Introducing Aka-chan or Little Red, and a Scarlett Update

Today, after much research and dithering, I finally pulled the trigger on a new motorcycle.

Meet Little Red or Aka-chan in Japanese.  Chan being the affectionate diminutive used for someone's name.

She's a 2026 Honda CT 125 Trail. .

Right after I rode it home from the dealership 

Back on August 25, I sold Yagi, my 2006 Yamaha TW200. She had become so unreliable with electrical issues that I just could not trust her. This left me without a working motorcycle until today.

Little Red,  with her 125cc engine is not going to break any land speed records for me, but I am hoping that she will make my exploration rides while camping as much fun as my tw200 did. 

She does not have the low, tractor-like, first gear that the TW200 has but she should be okay for the type of trails that I am going to be riding. I am definitely trying to avoid the really gnarly, technical stuff from this point on.

For those of you that follow Scooter in the Sticks, you will have seen postings on his blog how about his own CT 125. His friend Paul Ruby has the same red version as mine. My first experience on a CT 125 was through the generosity of Steve Williams who let me ride his when I was in Pennsylvania this summer.

And now, an update on Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol sidecar rig:

I was finally able to find a replacement final drive cover with help from Ural HQ's Jason, he is their VP for production and product support.

As soon as it's shipped and received by Randy, the former Ural dealer up at Fort Collins, he will reassemble everything and I will install the final drive back onto Scarlett.   Who knows, but with a little bit of luck she will be back on the road by December.

Meanwhile, like the used threadmill machines in a lot of homes, poor Scarlett has become basically a place onto which stuff is piled onto.

After 1 Day at Divide, Home Again

Martha left in the CRV Wednesday morning to return home and some appointments that she had made. I decided to camp one more night less than 20 miles away at the national forest dispersed camping area near Divide, Colorado.

Got some more e-biking in along Forest roads that were coded with really small gravel, this gravel made it way too interesting when on a downward incline and trying to slow down on the e-bike.  There is as I mentioned before no engine braking of course and so I found myself locking up the wheels more than I like. 

On the plus side, when you are forced to come to a stop, it's easy to hold the e-bike up and not fall. 

The nice sunny weather you see in the pictures below did not last, it got cloudy and overcast by middle of the afternoon and it was quite windy and chilly. 

Still, I had to play so myself, I only saw three other camping rakes and they were nowhere near me so that's a good thing. 

I returned home on Thursday morning after a quiet night and temperatures in the lower 40s at most.

A Troll, a Gold Mining Town and a Sunset

A bit cool today when the sun was not out but still a pretty good day. 

Martha and I drove the Honda CRV down Colorado highway 67 towards the town of Victor, Colorado. 

Back during the Gold Rush days, this town was a booming area with gold miners trying their luck in the nearby hills. 

But we were looking for a troll named Rita. There's a short trail starting from the American Eagles gold mine's location off of highway 67. 

Some pretty impressive infrastructure remains of the gold mine, you can see the scaffolding that supported the elevator for the carts filled with gold ore that were drawn up from the bowels of the Earth. 

A short walk down a rocky trail and there was the troll, Rita: 

This is Rita's view

We return to the town of Victor to look around: 

Local lore suggests Nikola Tesla personally wired the Black Monarch Hotel for electricity in 1899, hence this unexpected mural as one drives into town.

Back in October of 2007, I rode Maria, my R1150RT Beemer through Victor and got this shot of her and a painted Elk statue:

Today, we posed by the same elk, at least I think it's the same one:

Today's moto content:

Zundapp!

Enroute back to our camp, we stopped to check out an old railroad tunnel at the Horsethief Trailhead.

The short tunnel is blocked off by metal portals, but you can see the interior construction from back in the day I guess. 

We relax back at the campsite, had a great dinner and then walked the short way to the campgrounds amphitheater to catch the sunset: 

I liked how the sun caught the top of the Aspen tree

After a R&R Hiatus, a Short Camping Trip

R&R:  Rest and Repairs.

After a 63-day hiatus, we're trying out camping again on a short trip beginning with camping at the Mueller State Park campground. 

After almost getting rid of the RV due to repair estimates, now that we have decided to keep her, might as well get some more use out of her.  At least that's the plan for now, I'm not sure when and if I will head south and west into Arizona if at all this year. 

Mueller SP is a nice park, with 132 spaces for camping in high season.  The weather is cool but sunny, feels pretty good when the sun is out. We thought we had missed out on fall colors this year, so what we found at the park was a bonus.

I borrowed an e-bike, Class 2, from Dan K., a fellow Uralista.  This camping trip will be a test as to whether an ebike is a viable vehicle to do light exploring while camping instead of using a motorcycle. 

I am presently, without a working motorcycle. Only one remains in the stable, my 2014 URAL Patrol and she is disabled waiting for parts for her final drive.

As you can see in the last picture above, I took her for a short ride down some trails and she did okay, but she does not like the really steep gravelly trails. There is no engine braking of course to help slow you down, you're relying only on brakes and I had to abort one hill less than halfway down as I was losing control.

I will admit, that pedal assist is really nice on the steep inclines on the trail! I even had to use the throttle a couple of times to get me to the top of a couple of the hills. 

Here's how the borrowed ebike came along:

After a short walk with Martha, the skies cleared up and the sun returned to highlight the aspen leaves near the campsite:

It was a mellow sunset.....

Altitude: 9685ft

Umarang's 10th Anniversary as our VRRV

Though we didn't set out ten years ago to buy a motorhome, it somehow came to pass.  Beware when your spouse says: "Lets see what they have....I'm just curious".   Here's the post of that fateful day:  LINK

Over the last ten years, Umarang (so named by Thing One because like a Boomerang, she'd always bring us home) or Uma started off as a way to extend the range of my Ural Sidecar riding.  Along the way, she acquired the designation of  URRV (Ural Recovery RV) due to several "incidents".  Uralisti out there know what I mean.

Our first "glamping" trip:

As I started to also bring along other vehicles, such as my Suzuki Samurai and Yagi, my Yamaha TW200 (which has been sold), the URRV was renamed VRRV: Vehicle Recovery RV.  Not that, initially, the TW200 required any recovery.  The Sammy and Ural sidecars on the other hand.....

So, extend my range for riding it surely accomplished:

Stats:

Over 106,000 miles driven by us over the last 10 years

Driven from coast to coast, though never to the actual shorelines  Most trips involved the southwest states.  I doubt very much she'll ever go across the Mississippi River again.

Though bought used in October of 2016, I didn't track fuel mileage until October of 2023.  However for those last 3 years:

Pair the above up with days camped:

That's 1627 camping days in case you're wondering.

For a major purchase we did basically zero research prior to buying, she's worked out pretty well.  I can confidently say I've gotten my money's worth out of her initial cost.

Almost gave up on her recently due to costs of needed repairs, but in the end, we're going to keep her for now.  

As I learned about dispersed camping, aka boondocking, I spent more and more time camping.

Saw many sunsets and sunrises:

Saw many landscapes and scenery I'd otherwise probably never have seen given the range of my motorcycles.

She's been quite the education in terms of solar power, towing cars and trailers, RV-related repairs and fixes, and just learning about kind of camping terrain please me the most and learning to love extreme solitude.  My gratitude to all who've helped me along the way, especially RichardM.

The last camping trip before this anniversary: