WhereThehellisMurph, 3 Wheels, 7 Continents, 7 Years

[WheresMurph]

Great photos, Murph!! Please keep 'em coming. I got a note from a buddy the other day who said they pointed you in the right direction towards La Paz at Insurgentes :-).

Todd Z.

I got lost quite a few time down there Todd,and I remember your buddy !!!.
I tell ya,that whole group of racers are such a great bunch guys,the drivers/riders and the chase crews,really great and helpful.
Theere'll be more pics up in a few days,I got lots 'n lots of 'em :-))

Murph

[Scott Brady]

Great images Murph, thanks for sharing!

[Christian P.]

Awesome! Looks like a lot of fun. Was nice to meet you at Expo!

[WheresMurph]

Thanks Todd and Ryan for stopping by,appreciate it.
Ryan,really great photography on followushere,love the beach images,lovely stuff.

So another great event has come and gone,and I got through most of the images that I took while in Baja.Unfortunately I didn't get to explore Baja as much as I would have liked,but I do intend to go back again.I stopped by the OJ office before I left and Scott Brady had given me a few of his top tips on where I should go,but I was going non-stop throughout the whole event,i'll get to them on the next trip there Scott,but thank you for taking the time with me.
I ended up getting "adopted" by the team of the 38 Jeep of Bob Land racing,a really great group of people.They really took me into the race with them.After it was over I had to haul azz back up to Boulder,leave the bike there and catch a flight down to S.Fl in order to move me Mum up to Boulder.10 years of summer all day every day and flat vistas and she's done with it here.Can't say as I can blame her,I feel the same way about it here too.
So it's off to Boulder in a few weeks with Mum,get her settled and I already have the next year or two of adventure travel all set up and ready to go.Details will follow on here of course,but for now I just wanted to check in with the Portal and post up a few more images of the rest of the Mexican 1000.The rest of the write up is on my Blog,Facebook and my SmugMug if you have some time to spare.
As always,thanks to all for stopping by and following along,hope you have been enjoying as much as I.

Murph
www.wherethehellismurph.com




This is my favorite image of the whole event.
Anthony McCullough was the last person to cross the line,late,very late.I decided to wait until the last competitor finished and i'm glad I did.
1000 miles and three days later,he broke down 100 miles from the finish and his chase had to go out,find him,load up the bike and drive back,but he still crossed the finish line.Anthonys smile says it all.








Ned and Kats 1960 Flat Fender Willys,a thirty year work in progress,ALL owner fabbed.They drove it down from Nevada,competed in the event 1000 miles to La Paz,and then turned around and drove it back up home to Nevada.Impressive when you consider it's a 5.11 geared rock crawler.


It didn't start out looking like this,but a really spectacular 4 or 5 time flip and roll(according to the helicopter pilot who saw it happen)and it took a bit of the shine off the hood,and fenders.......and the whole damn car.


Racing legend Larry Rossler,first time back racing a motorcycle in I believe over 15 years.


Everyone got a bottle of Azunia Tequila at the finish line.Azunia were one of the sponsors of the event,as well as the owner of Azunia,Jim Riley being the driver for the Snortin Nortin Chevy......









Thank you to all for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed the images and don't want your three minutes back.... :-))

All the best 'till next time,

Murph

[WheresMurph]

San_Francisco_Golden_Gate_Bridge.jpg

Well,I nearly forgot I had a thread here on EP,i'm not used to keeping up a regular posting other than my own blog.My bad.
I really do need to get a little caught up,as this coming March I put the bike on a boat in Miami,ship it over to Rotterdam in the Netherlands for a sidecar conversion,and then a 2yr Round the World ride thru Europe,Turkey,the 'Stans,Russia,Mongolia and ending in Japan,but more on that later.
After the Mexican 1000 last May 2011,I briefly considered heading south,but I really don't like the heat that much,and by the time I got to La Paz,my thoughts of heading any further south were all but evaporated.
So I headed back up north.Colorado was where I was headed,I needed to secure an apartment there as I was moving my Mum from Florida(which she was done with,no more white Capri's with gold trim) and move her to Boulder.
I had intended to rent an RV and give Mum a road trip to Boulder through places she has never seen in the U.S.,but I have to say,if you're going to rent an RV,DON'T rent one from CruiseAmerica.
I went through 3 before I just threw it back at them.They ALL had a steering wobble/shimmy at 65mph,and their response was "Well,they all do that" or "they don't drive the same as a car" or "It was fine when I went to get gas in it this morning",which was a 2 mile drive to a gas station on the slip road,no way you could do more than 40mph.When I asked them do they inspect and drive them to check for handling isues,they replied,no,they rely on customers to inform them if there's any problems.............REALLY?.
The fact that they were trying to pawn off a vehicle with IMO,serious front end issues which could result in a bad accident was very troublesome to me,it's a lawsuit waiting to happen,but I really doubt that they cared.
So,I bit the bullet (you only have one Mum,right?) and rented a 2k mile Ford Expedition SUV from Dollar Rent-A-Car.I never was a Ford guy,but the new Expedition,let's just say I would buy one in a flash.Great driving car,good mpg at 75mph,and comfortable,very very comfortable.
We ended up going from Fort Lauderdale all the way to San Francisco,back down to Vegas again and finally ending in Boulder 5,500 miles later,Mum having had one of the best times of her life.
The following links have some more details:
http://wherethehellismurph.blogspot....le-detour.html
http://wherethehellismurph.blogspot....as-landed.html

Tonopah.jpg

Jaguar_1962_XKE.jpg

In Tonopah we met Larry W with his '62 Jaguar XKE Convertible,plugged into the outside wall socket as he charged up the battery of the XKE.
He wrote me after and here's the email:
Hi Murph,

Thanks for writing. I went to your blog and saw the pictures you posted. They are GREAT. The one of just the bugs on the front of the car is my very favorite. I like the bulges of the headlights as it makes the car look like a bug itself: very, very cool.

I did make it home the next day. After I left Tonopah there were a series of very, very heavy rains. Desert rain is always lovely but it did was wash all of the bugs off. So my timing in meeting you was very fortuitous! I wound up driving the last two hours in the dark, in the rain, following a big truck as I couldn't afford the electricity to run my headlights. I slept that night in Big Pine (hwy 395 in CA). The next morning I got home without incident. I recharged and drove the car another 300 miles the next weekend to take my son up to my mom's. It turns out that old cars draw next to no current. So 300 miles is pretty easy and there are stories of driving up to 500 on a single charge (not sure if I believe that one....but it's a good story!).

History,
The car was originally sold to someone in LA in 1962. Six years later is was sold to a guy who owned it until 2004. I bought the car in 2005 after it had been stored a in Las Vegas shed for a year (sorry, no adventure there). After buying the car I had to replace every rubber item in the car as they had baked and broken. I also found that I had to rebuild the rear end, the transmission, the hydraulics, the engine as well as buy new wheels, tires, all of the electrical system, etc. etc. I spent a lot of money for the car....way too much as it turned out. My goal from the start was to use this car on multistate trips with my kids. So reliability was by far my top priority.I got it there but it was a lot of work. It's in good enough shape now that I'm able to do all the work myself. So far I've taken the car to Canada twice. This was my fourth trip to Yellowstone.Overall I've driven 1/3rd of it's total mileage in this last 1/8th of it's life.

This is the fourth generator/regulator set I've had fail in the last 6 years. I'm switching to an alternator. A friend is machining a great set of mounts for a standard AC Delco 10si unit. I shouldn't have any more problems....and if I do $50 at NAPA will take care of it.

My next trip will be at the end of September. A dozen XKE's are gathering for the Southwest Oil Leak (SOL) tour. It will be a few thousand miles of dementia through northern Arizona, southern Utah and SW Colorado. I may just choose to run my headlights the whole way!! (plus the radio and radar detector.....I may even choose to turn on my flashers

Thanks again. It was really nice to meet you. I hope your trip is as wonderful as your photos!

Thats all for now,

Thanks all and apologies for the 6 month gap,

Murph.

[Ray Hyland]

Great to see you back on here Murph!

Looks like a heck of a trip for you and mum.

Can't wait to see the Europe pics!

Cheers

Ray

[WheresMurph]

Great to see you back on here Murph!

Looks like a heck of a trip for you and mum.

Can't wait to see the Europe pics!

Cheers

Ray

Hi Ray,and thanks.
I'm not used to multiple Ride Reports going,organization is not my forte .
Yea,the Mum trip was fantastic,for her and myself,I had a great time with her.We kinda bonded a little more,it was just a great fun trip.
I'm looking forward to EU too,can't wait for the sidecar conversion.Not looking forward to $8-$9 a gallon gas prices though.
How are things with you?.Winter in BC going ok?.

Thanks for stopping by,

Murph.

[WheresMurph]

So after Mums Road Trip 2011 and after I got her settled in Boulder and I headed for Bonnevile UT,for the BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials,held every August,right after Speedweek.
This event I usually work to make some extra money for gas etc.,and this year I was lucky enough to be able to actually camp out on the Salt in the pit area,5 miles up from the boat launch(where the asphalt ends and the salt begins)They call it the boat launch because every time it rains it floods right there,looking like a boat launch.
I was working as nighttime security,as sometimes there can be a few million dollars worth of motorcycles and equipment left overnight.Not easy to access,but one night a few enterprising(drunk)individuals on 4-wheelers made it to the pit area via the dirt road that runs along the Silver Island Mountains and made off with a few expensive items.









Jim Moshers absolutely stunning Twin Engine Indian Scout LSR bike.I got to spend a few days with him and photographed his bikes in his secret location somewhere in NM.




A view of the Salt Flats from the Silver Island Mountains.We had to climb up to place the repeaters for the 2-way radios that the officials use during the event.You will notice that the distance from the dirt road to where the salt begins is getting greater each year,as Intrepid Potash is apparently not living up to their obligation of pumping back the salt each year.It's rumored that the life of the Bonneville Salt Flats for LSR(land speed racing)is numbered.

As soon as BUB was finished I was on the bike and riding east to NYC.Normally I stay in at Bonneville for the rest of the speed events as I can usually
get some work pit crewing or as event staff.Camping there is free as it's BLM land,but there's nothing out there,so you better be a good survivalist and a bit of a McGuyver to boot.
There's another 3 speed events after BUB,the USFRA World Of Speed,the Mike Cook FIA-FIM Shootout and the SCTA World Finals.Sometimes Cook will have an extra event at the end but typically thats the schedule.
This year I had a photoshoot in NYC for Team Red,White and Blue,my cause that I donate my time,gas and photography to.It's an organization that I got involved with through
my friend Mandy Miller from Fl who is an ultra-runner.TRWB is a non-profit organization set up to help reintegrate wounded veterans returning from combat into society.
More here:http://www.teamrwb.com/team-rwb/vision-mission









The Special Forces guys were running the 5 mile loop with a 45lb pack.




To commemorate the 10th Anniversary of Sept 11th,Maj. Mike Erwin,founder of TeamRWB,put on a Memorial Run from Westpoint Cemeter in Upstate New York starting at 9pm Sept 10th,running through the night and finishing in Liberty State Park at 7:30 am Sept 11th 80 miles and nearly 11 hours later.
You can view the whole gallery of my images on my SmugMug page here: http://wherethehellismurph.smugmug.c...4346&k=8nkKjGs

I used to live in NYC back in the 80's for about 10 yrs,and thanks to an old friend got to stay in a great apt down in Chelsea for the week I was there.Again,on my SmugMug page:http://wherethehellismurph.smugmug.com/, there is a NYC gallery to peruse,but here are some of my favorites.














Steve McQueens Indian on display at Kiehls on 3rd Ave in NYC.

That's it for now.I'm starting to get caught up a bit here on the portal.
I'll have some more images and stories in a week or two.

Murph

[Ruined Adventures]

Wow, just found this thread...incredible photos Murph. I'll be checking back in for more

[WheresMurph]

Wow, just found this thread...incredible photos Murph. I'll be checking back in for more

Thanks RA.
I'll be over in your neck of the woods,Austin Feb 18th-20th,photographing the TeamRWB marathon.Keep an eye out for the bike :-)