FarRide #11 - in memory of Davo

I had signed up a long time ago for FarRide #11 to Tottenham.  And then Davo’s funeral was set down for the same day.  So no FarRide and I was going to head up to Cooroy for the final send off for an inspirational man… but finances and time didn’t allow so it was back to the FarRide.

After some thought, I decided I would do an SS1600 in memory of Davo.  I sorted out a black armband and headed off to the local servo at midday to get my start receipt.  The usual guy I see in there was serving so he signed my witness form, I told him what I was doing and why, and he shouted me my first tank of fuel.  So I headed off, slabbed it to Yass then jumped off the Doom and headed through Binalong, and onto Cootamundra and down the Olympic Highway.  This is much preferable to the Doom!  I went through The Rock (I have always been intrigued when I see the signs to “The Rock”) and there is a rock there… a totally appropriately named town!  No time for pics though, so I kept going, had a quick bite to eat at Albury and then I hit the Murray Valley Highway through to Cobram. 

After adding some layers and switching to the clear visor I headed up the road a little further before joining the Newell Highway and heading back up into NSW.  It got colder and colder as I went on, but I had found a little van setting a very nice pace so as much as I wanted to stop I didn’t, until I had to for fuel at Narranderra.  Another layer went on and I continued on with the road pretty much to myself.  For once there was no full moon on a FarRide and the stars were spectacular… had to keep reminding myself to watch the road.

By the time I got into West Wyalong I was freezing… usually I’d pull up at a local park or in town but being about 11pm(?) and there being a few dodgy looking people about I decided to find somewhere else, and ended up pulling up outside a motel which still had its lights on.  I was wriggling into my wet weather gear when a bike pulled up… it was another FarRider!  We confirmed that I was in fact OK (and later I had to explain that I don’t usually hang out in gutters!) and eventually I’d wriggled into that damned one piece suit and was underway again.

Peak Hill, NSW

I got into Dubbo and was feeling OK - I am comfortable with getting to Coonabarabran in the dark but after there I was heading into unknown places… so I decided that I’d probably be best to grab a motel in Dubbo rather than continue on.  After many laps of Dubbo I finally found a room, more expensive than I wanted to pay but hey… it was 2am!  Took me a while to wind down but eventually I fell asleep…

…. and woke up to full daylight…. faaaaaark, I dont know what happened to my alarm!  I looked at how far I had to go, I had like 500km to do in three hours or something.  Dammit.  There goes the SS1600.  I had plenty of kays up my sleeve for the FarRide though so I went back to bed for a bit before making my way out to Tottenham in a leisurely fashion. 

We all gathered in the pub and we had a minutes silence for Davo as well as Nico reading out the FarRider One poem.  very emotional.

Skip and I stocked up on supplies before heading out to the rally site where we were to have lunch.  Set up camp and then Skip went off to visit the Cairn and I wussed out at the thought of all the dirt roads.  So I hung around chatting heaps, talked to some people I had met last year and had some awesome discussions with Ken from Very Far Away and he gave me  a photo that he had taken of me and Jimmy last year.

Camp Mel

The sun goes down on an emotional day

Eventually it was dark and the rally got underway properly.  Had a really nice time chatting with Nico and the others, I won the longest distance female again (1300km this year) and eventually crawled into my little swag amongst the chorus of snorers and was quickly asleep. 

I woke up pretty early and found Ken scamming an early cup of coffee so I convinced them to let me have coffee early too :o)  I function better on coffee.  Packed up and was underway in good time…

Tottenham, NSW

 I pulled up at Bogan Gate for a photo and realised that I had about 300km to go home and all day to do it… stuff it, I decided to head west instead. 

Bogan Gate

I looked at my little map and decided to go to Condobolin as I had never been there.  It was very pretty. 

It's just a road...

From there I decided to go to Lake Cargellio (sp?)

Lake Cargelligo

and then I headed for West Wyalong where I stopped for some fuel and bought a pie at the servo and headed to the park to eat it… it wasn’t until I headed back to the bike that I spotted this through the trees:

West Wyalong

Yes, I managed to walk past a big arse plane without noticing it…

From here I just headed home, through some pretty little towns and I had a nice chat with a truckie at a rest area as well, the name of that town escapes me now.  I still got home pretty early but it was a good days ride!  I am sure Davo was riding with me this weekend.