OK. So here's the deal.

On 10 may 2008, 6 riders, will depart from Monticello, Utah on Early 1970's Vintage Yamaha 2-stroke Enduros bound for their eventual destination of Port Orford, on the Oregon coast. The route will attempt to faithfully follow the Trans America Trail mapped out by Sam Corerro and will consist of 90% off road riding. All of the riders are approaching or have passed the half century mark.

They will be accompanied by a Ford Super Duty chase truck and trailer, as well as one additional rider on a modern KTM Dual Sport.

The riders have extensively modified their bikes to handle better, be more bullet proof, carry more gas, in hopes of all making the trip in full. The bike modifications and other technical information can be found on the Bikes page.

Click Map to Enlarge

The trip is planned to cover nearly 1,800 miles, and take about 10 days to complete. The above map shows the approximate route, though the actual route is too complex to show here and will likely be changing depending on weather, snow deposits, downed trees, renegade expatriats, etc.

None of the riders have spent any significant time in psychiatric wards, so they aren't crazy - so what would explain these middle class, middle aged, hard working, responsible citizens to undertake such a task? Why use such ill advised vehicles when modern, well suspended, dependable motorcycles are available from most every major manufacturer? Because ANYONE could do this trip on one of those motorcycles. To undertake such a trip on these old Vintage bikes takes some, well, some Cahones.

This year, as was done last year, much of the trip will be filmed by the riders wearing helmet cameras supplemented by handheld cameras, as well as still cameras in hopes of creating an video diary of the trip. In addition, when possible, this website, blog, mailing list, and picture gallery, will be updated daily whenever internet connections are available.

You will also be able to follow along, almost live, on the map as the boys send up their GPS location via satellite which will be posted here, as well as available via the subscribers mailing list.

In the end, there will be those who wanted to go on this adventure . . . but didn't.

There will be those who watched from the sidelines . . . and wished.

And there will be the TAT Gruppe.

We'll try to give you the view from the drivers' seats as we go. Thanks for following along!

TAT Gruppe - Spring, 2008