welcome! and congratulations for the best first post anyone on this forum has ever had by far
Great read, full of emotion and it really told your story quite well. I have mad respect for riders like you and nevadawolf who do a lot of distance riding and touring since that is the most difficult kind of riding for me to do. I think you'll love the 250 as a fun bike that does everything way better than you expect it to
I know the feeling of liking to take bikes offroad, I remember trying to do that on my pregen and it was hilariously fun. I get too nervous with my 300 offroad though I'm at the point where I kinda want to do it, but I can also just go out and get a 125cc dirt bike instead.
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I see you over there seeing me, do you see the me I think you see?