Hello Wayne,

Great to hear from you.  Things are OK over here.  I just wish i was working less and riding more.

Earlier this year I went on a two week Australian Desert adventure with some of my riding buddies over here.  Its a long story but i will give you quick rundown on it.  It was the fourth time i had crossed the Simpson Desert and all the other times is seem relatively easy.  Not this time.  No one had been able to get across it for 5 months and we were the first to successfully make it.  Some of the track was non existent as it was blown over with soft powder sand.  Navigation was purely by GPS.  The kickstarter was broken on the YZ450F and our long range tanks were melting from the extreme terrain.  We had to tape cooking foil to the tanks to stop them from dripping molten plastic onto the exhaust pipes!  The dunes had a sharp lip on one side and as you come down them, the front wheel would disappear into the sand, then throw you over the bars.  We still had 800 dunes to cross and over 300kms to go before we get to the easy terrain!  A couple of the boys had some sleepless nights conjuring up worst case scenarios.  We eventually made it through after two days of water rations.  One month afterwards a rider visiting from the USA had to be rescued from the same desert by a military helicopter.  We felt very lucky to make it.  I have attached a few photos.  We carried a tractor inner tube to float the bikes accross some of the flood affected areas.  A flood in a desert... we do have some interesting terrain over here!

That 690 R is my dream bike at the moment.  I have not ridden one yet but i have spent some time drooling over one at the showroom.  Nice ride report.  That picture of your 690 all loaded up with the Seadoo crates in the background sure did bring back some great memories.  Theres nothing quite like heading into the wilderness on a motorcycle.  Good to see those big KTM's in the dirt, river and sand pit!  You would have felt like you were on a motorcrosser compared to them.  Looks like the 690 might be the perfect all rounder.  Im sure you already know this but Aqualine make a tank for the 690.  We usually go up to the Aqualine factory when a few of us have new bikes and get the tanks for about half price when paying cash.   Not sure on the discounts y

Here are the pictures of our Trans WI Adv Trail ride we did October 1st - 4th, 2009.  We covered 1,150 miles of a wide variety of road & trails in less than desirable conditions - raining and 45 degrees the whole time!  For a complete ride report and product evaluations go to our blog site and get the whole story:  www.petriemotorsports.wordpress.com