Rain, snow, sleet, and hail…

It was snowing when I woke up at 3:45 this morning, and it’s snowing now at 9:00 p.m.   It didn’t snow all day; it stopped snowing when it changed to sleet, or hail, or just plain old rain.  It has sure been a wet day.  That notwithstanding, we had a good time at Overland Expo showing the RX3 to the adventure riding (and driving) community.

There are two kinds of vehicles here…adventure bikes and adventure trucks.   With the exception of the RX3, there’s really nothing new from any of the other motorcycle manufacturers.   The bikes are the by-now standard run of $26K Beemers, $22K KTMs, and (my favorite adventure bike other than the RX3) KLR-650s…

Lots of folks are camping out here.  My buddy J rode his KLR down from northern Nevada and he’s camping.   Paul (who rode in with us) is camping.  You can see a small number of the tents in the background in one of the photos above.   Brave souls…the temperatures dropped to freezing at Mormon Lake last night.  Me, I had my fill of sleeping on the ground in freezing weather in the Army.   Let me tell you, the Marriott Courtyard in Flagstaff is nice and warm.   And dry.

Here’s a KTM with an interesting decal collection.

There were several Urals here, too.   These are interesting bikes.   I think it would be cool to own one, but the reality for me is if I had one I would probably ride it a couple of times and then leave it in the garage.  I still think they are cool, though.   The sidecar wheel on a Ural is driven (they have two-wheel drive), and these things were perfect for getting around in the mud that was Overland Expo today.

I like this.   I am thinking we need to get something like this as an RX3 accessory.   I talked to a guy who made these at the Overland Expo show today, and he told me the BMW GS1200 guys really like them because a headlight on that bike sells for $1500.   $1500!    My first reaction is that can’t be right.   Then again, who knows?

Another Ural.   My photography was hampered by a desire to not let the Nikon get too wet.

Another photo of the same bike.   These motorcycles make good photo subjects.

One of the cool parts of the show are the ultra-high RVs.   Imagine that…RVs based on a Mercedes Unimog chassis and designed for off-road use.  Folks, we are in big boy territory here!

I talked to the owner of this one, and he told me he paid $100K just for the chassis.   He has a temporary camper shell on it while he is deciding if he likes the chassis.

This puppy in the photo below is a cool half million bucks!  I like the color, too.  It matches my RX3.

And my final photo for tonight…a fire-engine red uber-RV.    I can’t imagine me buying one of these, but they are sure cool toys.

I received a text message a few minutes ago from Juddy and Fernando…they braved the snow and the rain and made it up to Prescott on their RX3s.   They’ll be here at the show tomorrow.  I’m signing off for tonight, my friends.  It’s been a long, cold, wet day and I’m calling it a night.

As always, more to follow…