Tenere across the USA

[PNWTEN]

Made it to South Louisiana for the winter! About 6000 miles on the van and 1000 on the Super Tenere, yet only $200 in lodging costs. (September 6-November 14) A huge thank you to the people that let me park in their driveway, met up or rode with me! So thankful for the motorcycle community! 

www.tenereacrosstheusa.com

[PNWTEN]

A decade riding Adventure bikes!
I was reminded recently, its been 10 years when I picked up that KLR “685” off Craigslist. What a decade! So much has happened since! 

It all started just before my last USAF deployment to Kyrgyzstan July-December ‘09. I went to see Simon and Lisa Thomas from 2Ride the World  before I left to see their presentation about their life on the road, then once I deployed, watching videos of Charlie and Ewan ride their motorcycles around the world sealed the deal. Charlie and Ewan fanned the flames of an entire segment of motorcycle design and style of riding. Adventure motorcycling was unheard in most circles before their Long Way Around and Long Way Around TV series.

My Adventure training started pretty quickly after picking  up the KLR when I got back from my deployment , attending the PSSOR Adventure camp   Bret Tkacts and his crew did a great job of covering the basics.  I even returned a few more times to PSSOR for more training over the years.

That KLR was a great start and took me to some really cool places. Places I couldn’t get to on my Harley, it definitely opened my eyes to what’s possible. After 30,000ish miles on that KLR the lack of power was evident then what I had with the Harley.  By that time it was 2011 and was retiring from the Air Force, there was a new bike about to hit the market and this video popped up.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tCHWsSRWMkc&t=13s

It’s Nick Sanders returning to England after his Incredible Ride doing 3 laps from Argentina to Alaska, pretty much non stop. For a motorcycle to hold up like that without issues was the strongest selling point I could think of. Much better then Charlie and Ewan’s BMW’s for sure I sat on the Yamaha Super Tenere first at the IMS show in Seattle and knew that was my next bike.

It wasn’t too long after I sold the Harley and KLR to get a 2012 Super Tenere from Jeff at Sportland Yamaha in Cle Elum. From there things really took off when all I asked was to ride with others that had a Super Tenere. It didn’t take long to build the PNWSTOG from the ground up. What a great group of guys, friendships that remain to this day. Oh and the places we have traveled together!

A few years back I was asked by Jeremy from AltRider to lead a 3 day ride through the Cascades as a conclusion to their international distributors meeting. It was a huge honor to show riders from all over the world our neck of the woods.

Going to a Horizons Unlimited meet up (Training clinic from Jimmy and Heather Lewis) and hosting various world travelers really had me calling for the open road. That  was evident when the Tenere Across The USA trip started to formulate in my head.

The Tenere Across the USA trip was life changing in many ways, it gave me the self confidence to change my situation and do what I want, on my own terms. It’s a great place to live! These last 10 years really have been amazing! I wouldn’t have thought my life could be this great. I’m also very thankful for all the friends I’ve made this last decade. Y’all have really made a difference! THANK YOU ALL!!

[PNWTEN]

Traveling to IMS in Dallas was about 2 things, getting to sit on the T-700 again and seeing friends in the industry. Both were accomplished!
 

[PNWTEN]

P.K. Adventures ( North Texas Tenere Madmen)

I was invited through Jaxon Fyffe to meetup with Aaron Gragg, the leader of Possum Kingdom Adventures which is Northwest of Dallas. He had a trip in the works going down to the coast. Not doing the math, I said sure. (It was a 1200ish mile trip over 3 days) 

We were joined by Tim Scholtz, Kevin Landis, James Queen, Zach Bagley, and the father and son(two up) team of Lee and Max Chestnut. 

Aaron agreed to let me park the Yamahauler on his ranch while we were away. More on the ranch later... 

 

Day 1 was right at 500 miles at a very quick pace. We stopped in West, Texas just north of Waco for gas and lunch. It’s known for several Czechoslovakian bakeries with different meat filled rolls called Koliches. YUM! The route was all “Farm to Market” secondary roads. We showed up at the hotel in Winnie, Texas after about 11 hours on the road. I slept hard that night! 

 

Day 2 was along the coast, new roads mostly for me. From Winnie, down to the Gulf Coast skirting the beach to the ferry to Galveston. A short (free) ferry to Galveston island and the touristy town that Galveston is. Then Bay City and seafood lunch in Port Lavaca. Our night was about 100 miles away in the very historic town of Goliad. All Texans are taught of the fort and battles that happens there. A really neat place! 

 

 

GOLIAD, TX | The Handbook of Texas Online| Texas State Historical Association (TSHA)

 

Day 3 had rain in the forecast all the way back to the ranch... yuck. I chose to take a  more direct route that had me through more rain then the others who normally follow the radar to avoid the clouds. Living in the northwest, I’m prepared for the wet stuff. Luckily, I only hit about two hours of rain of the 6+ hours on the road. I did meet up with Zack and James outside Seguin, Zack hit a slippery patch of pavement and went sliding across 3 lanes of highway. His handle bars got bent pretty bad and he lost 1/2 his foot peg but only got a little road rash on his forearm. He was lucky! Even with his bike in that condition, he still kept a pace faster then I cared to keep up with. Not wanting to slow him down, he sped off and I was happy to “ride my own ride”

 

When passing through Cherokee Texas, the smell of wood smoke had me activating my antilock brakes for South side open pit BBQ. Ohhhh my! Was that tasty! The perfect place to stop and grab a bite after skipping breakfast wanting to beat the weather. 

 

I actually beat Aaron back to the ranch by almost an hour. 

 

Aaron had some ranch duties to take care of as soon as he got parked, you see he manages 4000 acres with about 75 head of cattle. He also has “High fence” and low fence guided hunts form wild pigs, turkey and deer.  He asked if I wanted to ride with him to feed the cattle and if we see any feral hogs, it was open season. We didn’t see any hogs but I did get a great tour of the ranch while we fed the cows. 

To book guided hunts contact Aaron at www.pkhunting.phonesites.com 

He did say that a 2 day hog hunt has a 90% chance of getting at least one hog. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PNWTEN]

The Yamahauler (2018 Ford Transit LWB EXT, tall & Ecoboost)rolled 50,000 miles in under 2 years the other day as I rolled in for service. Not a bad MPG for a house on wheels either
(The map is a combination of van and motorcycle miles since April 2018)

Tenere Across The USA

 

[Cruizin]

4 hours ago, PNWTEN said:

The Yamahauler (2018 Ford Transit LWB EXT, tall & Ecoboost)rolled 50,000 miles in under 2 years the other day as I rolled in for service. Not a bad MPG for a house on wheels either
(The map is a combination of van and motorcycle miles since April 2018)

Tenere Across The USA

 

That's one heck of a trip, thanks for the update! 

[PNWTEN]

 

Loading up the Super Tenere in the Yamahauler for a bit. Heading up to March Moto Madness in Tennessee next month. I keep it inside the van for long road trips or when I’ll be away from the van on other excursions. Having loaded airplanes with cargo for 20+ years, it’s just like old times securing everything down. You can’t put too much restraint!
I use a Warn 1500lb ATV winch bolted to the floor to back the bike in. That gives more room to and from the bed. 

[Noel McCutcheon]

Class. Loved sleeping underneath DR-350 once in a van at a 2 day Enduro. Nice winch setup.

[PNWTEN]

Last post was loading to go to March Moto Madness, well that was canceled due to the

as was the Super Tenere Rally in The Ozarks of Arkansas. I “sheltered in place”  at a friends house outside Charlotte NC until May 1st then headed west. I’m stopping to “driveway surf” at old coworkers from the military, it’s been great to catch up! The bike has been in the van but now I’m riding more so out on the hitch it goes. In Colorado now, getting a few miles on the bike in with friends before heading to Idaho to ride with Rob (Cruizin) this sites owner.

The last weekend of the month will be outside Prineville Oregon riding with the PNWSTOG www.pnwtenere.com group. The Oregon state parks are due to be open on the 25th and our reservations are for the 27-30

 

[Great Escape]

On 11/16/2019 at 8:06 PM, PNWTEN said:

Made it to South Louisiana for the winter! About 6000 miles on the van and 1000 on the Super Tenere, yet only $200 in lodging costs. (September 6-November 14) A huge thank you to the people that let me park in their driveway, met up or rode with me! So thankful for the motorcycle community! 

www.tenereacrosstheusa.com

Great photos,  obviously a brilliant trip! Cheers,  Steve 

[Cruizin]

Whaddaya know, @PNWTEN is coming to see me next week for a couple days. What will we do? 

 

Ridin, shootin and BBQ'n !   Stay tuned. 

[PNWTEN]

Thanks Rob  @Cruizinfor hosting me! 

[Cruizin]

1 minute ago, PNWTEN said:

Thanks Rob  @Cruizinfor hosting me! 

It's a pleasure to have you here Glen! Anytime!

[PNWTEN]

My trip back west, “Veterans Across the USA”
After 2 months at Amanda’s(where I spent some time last fall), the country started to slowly re-open from the and it was time to make my way west for the PNW.  I reached out to several military veterans from my past and the motorcycle community to plot my way across the USA.  Social media is the way we stay in touch throughout the year and being able to visit is a huge bonus.

First stop was Richard Glockner in Illinois, we had been stationed together in Korea 23 ago. So cool to catch up! Thanks for the prime rib dinner!

 

Second stop was western Missouri and my old buddy Craig Langley that I was stationed with in Arkansas 30 years ago.  He retired from Whiteman AFB, the home of the B-2 Stealth bomber. He was kind enough to give me a tour of the installation  and tell me a bunch about it’s history as a ballistic missile base during the Cold War. thanks Craig and Stacey for letting me stay.

 

Third stop was just north of Oklahoma City to see Angela Rella and her daughter Kayla. We hadn’t seen each other since Tech school 30 years ago other than a passing in a hallway once while on TDY.

 

From OKC, I went up to the Colorado Springs/Denver area  for a week to slow my pace a bit after only doing 1 night stops. Not far from the USAF Academy lives retired MSgt Lee Becker and his wife Bex, they are both very well known in the BMW GS Giant community. Not long after I pulled up to their house, a “rock star” of the GS community pulled up. It was Bettina Nedel from the 2018 US woman’s team of the GS Trophy competition in Mongolia. From there I went hang out with Pete and Kat, Pete is a PNW Tenere member and former Army Medic. We did a nice day loop along the Platt River, then past old mines above Idaho Springs. Then I spent a few days with Tirza Deflinger an Army vet. We did a few more loops with Pete West also an Army Vet and some of their friends out to Estes Park and back. I even met up with a future Tenere 700 owner and ex Air Force Loadmaster Jack Lowery. Colorado is so beautiful! I always look forward to riding there and hanging out with the friends I’ve made.

   
Leaving Colorado gets harder and harder every year, but I needed to head northwest. I had such a beautiful drive from outside Denver to Salt Lake City to see Rob and Cheryl Oman who I had known from my Air Force days in Washington.

Only 1 night in SLC with the Oman’s then onto Boise to meet with Rob Bayless, the owner of several Yamaha web forums and army vet, to include Tenere700.net Rob and Tammy hosted me for a couple days, I had hoped to ride the bike around their part of Idaho but bad weather set in for my entire time there.

 

So from North Carolina to Idaho, that was 7 Air Force, 5 Army veterans that I either met up with for rides or hosted me. The Veteran community is awesome that way! It doesn’t matter how long you can go without seeing one another, it’s like we are never apart. I’m honored to have served with so many great people over the years!

 

 

 

 

[PNWTEN]

[Noel McCutcheon]

39 minutes ago, PNWTEN said:

Happy Days Glen... It's going to feel so skinny in comparison to the S10. The best torque curve colour too.

Enjoy. 

[tenerecanada]

1 hour ago, PNWTEN said:

Congrats Glen! A start of another exciting chapter. Cheers, 

 

-Ehren

[Cruizin]

1 hour ago, PNWTEN said:

The Japs even wrote your name on the crate! 

[Noel McCutcheon]

Type of places I first rode mine... You're in for a treat.

 

[PNWTEN]

Picked it up and put 25.7 miles on it around Cle El um today This is the bike I’ve wanted for a long time!

Thanks to Jeff Anderson and his crew at Sportland Yamaha!

[Noel McCutcheon]

5 hours ago, PNWTEN said:

Picked it up.......  

This is the bike I’ve wanted for a long time!

Nice.... The motor gets even better as the 1st few thousand miles pile on.

Enjoy 

[PNWTEN]

from my blog post at www.tenereacrosstheusa.com

It’s finally here! Ever since this spy photo leaked back in 2016, I knew it was my next bike.ADV Pulse article from 2016

Just a mere 4 years later a Yamaha Tenere 700 shows up with my name on the box

 

Without Jeff and his assistant Cassie, at Sportland Yamaha in Cle Elum Wa.  I wouldn’t have a bike, I owe them pretty much everything! A bit of back story on how they were able to secure my bike...

On May 18th Corporate Yamaha decided to change the procedure on how the initial pre-orders would be released. The first few hundred bikes were to go the consumers that could log onto the public website and request a bike at 1200 noon Eastern time Friday May 22nd.  Jeff and Cassie showed up to work more than an hour early (9:00 am pacific is 12:00 eastern) with their typing fingers ready.  The consumer( me) had to go onto a website and request a bike then a reservation number was generated and emailed back to the consumer.

 

That number was then relayed back to Jeff and Cassie where they logged onto an internal Yamaha website to place an order using the code I  gave them. Sound confused? Yes,we all were! In a matter of 30 minuets  both the public and internal websites had crashed but Jeff and Cassie had secured 7 bikes by then AWESOME JOB! Within 3 hours, all pre ordered bikes were spoken for. They went that fast!

Fast forward to the first week of June when I get a text from Jeff with pictures.  

 

This Tenere 700 is the bike I’ve wanted since before the 1200 Super Tenere came along, it would have been my choice after realizing the Kawasaki KLR (even with the 685 big bore kit) I had didn’t have enough power (only about 35-38 horsepower).  This Tenere 700 has about 68 to 74 horsepower depending on how it’s tuned by Nels of 2 Wheeled Dyno works. Read all about the amazing little motor here The CP2 engine   A considerable difference indeed for two bikes with essentially the same weight.

As I pulled into Sportland Yamaha to pick up my bike, the radio was playing this.....  TENERE TAQQIM TOSSAM couldn’t ask for anything better!
 

Jeff’s  crew were busy putting my bike together from the crate and with aftermarket parts from Cory of Camel ADV products Rerouting the brake lines for the high front fender took a bit longer then planned but it all came together eventually.
Once the bike was ready and the check was written, his crew gave me a rundown on how it went together and I was off on a quick 25 mile ride around the area.

 

My initial response is it’s an AWESOME bike! I’ll do my best to keep the RPM’s down for the first few hundred miles  It’s about the same weight as that KLR but sooo much more smooth power. It will need a better seat which will be from Seth at Laam seats in Redding Ca in a couple weeks. The handlebars will also need to be adjusted a bit too, I hope there is room in the brake lines for adjustable links. These are basic ergonomic things to fit the bike to me, every rider should make these changes. All in all, it’s a really great bike with the power to weight and will be much better to travel with in or on my van. Allowing me to get deeper into the woods to find those scenic vistas.

 

[Cruizin]

14 hours ago, PNWTEN said:

from my blog post at www.tenereacrosstheusa.com

It’s finally here! Ever since this spy photo leaked back in 2016, I knew it was my next bike.ADV Pulse article from 2016

Just a mere 4 years later a Yamaha Tenere 700 shows up with my name on the box

 

Without Jeff and his assistant Cassie, at Sportland Yamaha in Cle Elum Wa.  I wouldn’t have a bike, I owe them pretty much everything! A bit of back story on how they were able to secure my bike...

On May 18th Corporate Yamaha decided to change the procedure on how the initial pre-orders would be released. The first few hundred bikes were to go the consumers that could log onto the public website and request a bike at 1200 noon Eastern time Friday May 22nd.  Jeff and Cassie showed up to work more than an hour early (9:00 am pacific is 12:00 eastern) with their typing fingers ready.  The consumer( me) had to go onto a website and request a bike then a reservation number was generated and emailed back to the consumer.

 

That number was then relayed back to Jeff and Cassie where they logged onto an internal Yamaha website to place an order using the code I  gave them. Sound confused? Yes,we all were! In a matter of 30 minuets  both the public and internal websites had crashed but Jeff and Cassie had secured 7 bikes by then AWESOME JOB! Within 3 hours, all pre ordered bikes were spoken for. They went that fast!

Fast forward to the first week of June when I get a text from Jeff with pictures.  

 

This Tenere 700 is the bike I’ve wanted since before the 1200 Super Tenere came along, it would have been my choice after realizing the Kawasaki KLR (even with the 685 big bore kit) I had didn’t have enough power (only about 35-38 horsepower).  This Tenere 700 has about 68 to 74 horsepower depending on how it’s tuned by Nels of 2 Wheeled Dyno works. Read all about the amazing little motor here The CP2 engine   A considerable difference indeed for two bikes with essentially the same weight.

As I pulled into Sportland Yamaha to pick up my bike, the radio was playing this.....  TENERE TAQQIM TOSSAM couldn’t ask for anything better!
 

Jeff’s  crew were busy putting my bike together from the crate and with aftermarket parts from Cory of Camel ADV products Rerouting the brake lines for the high front fender took a bit longer then planned but it all came together eventually.
Once the bike was ready and the check was written, his crew gave me a rundown on how it went together and I was off on a quick 25 mile ride around the area.

 

My initial response is it’s an AWESOME bike! I’ll do my best to keep the RPM’s down for the first few hundred miles  It’s about the same weight as that KLR but sooo much more smooth power. It will need a better seat which will be from Seth at Laam seats in Redding Ca in a couple weeks. The handlebars will also need to be adjusted a bit too, I hope there is room in the brake lines for adjustable links. These are basic ergonomic things to fit the bike to me, every rider should make these changes. All in all, it’s a really great bike with the power to weight and will be much better to travel with in or on my van. Allowing me to get deeper into the woods to find those scenic vistas.

 

Wife and I are thinking about taking a road trip next week. Either Seattle to see our Daughter, or Yellowstone National park. Either way, I'll have a chase vehicle to carry my luggage while I ride my bike !  If we go to Seattle, I'll have Nels at @2 Wheel DynoWorks flash my ECU.  Where you gonna be next week? 

 

Be well my friend, hope to see you again soon! 

[PNWTEN]

Had a great day riding the southern end of the Gifford Pinchot NF just north of the Columbia gorge. I’m camped at Pete and Ashley ( from Mosko Moto ) in White Salmon. 
Lunch was in Trout lake, then it was a off to find some dirt and vistas. The weather was perfect!

[PNWTEN]

Did about 350 miles today for a slice of pie, the roads are freaking amazing in western Oregon! 
it was nice to meet up with the PNWTOG!