Went for a 85 mile ride yesterday. First stop was Kentucky Camp, an abandoned gold mining operation in the Santa Rita's, now partially restored buildings along with a cabin you can rent for $75 a night.









Met a guy staying at the cabin who comes here a couple of times a year to do some small scale gold mining. He took us over to show us his set up/process. He had put a fair amount of thought into it. Had solar powered water pumps to help with the panning. All his gear he is able to pack in his Prius and he comes all the way from Houston.



After we left Kentucky Camp we did some riding just east of Nogales International Airport which is not too far from my house. The next picture shows the road just after kind of a steep uphill with lots of loose rocks. Bob managed to run out of momentum with the KLR on the uphill section.



He did a stopped tip over because the road was too far below his feet when he tried to balance the bike after the stop. Naturally, he had just filled the 6.5 gallon tank 15 miles back and it was not fun picking that puppy up. Called for a rest.



A view of the runway at the airport.



Bob has COPD, and after the tip-over I suggested I ride the KLR because the little KLX is a lot easier to ride. I had a KLR650 for 16 years, but I haven't ridden a bigger dual sport for the last 4 years. I was really surprised how clunky it felt compared to the KLX, and how much more careful you had to be with the throttle.

 

Nice place!