So much to do and see, so many people to talk to and so much information to be gained .... overload head syndrome to start with but we settled in nicely and started going to presentations, absolutely mint!!
Both Ellen and I were presenters too, Ellens presentation was “The stuff no one wants to talk about”, Ellen had the crowd of 70 - 80 people in roars of laughter talking about our scraps on the Denali Highway and White Rim Trail, I was up the front watching many other couples nodding and acknowledging the same sort of difficulties we had encountered in our new normal life which is not ALL beer and skittles.
It was nice to know that Ellen and I had encountered similar difficulties to others and that we were not alone, the key thing is we are now stronger for using it as a learning experience and recoginzing that if no one dies then the rest of material damage can be solved and sorted out and the main thing is to learn and move up a rung on the ladder rather than fall off and throw it all away.
Many other presentations we went to were very informative and great so for us it was extremely worth while and great fun, we also met other travelers heading to South America on pretty much similar time tables as us, we will undoubtedly cross paths and we be support crew, help etc along the way when needed, nice to have familiar faces.
My presentation was DR650 setup keeping it narrow and setting up for longitudinally challenged humans, this was a great success sharing our information with others, as I hate public speaking I kept it low key and more interactive with our bikes being that people could sit on them etc, this worked very well.
After three days of presentations, meeting great people, talking bikes, travel, destinations it was time to leave, destination Fresno to do a LOT of bike work.
We packed up and were pretty much the last to leave after getting photos with various people, some famous, some just like us.
Famous people .... Ted Simon ... not us!!!
Dr. Frazier
Grant and Susan Johnson, Hubb Mum and Dad!!!
A HUGE thanks to Grant and Susan Johnson and ALL the helpers plus all the presenters who really make the event, we came away buzzing and not wanting to leave, something that seems to happen quite a bit when traveling..
Here are some general pics of people and bikes
Iain and Debs in their sidecar
Ellen in a Ural
Ellens dream bike with a MTB!!
Another international traveler
An owl
Sun going down through the trees
Finally, Iain and Debs, Craig and Sharon, Will English and us
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