Kris' Blog #3

November 5, 2012

After falling into a coma-like state for a few hours I’m up before the Sun waiting on Shawn again….finally he gets up and we head to town to see Jim @ Performance All-Terrain.
I also get to catch up with my buddy Mike who is one half of the Tour de Force that are the technicians of P.A.T. Jim hooks us up with most of our order and a Honda generator for the trip. P.A.T. is a full line BRP, Honda, KTM dealership in the Cariboo of BC and one of the oldest running Ski-Doo dealerships in the Country. I also managed the shop for 5 years and it’s how Shawn and I originally met.

We leave 100 Mile House way later than we wanted and head south.
Shawn drives, I sleep. He pulls over in the Canyon and makes me drive again…I drive, he stays awake. Next stop was RMR Suspensions & H2R to pick up our shocks and finally meet Rod and Melissa in person.
Great bunch of people and super helpful. Full Fox Racing Shox and Renegade fuel support.
This IS the premier service center for anything sprung!  Check Them Out HERE

About 4pm we hit the Sumas border crossing in Abbotsford. After a small hiccup we were on our way! Fastest we have been through the border since we started travelling across to start the season.
Boarder Patrol even gave us some of his favorite brews to try once across the line. Talk about friendly.

We are about to hit the I-5 as I write this and head towards Portland.
From there Hood River is our destination. We are looking at about a midnight arrival.
Two BC boys with red plates(Alberta) and people are wondering why we are driving so well!
Quick stop at Cabella’s for some cots and sleeping bags. We figured we might as well test out the heater and insulated trailer before the weather gets too cold and we have to abort the trailer in the middle of the night. Ballinger @7pm.

We can’t wait to see Kirk and the gang at HMK. So grateful for such great sponsors that are hooking us up all along the way.

We get a call from Kirk around 10:30pm and about 50 miles out of Hood River.
Turns out Kirk is about 2 miles behind us!
So I slow down and start singing Sammy’s favorite song, “I can’t drive 55” waiting for the HMK rig to haul ass past me. From there we pick up the pace and make Hood River in good time. 

After blowing thru the only stop light in the town we make a few lefts and end up at Kirks Kingdom called HMK USA. Not only do we get a hero’s welcome, we get the full tour of the shop and photo studio. We even get to talk snowboards and listen to Kirk talk about his MASSIVE collection. Literally, snowboards EVERYWHERE, and he even had a new one he grabbed from the truck.

The first piece of MX history that I spotted has to be Josh Demuth’s American Flag Headtrips helmet. I noticed it right away and got the story behind how Kirk ended up with it. Needless to say, both Josh and Kirk are stand up guys.

Then Kirk shows us where we are sleeping…full blown apartment above the shop with everything we could want. Not only that, but Kirk hands me the keys to the HMK van and tells us where an all-night diner is.
Not only is the food great, but they make milkshakes out of your favorite pies….sadly there was no peach flavor on the menu.

Next stop….Montana. So far so good, we are livin’ the life with a great group of sponsors in our corner. We couldn’t be more greatful!

Another 2am morning and another 7am wake-up call….I think I’m getting used to 4-5hrs sleep a night.