Quote from: AquaTop on February 10, 2009, 10:36:29 PM
How 'bout the 1st or 4th weekend instead?  ;D ;D ;D

:P

I'm actually very flexible, so whatever works for everyone else!
"You want me to ride up THAT?!"

loingrader

Quote from: Dustin on February 11, 2009, 12:52:02 PM
Bret - I'm building my own skid plate to be ready for the BIG ROCKS this time!! With any luck if I start now I might be able to finish it before June.

stout skid plates are pretty important out in the hills aren't they.  gives a bit more peace of mind when the weight of bike and rider comes down hard on a large rock.  can't wait to see your handywork.
You live more in five minutes on a bike like this going flat out than some people live in a lifetime - Burt Munro

Dustin

It might not be as pretty as the purchased ones but I guarantee it will do the job!! ;D

hayduke.klr07

here is my suggestion for camping for the ralley.  Sheridan Lake north campgound has group sites.  i should be getting the price list from a co-worker yet this week.  should be pretty cheap though. here are my pros for this local...
1.  great jumping off point for rides to central, south, and northern hills.
2.  close to hill city for amenities (5-6 miles)
3.  at the intersection of 385 and 16 (2 miles) there is a nice/big convience store (beer :chug, fuel...important things like that.)
4.  nice place to camp.

that's my two cents worth.  when i get the prices i'll follow up this post.

hayduke.klr07

sounds like group sites run from about $50 to $100 a night depending on the size of the sight.  Any guesses as to how many folks this summer?

fringefan

Last year the number right around 48 people but around 20 came from Min and only camped the one night with our group before heading home. Really hard to say this year because we now we have more members than we did with the msn site but with people cutting back might cause those that are farther away to skip it. I would anticipate at least 20-30 people though.

hayduke.klr07


hayduke.klr07

google earth is fun though i am having limited success with saving images.

hayduke.klr07


The Yeti

I see you got the pic posting figured out!

+1 for camping at Sheridan Lake! Only thing, the camp nazis won't allow campfires like the one we had last fall....   :P  "Fire can't be higher than grate....blah, blah, blah...."
"You want me to ride up THAT?!"

Hank

maybe we can space the grate up about 6'    :evil

loingrader

You live more in five minutes on a bike like this going flat out than some people live in a lifetime - Burt Munro

Crazy Uncle Larry

I agree. Raise the grate!

We all know a fire's not really going good until it shows up in space on a satellite's thermal imaging camera!

Nothing like having a Nat. Guard Blackhawk scrambled to the coordinates of the fire to insure a low-yield
nuclear device didn't go off in Western South Dakota!!!

"Nope HQ, it's just those pyromaniacs from the 2009 DDSR Rally!"
"It's cool, they've got their own tanker standing by to water down the flames if it gets out of hand!"

Now the real deal...I did go camping one Memorial Day weekend down at Deerfield, at the Dutchman campground, I think it was. The boys got a fire going one night and we did have a BlackHawk fly over to check on things. I think they were in the area training already. Anyhow, we didn't think much about it until the next morning. By the light of breakfast, we could clearly see where the branches in the trees above the fire pit had been blackened by the flames. So, guess we might have had a fire just a little bigger than they ordinarily expect you to have. The branches were 30-40 feet in the air!!! I was late getting back from paddling my kayak on the lake so I didn't have a hand in that pyro-exhibition. It was one of those moments when you go sheeeeuuucks!!! Glad it wasn't me!

However, I was party to one "LARGE" campfire years ago when I was stationed at K.I. Sawyer AFB, MI. This was in the Upper Peninsula or U.P. and took place during firearms deer season. Two of us had camp set up down in a cedar swamp alongside one of the branches of the Escanaba River. We had that cedar and pine square-stacked about 3-3 1/2 feet tall, then, we had logs 5-6 foot in length formed in a tepee around the square. This area is waaaaay up North and I know some of you Minnesota boys know what I'm talking about when I say it gets dark, real dark in camp way up there! Did I mention that it also gets pretty cold, too?! So, anyhow, it's dark and cold. We got this wood, it's stacked just right, and look...I have a match! We lit that puppy and I swear you could have walked away 50-60 yards and still had enough light to see to read the paper by! The fire burnt from about 8 Pm through 1 AM and with plenty of snow around, there was no place for it to go. It burnt a round ring in the snow so there was a big circle around the fire and this is what caused what I like to think happened later on. It was a clear night and the stars were shining brightly overhead. I remember thinking, I wondered if the Soviet satellite boys could see us on their monitors (they flew over our bomber base all the time watching our B-52s). I could just imagine their initial panic...

"Kommrade Boris, Kommrade Boris, the crazy Americans have launched a missile!!! Ve have a missle launch in the northern United States!!!!!!!!!"

"KALM down, you fool und tell me the location of this so-called launch"

"Kommrade Boris, it is in the upper peninsula of the U. S. state of Michigan, near their K.I. Sawyer air base."

"Igor! You idiot, that is a bomber base! There are no missiles there!"

"But Kommrade Boris, ve have such a wery large heat signature on the display!"

"Igor, have our launch indicators sounded!"

"Not yet, Kommrade Boris!?!"

"Igor, increase the resolution magnification on our 'communication' (wink-wink, nudge-nudge) satellite so ve may see vhat is causing this alarm."

"Kommrade Boris, there it is! See the ring of fire shooting up!?! It is just like the fire vhen it shoots out of the missile capsule at launch time!" "See, Kommrade Boris, there are two technicians standing beside the launch capsule right now!"

"YES, I DO SEE, Igor! But, tell me this...vhere are the other military wehicles, the military instalation, the other technicians??! That's right, Igor, there aren't any at all and ve are not vatching a launch!!!! Igor, take a closer look, you id-dee-ott, those are not technicians und that is not a missile silo!!! Igor, that is a tent und those are simply hunters who for a lack of anything better to do have ignited a battalion-sized camp fire! Igor, I have read about them, those are YOOPERS and they are taking part in the annual hunt for the 'Thurty-point Buck'! This campfire is just part of their ritual. Remember the time you und I und your stoopid brother-in-law, Stanislaus (who always smelled like rotten cabbage rolls) vent to Siberia to hunt for the Great Bear? Remember how he almost set the whole Siberian wasteland on fire from the campfire he made?!"

"Ya Kommrade Boris, ha ha, I had almost tried to forget that. The Kommissar was not wery happy that ve burned down his hunting lodge and ve almost received permanent orders to the gulag."

"Ya Igor, instead, ve got permanent night shift vatching the launch screens vith strict orders not to screw up again or else!"

"Kommrade Boris, look, look at the screen. They are looking up and seem to be vaving to us; I can not believe it!"

"You are right, so they are,Igor. I told you they are not much different from us. Igor, push the stobe signal switch three times and let's vatch vhat happens."

"Kommrade Boris, look they have seen it and they are raising something in their hands towards the satellite. Vhat is it do you tink?"

"Igor, I tink they are toasting us with drink. Do we not take drink with us vhen ve camp und hunt? Increase the resolution a bit more und let's see what these fearsome hunters drink."

"Kommrade Boris, it is a red, white und blue can...it is, ahhh yes, it is a Diet Pepsi!!! Ha, ha,ha,ha! Some fearsome hunters, no?!!!"

"Yes, Igor, some fearsome hunters indeed! Igor, give them three more long flashes on the strobe to acknowledge their toast."

"Ya, Kommrade Boris. Look, a final salute from them!"

"Ahh yes, Igor, I tink Mother Russia has little to fear from these two gentlemen tonight. Now vhere is that bottle of wodka that you've been hiding from the duty Kommander? Ve should return their toast, ya?!" 

And so ends another night of de tant when soldiers in the night look across their lines at each other and think, he could be me, I could be him..."See, Igor, I told you they are not so wery different after all. Salut! DasVadania, my brothers!" 

A big, controlled fire can be a good thing! A big, uncontrolled fire never is!

Enough of story time. Ride safe.


"Let's take a look around the next bend before we turn back."-old Family motto

"Wonder where that road goes?"-2nd old Family motto

Hank

......Stanislaus (who always smelled like rotten cabbage rolls)..... 


Good stuff.   I love your stories and reports Larry.