I sent him an e-mail asking for the story, and I told him to come on here and give us the scoop. I bet there are no parts that are not damaged.

 

I don't have theft insurance, because the only place its gonna get stolen is at my house. And even if its in the back of my truck and gets taken in my driveway I am covered under home owners. Heck in Washington State Motorcycle insurance isn't even a requirement. But for $80.00 a year, I wanted to cover everyone else. I got insurance before I ever rode it. $300,000 worth of liability is a great piece of mind for only $80.00 a year. I even got a discount on the bike. Added it to the policy for $8 a year. Yea...$88.00 a year.

 

Catie is gonna be on shortly to tell the story, hopefully we can encourage her to buy another KLX and to become a member. That is until you guys scare her off.

Eagerly waiting for the story.

deej (deric Kettel)

 

Alright….you pulled me in, thanks Deej! My name is Catie, from Greenwater. This is my bike.

I have never posted this because it’s a crazy, somewhat embarrassing story. But, no one died and a year later I can laugh about it (just a little though, so back off!) 

Here it goes…

5-18-08
Ryan and I are out riding our dualsports on the many trails and logging roads around here. On our way back home, we came upon a section of old logging/utility road near the river about 2 or 3 miles from our home. We've ridden this stretch many times. I ask Ryan to ride my bike through a slippery section of roots & leaves as we just had a great day and I didn’t want to chance dumping it. This area is about 15 feet away from the rivers edge, with a 75 foot tall tree standing between the river and the section he's riding through. He gets his bike through no problem and comes back for mine.

He starts my bike and hops on to ride the exact same stretch. As he is crossing the root structure of this standing tree, it breaks off from the bank, and the tree that was standing is now falling into the river... all 75 feet of it. The root ball, which is really large, tosses the bike into the river. As it lifts, Ryan scampers up the root and jumps back onto the river bank. I watch in slow motion as the tree finishes falling and takes out all of the power lines for our community.
This was after a big warm weather stretch and the snow melt had the river raging (the same week all those people were drowning on the Green River). If Ryan had fallen into the water, he would have been dead, no question about it. Drowned, electrocuted, awful. The bike went into the fast water and we never saw it again. The power was out for a full 24 hours because of the tree on the line. It was surreal...we left with 2 bikes and were now coming home with 1. As the months went by after, we went to the spot, and all over the river, to look for any clues as to where it might have ended up. There were big log jams everywhere… Never did see another piece of it. And now fast forward...

11-19-08
We had some crazy weather that had the river flowing strong again. Ryan and I took the dog for a walk directly across the street from our house to the river. Just playing with the dog…There's a glint of lime green in the distance that barely caught my eye, near the main channel of the river, behind a large stump. In the past 6 months, I have seen green things in the river and checked them out only to find a Sprite bottle or some other trash. I ask Ryan if he see's it...nope. Just to humor myself, I tell him I'm going to look closer. I make my way through some water and as I'm getting closer a tire becomes visible. Closer still....the whole bike!
No ****! It came home!!! If you drew a line from my front door to the river, that’s where the bike rested. Sure enough, upstream I find the plastic with the KLX logo on it.
Ryan and friend throw on wetsuits to cross the river and check it out. They've got it unburied, but the chain needs to be snapped to move/roll it.

11-21-08
Ryan had to leave for ID early the following morning, so the bike sat there. Morning of the 21st, a crew of friends from Greenwater gathered some gear to go fish the bike out. With a tool to break the chain, they crossed the river, snapped it and rolled her back through the river. After roping it up to pull it out of the water, we rolled it back to my house.


4-27-09
It’s on craigslist. The $750 was just a random price we threw out there. Could say OBO..better yet, OAO- Or ANY offer. I don’t know, thought maybe someone might see value in a plate-able, titled frame/vin.

I have a ton of pictures that I’ll post too…Hope you enjoy laughing with me, or at me.

-Catie

 

Now, That's a great story. . . . .

 

A few pics...
1-the tree
2-the root ball (Bike/path was in between the large stump and small vine maples)
3- on the power lines
4-the road that went around the tree now went into the river
5-the flick of green that caught my eye 3 miles and 6 months later

 

Lol, thanks for filling in the details, Catie. It's even better than I had imagined! Though not by much, I was thinking maybe an old rope swinging bridge had collapsed over the middle of the stream. But a tree at the edge falling just as it was being ridden over the base and the root ball catapulting the bike into the river was a little more than even my imagination would have come up with. Good stuff.

 

1- It is the bike!
2- On an island in the river waiting to be pulled back
3- everyone pulling the last bit
4-close-up of the engine
5- Yeah, those were the miles on it. Not 91172...just 1172. Ugh.

 

WOW!!! Well let me be the first to say I'm glad you both made it home safely. That is too bad about the bike, and we appreciate the story. Have you given any thought to getting another used KLX? You would have some parts from the old one that you might be able to use. That's crazy about what happened, and where the bike actually ended up. Its almost like the KLX knew where it lived. That story should be in a Dual Sport magazine. What is your other bike if you don't mind me asking? I hope you are still a rider, it would take more than that to end my riding career. Thank you Catie for coming on here and giving us something to talk about. I hope all is well with you two and let us know what the other bike is. Dual Sporting is by far the best way to spend on two wheels. Later.

deej

 

This was one of the best.....although sad ride reports ever! I think I will add it to the ride reports page. Thanks again. What a story!