500 Miles Across Wyoming! 1975 Honda XL350 vs 1969 Yamaha DT-1 Common Tread XP
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00:00Wyoming, famously open land in North America, where there is a dying breed.
00:16The Dirt Road, once they roamed this vast landscape freely, dipping through creeks and
00:24scaling mountain passes.
00:28But every year there are fewer and fewer for us to explore, snuffed out by the development
00:35of the modern world, or simply forgotten in favor of smoother and more comfortable travel.
00:44Before they wither away, these wonders still have beauty to give us.
00:50And they must be enjoyed before it is too late.
01:10This right in front of our motorcycles is the eastern border of Wyoming, and 500 miles
01:15that way is the western border, and Zach and I have decided to try to get from here to
01:20there, riding only on Dirt Roads.
01:23The reason we chose wide open Wyoming, aside from the vicious and cold headwind, is that
01:29we were told 90% of the roads in this state are made of either dirt or gravel.
01:34Figured that would help our chances.
01:36Still, that means navigating around and under major highways, across rivers and reservoirs,
01:42through fence lines, private property, who knows what else.
01:45Battling the cold.
01:46Yeah.
01:47And to make the whole adventure even more of a challenge, we're doing it on these.
01:51Dual Sports of yesteryear, we have a 1975 XL350 and a 1969 DT1.
01:58These are two of the original dual sport motorcycles, and they're bikes that have been conquering
02:02roads like this for a lot longer than Zach and I have been alive.
02:05It's an old school dual sport showdown across the wild west.
02:09Two stroke versus four stroke, and the only rule that really matters here, aside from
02:14staying warm and staying alive, is that these tires must not touch pavement.
02:19Not gonna do it.
02:21Must not.
02:22Can't do it.
02:23Pavement's lava.
02:24Pavement is lava.
02:25If only the pavement were lava, it would be warm.
02:28We could start a fire, it would be nice.
02:35It was almost certainly the coldest, windiest morning in Wyoming history.
02:41It was also the first of many signs that mother nature didn't want us to succeed.
02:46But we were way too excited about our bikes to get the message.
02:49You ready to head west, dude?
02:50Let's do it.
02:51Let's go.
02:52My
03:10good friend Gary Henning here rebuilt these motorcycles over the past week or two, and
03:17I have the utmost faith that they will go the distance.
03:20Yeah, well, it was kind of a scramble to get them ready in time, so it's not like I went
03:24through them with a fine tooth comb.
03:27Definitely some teething problems, DT1 refuses to use third gear, I'm not really sure why.
03:33Plus, man, this thing friggin' vibrates like crazy.
03:36You getting some tingle in your taint there?
03:39Yeah, I think aside from the obvious patina and the sort of slop in some of the joints,
03:46the thing that I find interesting about this bike in particular is how tiny the tank feels.
03:51It feels like you're on this tiny little kid's bike, and then the handlebar is super, super
03:55wide.
03:56It's a very interesting and not modern feel to the cockpit, for sure.
04:01Yeah, I mean, compared to modern dual sports, they're definitely small and narrow, and the
04:06seat heights are crazy low compared to almost anything you would buy nowadays.
04:12Yeah, that's interesting, actually.
04:14The front of motorcycles have gotten wider because of liquid cooling and radiators and
04:18that kind of thing, and the seats have turned into friggin' two-by-fours, whereas this is
04:22pretty flush, I gotta say.
04:25We'll see if I'm singing that song in a few days.
04:37Yeah!
04:45Look out, cows! Stampede!
04:49They don't like the sound of a two-stroke.
04:52Oh, don't hit that concrete! Gotta hit the dirt!
04:55You're right. Thank you for reminding me.
05:00Wyoming is home to some 12,000 miles of dirt roads.
05:05Criss-crossing the landscape in every direction.
05:08Luckily, we are very good at reading maps.
05:14There are dotted lines that are pretty clearly these well-traveled dirt roads, and then there
05:18are these thin red lines that cut across open country, and it's difficult to tell in our
05:24research how well they were going to work, to be honest.
05:27Imagine that, they don't have Google Street View out here.
05:30So this is the first potential shortcut that we can take on these somewhat questionable roads.
05:37What's ever gone wrong on a shortcut, am I right?
05:45Oh, sh**.
05:50This is good, we're learning a lesson here.
05:52The road literally ends into a cornfield.
06:00No, there's definitely no road over there either.
06:05We probably shouldn't spend too much time flirting with people's cornfields.
06:08This is when the shotguns come out? Yeah.
06:10All right, well, let's go back to the main road and carry on.
06:14Apparently, our $27 map was a little less than 100% accurate.
06:20But we figured as long as we stuck to the major dirt roads, everything would be fine.
06:26Oh, good Lord.
06:30This is an unexpected piece of pavement.
06:32This is not on our research route.
06:34We thought it was just going to be dirt all the way across.
06:36We talked about lots of options to potentially, you know, you build a jump over, you tunnel under.
06:43But we've come up with something that I think you'll agree is as beautiful as it is simple.
06:50One, two, three.
06:56Oh, my God.
06:58Get out the sideways.
07:00There you go.
07:01Swing them legs.
07:02Yeah, turn them hips.
07:04Yeah.
07:05Oh, my God.
07:07Maybe building a jump isn't such a bad idea.
07:12The DT-1 weighs about as much as a modern dirt bike and was still difficult to carry.
07:17One, two, three.
07:21Wow.
07:22The XL 350 weighs almost 100 pounds more.
07:26And that was before Zach loaded it up with his camping gear and various beard lotions.
07:35Ready? Down.
07:36Yep.
07:37Oh, sorry.
07:38Sorry.
07:39You all right?
07:41Wow.
07:44What a ridiculous way to travel.
07:52Okay.
08:10Okay.
08:11Apparently, it was a $100 map that was 27% accurate.
08:17Within the first few hours of riding, we had only covered about 75 miles and compressed half a dozen vertebrae.
08:26Carrying the bikes across a multi-lane interstate just wasn't going to work.
08:30So, we looked for a more appropriate option.
08:39Major highway, my friend.
08:41Look at this.
08:42They made it for sheep and cattle, but it's going to allow our iron horses to cross under this highway.
08:48Well, we are animals of a certain type right now.
08:54This is pretty cool.
08:57My motorcycle sounds awesome in a tunnel.
09:01Yeah.
09:02Yeah.
09:12With the sweet nectar of road crossing success fresh on our tongues, morale was high.
09:18However, daylight was fading quickly and the weather was about to take a nasty turn.
09:24So, we've done about, I don't know, 110 miles so far today and the sun is due to set behind this storm cloud any minute.
09:33So, we're basically just looking for a place to pitch our tents tonight.
09:38This is our last paved road of the day.
09:41Looks like there's a little bridge.
09:42Zach's going to see if he can poke under it.
09:44I also suggested that perhaps we might want to sleep under it since we have no frigging clue where we're going to pitch our tents tonight.
09:55Oh, dude, we could totally camp under here.
09:57Look at this.
09:58Yeah, it's pretty pleasant.
10:00This is a pretty good spot to camp.
10:03When you get yourself into weird situations, sometimes really strange solutions sound like the best ones.
10:09No, no, no.
10:10It's when you plan poorly and don't know where you're going to sleep that you have to start making desperate decisions.
10:18It's definitely colder out here than it is under there.
10:21Than it is in our new home?
10:22Yes.
10:23Our new home.
10:24We'll make it a home.
10:26I think it's troll camping night, buddy.
10:52Our route for day two took us to the edge of Wyoming's third largest city, Laramie,
10:58where we desperately hoped things would start to warm up.
11:03Practicing some age-old techniques for combating hyperthermia.
11:07Passport!
11:08Ah, sh**.
11:12After our map led us to yet another non-existent trail,
11:16we were stuck riding the shoulder of the paved road out of the canyon toward Laramie,
11:21which went about as well as you would expect.
11:25It was a bit of a struggle to get to the right end of the trail.
11:29The trail was a bit of a maze.
11:31The steep shoulder business is real tricky.
11:35We are committed.
11:37Look at this ravine, dude.
11:39Holy crap.
11:40Yikes.
11:41Okay, well at least we got a little shoulder.
11:43Ha.
11:44Ha.
11:45Ha.
11:46Ha.
11:47You're putting your foot on the asphalt.
11:48Yep.
11:49My foot's touching the asphalt, but that's legal.
11:51Oh my god.
11:52Oh my god.
11:53Oh my god.
11:54Oh, I'm sliding.
11:55Oh my god.
11:56Oh my god.
11:57Oh my god.
11:58Oh my god.
11:59Oh my god.
12:00Oh, I'm sliding.
12:02I'm all crossed up.
12:04This is so sketchy.
12:06Ah.
12:07Ah.
12:08Ah.
12:12You might want to drop down, dude.
12:15Ah.
12:17Ah.
12:18Yikes.
12:19Ah.
12:20Ah.
12:21Ah.
12:24Oh.
12:25Yep.
12:26Yep.
12:27Ah.
12:28Ah.
12:29Ah.
12:30Ah.
12:31Ah.
12:33Oh, that hurt.
12:35Are you okay?
12:36Yeah, I just cut a rock to the knee.
12:38Yep.
12:39Yep.
12:46Oh, thank you.
12:48Okay.
12:53Well, I'm not cold anymore.
12:55That was exciting.
12:57Wow.
12:58Road's up there.
13:00Ravine's down here.
13:01Looks like the valley opens up a little bit,
13:03so hopefully this is the toughest stuff we have to contend with.
13:24Riding down the ravine was slow and awkward,
13:27but the 40 miles from our campsite to the outskirts of Laramie
13:30turned out to be the only progress we made that day.
13:45Well, today did not go particularly well.
13:47Zach and I spent a lot of time riding along paved roads
13:51or coming to no trespassing signs or fence lines.
13:53Basically, navigation was super frustrating and not very successful,
13:57and now we're essentially stuck.
14:00The plan now is to tuck tail, essentially,
14:04and stash these bikes somewhere dusty or dirty or not paved
14:08and walk across this major highway to a hotel.
14:14Tomorrow, lots of distance covered.
14:16Oh, my God, we're going to crush it tomorrow.
14:24A night in a warm bed boosted our spirits,
14:27and after riding way out of our way,
14:30we were clear of city limits and feeling optimistic.
14:34We have navigated our way around the big obstacle to get out of Laramie, we believe,
14:39and now we are on a road called Happy Jack.
14:42We think we have it all plotted out,
14:44but there's still some major obstacles, including Interstate 80,
14:47including another major highway,
14:49a couple places where we know for a fact we're going to have to carry the bikes again,
14:52which we're definitely getting tired of,
14:54and then toward the end of the day, there's a section of road
14:57where the math gets real vague, but we looked at it on satellite,
15:00and we think we're going to be able to get through on power lines,
15:03so fingers crossed for that.
15:05But for now, we've got this awesome graded road wide open.
15:08The bikes are running well, so Zach and I are going to do a little flat tracking.
15:11Yeah, Happy Jack!
15:23Ha ha ha ha!
15:25That was pretty good!
15:34Oh no, my poor gearbox.
15:37Oh no!
15:48Riding on shoulders and carrying our bikes over pavement was idiotic,
15:52but it was a system, and the mission was intact.
15:56Even though we knew better than to trust it at this point,
15:59the map said the open country of Wyoming, and all its dirt road glory,
16:03was almost in reach.
16:07Oh my god, there's a dead animal down there.
16:10Oh, hold it with my breath.
16:13Oh, oh, oh, oh.
16:17Woo!
16:19All right.
16:37Woo!
16:55We have been having tremendous luck today,
16:58on account of our excellent planning and also a lot of luck.
17:01It looks as though our luck has run out,
17:04fortified and locked gate.
17:07Basically, this means backtracking a lot.
17:14It seemed like our adventure was always taking two steps forward and one step back.
17:19After yet another detour, we still had to wrangle the bikes across cattle grates
17:24and ride along more road shoulders.
17:28It was a slow, silly way to travel,
17:31even by our standards.
17:56Oh, oh my god.
18:01We're going against traffic, which, you know, is good because we have line of sight,
18:05but our other option is to carry a bike across the road,
18:08which is something we are definitely tired of doing.
18:11Wow, look at this. Albany, population 31.
18:15Yikes.
18:19Well, we were just complaining about how we didn't know what we were going to do,
18:22and then we came around a corner and literally there's a place that says
18:25bar, restaurant, lodging, and there's a gas pump.
18:28I don't know what we did to deserve this.
18:31Well, our other option is to push on into the wintry dusk of Wyoming,
18:37and based on the fact that what we thought was a very open route
18:41was blocked by private roads, it's entirely possible that it may happen again ahead of us,
18:45and frankly, I don't think it's smart to risk it by pushing on.
18:49Yeah, the sun's going to go down in an hour and a half,
18:52and that's at least four hours of riding.
18:55I'm not sure it can actually get colder, but it probably will.
18:59So I'm going to go order a cheeseburger and three beers,
19:03and then go to sleep in a bed.
19:08Unfortunately, beers and bed would have to wait.
19:11Our ancient bikes were taking a beating and needed attention,
19:15and we needed to reassess our route if we had any hope of making it to western Wyoming before spring.
19:22The GT1 is leaking oil from everywhere.
19:26The fork is leaking, the kick starter shaft seal is leaking,
19:31the tachometer drive is leaking.
19:34Oh, fox, hello.
19:36Wow, that is a beautiful animal.
19:39The dipstick is broken.
19:42It's supposed to extend a little bit more, but I'm not actually sure how much more.
19:46So I have a piece of cardboard I'm just going to dip in there,
19:50and my headlamp I can see glitter, which stands to reason because third gear jumps out a lot,
19:54so it's just grinding metal.
19:57But it'll probably make it.
20:01I'm just going to dump a bunch of oil in there and call it good.
20:13When he wasn't getting distracted by his fox friend,
20:16Harry also checked on my bike.
20:19Meanwhile, I bravely worked inside, where things were going great.
20:25These dotted red lines, every which one of them is allegedly a dirt road
20:30that we can allegedly traverse.
20:33But as we've found so far, that's not always true.
20:36And every time we get to an intersection and it doesn't work,
20:39we have to come up with an alternate option, and sometimes there is no alternate option.
20:44You know, because people take paved roads, places.
20:48The odds are low that we achieve this.
20:52So far we've spent three days going, let's see,
21:00one, two, three pages across Wyoming.
21:07So we need to go approximately twice as far as we've gone
21:15in only a little bit more time than we have.
21:28The next morning was the coldest of the trip.
21:32We needed to go faster than ever, and the going was bound to be slow.
21:57I was just telling Harry that my fingers are cold right now, inside.
22:01In this little lodge room, with my thermal gloves on.
22:07It's not going to be good.
22:10Might be the last time we're warm for 8, 10, 12 hours.
22:14I have 222 miles on my trip meter.
22:17The goal is to add 130 to that.
22:21Woo-hoo!
22:23All right.
22:32After wind on day one, and gates on day two,
22:36it was only fitting that day three begin with snow.
22:40Not exactly ideal conditions for 50-year-old bikes, and with the clock ticking.
22:47Woo!
22:50I'm coming!
22:53I think I've been fudging around, as the kids say, and I just found out.
22:59It looks like you've spilled a Slurpee on your face.
23:02Like, just encrusted.
23:04Yeah, my face is pretty warm. I think it's acting as a shield.
23:07It probably is blocking a lot of the wind.
23:11Woo!
23:14You okay?
23:17Okay, seriously, this time.
23:25Woo!
23:28Woo!
23:31Woo!
23:34Woo!
23:37Woo!
23:40Woo!
23:46Ah!
23:49You okay?
23:50Yeah.
23:53Well, what do you know? Fell down in the snow again.
23:57Shifter broke off on a rock. I think I can make do.
24:00I'm not really shifting that much anyway.
24:02But basically, every time we dropped the bike, Zach broke a brake lever.
24:05I broke a throttle perch. I have now broken a shift lever.
24:08Pretty innocuous crashes in terms of injuring ourselves,
24:11but we keep chipping away at the functionality of the motorcycles
24:13in a way that makes the remaining 250 miles of riding kind of a problem.
24:26Well, the good news is, now that my shifter's broken, I can't brake it anymore.
24:30Don't say that. Don't tempt the gods.
24:39Beautiful. Damn.
24:44After slogging and sliding our way over two mountain passes,
24:48our bikes were still mostly intact.
24:51And having survived the snow and ice, we were ready for a well-deserved break.
25:00If this road goes through like it shows on the map,
25:04and if we don't get bogged down in mud,
25:06we'll have completed our longest day yet, and we'll be back on schedule.
25:11Almost back on schedule. Ah, come on.
25:13This is ridiculous.
25:15Holy s***. This is really bad.
25:18I'm stuck.
25:26Your tires are basically picking up a carpet of mud.
25:29Yep.
25:31It's bad.
25:32We're putting these bikes through hell, man.
25:37So, that is our chase truck, a Jeep Gladiator, that's been mobbing behind us.
25:42But this road is so muddy that they have decided that it's not smart for them to continue.
25:46However, Zach and I aren't that intelligent.
25:52After you, sir.
25:54Go, go, gadget, exhale.
25:57Oh, that's a huge puddle. A whole moat of mud.
26:00Go, go, gadget, exhale.
26:03Oh, that's a huge puddle. A whole moat of this.
26:08Icy, too. This isn't so bad.
26:10All right, all right, all right.
26:12You rolling? Ha.
26:20For a 50-year-old motorcycle, I am very impressed with what it has carried me through.
26:27What was considered a dirt bike from Yamaha or Honda, before these bikes came out,
26:32was basically just a street bike with a high pipe on it.
26:35And knobby tires.
26:37As far as the DT1 is concerned, it was the first of the really capable off-road bikes.
26:42Because previous to that, if you wanted to go off-road, you had to buy something weird from Europe,
26:46like a Husqvarna or a Montesa or a Bulltaco, something exotic and expensive.
26:51And it launched, basically, an off-road revolution.
26:54Because it was accessible and reliable.
26:56People could go out and do dumb sh** like this.
26:59How do we know it's off-road capable, you ask?
27:01Well, look at it go.
27:04We're basically making an ad for Yamaha 50 years ago.
27:09Honda, on the other hand, were not big on two-strokes.
27:13So while it might not have been as light or as competitive in a true performance off-road sense,
27:19Honda went this route and made it, for the time anyway,
27:22a pretty high-performance single-cylinder four-stroke engine.
27:29Are we going the right way?
27:31I don't know.
27:37Classic shortcut.
27:42Hi, guys.
27:46Look at our bikes.
27:47As old as they are, they worked wonderfully.
27:49We did get through.
27:50It was a struggle.
27:51Now, hopefully, smooth rolling right into town to a hot meal and another hotel bed.
28:04It didn't take long after the conversation about a hot meal and a hotel bed for things to completely unravel.
28:12First, the DT's mud-caked engine overheated and soft-seized.
28:18And then, the XL350 just stopped, dead in its tracks.
28:24Wow. Yeah, that's crazy.
28:26You can see that the chain is ridden up on the sprocket on something.
28:29Jumped a tooth.
28:30And jammed between the sprocket and the case.
28:34We are six or eight miles from town, from our destination.
28:39It's getting dark.
28:41And I don't think I have to tell you that it's cold.
28:44So, we need to try and figure this out soon.
28:46Otherwise, we're going to be jammed.
28:49Good summary?
28:50Yeah, good summary.
28:51Okay.
28:52It turns out jammed was putting it lightly.
29:00Uh-uh.
29:03Is that thunder?
29:04Yeah.
29:05Are you kidding me?
29:07We used every method we could think of to free the chain.
29:11Including the crankcase splitter that we thought for sure would get used on the two-stroke DT1.
29:17But the XL's chain didn't budge.
29:23That thunder has turned into a snowstorm.
29:26And we're getting wet.
29:27The tools are getting wet.
29:28And we can't see what we're doing.
29:29And we don't know how to fix it.
29:30And we're covered in mud.
29:31And we're tired.
29:32We're going to put the bike on the side of the road and come back in the morning.
29:34And hope it's still here.
29:36Are we going to put your bike next to it or are you going to ride?
29:38I was going to ride.
29:40We have to come back anyway.
29:41Yeah, we have to come back anyway.
29:42Okay.
29:43I don't want the XL to feel alone, you know.
29:52So much for that hugely successful day.
29:54We're going to get some sleep.
29:55We're going to get some sleep.
29:56We're going to get some sleep.
29:57We're going to get some sleep.
29:58We're going to get some sleep.
29:59So much for that hugely successful day we were having.
30:01Six miles from town.
30:03Disaster.
30:18For better or worse, the bikes were still there the next morning.
30:23But despite how things appeared, these were lucky motorcycles.
30:28Not only were their riders very good looking, they also had a plan.
30:36Zach and I put a lot of thought into solving this problem.
30:40It's a pretty straightforward problem.
30:41The chain is jammed around the counter shaft sprocket.
30:45And given the environment, we're just going to try and turn the rear wheel backwards to free it since it rotated forwards to jam.
30:54Which to be clear, we already tried last night.
30:56Just not as sophisticated a solution.
30:59Now we have ratchet straps and we may sacrifice some spokes.
31:03So if you're watching this and you're thinking that's the best idea they had, yes.
31:12Frozen fingers are crossed here.
31:15Metal sprocket, metal chain, metal engine case, very much jammed together.
31:19And that roller of the chain is ridden up on one of the teeth so it's pushed out considerably.
31:40We may be screwed.
31:50We couldn't fix it. At least not on the side of the trail.
31:56Putting the bikes in the back of a truck felt like failure.
32:00But we weren't entirely ready to give up.
32:03We hauled the bikes to the hotel parking lot and tried to get things turned around with a hot bath.
32:08Our only hope for freeing the chain was to remove the stator cover, which was a tricky operation what with the mud and debris.
32:16There was also a distinct possibility that the chain had cracked the crankcase, or at the very least the cover.
32:23Either scenario might end the trip.
32:27Here it comes.
32:29Everything is still intact.
32:32Just messy and muddy but you know that's been name of the game for the past couple days.
32:38Woo!
32:40We're going to the hotel.
32:42I'm going to go to the hotel.
32:44I'm going to go to the hotel, but that's not the point.
32:47We're going to the hotel!
32:49No, I'm not going to the hotel!
32:51I'm not going to the hotel!
32:53I'm going to the hotel!
32:54We've been naming the game for the past couple of days.
32:57Woo!
33:04Wow, I never thought we were going to leave this place.
33:07I thought we were going to be trapped here forever.
33:09You thought we were just going to settle down,
33:10start a life here?
33:11I don't know.
33:11Everything was seeming really dismal last night.
33:13Now look at us.
33:14Now look at us!
33:17Now look at us.
33:18Reach.
33:26We may have succeeded in getting back on the road,
33:29but Mother Nature wasn't finished with us.
33:33Oh my gosh, there's so much mud.
33:40Holy smokes, this is miserable.
33:48Oh, f**k.
33:49Jesus.
33:58My bike just stalled.
34:00The wheels are just caked in mud.
34:18My front wheel's not even turning.
34:29F**k.
34:41I don't know what to do.
34:43Like, his front wheel is stuck in the fender,
34:46and we stop, and we clean it, and we go another 15 feet,
34:48and then it just does it again.
34:51Yeah, it's completely insane.
34:58I don't want to accept failure, but this might be it.
35:04It felt like everything in the universe
35:06wanted me and my bike to quit.
35:09Luckily, Zach didn't.
35:12With some encouragement from my friend,
35:14I stripped a couple of parts off the DT, and we kept trying.
35:37Dude, I feel obligated to try to help you persevere,
35:40all the many times you have helped me persevere.
35:44The mud was torturous on man and machine.
35:51The DT kept overheating and soft-seizing,
35:54but with some snow on the cylinder and a few minutes
35:56to rest, it always started again.
36:02The longer we pushed on, the more we realized.
36:06The bikes were tougher than we were.
36:08Well, I don't know where we are or what we're doing.
36:16Guys, we're going to tuck tail.
36:20We're going to get a hotel.
36:21We may leave the bikes here.
36:23We may put them back in the truck.
36:25We're going to continue on dirt, but not tonight.
36:29It's not too late to get like a degree,
36:33like go to business school or something, right?
36:35Find just another line of work.
36:37Yeah, that's a good idea.
36:38Start banging nails, man.
36:46Before setting off the next morning,
36:48I had an idea of what I wanted to do with the DT.
36:51I wanted to make a video of the DT.
36:53I wanted to make a video of the DT.
36:55I wanted to make a video of the DT.
36:56I wanted to make a video of the DT.
36:57Before setting off the next morning,
36:59Aerie gave the DT a once over and made a crucial discovery.
37:05Bike has seized three times now, and we may have finally
37:07figured out why, or at least something
37:08that's been contributing to it.
37:09This is the oil pump.
37:10And as you can see, the cable has jumped the pulley
37:13and is completely inoperable.
37:16So the fact that it was still running,
37:18even with this sort of handicap, is absolutely remarkable.
37:23I'm going to fix it now.
37:28It's cold today, but it's not muddy.
37:31It's not snowing.
37:33The bikes are running well.
37:35All things considered, going great.
37:38And what is this?
37:39A very large body of water.
37:42For this, we're going to need the cavalry.
37:45Well, that there everybody, is the flaming gorge.
37:47And it's full of water, which is an obstacle for us.
37:50But I don't need to explain that probably.
37:52And at this point, I feel like I could probably just,
37:54if I had a long enough snorkel and DT had a long enough
37:55snorkel, we could just motor across this thing.
37:59Because this motorcycle's a
38:0610-foot motorcycle, but we would need a much longer snorkel.
38:09probably just if I had a long enough snorkel and DT had a long enough snorkel we could just
38:12motor across this thing because this motorcycle does not want to die but we do have a plan for
38:17getting across the water we did actually think about this and we're getting some professional
38:21help people so all the other marinas up and down this reservoir here put the boats away for the
38:26winter who knows why oh yeah because it's freaking cold so we ended up calling the Sweetwater County
38:32Sheriff's Department we said hey can you give us a lift across this body of water Sheriff and
38:36amazingly they said sure yeah they're going to use it as a training opportunity which is great
38:42um there is still the one issue of getting the motorcycles from the shore
38:47onto a boat yeah we don't know about boats on this show we need like a dock or
38:52i don't know there's not much around here yeah might have to build the jump
39:00thanks for helping us out nice to meet you Derek
39:02nice to meet you Steve Powell
39:04hey Brian nice to meet you Sergeant Powell, Zach
39:21all right DT1 on a police boat pretty cool
39:33so
39:54one down one to go it does weigh 100 pounds more
40:02so
40:06the trip had been nothing but setbacks and struggle
40:10finally something worked the way we hoped it would
40:14thanks entirely to the Sweetwater County Sheriff's Department
40:24the ride wasn't over but our spirits were buoyed and the road ahead looked promising
40:30ride across Flaming Gorge taking off in the distance Zach and I
40:34have successfully made it to the western side of the water but now we are on our own that's right
40:39camera crew's on the boat they got to drive all the way around like suckers in a car we've got a
40:45couple hours of daylight and we are gonna motor west and hope they catch up to us but for now
40:50try to make miles
41:00ready to be done doing that
41:08this is so that the camera crew knows where to find us we're marking the road
41:12it's for science and communication it's not because roadies are fun don't worry
41:20so the sun is moving very rapidly towards the horizon dropping fast yeah but it's good man the
41:29more progress we make today the less distance we've got to cover tomorrow and that's our last
41:34day we've done what 478 miles of right now yeah wow we literally literally just pulled over
41:46because the day was getting away from us and we were hopeful
41:49that our camera crew would come to our rescue oh they almost drove by
41:56please you've got our food you have most of the food
42:03what's up boys gladiator boys good to see you we just pulled over impeccable
42:16there was no wind or snow and for the first time on the trip we actually enjoyed
42:22making a fire and sitting under the stars plus the end was near
42:36the miles have been made up one way or another and now we have a final push across Wyoming
42:44finally a final push to the western border 90 something miles right 90 something miles as we
42:49know Wyoming likes to throw a lot of curveballs at us but so far so good looks like it might be
42:53another calm moderately warm by moderately warm we mean 30 degree day and dry roads so navigation
43:00always a challenge out here where there's no service and we're using a paper map but uh yeah
43:04the bikes are still running strong we're feeling as good as we can feel after all this hopefully
43:10no more major issues in our final day of riding with these two bikes we can't
43:14certainly earned it we can't afford it in terms of time and we can't afford it in terms of
43:18emotional turmoil
43:22so
43:39after days of bad luck bad weather and bad ideas our last day riding across Wyoming was damn near
43:46blissful open country beautiful weather and livestock and wildlife around every corner
43:56it had been the most difficult trip we had ever endured
43:59and neither of us could wait until it was finally over
44:05so
44:15this to our right is the final paved road that we have to get across and we
44:21really do not want to carry it and we think there might be a culvert river creek thing
44:26oh
44:30nice look at this oh we could definitely fit yeah send it dude okay
44:43all right oh it's sandy it's sloppy oh yeah it is oh boy oh boy oh no oh no i trenched out
44:53oh i'm trenching too i think this is frozen mud yeah i do too
45:07oh sorry sorry sorry i'll turn away i've already got cow poop on my face it's not even trying to
45:14fire
45:27what idiots we are
45:30yep i hope it starts come on xl come on what's the deal we've only got like 10 or 15 miles to go
45:39right now
45:42oh okay okay one two three
45:49oh my god oh no no no i'm having flashbacks dude oh my god
45:58all right i'm going for it yep
46:01ready yep one two three okay one two three
46:17ready one two three
46:20two three
46:26one one two three
46:39my turn
46:43but really let's not do this you're gonna do this now buddy
46:50me
47:01hold up hold up you lost me one more push one one two three
47:20so
47:26go go go go
47:28whoa
47:47all right easy peasy lemon squeezy buddy
47:58oh wow look at that landscape man i would like to say wyoming has been good to us but i think what
48:07wyoming did is wyoming tested us beyond our limits at times yeah i think we both we both
48:14reached a breaking point but i'm proud of the fact that we kept pushing on is this it right here i
48:22think that there might be utah my friend this is it pavement
48:30i don't know i haven't seen this stuff in a while i'm a little suspicious of it
48:34i'm gonna park right here oh my goodness oh wow it's so smooth think what heroes were
48:44gonna feel like riding on pavement after all that slippery crap we've been dealing with yeah
48:52yeah yeah the sun is warm i know how that feels
49:15so
49:20it wasn't exactly a clean trip across wyoming
49:25we did ride on mostly dirt most of the way but we also put our bikes in the back of a truck
49:34we scampered along miles of road shoulders
49:38and we used some unquestionably dumb methods to get across pavement
49:44as usual the machines were the real heroes
49:56whether it was the dt1 repeatedly coming back from the dead
50:01or the xl 350 almost never missing a beat
50:06these bikes are every bit as capable and impressive as they were 50 years ago
50:15maybe one day the dirt roads of our world will go extinct but for now they are still out there
50:25waiting for you your iron horses and the next great adventure
50:37let's go home dude boy howdy
50:45do
51:00do
51:14do