East FarRide #10

I had left planning for this FarRide until the very last minute.  In the week leading up the FarRide I found a KLX300 in Yarrawonga (about 100km from Albury) that I wanted to have a look at so I decided to tie them both into the one trip.  I was due at Yarrawonga at 9am.

Friday afternoon, 4pm, I finally decided exactly what I was gonna do.  Home for a bit to pack, then start the clock about 6pm and slab it to Wangaratta where I had booked a motel room before continuing on south in the morning to Benalla, then Shepparton, Yarrawonga and into Thurgoona for lunch before heading home in the arvo, a round trip of 1012km.

So I got home from work, adjusted the chain, checked the oil etc, then chucked a few things in a bag and set off - a little bit behind schedule, my start receipt was about 6:15pm.  As soon as I crossed the Victorian border it started bucketing down - Welcome to Victoria indeed!  Apart from that it was an uneventful run to Wangaratta, getting there about 11pm.  I was supposed to be on the road at 6:30am the next day and was only five minutes behind schedule, after hitting snooze about a hundred times (it was so warm in bed).  On the road, south to Benalla then onto Shepparton where it was raining on me on and off.  I had wet feet but everything else was okay, despite not having wet weather pants on. 

Stopped at Katamatite (about 30km before Yarrawonga) to use the toilets and had a voicemail message from the girl about the KLX  - someone else had been out to see it that morning and had left a deposit… bugger!  She said that I was still welcome to come around and have a look to see whether the KLX would be suitable for me (we had chatted a fair bit on the phone).  So I went around and it was much bigger than I expected.  I couldn’t kick start the thing (mind you I was trying to do so while sitting astride it - I reckon I could have if I was doing it off the stand… its a bit hard to get any weight behind the kick when you can’t even touch the ground properly!).  I thanked them for their time and we chatted for a bit more and then I went and found maccas for some breakfast (I still had heaps of time up my sleeve).  I also had a really bad headache that just wouldn’t go away.

I continued up the Murray Valley Highway and crossed over at Corowa.  My headache was really starting to annoy me so I stopped at Howlong to buy some Panadol which I downed and I was just getting ready to get back on when another of the FarRiders rode past - big waves and I hopped back on, he was already out of sight.  I caught up just coming into Albury.

Then onto Thurgoona where there were already a couple of bikes there… and then they just kept rolling in and rolling in and rolling in.  It was huge!  There was quite a queue for check in and then it was order lunch and wait.  It was good to catch up with Skip and Charlie and Rick and Large who I had lunch with but all too soon it was time to rush out the door (pretty much as soon as Davo stopped talking I was gooooooorn  ).  From there it was across the freeway to get some fuel, then Gundagai for fuel and a quick snack (where I ran into Dazza - hi Dazza! - who had also been out looking at trail bikes!) then home.  The headache was still bugging me so more panadol at Gundagai and by the time I got back into Canberra it was fading.

Got home, got changed, then up the road to Gos’s to catch a lift over to Mamma Leen’s party (which was a hell of a lot of fun!) :o)

I was really disappointed that I did the FarRide this way and in future I will make my 1000km up all before lunch so I can hang around and chat.  I only got to say gidday to RoadBandit and FazerKate (who I hadn’t met before) and Daisy was there from Tassie!!!!! who I didn’t recognise at first and by the time I did the speeches were on and then I had to run away so I didn’t even get to talk to her :( 

Oh, I didn’t take a single photo this trip!