The time has finally come: my trusty 2000 KLR is leaving the garage. I’m leaving the country and it can’t come with me 🙁

The 2000, sometimes known as “the green mule”, served me well during the 7 years and well over 70,000 miles I’ve had it. It is the bike that really started my love of adventure touring and gave me the ability to embark on dozens of fabulous trips. It rarely gave me any trouble and did pretty much anything I asked of it. I’m going to indulge myself and make this post an homage to my mule…

The beginning: my trip from Seattle to the Arctic Ocean and back

Followed shortly by an amazing month in Mexico

From there, it was a lot of of the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia:

And then we went further afield…

And back to Mexico:

And then we went east where commuting was the routine, interspersed with day rides:

And now, due to some upcoming changes in my living arrangements, it is time to let go of the Mule. I’ll miss it, but it’ll live on in my memories (and my website)

And just so you know, it wasn’t all glamor and fun for the Mule. Sometimes (often) I made it do actual work. Maybe it finally got sick of me and is secretly happy to go to a new home?

Thank you, my friend

And it will be immortalized forever in this cross stitch, lovingly made for me by my best friend