Count me in.
Events/Trails 4th Annual 200LCDC Event (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter codyaustin5
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Markuson
SILVER Star
Curious about your Ukraine connection.
I've done volunteer work in Kiev two different Summers, and have some great friends there...
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Yeah awesome place. It has everything. Mountains, beaches, awesome ancient architecture. Industriel industries and rich farmland. Lots of valuable natural resources. Could be a great European destination spot with outdoor cafes and lots of interesting places. Many incredibly beautiful women with the slavic bone structure. Slender arms, legs and hips, & really small hands. Same in Russia. So as a photographer it caught my eye. You probably noticed it too with your artists eye.
I am always looking for places not run over by tourists yet. I was dating a Russian girl from Moscow and when that ended I went to explore Ukraine. Lviv is like Prague before the tourists.
I was bouncing around and enjoying the country and people when the conflict and fighting started. Later somehow the government found out about some of my background and I was persuaded to help train some of their soldiers as snipers and some to deal with explosives, ieds, and such. Not something I really ever wanted to be involved with again so I got out of that job as soon as I could.
During my time there I discovered that there are over 5500 castles all over the country built back around 1100 AD during the Polish occupation. Some are in shambles and some are amazing & well preserved. I was amazed there hasn't been a book about them. So I have been trying to photograph a few of them for a book. It really became "about the journey, not the destination" as they say. But I was blown away that so many castles still existed there and many of the people don't even know it although I have talked to many that do. There is no telling how long the fighting will go on. I lost track of a lot of friends in the east war zone. At times I get so frustrated with the conflict I try not to listen to news and want to forget Ukraine. But it really touched my heart at times. My girlfriend was born their but was living in the Netherlands when I met her. Funny, she is a real cruiser head and her father was taking her to races since she was a kid. We get into a lot of arguments about mods for the cruiser.
) So yeah...going back and photographing the castles has been in the works (on my bucket list) now for about a year or more and then the drive across Russia my girlfriend really wants to do. I want to do some fashion shoots at some of those castles also. I know so many amazing models and stylists and clothing designers in Ukraine. It's a boiling pot of talent and it's really sad things are such a mess there. I wish they would join Nato.
Interesting you did volunteer work there. That's cool.....
I am always looking for places not run over by tourists yet. I was dating a Russian girl from Moscow and when that ended I went to explore Ukraine. Lviv is like Prague before the tourists.
I was bouncing around and enjoying the country and people when the conflict and fighting started. Later somehow the government found out about some of my background and I was persuaded to help train some of their soldiers as snipers and some to deal with explosives, ieds, and such. Not something I really ever wanted to be involved with again so I got out of that job as soon as I could.
During my time there I discovered that there are over 5500 castles all over the country built back around 1100 AD during the Polish occupation. Some are in shambles and some are amazing & well preserved. I was amazed there hasn't been a book about them. So I have been trying to photograph a few of them for a book. It really became "about the journey, not the destination" as they say. But I was blown away that so many castles still existed there and many of the people don't even know it although I have talked to many that do. There is no telling how long the fighting will go on. I lost track of a lot of friends in the east war zone. At times I get so frustrated with the conflict I try not to listen to news and want to forget Ukraine. But it really touched my heart at times. My girlfriend was born their but was living in the Netherlands when I met her. Funny, she is a real cruiser head and her father was taking her to races since she was a kid. We get into a lot of arguments about mods for the cruiser.
) So yeah...going back and photographing the castles has been in the works (on my bucket list) now for about a year or more and then the drive across Russia my girlfriend really wants to do. I want to do some fashion shoots at some of those castles also. I know so many amazing models and stylists and clothing designers in Ukraine. It's a boiling pot of talent and it's really sad things are such a mess there. I wish they would join Nato.Interesting you did volunteer work there. That's cool.....
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Yeah awesome place. It has everything. Mountains, beaches, awesome ancient architecture. Industriel industries and rich farmland. Lots of valuable natural resources. Could be a great European destination spot with outdoor cafes and lots of interesting places. Many incredibly beautiful women with the slavic bone structure. Slender arms, legs and hips, & really small hands. Same in Russia. So as a photographer it caught my eye. You probably noticed it too with your artists eye.
I am always looking for places not run over by tourists yet. I was dating a Russian girl from Moscow and when that ended I went to explore Ukraine. Lviv is like Prague before the tourists.
I was bouncing around and enjoying the country and people when the conflict and fighting started. Later somehow the government found out about some of my background and I was persuaded to help train some of their soldiers as snipers and some to deal with explosives, ieds, and such. Not something I really ever wanted to be involved with again so I got out of that job as soon as I could.
During my time there I discovered that there are over 5500 castles all over the country built back around 1100 AD during the Polish occupation. Some are in shambles and some are amazing & well preserved. I was amazed there hasn't been a book about them. So I have been trying to photograph a few of them for a book. It really became "about the journey, not the destination" as they say. But I was blown away that so many castles still existed there and many of the people don't even know it although I have talked to many that do. There is no telling how long the fighting will go on. I lost track of a lot of friends in the east war zone. At times I get so frustrated with the conflict I try not to listen to news and want to forget Ukraine. But it really touched my heart at times. My girlfriend was born their but was living in the Netherlands when I met her. Funny, she is a real cruiser head and her father was taking her to races since she was a kid. We get into a lot of arguments about mods for the cruiser.
Interesting you did volunteer work there. That's cool.....
Wow... so much going on in this post. I traveled in Russia back in my college days as part of a youth group. We were "negotiating" the START treaty. Got to see some incredible things. Spent a week in Irkutsk at Lake Baikal, one of the most beautiful places you'll find, a week in Leningrad as it was known then, and a week in Moscow. Met Andrei Gromyko in the Kremlin the day after Reagan bombed the crap out of Khadafi, saw Lennin in his napping place, and spent a lot of time in "cultural exchanges" which meant women and vodka parties almost every night with our group, and a bunch of KGB agents. I have stories. I'd go back to do a cross-country tour any time! Great memories.
Yeah lake Baikal is considered the deepest lake in the world....... just North of the Mongolian border. Wow talk about getting away from it all. If you head into Mongolia or Uzbekistan that would be an awesome trip. I've looked at guys on Youtube wheeling there and in Uzbekistan.
There are some hardcore Cruiser heads there. Those guys that go into the arctic are crazy. They use those Sherp vehicles and another larger vehicle that holds 8 or 10 people I think. They both float in case you break through the ice. We would need two or 3 vehicles to do that trip I guess if we headed off the highway to go to some of the serious places. Auxilary gas tank time for me. That is one thing I am waiting for.
Some of those crazy guys go across Mongolia to Vietnam and then across all those countries to Thailand. That would be some serious planning and border crossings.
There are some hardcore Cruiser heads there. Those guys that go into the arctic are crazy. They use those Sherp vehicles and another larger vehicle that holds 8 or 10 people I think. They both float in case you break through the ice. We would need two or 3 vehicles to do that trip I guess if we headed off the highway to go to some of the serious places. Auxilary gas tank time for me. That is one thing I am waiting for.
Some of those crazy guys go across Mongolia to Vietnam and then across all those countries to Thailand. That would be some serious planning and border crossings.
If you book a campsite you can always cancel and get most of your fees back. Though I hope you don’t have to
Taco2Cruiser
Crazy American Off Road
Oh, I didn’t know that. Thanks man, I’ll start looking.
Seems like most of the campgrounds open up 6 months in advanced so you may need to wait until January but yes most of the state and federal ones allow cancellation up to within a day or two for a nominal fee
There are lots of first come first serve places as well but those always worry me when I’m traveling far to an unfamiliar place. We had no FCFS issues around Moab though - first place we looked was booked but we found a spot at another place nearby so YMMV
There are lots of first come first serve places as well but those always worry me when I’m traveling far to an unfamiliar place. We had no FCFS issues around Moab though - first place we looked was booked but we found a spot at another place nearby so YMMV
I'm excited to come again this year. I'm shocked my wife immediately said "ok!" I'll be following what you all are recommending for camp sites as I am thinking about renting an airstream and dragging that with us. I can't wait to see that beautiful side of Colorado and wheel with you all again! Good times.
Well, the USFS Matterhorn campground has 4 sites with full hookups, but those will go fast when reservations open! The Ridgway State Park Campground has lots of sites with electricity, but it's 42 miles from Telluride. There may be others, these are the ones that caught my eye from the Telluride campground list. Reservations open 6 months ahead.
This one I'm looking at says it has 4 with electric but they're all handicapped sites.
Facility Details - MATTERHORN, CO - Recreation.gov
FWIW with a 100Ah AGM battery and two 100W solar panels we can run the lights, fridge, water pump, and heat off the battery for days. If you have a trailer and don't have a solar setup, it's definitely worth the ~$500 investment for a couple panels and a charge controller.
Heh. I'm not sure what Telluride is like, but we definitely didn't need to turn on the A/C in Breckenridge (or Grand Mesa), at least from evening until morning when we were at the site. If anything I needed to fire up the heater at night to keep the trailer at ~60F.
Moab OTOH I would've loved to have been able to run the A/C for a bit...
Yeah, Ridgway is a fair bit away. Nice campground. Highly rated. Checked it out back in September when we were in the Ouray area. And the drive over to Telluride is awesome. But if Greg, et al, are making everyone gather at 7AM that will be a pretty early start in the morning! Just sayin'.
As for battery/solar, we're now running a 100Ah+ AGM battery and have a 100W Renogy "suitcase" solar setup. Works great. But to Tony's point, we don't get AC or the microwave.
Thanks for mentioning this point Dan. If possible, can we have trail runs meet later than 7am? That's super early for us on vacation, and we ended up skipping a whole day of trail runs (and the night run) to catch up on rest and have a relaxed day. I think we would have been far more inclined to join all the activities if we had a later start time say around 9am? We were actually watching the guys on the night run from our hotel hot tub and were glad we skipped purely because there was no way we would have been able to scrape ourselves out of bed, eat breakfast, make lunches, exercise the dog, get the truck ready and be ready to meet the next morning at 7am. (PS - we're not morning people if you can't tell
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Markuson
SILVER Star
Thanks for mentioning this point Dan. If possible, can we have trail runs meet later than 7am? That's super early for us on vacation, and we ended up skipping a whole day of trail runs (and the night run) to catch up on rest and have a relaxed day. I think we would have been far more inclined to join all the activities if we had a later start time say around 9am? We were actually watching the guys on the night run from our hotel hot tub and were glad we skipped purely because there was no way we would have been able to scrape ourselves out of bed, eat breakfast, make lunches, exercise the dog, get the truck ready and be ready to meet the next morning at 7am. (PS - we're not morning people if you can't tell
One thing that could help with that this year--
There is only ONE official "dinner event" start time for Telluride.
In Breck, there were multiple dinners to get back and prepare for...so a late return from wheeling later was a problem.
This year, with just the one evening event, wheeling could start and END later if people were so inclined...
Also thinking that fewer night events mean greater choices during trail runs, since you aren't under pressure to "guess" trail times. If you end up taking longer than expected on a run...no big deal, bc no gathering is impacted. Decide you wanna watch the sunset on the trail? All good.
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I'm good with 9!
the advantage of coming from the eastern time zone. By 9 am Ill be getting hungry for lunch
