Adventure Touring - by Thomas Jamrog 12.27.94

Ninety five percent of the thousands of thoughts that we have each day are the
same thoughts we had yesterday.  We often repeat daily rituals of wakening to
the the alarm clock, eating  the same  breakfast cereal, listening to  the same
songs, and trudging up the same stairs.  There's a certain inevitable numbing
that results from the physical and mental reruns that we experience each day,
but those of us that are fortunate enough to ride motorcycles have found a way
to break out of that rut. When I can feel the wind all day and sleep on the
ground something different happens to me.  It usually comes in the form of the
unexpected-  whether it's the  falling asleep on an ocean cliff while viewing a
sunset one thousand miles from home, or awakening in a tent that's filling like
a tubfull of water in a raging thunderstorm.  In both cases there is an
inescapable change in input, resulting in long term memories deeply  etched into
your consciousness. I am looking forward to be able share my experiences with
you for the next year or so though this monthly column, which will be devoted to
the art and practice of motorcycle camping. There's more to this touring and
camping thing  than buying up a pile of gear and hitting the road, because those
of my friends who really enjoy two wheel camping are true artists as well.  They
look for places where the wind and whining engines meet with their interests. 
For example, as I write this in December, my friend Alan is  preparing to
combine two of his loves-motorcycle touring and sailing.  He and his wife are
departing Maine in January to ride down to Belieze where they will rendezvous
with a friend who invited them on a sailing vacation. There are always new
angles to explore in motorcycle camping that may further your interests.  Some
of us find a theme that threads its way through our pursuits.   For me, it's
northerly trips to the end of the road.   What I plan to share with you in some
of these columns are my preparations for a major trip that will take me from my
home by the Atlantic Ocean across northern Canada to the Yukon.  My  plan is to
reach Inuvik, in the Northwest Territories,  a town at the end of the most
northerly  road in all of the Americas. But there are always novel ways for any
of us to experience motorcycling and camping.   Most of the touring
motorcyclists I meet who are visiting Maine stick to the coast, where they
battle the RV's and get to know what gridlock is.  Interior Maine has a
surprising wealth of good whitewater rafting rivers and companies that make it
easy for you to have a different experience.  But you don't have to come to the
northeast to do this.  Look to your own part of the country for wild rivers.  
This summer I  took a rafting trip on the Kennebec River,  located in inland
Maine 5 hours north of Boston.  Turn off the interstate, head straight north up
sixty miles of Route 201 and you are there.  Route 201 is a prime motorcycling
road - wide and well kept, passing over mountains of forest and winding near big
rivers.   You'll pass Bingham where you'll come upon numerous rafting companies.
 The Kennebec trip starts just below the Central Maine Power Company's Harris
Station dam, built in 1954.  Each day, scheduled releases of water push the flow
of the river between the walls of a long gorge over some of the best whitewater
rapids in the world.  You can literally watch the water level rise until 4000 to
6000 cubic feet per second are reached.   I climbed into a brand new high-tech
self-bailing rubber raft with five other friends and a skilled  guide.    Within
minutes we were all screaming at the top of our lungs with me paddling like a
madman through the churning waters of giant repeating whirlpool washers flanked
by walls of white water.   You already have all the  rafting gear that you need 
in your saddlebags anyway- towel, bathing suit, rainsuit or windbreaker,
polypropylene underwear, hat, sunglasses.  Very reasonable overnight packages
can be arranged by the companies to accomodate your camping needs whether you
want to tent or stay in a cabin.  Count on 5-6 hours on the river when you'll
cover a distance of 12 miles.  They even throw in a huge barbeque as part of the
deal.  So do all three in one day this summer- motorcycling, wild river rafting,
and camping.  I guarantee that the stairs that lead up to the timeclock won't
ever look the same again.