" when life hands you lemons.... make lemonade!"...
just wanted to share my last minute adventure to killarney on a solo camping trip with my 1978 KZ 650...but before i start, thank god for CAA plus!!
I left last friday almost at the end of the day. been thinkin about it all week but wasn't sure if i was actually gonna leave friday or not. so after work i decide to go and start packing...but the whole time this little voice in my head kept telling me not to go...my g/f was over watching tv as i was busy packing but with much hesitation...i didn't even feel up to it, but i said F*** it, i'm going and told that little voice to take a hike!
just about to leave, never packed this bike for a camping trip before so that ate up a little extra time... i ended up leaving friday early evening just before 7pm..into some freakin traffic. turns out there was a truck roll over on the 400 south of finch! fa**K! so i took off dixon and went up the 27 and got back on the 400...the 400 was surprisingly busy as it got late, the weather was looking great for the weekend so all the cottagers were out in full swing.
the whole time i was thinking about my gas situation since the KZ had a small tank and the odo was in mph. did a little research before leaving and found only french river and alban as the only towns with gas stations between parry sound and killarney.
just before leaving a gas stop in parry sound...i even overfilled my tank just to get that extra gas in there, doh! glad the fuel that rolled onto the hot engine didn't ignite!
the lady at the station wasn't sure if either of the stations would be open, but hey, got no other option but to go for it and chance it! worse comes to worse, my range would(or should!) just about make it to killarney..at this point its around 11pm and the roads were finally empty.
well guess what? everything was close at that time of night! dayum! i pass through french river and alban and both towns were asleep, everything closed. at this point i slow down so i could improve my mileage, all the while doing numbers in my head tryin to figure out if i would actually make it. (my light goes on at about 110 miles, about 160 k before reserve, and i didn't know how much i had in reserve, long story short, my calculations would allow me to JUST make it to killarney as i saw the 58km to killarney sign after alban) so i cross my fingers... i get to the 637 turn off from 69 and here's when i start to worry cuz i know it's almost an hour in to the park entrance, sheesh... (i also knew they were calling for storms late in the evening in the area, friggin great!) so i'm goin about 45mph and not a car in sight! the wind was starting to blow, clouds rolled in a bit, and i felt a drop here and there, meanwhile im' just waiting to see the fuel light go on... and then my head starts to play tricks on me cuz i had my eyes peeled for wildlife, like moose and bear.. i swear, some bushes looked like a moose head and i was spookin myself out, lol! the moon was full too, leaves were falling, it just felt so earrrrrry.....
before you know it, i see the park entrance! yeehaw! it's amazing how much fuel you save when you slow down...
so here i am at 1am at the park entrance. . . 6 hours later...
but wait!! as i get off the bike wich was still running, to take that pic, the bike suddenly dies...oh well, i figure it was running on fumes or b/c the bike leaned over maybe starved it of gas. no biggy, i guess.
i check the park office door for which sites were available and off i go to start up the bike. this time, the bike wouldn't start, i tried and it finally did but now it's all of a sudden running like crap! wtf?!dayum! like it was firing on 2 cyclinders or carbs were gummed up or something.. but i was just so glad i made it there and just wanted to find the site and pitch my tent.
i get to a site, roll in quietly, seemed like everyone was already asleep, no camp fires anywhere. but i hit the wrong site and it was down hill, THEN my bike dies again! doh! so i struggle to turn it around by pushing it, up hill and over gravel, and my boots are slipping. i quickly realize that there's no way in hell i could push the fully loaded bike up a small hill. so i get back on and try to start it, it struggles for a bit, and fires up crapilly, meanwhile my exhaust is facing a tent, brappaapapapapvrooommmoom pow!, wake the hell up people! lol! i felt soo bad making all that noise, but had to. i finally get to the next site over and unload, whew!
took me a while to pitch with just a small light, but i managed to get settled in...just as my flashlight battery started to fade...
off to sleep, about 2am now and i'm bushed! friggin rode over 6 hours in the night to get here....zzzzzz
just wanted to share my last minute adventure to killarney on a solo camping trip with my 1978 KZ 650...but before i start, thank god for CAA plus!!
I left last friday almost at the end of the day. been thinkin about it all week but wasn't sure if i was actually gonna leave friday or not. so after work i decide to go and start packing...but the whole time this little voice in my head kept telling me not to go...my g/f was over watching tv as i was busy packing but with much hesitation...i didn't even feel up to it, but i said F*** it, i'm going and told that little voice to take a hike!
just about to leave, never packed this bike for a camping trip before so that ate up a little extra time... i ended up leaving friday early evening just before 7pm..into some freakin traffic. turns out there was a truck roll over on the 400 south of finch! fa**K! so i took off dixon and went up the 27 and got back on the 400...the 400 was surprisingly busy as it got late, the weather was looking great for the weekend so all the cottagers were out in full swing.
the whole time i was thinking about my gas situation since the KZ had a small tank and the odo was in mph. did a little research before leaving and found only french river and alban as the only towns with gas stations between parry sound and killarney.
just before leaving a gas stop in parry sound...i even overfilled my tank just to get that extra gas in there, doh! glad the fuel that rolled onto the hot engine didn't ignite!
the lady at the station wasn't sure if either of the stations would be open, but hey, got no other option but to go for it and chance it! worse comes to worse, my range would(or should!) just about make it to killarney..at this point its around 11pm and the roads were finally empty.
well guess what? everything was close at that time of night! dayum! i pass through french river and alban and both towns were asleep, everything closed. at this point i slow down so i could improve my mileage, all the while doing numbers in my head tryin to figure out if i would actually make it. (my light goes on at about 110 miles, about 160 k before reserve, and i didn't know how much i had in reserve, long story short, my calculations would allow me to JUST make it to killarney as i saw the 58km to killarney sign after alban) so i cross my fingers... i get to the 637 turn off from 69 and here's when i start to worry cuz i know it's almost an hour in to the park entrance, sheesh... (i also knew they were calling for storms late in the evening in the area, friggin great!) so i'm goin about 45mph and not a car in sight! the wind was starting to blow, clouds rolled in a bit, and i felt a drop here and there, meanwhile im' just waiting to see the fuel light go on... and then my head starts to play tricks on me cuz i had my eyes peeled for wildlife, like moose and bear.. i swear, some bushes looked like a moose head and i was spookin myself out, lol! the moon was full too, leaves were falling, it just felt so earrrrrry.....
before you know it, i see the park entrance! yeehaw! it's amazing how much fuel you save when you slow down...
so here i am at 1am at the park entrance. . . 6 hours later...
but wait!! as i get off the bike wich was still running, to take that pic, the bike suddenly dies...oh well, i figure it was running on fumes or b/c the bike leaned over maybe starved it of gas. no biggy, i guess.
i check the park office door for which sites were available and off i go to start up the bike. this time, the bike wouldn't start, i tried and it finally did but now it's all of a sudden running like crap! wtf?!dayum! like it was firing on 2 cyclinders or carbs were gummed up or something.. but i was just so glad i made it there and just wanted to find the site and pitch my tent.
i get to a site, roll in quietly, seemed like everyone was already asleep, no camp fires anywhere. but i hit the wrong site and it was down hill, THEN my bike dies again! doh! so i struggle to turn it around by pushing it, up hill and over gravel, and my boots are slipping. i quickly realize that there's no way in hell i could push the fully loaded bike up a small hill. so i get back on and try to start it, it struggles for a bit, and fires up crapilly, meanwhile my exhaust is facing a tent, brappaapapapapvrooommmoom pow!, wake the hell up people! lol! i felt soo bad making all that noise, but had to. i finally get to the next site over and unload, whew!
took me a while to pitch with just a small light, but i managed to get settled in...just as my flashlight battery started to fade...
off to sleep, about 2am now and i'm bushed! friggin rode over 6 hours in the night to get here....zzzzzz
). totally weird tho how they just died after i iddled the bike on it's side. it was almost as if i shoulda just shut the bike off before i got off and maybe it would never have happened?! but totally lucky as it coulda died somewhere else in the middle of nowhere...
