Life, our most precious and limited time commodity. We are here on this earth for a very short time. What are you going to do with that time? What memories are you going to make along the way? When you look back in reflection, what will you see? How you diligently completed your daily routine every day without interruption for fifty years, or will you look back and smile at some situations that added spice and excitement to your life? Doing what is safe and sensible all the time makes for boring stories. That’s really what you’re doing, writing your life story. Is it going to be a good one?
Recently, I was invited to participate in the third annual RSS or as I like to call it, “The Fun Show”. The Fun Show was developed around the campfire, where so many great ideas are born, by a group of like-minded off roaders. The Fun Show is basically a weekend long, tiny vehicle overlanding trip into the Northern Minnesota woods. Overlanding is where you carry all of your needed supplies in or on your vehicle like food, sleeping items, clothes, recovery gear, and tools. Overlanders usually camp off the grid for extended periods of time and participate in various outdoor activities. The Fun Show uses that premise and shrinks it down until it becomes comical and less reliable. The transportation choices need to be approved by the founding three before you’re welcome to attend. This year we had two mini-Jeeps; one with a Harley engine, a modified go-cart, three scooters, one three-wheeler, a motorcycle made from three-wheeler parts, and a handful of minibikes. To transport all of the overlanding necessities, some people were pulling trailers. One of the minibikes was upgraded with a home-built side car, and the rest of us found some way to strap, hang, or lash everything to our sweet rides.
Before I continue with this true tale of micro adventuring, I need to back up a bit because my story started well before the actual event. Last year I was invited to attend the second annual RSS but didn’t possess a vehicle “worthy” of attendance. My dual sport motorcycle didn’t meet the vehicle criteria because it was too reliable. Full size motorcycles and four wheelers are designed for off-road terrain and are not allowed to be used during this particular event. So, I began my search for the appropriate donor vehicle because I definitely wanted to build something unique. After some searching and horse trading, I acquired an appropriate donor vehicle. A 1990 Kawasaki Bayou four-wheeler that was rescued from the salvage yard. It was missing parts, didn’t run, and had mismatched four-wheeler fenders on it from an Arctic Cat four-wheeler. It is a perfect foundation to build a quality “Fun Show” rig. My plan was to take the skin from my old Craftsman lawn mower that has been sitting in my tree line for many years and make a four-wheel drive Craftsman “lawn mower”. Step one was to get the Kawasaki running again. To be honest, small engines have been kind of a nemesis of mine for many years. Add a few more cylinders and I can make them sing real purdy. Single cylinder engines provide me with levels of irritation that I don’t cope well with. I know, there’s not much to them and they are very simple. That’s part of the reason why they irritate me so much. I feel like I shouldn’t have to work so hard to get them running correctly, but I do. In the case of the Kawasaki, I thought it would be smarter to lean on someone better at making them run than I. So, at the end of April, I loaded it up on a trailer and headed to see my friend Leo Kuethur. He lives about a six-hour drive from my place. That trip is what I like to call the adventure before the adventure. It was a crazy weekend of driving my motorhome, which I unaffectionately call The Outhouse, from Minnesota to North Dakota towing my Jeep and four-wheeler up to their house for some repairs. I could write a whole story about that weekend, but the short version, relating to the Kawasaki, is that we didn’t get it to run on its own, but we did get the engine to pop off and start on fire. So, in theory I should be able to make it run. Over the summer, after ordering a bunch of parts, I started working on making the Kawasaki run again. I was determined to build something awesome! Well, after much frustration, many incorrect parts, and just a lack of time to work on it, I still didn’t have a running four-wheeler.
Fast forward to the week before the Fun Show. I was up north for our annual “Drag the Fords through the woods” weekend, and I still didn’t have a running vehicle to take on the Fun Show. As we were sitting around the campfire solving the world's problems, we hatched a plan to get me back in the game for the following weekend adventures. Facebook Marketplace to rescue! I found an appropriate “substitute” Fun Show rig that I would have time to get ready before the following weekend. On my way home from Fords week, I stopped and picked up a 2020 Coleman CT200U minibike. I drove it once around the cul-de-sac near the guy's house, paid the man, and loaded it up on the trailer. I got it home and thoroughly checked it over to find out that everything except the engine needed a complete rebuild. I ordered parts right away and got to work. By Thursday night I had the axle bearings, steering shaft bearings, upgraded belt clutch system, and storage containers installed and ready for action. I drove it around the shop a few times and loaded it on the truck. It was officially certified “good enough” for the Fun Show.
Back to the mini adventure. Friday night after work I headed up to Akeley Minnesota to meet up with the Fun Show crew. It was a long drive, and I arrived about 11:30 PM. I made a loop through the campground but didn’t see anyone I knew sitting around the campfires, so I headed off to find someplace to crash for the night. I didn’t have a campsite or hotel lined up ahead of time, so I found a quiet gravel drive near a power substation and kicked back the seat in the truck and went to sleep. After a night of minorly restful sleep filled with wild crazy dreams, I was up and wide awake by 5 am. Being it was so early, I headed back into town and parked under a parking lot light at the local Dollar General to pack up the minibike with the essentials. Once I got word that the crew was up and about, I headed over to the campground to catch up with my friends as they packed up their campsites. Everyone loaded up, and we headed out. The Stompin’ Grounds was kind enough to let us park our trucks and trailers in their parking lot and use their facility as a staging area for our weekend adventure. The unusual mini chariots gathered around as we prepared to depart. Trailers were connected, stuff was loaded, and we were mentally prepared for the unknown. The air and the ground were dry, and the trails appeared to be quite dusty.
We lined up for a group picture and headed out. Within the first mile we learned that pedal bike trailers don’t fair well on the potholed rocky terrain that we were riding on. After flipping his trailer several times, Lord Chad decided to ditch his trailer in the woods and go without. Luckly, there was extra room on other trailers for his stuff, because he would have had a long, uncomfortable weekend without it. Which is how he earned the name, Lord Chad. Because he has people carrying his stuff. Geoff also found that an overloaded, fat tire, home-built motorcycle is nearly impossible to keep on the trail, so he headed back to the staging area to unload about 30 pounds of tools. Unfortunately, this only made his bike slightly easier to control. Again, we headed off into the Northern Forest. We continued the following pattern throughout the day, riding a mile or two and stopping to allow people to catch up. Ride another mile and fix some stuff, continue another mile and fix some more stuff. The trails were tough, and our chosen rides were displaying their weak spots regularly. Believe it or not, that’s part of the adventure of the Fun Show. Will everyone make it? Do we have the skills to keep our overloaded, inadequate “vehicles” alive and moving throughout the weekend? It’s the will of man against the wilds of nature. We know that nature usually wins in these cases, but we are just stubborn enough to think we can make it anyway. My minibike did alright for a while, but the dust and the lack of suspension began to take a toll as we traveled. My body began making statements like, “Do you think this is a good idea? You’re not 20 anymore!” and “Ha, ha, ha you’re going to die!” Thankfully, all of us survived, and we made it to a wonderful “campsite” that evening. By “campsite” I mean a woodland boat launch, with a rock fire ring off to the side.
It was good enough for our ragged crew, and we settled in for the night. Everyone had some kind of tent like structure to sleep in that night except me. I didn’t have the space on my minibike for a tent, so I opted for a sleeping bag in a bivy bag with a ground mat on the open ground. The bivy bag is a Gortex cover that surrounds the sleeping bag and protects it from the weather. Gemini called it a Dorito bag because of the noise it makes when I moved around. Thankfully, the weather was nice, and the bugs were minimal. We had a memorable night sitting around the campfire eating supper and talking about the plights of our first day travels. Breezy put on a very artistic light show utilizing some glow sticks that will be remembered for years to come! It was a great evening around the campfire and well worth the “price of admission”. After the evening wound down, I headed back to my Dorito bag to get some rest. I lied down and stared at the stars for a long time before I found the sleep I was searching for. It wasn’t restful sleep, just sleep.
As the sun began to rise the next morning, our ragged crew of woodland squatters started to assemble around the campfire and scrounge around for some breakfast. I started the day off with a breakfast of champions; a slice of cold SPAM on a rolled-up tortilla! Everyone packed up and we headed out again. We decided to incorporate more forest roads on the second day as the rocky abusive trails from the first day left a noticeable mark on each of the rigs and our crew of misfits. My mighty minibike was unhappy from the previous days’ treatment and would only run on full choke. I wasn’t super hopeful that it would make the proposed 28-mile route without trailside intervention but, it was the “Fun Show” which means, just send it and see what happens. My minibike made it most of the morning past several of our “breaks” but before long it started running poorly and refused to climb the smallest of hills. It was time for intervention. Geoff to the rescue! He had the can of brake cleaner I was dreaming about! Because of the extreme dust on the trails, a trailside carburetor rebuild was needed to put some spunk back into the minibike. I carefully took it apart, gave it a brake cleaner bath, reassembled, and installed it. The pitifully powered minibike was back in action and up to “full power” running without the need for full choke again.
We again continued with the Fun Show pattern, drive a mile or two, stop and fix some stuff. As we meandered our way back to Akeley, we enjoyed the scenery of the great northern woods. However, we didn’t enjoy the all-encompassing dust nearly as much. Nearing town, we transitioned to ditch trails that presented some additional challenges, like washboards, rocks, and ruts. I almost made it to town without incident until I ascended the last hill into town. I hit a double pothole on the way up, which caused my super sport bike to promptly wheelie and crash, landing on my left leg! I did my best impression of an old guy looking cool while doing the splits until one of the guys behind me was able to assist me with extraction from my precarious position. Surviving my altercation with gravity, we made it the rest of the way into town and took pictures with the big Paul Bunyan statue in the heart of town. Finally, completing the day with some more death-defying ditch hopping while making our way back to where we started at the Stompin’ Grounds. Mission accomplished! Every knucklehead pilot and mighty steed made it back to the start of the mini misadventure through the woods and each of us earned a few more campfire stories to tell in the future.
So, what kind of story are you writing with your life? Is it a good one? Do you have true tales of mayhem and adventure to entertain the campfire crew? What are you waiting for! Find what inspires you, what gets you excited for tomorrow, and chase it with determination and vigor! Don’t wait for “someday” because we’re not guaranteed tomorrow! Get started planning your next adventure now! Seriously, like right now! Don’t wait because every day is one day closer to life’s finish line. Do your best to make it there smiling.
Aaron Bjorklund