End of week 2 already. Doesn’t feel like 2 weeks!

This morning in Homer it was pretty much clear with some low floating clouds that seem to be normal around there. Something else that seems to be normal and I forgot to mention yesterday and that is Eagles. I saw at least 4 in the last 12 hours and every single time, no camera in hand. Eagles must be camera shy! Now back to the business of cycling, motorcycling that is. It is and was time to point this ship north again and head to Mt. McKinley or Denali National Park.

Blasting out of Homer by 7:30 or 8am and it didn’t take long to get into fog and low overcast skies. Temperatures for the first 180 miles stayed pretty constant between 47-50. I turned on my liner once or twice, more to test it than needing it and I wished I had taken time to test the lower section that was broken before. So tomorrow morning that will be my priority.  It would be nice to know for sure that the entire suit works prior to leaving Coldfoot for Prudhoe Bay. Looking like there might be rain and snow in the forecast for Sunday and a high of 38. Can you hear me sigh yet? I got the gear, I got the bike, and I got the tires, so there is no reason other than fear that I cannot do this. To me this is no different than going up Mt. Evans on a motorcycle. If you have no clue about Mt Evans let me help you out. It is the highest hard surface road in the United States at 14,250 feet and for my metric friends, 4,343 meters. If your scared of heights, this one will work on your fears for sure. That is later in this adventure.

For the first 221 miles today it was a backtrack event for me but I did get to see things in reverse. So you’re thinking, “so what!” Well the example of seeing things in reverse is that yesterday I didn’t see that Oil Rig working in the channel. Who says they don’t drill in Alaska?

This is also one of my favorite shots of the day. My little digital camera does it no justice, plus I was moving at 65 mph.

 

 

 

I also saw Herbie the Love Bug being towed down the road. Poor Herbie!

 

 

 

 

What would you do when reading the first sign in the picture? Now what would do when you read the second sign? Oh hell, just give it some gas and go faster!!

 

 

 

As you can see by the two pictures to the left, I made it to Denali where Mt. McKinley is located and is most of the time hidden in the clouds. You have to get extremely lucky to see it and I came close, but no cigar. Dixie is in one of the photo’s to the left. Can you find her?

 

You have to click the 1st picture and find where Mt. McKinley is suppose to be before you assume, because I assumed and I was wrong. She is hidden in the white clouds behind the foothills. Double Top mountain was pretty though, so that kind of made up for it.

 

Ok I was just a little disappointed in not seeing Mt. McKinley but that is ok. Gives me a good reason to fly back up here with Lori, rent a 4 wheel drive vehicle and do it all over again. I know she would go for that. Right Lori? There is so much cool stuff to see here and if any of you follows have a mind to come up here, Garrett Teams nailed it, the dry season is normally mid-May through the end of June. Plus the Mosquitoes are not bad yet. They are starting to roll out in places, but so far not to bad.

One more disappointment to mention because I drove so far to see it is the Denali Highway. It is closed and hasn’t been repaired to allow me to make the run. I will give it one more look when I arrive in Fairbanks on my return from Prudhoe. I want the road, but I will not lose sleep over missing it. I’ll catch it next time.

Let’s just talk a little bit about tomorrow and the next two days after. On this trip, this will be the biggest challenge for me. It all depends on the weather on being fun and being a nightmare. I pray for dry, dry, dry, and I’ll take whatever cold. Suit should keep me warm, plus I have my cold gear from under armour that well allow me to layer further if it gets bad. I have over gloves for wet, so I’m double covered to keep those hands dry and warm. As long as my heated socks functions, my toes should be good. It’s just the hands and feet that suffer for me on a motorcycle. Rarely the core, just the extremities. Looking at the weather, research, and talking to the locals, the last 80 miles should be my greatest challenge, but only if wet.

Coldfoot weather

Prudhoe Bay Weather

 

If you couldn’t find Dixie, her she is. D for Dixie!!

 

 

 

Pictures of the Day

Easy, beautiful, hot, cold, hot, cold…. :)

Today I got back on the horse and re-started my journey around Alaska. After a day of so called rest that was very busy talking, changing tires and oil, and washing cloths, we are back on track. Even though I had to do a little modification of the planned route so I could end my day in Homer.

So after breakfast and packing, the 3 of us, BMW, Dixie, and myself set off south toward Seward. In Anchorage the temperature was right around 60 degrees at 8 am. It pretty much stayed there the entire time until about 50 miles south of Anchorage. At that point I had to pull over and put on thicker gloves. The temps between Anchorage and Seward fluxed back and forth between 67-45 degrees. As I approached Seward, estimating about 3 to 4 miles out, I could see a low level cloud layer no more than 200 feet above my level, not sea level, my visual sight level. This is when the temperatures once again plummeted. The city of Seward struck me as a fishing community and maybe a harbor to bring in goods for internal distribution. The rails also came into Seward, so this makes sense to me. The view from the ports and campgrounds over the bay were beautiful. The clouds that hung just 200 feet or so above the water were different than anything that I had ever seen in person. Seen pictures, but never the real thing.

I buzzed around Seward a little bit and even took a little dirt road out to the furthest point south and then started my way out of the city. Leaving I saw a sign for Exit Glacier and since I just drove 5000 miles, I figured I should at least make an effort to drive back into to see it. I got a great shot of the Glacier and learned that they refer to glaciers as natures bull dozers. I never heard that one before. What I didn’t do was hike up to the glacier to get the best shot.

After visiting the glacier it was time to head to Homer. The ride over to Homer put me back into the flat lands and the temperatures once again rose to 70. That my friends didn’t last long at all. Out in the distance I could see another strange looking cloud formation that looked like it was hugging the ground and pushing toward me. Within minutes I was driving through the fog and temperature rapidly fell back into the 40’s. No lower than 48, but it was bitter at speed. So I pulled over and changed gloves again to the Gerbings. 10 miles outside of Homer I broke out into the clear and I could even see the town below me at sea level partially covered in clouds.

It is pretty here in Homer and it also looks to me to be a majority fishing community. I drove out onto the spit but that low level cloud layer pretty much blocked out all views in any direction. Climbing back out of the spit, you could see for miles. I never did figure out how that cloud thing worked in the middle of the day. It must be very similar to what happens in San Francisco. Cold air pushing east into the warmer air over land which causes a very low cloud layer and or fog. The one picture I took from the roadway dropping into Homer looks like I’m flying in an airplane above a solid cloud deck.

Tonight I’m staying in a Bed & Breakfast style hotel and there is a shared common area, living room and kitchen, but I have my own room and bathroom/shower. There was 2 older than me couples in the Kitchen cooking fresh Salmon that they caught today and offer me to join them. Unfortunately, I had just eaten dinner but I did sit down with them and taste the Salmon and had Strawberry Short cake and wine for dessert. They want to hear more and more about my trip and in the end came to same conclusion, “you’re crazy.” Yep, pretty much. It was a lot of fun hearing their stories and they listening to mine. They all flew up from Georgia and I still speak southern, so I understood them perfectly.

Tomorrow, I will be doing a lot of back tracking from Homer through Anchorage, which is the first 220 miles of the leg. I will do another 239 miles and end up at the base of Mt McKinley. The plan is to camp for the second time on this trip and this will put me out of Wi-Fi world and therefore no blog. If that happens, I could blog dark for a day or two depending on a few factors. Leaving Mt McKinley the plan is to ride the Denali Highway east and then turn north into Fairbanks. If the Denali is still closed, then I turn north and drive through Fairbanks and attack the first 250 miles of dirt to Coldfoot Alaska. So the next few days are fluid and I will just play them as they are dealt to me. You just might be out of touch Blogs wise. You will still be able to Spot Track me no matter what unless I cannot recharge my batteries or find normal AA batteries. It is not that remote up here, just different than the lower 48 States.

Short easy day today at 336 miles and trip total has risen to 5.352 miles. Tomorrow will also be the completion of week 2. This is already starting to go by way to fast for me. I’m having a great time up here and that is likely because of the weather, scenery, and the people. Been a great trip so far. That’s all I’ve got for you today, so till I have Wi-Fi again, have a great day.

I almost forgot, Dixie got so cold today she didn’t want to come out of the Tank bag to have her picture taken. She’s in at least 3 photos’ in the album for the day. The one below, and then one that is very obvious and then I tried to sneak her into a beauty shot, can you find her?

Pictures of the Day.

Work Day for me and Dixie…..

Ok, let’s make this official so everyone is onboard and no one is left thinking, what the hell is up with the little Red Headed toy figure. It was given to me by a workmate and I was asked one simple thing. If you have time or if you feel like, when your at some of your adventure locations, take some pictures of her and post them for us. Define us? Now this individual didn’t come right out and say it was for the kids or for all of the worker bees at work, but what I do understand to date is that they are having a good time at work waiting to see where she shows up next. I really do not believe for a minute that this individual thought for one second that I would include the Red Head, but I think they might have under estimated my sense of humor. Second if it is for the kids, I’m all in.

Here is the problem, I needed a name for Red Head and today the official announcement of my worker and travel companion is here. I want everyone to met, “Dixie Chickaloon Dixon.” So from this day forward whenever I mention Dixie without a picture, you will know who she is. I decided to adopt Dixie for 42 days and or 6 weeks and when I safely return to Virginia, I will turn Dixie over to her original parent so maybe somebody else will end up adopting her and take this little worker bee on vacation. This is how traditions begin. Sometimes there's just silly games to entertain our human existence. One more thing about Dixie. She is not a very stable girl, so I made a small modification in order to simplify standing. All I know is now she smiles while standing instead looking all po’ed.

Now to what had to be done today. I had many things to get done with the BMW and it all started about 9am. I really needed my own private garage, because I must have spent a minimum of 3 hours just chatting with everyone that wanted to talk motorcycles, me being from Virginia, what and where I’ve been, and just stuff. It was all fun and interesting and friendly, but it made for a very long day.

So as you can see to the left, that rear tire is shot and I’m pretty sure that is just 6000 miles on that tire. Those roads through upper Canada and parts of Alaska are brutal on tires. The best I can do to describe them is like rubbing your hand on 60 grit sandpaper for a day or two. The type of rock they throw down in the chip seal is coarse. I also had a low beam headlight burn out yesterday so that was the first project before we started working on that tire. Then I made the Dixie mod, so she could help. Then finally I attempted to find some 3m double back tape to mount my new Gerbing Switch, but the autoparts store was out. I will have to visit a few other stores until I find it because the double back velcro stuff didn’t work. 3m makes the best.

 

So you can see above it is great to have an extra set of hands to help you hold something or just to give them busy work. Dixie was responsible for taking the rims off the bike and then I would carry them over to the shop and they would mount the tires. You can see she is very stable with that new modification.

This next part is likely to get me all kinds of negative feedback or bunches of laughter for the men. I let Dixie handle the air since most women are just full of air. How else are they able to talk so much. Either way, she did a nice job with the air!! Smile ladies, it’s all in humor!

I do not care if your girl or not, equal rights baby. Your going to get dirty and do the nasty oil change with me or I’m leaving you in Alaska. I got a very nasty glare from Dixie with that comment, but she got right to it. The oil change on this particular BMW took all of 30 minutes from start to finish. I spent most of time just removing and replacing the skid plate that protects the lower engine case.

So after a hard days work with Dixie and a little help of the Motorcycle shop in Anchorage, the BMW is ready to go for at least another 5,000 miles. Yes that is a brand new set of tires hanging on the bike because I know without a doubt that those dirt bike tires will never make it back to Virginia. Dirt tires really burn fast on asphalt, but they are extremely fun off road and I intend on playing off road. Right Dixie?

Did you really think after working outside all day in the 75 degree heat, in the middle of the day, that you were done? Really? Come on Dixie, get your butt in the laundry room and wash, dry, and fold those cloths. When your done, I’'ll let you buy me dinner.

I hope ya’ll all enjoyed meeting Dixie and now understand that it is all in fun. You Bay 5 guys, are you smiling now!! Hope so. I just can’t wait to see who takes Dixie next on vacation and then try's to explain it to their family. The BMW is ready to roll and I’m ready to roll. Sitting around all day and not moving to a new location just didn’t seem right. Now I have news.

I have spoken with so many people from Tok, McCarty, Valdez, and lastly Anchorage that asked me if I’m going to Homer and out the spit. Debbie Fanatia has asked me a few times and she and husband Tom are moving there as soon as the details of selling in Denver are taken care of. Another issue, the Denali Highway, which is a major attraction that I wanted to drive is still closed. Another kind of cool detail information was given to me today. Daniel, my youngest son is flying to Anchorage, work related, this weekend and I’m waiting for actual dates to see if it might workout to see him. Very small possibility of a met, but if it works, I ‘ll take him out to lunch or something.

Tomorrow’s plan route to Seward then Mt.McKinley that I had all laid out, is out. Instead I’m going to Seward, then cruising over to Homer and stay the night. This puts Inuvik, Yukon, Canada in jeopardy. Going to Prudhoe is primary, and Inuvik was secondary, so if I give up any part of my trip, I knew Inuvik was it. That saves me 4 days and I will spend one on Homer. Seem it is a must see, so I will see.

So be warned, my plan is laid out for planning purposes only and it gives me timing and what not to miss from my point of view. Because of all the work with my routes and waypoints created, it is very easy for me to make mods like this on the fly. Sometimes I have pulled over to side of the road, whipped out the computer, fired up Mapsource and created or modified a route. Then USB it to my Garmin and go with it. Nothing is in stone. Just like, thanks to my brother John, today I made a modification in the Seattle Washington area because of that bridge collapse on I-5 caused by truck hauling to tall a load. Ouch, estimated 15 million dollar mistake on his part or the pilot car. Either way, someone is going to get their a$$ chewed.

The next day I will leave Homer and get back on track with my original route and end very near Mt.McKinley. This will give the road crews another day to open the Denali. If that doesn’t happen, then I head to Prudhoe bay early. Then I will attempt one last pass at the Denali on my way southbound track prepping for my exit out of Alaska.

Pictures of the Day.  Just so you know, they are exactly the pictures already on this blog above. So unless you just want to see them play in a large format via Flickr, you need not bother clicking the link. I hope you enjoyed the comedy post with Dixie.

Back to the Adventure tomorrow with a short 300 miler. Weather once again looks awesome.

Relaxing and very nice day

I knew going into today’s ride that for the most part is was not going to be very strenuous. The planned 308 mile leg was very beautiful and well above 60 degrees most of the route. When I pulled into Anchorage, my bike was indicating 75 degrees and it felt like it. This puts my total mileage for the trip at 5,016 miles and it is time for work on the motorcycle. The engine oil and tires, specially the rear, needs to be replaced. So I went to the local BMW dealer and at first he told me 2 weeks, but when he figured out I was from out of state, he said come on back tomorrow at 10am and we’ll get her done. I told him I would help or take off the wheels and bring inside to shop and then reinstall. Then I also told him I could do the oil change as long as he let me dump the old oil there. I have all the tools to do the job. I think this information put it over the top, and he said relax, we’ll get it done. Then I ask one more question, could I tryout my new bead breaker tool before you use the real big machine to do it? Sure, why not! So hopefully tomorrow the will let me get my hands dirty, because I do really want to help. I don’t want to get in the way, but I am willing to help. So tomorrow at 10am, we will get her done.

I also had another mission and that was to figure out what was wrong with my Gerbing heated gear. Yes, riding through that rain and low temperature around Lake Superior exposed a big flaw. It just seemed the gloves, lower liner for the legs, and socks were not working. The vest was working correctly. So first stop this afternoon in Anchorage was The Alaskan Leather Shop. They are a dealer for Gerbing and even though they were busy, they let me use their equipment to test each piece of my gear and mix it with new gear until I figured out that the Lower Liner was not working. They also suggested to get the maximum use and flexibility that I get a dual controller. They gave me a new pair of liners and said they would take care of the warranty exchange with Gerbing since I was on the road and out of state visitor. Awesome!! So buying the dual controller was a bonus for me, so now I can put more juice on my toes than chest which is more exposed to the cold and wet. Mark is happy now. After I was all done at the Leather Shop, I let the clerk, a very nice, and very young woman with pink dyed hair, put one their little stickers on one of my panniers. A short website advertisement for their business but the little saying above it made it all ok, “Don’t Ride Naked.” It made her smile and to be honest, I had to smile at the sticker and the smile on her face when she placed it on the bike. She shook my hand and said, “It was great meeting you and have a very safe adventure.” It also didn’t go un-noticed by them that I had purchased a sheep Buttpad already installed on my bike.

I hope you guys enjoy the above picture with me posing with the bike because my wife will tell you, I hate posed pictures. I like to capture shots of people when they are acting natural and have no idea a camera is being used. So I just don’t pose often, so consider yourself lucky seeing me in this shot. Believe me having the motorcycle there made it seem natural. I did try to take a couple of others that are in the pictures of the day, but they just look posed!

So a little about today’s ride. I left Valdez this morning around 7:30ish and started the climb out from sea level to the peak of 2,685 and it was gorgeous. Going up west side of the ridge it was 60 degrees but as soon as I passed the peak and started down the eastside, temps drop to 48-51. It didn’t take long though and I was losing gear and temperatures just kept climbing. There are some amazing shot inside the pictures of the day climbing out, like a double waterfall, snow still 3 feet deep, and an old train tunnel chiseled out by hand. There is also some shots some boats docked and waiting for their owners. There is also one of a very small glacier.

 

The rest of the ride to Anchorage took me on some long straight boring roads but eventually some fantastic scenery. I took a photo of a typical Alaskan driveway which is a pontoon airplane. I also came cruising up on an old boy hauling his dog in the back of the pickup truck. Most dogs just lay there or walk back and forth doing whatever dogs do. But not this dog, once he notice me he started barking. No I couldn’t hear him but I could see him. I could also tell the owner was fussing at the dog, so I decided to go ahead and pass’em so the dog would calm down. You also gotta look close at some of the long range mountain pictures because there you will see some huge glaciers. Deeper into the photo’s you will see a close up of very well defined and very large and long glacier. They are pretty to point, but once they start mixing with the soil and rocks, they kind look like dirty snow that has been plowed by trucks after a snow storm. 

To all my FAA friends reading, we all know what a formation flight is because we work them all the time. Standard formation or non-standard formation that are 1 mile in trail or 2, 3, etc. So as I’m about 50 miles out of Anchorage I look up and see this.

So what do you think? Standard or non-standard. No they were not stacked on top of each other because they made the exact turns in the sky perfectly. Either way, it was the first I have seen that high in the sky. 

Ok, tomorrow is a no ride day as it stands right now. Possibility only, is if they get finished quick or by noonish, I may head to Seward early. Should be about a 4 to 5 hour round trip. I also may have a route issue coming up that might not be solved in time for me to ride that ride, and that is the Denali Highway. Apparently they are still plowing snow and repairing washouts from melt. So with that information, I may by-pass that ride and instead sprint to Coldfoot to begin my last northern route to Prudhoe Bay. Once I reach Prudhoe Bay and reverse course, I will swing by the eastside of the Denali Highway and see about running west until I get stopped, and reverse back. It just all depends on the opening time and the date it happens. I will not fret it either way and will make a decision on the fly. You can read about the issue, HERE.

Pictures of the Day

It was fun, but at the end, I was exhausted!

What started out innocent enough for a planned ride for the day was very entertaining, cold, hot, dirty, rough, and to end all, I met some really nice folks today. This is the first time that I do not feel up to posting a blog report because I’m exhausted. I got on the motorcycle around 7:30am and I didn’t finish riding for the day until 6:00pm. I didn’t ride every minute of the day, but I was at all day. So if I ramble or my sentences do mot make sense or I jump around a lot, forgive me.

I left Tok, Alaska with picture perfect skies not a cloud in sight. My goal, other than ending up in Valdez, was to ride into Wrangell-St. Elias all the way to McCarthy. But first story one! As I was driving and taking pictures I over took another rider on a Yamaha  Royal Star packed to the hilt from Washington State. He was having some difficulties navigating through the snow heaves in the road. That Yamaha just didn’t have the suspension to handle them at the posted speed, so he did the smart thing and slowed down. Me? What do you think? Anyways, shortly the road smoothed out and looking in my mirrors here he comes. He followed me a good 50 miles until we came to a T in the road. I saw what looked like a gas station, so I pulled in just to see if he would follow, he did. He was looking for fuel. He saw my Red Tanks and thought worst case, maybe I would bail him out. He said he had 60 miles of fuel left and I told him 13 miles dis a way, and you should be good. I told him, I would not leave him until we reached the station, so we rode together to the fuel station and both fueled up. He was happy and off he went. I wasn’t done. Here comes two Harley riders to examine the bike. We chit chatted about everything bike and then they started telling the whats, whys, and whatevers of Alaska. Yes they were locals, and Debbie Fanatia if your reading this, from Homer. They took up a good hour of my riding time, but it was very enjoyable conversation and informative. Thanks Craig and Todd of Homer, Alaska, it was nice meeting you.

I had to get on the road because I knew the next part of my adventure had a lot of unknowns. Will the dirt be dry, muddy, or lot’s of loose rocks. Muddy would make me do a u-turn because of my tires currently on the bike. Before I made it to the entry point, I bumped into a F800GS BMW rider and I followed him until he stopped in the middle of the road because of a moose. Before we could even start chatting, we both noticed a moose swimming across a pond. That was cool looking and you will have to see that in the pictures. His bike was a rental and there was 3 more riders in trail. Shortly they showed and it turned out, we were all heading the same way, McCarthy. I let the 4 of them go first and that was a big mistake. This road was 60 miles long on way and I got stuck eating dust for 40 of it. Couldn’t take it anymore so I zoom past the guy I following, the slowest guy of the bunch, and had fresh air for the last 20. My bike was the largest of the bunch and should have been the slowest but that beast does handle well on dirt roads as long as they are hard packed. It was obvious to me very soon into the dirt portion that it is time to replace that back tire. She is pretty much bald, just like the rider of the bike.

I finally parted with the GS-guys when we reached McCarthy. I found a hole in the wall restaurant that fixed my a Potato-head Wrap. I wish I would written down everything that was inside because it was good. Eggs, onions, something that was hot like jalapeno’s and stuff I couldn’t id, but it was good. You should take a look at the bridge I had to cross to get back into the woods to McCarthy and the Restaurant, it that’s what it should be called. It felt more like a mobile truck you would see in DC or New York City. The conversations that I had with some of the locals was very entertaining. They looked like they still lived in the 1930’s or later. The one fellow, who had never seen a dentist, was a pan for gold and silver professional. I mean with a pick axe, pan, and a nice rock to sit on. I kid you not!! He was a gentle sole thought and I enjoyed his stories.

Now that I have finished my lunch/supper because it was kind of late, I needed to get out the woods and to Valdez. That is 60 more miles of dirt and then another 80 or so to Valdez. I was rocking the dirt while riding solo to the point I had two thoughts, a broken collar bone and the wife. That’s when I said to me, “stay inside you skill set and stop acting like a 15 year old.” Besides, I didn’t have the tires to be flying through the woods solo, 4200 miles from home. So I backed off a bit and made it safely back to hard surface roads. I was hot, 80 degrees outside, and I was a filthy mess. I stopped before I started to Valdez to make sure everything was still on the bike and functioning. Seems my Spot Tracker quit! I put another set of batteries in, and nothing. It appeared I killed it. So I started my ride to Valdez.

What a ride that turned out to be. Remember I said 80 degrees! 20 miles outside of Valdez and about 3000 elevation, we are talking 49 degrees. Damn! I almost switched up gloves but I started descending into Valdez. There was snow everywhere. I’m talking in places still 3 feet deep and higher. The roads were clear, but there was snow everywhere. The the waterfalls coming down the sides of the mountains with one spilling right out onto the roadway. Checkout the pictures. Rolling into Valdez, back to 65 degrees. I was toast! I no plans to eat the rest of the day because I was just wanted to shower and relax. So writing this blog and feeling sleepy at the same time, is a little hard for to pull off. By the way, the Spot Tracker is fine. It works perfectly when the user, (me), puts the batteries in correctly.

 

One more small note, I do not think Redhead in the below picture was to happy when I told her she was going to have to clean the bike!!!

 

Pictures of the Day.

The pride I feel is large, but the closing of a chapter is final.

To understand what I have to say next you will have had to read the beginning of this adventure HERE. While I was passing Destruction Bay today cutting through the Yukon, something pulled on me as I passed a strange looking monument or funny looking ornaments just sitting in a empty field. I slowed, geared down, and made a u-turn. I swung by the location and did another u-turn and stopped on the side of the road. Click the picture at the beginning of this paragraph and you will see why it might attract someone to stop. What was pulling me there? I shut down the bike, removed my helmet and there was no traffic, no wind, no noise. You could hear nothing, silence. I walked on over to the figures and stones and it turned out to be a tribute to someone who had passed this world in 2005. The read was awesome and it was written by the person that died. I know nothing of him, nor did I know it was there. He must have been fun to be around and was likely respected by a lot of people. His saying is something everyone should read and live by. I will give it to you here. “Follow your Dreams, Be Kind, and Always Remember to Enjoy Everyday of your Life.” That pretty much a great way to live life and I try my best already to do all of the above. Being Kind is by far the hardest, but I have gotten better with age. Personal review only, I’m sure some I work with would beg to differ. That’s ok. That saying is so close to something that I lived by for a long time, “Live life as to have no regrets.” So maybe that is why it spoke to me. Maybe it was Dad telling me that he approved of my adventure and he wanted me to continue to live the remainder of my days this way. Where some might cry, I left this field with a smile on my face.

So about 1:30 my time, I crossed into the United States again and into Alaska with a, “Big Dumb Smile”, as John Cassarly so sincerely txt sometime during my journey this day. He was right on. I had no emotional reaction other than that because I guess I had 14 years to think about it, 2 years of actual planning, 9 days and 4,189 miles to ride it. But what it really does is close the final chapter on my Dad. There is nothing left that was know to me or mentioned to me that he ever wanted or dreamed of. What I have left now is my memories and they are good ones. There was no greater supporter of his kids no matter what they ventured into. He had big expectations of us all and I felt that I really let him down by not finishing college. He bugged me to no end to take the test for the FAA and I took it just shut him up, but in hind sight, once again he had my back. In the end, I know he was proud of me, his other kids, and at least I can proudly say that at least one of his grandsons finished college. We, me entire family still have projects in works and he would really proud of them also. My Dad had an 8th grade education, (not by choice, farming) and he wanted more for his kids, so now you understand his original disappointed in me. Enough of this, the next paragraphs are for my brothers.

John and Todd, you both know that no matter how bad we kids were, and we all had our issues, he never stopped believing in his kids. Remember his words, and if you never heard them here they are, “ Your child my stray to the right of the path or the left of the path, but you as a parent can only do one thing and that is show them the path. You hope that in the end, they come out on the path.” I have a request of Todd because he still lives in our hometown. We kids also knew that Dad enjoyed certain things and also certain things bugged the hell out of him. So Todd, soon go to his grave and drop a few green beans and pour a little black on his head. Then finally, whip out your phone and play Shania Twains, “Love gets me everytime”. Damn he hated that song. I still remember him saying, “Gone and done it, Gone and done it! who!!” That song drives me nuts.” Still make me, Mark Dixon, smile today watching his body language describing that song.  Todd, if your lucky, the ground will rumble after he turns over in his grave. John, Thanks for all the support txt’s. Sometimes the cell service just didn’t allow me to answer in a timely manner, specially the further north I pushed.

To all the folks at work that signed that Bon voyage sheet, know that it is still safely in my Tankbag, even though the words, Bon Voyage have faded. We are still working on a name for Redhead, but she too has made the entire trip and she will get a new modification soon. Yes, the key chain is still attached to the inside of my jacket helping to secure my backup keys in case the old man loses or misplaces the original set. Hopefully all of us will make it home safely because we are not half way through yet. We have another 12,500 miles to go, not even half way!! Damn, I’ll have no ass when I return. BUT, I promise to still be an Ass!

Are you guys expecting me to talk about my ride today? Really? Ok, it was great. Does anyone know what this sign means?

Let’s just say from Whitehorse to Alaskan border they were placed everywhere. Finally they just said screw it and stop putting them up because the snow heaves in the road were in series, one right after another. It got to be a game with me to rate them on a scale from 1 to 5, 5 being the worst. Had I know that the last 2 miles would make all the difference in the world on my rating system. I hit one that threw me up high enough to completely upload my shocks and when they compressed, both my foot pegs scraped the ground. Yes, my ass cleared the seat when the bike started down. After lunch, I forgot to latch my tail bag with my fuel tanks, and when I hit two heaves in a row, smack, fuel tanks in the back. That smarted a little bit but no damage to me or the bike. It might not sound like it, but I was having fun. Standing on my pegs and riding at 80 mph dancing on the heaves and sudden patches of dirt and gravel. I had a big old grin on my face. I’m sure that if Lori would have been within arm reach, she would given me a forehead open hand smack just to cool my jets. Lori’s not here!!! hehe! Next thing that just made me laugh thinking about the occupants and the RV’s themselves was watching them bounce up and down and sway side to side. They looked like a boat being tossed around on the ocean. Does anyone need motion sickness pills. When I stopped for gas and was telling the clerk these stories, she said, “Yep, our version of Disney!” Once in Alaska, it was back to boring smooth roads.

One more story and Lori will roll her eyes on this one. My routine got messed up this morning because the hotel wanted me to remove my extra tires on the bike because they were afraid someone would take them,so it took me extra time to pack up to leave. Plus I was worked up about crossing the border. I went to Tim Horton’s got me a water, bacon egg thingy, and chocolate dip donut to keep my diet intact. Then I went buzzing out of town thinking all is good. Hmm, Fuel???? Did we get fuel? No Old Dix is showing his age. So I quickly reached for the odometer, 65 miles of fuel left. Then Garmin did a fuel search in front of me, 70 miles straight line. In case you do not know, it figures the exact mileage once you say go. After that, 145, and then 250. I think I better turn around an get gas 2 miles backwards. Yeah, I had the extra on tailbag, but I do not want to use it until I exit Canada the next time. I was thinking, what a goober.

I saw almost no wild life today, which I thought was a bit odd. What I did see was some amazing scenery and something everyone should see on there own terms. You are just going to have to go see them for yourself via my Picture of the day link. But Destruction bay, that crack in the ice was cool, and some of the motorcycle shots turned out nice also. To many to list, but I will post a few of my favorites below.

From my house to the Alaska border was 4,189 miles and 9 days on a motorcycle. My run today was a very relaxing 386 miles, giving me a total run so far 4,255. Tomorrow’s forecast looks to be sunny between 42-72 degrees. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! You know how to find tomorrow’s route, right? 2 more legs and I will be taking at least one day off from riding and will be doing maintenance on the BMW. Back tire is starting to really show wear, 10-20% tread left.

Before there is major oversight here because I’m trying to remember everything on the fly, Thanks to my very forgiving wife who had a lot to do in making this trip happen. Next time we come together. So far, the roads just are not as bad as people make you believe. You can do it!!

Pictures of the Day

 

A must read in my opinion, enjoy!

Day 8 and what a day it was.

Here I sit in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada and I have a million things rambling through my mind. I’ve put down 3,869 miles in 8 days and it has almost been without issue. I’ve had some technical problems but I overcame them all and those that I didn’t, I will have checked out in Anchorage. They will not stop me, because they are small. Tomorrow is the day I make the crossing into Alaska and I’m sitting just 298 miles from the border. Seems like like such a small distance considering what I traveled so far, but the mission will be completed. It’s a different kind of closure and it is one I’m proud of and it’s been a great experience to date. Someone must be shinning on me because if I had a dial in my hand and picked my own weather, I could not have wished for better less those 2 days early in the ride. Really it was only half of the ride each day that was bad, so I’ve been lucky. Tomorrow’s weather forecast is to be sunny with temperatures ranging from 41-72. Can’t ask for much more than that.

Today’s adventure was made more pleasant because I rode an extra 118 miles the day before so I didn’t have to push today. The weather was sunny and brisk the first part of the morning, but by 9am I was taking gear off. I never even plugged the heated gear up because it was that warm. Wild life? It seemed like I was stopping ever 4 to 5 miles taking photo’s of wild life. Sheep and or Ram, Bears, Moose, Caribou, and Buffalo. Eventually I just started driving past them because they were everywhere.

My Buffalo story is the best so I will tell you that one. So in the distance I could see what looked more like herd then just a couple of Buffalo. So I started slowing and sure enough, I would estimate 30 or more walking on both sides of the road and some in the middle. I stopped far enough back to take pictures and what I felt was good enough distance for a escape u-turn if needed. I figured my reliable ride could out run them. Inside this herd were calf and we all know how protective mothers can be with their young in the wild. Around the corner comes a very large truck and slowly proceeds to drive through them and they parted to allow him through. Sure, not even a Buffalo going to mess with a 20 ton truck. As the truck passed me, I put my camera away, put my ride in gear and slowly started heading for the herd. I’m moving along at 5-10 mph, riding the clutch, rear brake, and I figured if anyone of them charge me, I would open her up and see whose faster. As I approached one mother and calf, she, the mother, slightly turned toward me, 10-15 feet away, stiffened up, and snorted. Yes, I could hear it clearly and I knew it meant, intruder you are to close. Mark applied and little more throttle and got my little butt through all that Buffalo meat. What struck me is when in the United States, they pretty much make sure none of us dumb Americans get anywhere near these animals, but here in the Yukon, use your best judgment. Let me just say this. I was close enough to tell you they have beady eyes and lot’s of mass everywhere else.

Scenery? Wow, I could sit here and tell you what I saw but it would be better if you just click the picture link and see for yourself. All the lakes are still cover with 80% ice. Here is something I have never experienced before. Coming around the corner or mountains edge, I could see the lake in the distance. The temperature was 68-70. As I approached the lake on the same elevation the temperature started to drop. What would you expect, 5 or 10 degrees? Nope, more like 30. When I got to the waters edge, about 15 feet away, the temp drop to 41 degrees according to the bike. Damn that was a pretty sight and one that must be seen in person to take in the size and colors.

I did have a little issue with my GPS today in that it just locked up. I could not turn it off and the screen was not responsive. Easy to fix when you got help, so I let the Redhead remove the battery pack and we were all good again. I’m also finding it hard to believe that no one has suggested a name for the Redhead. Shortcake doesn’t work for me.

The two pictures above I feel I need to explain just a little bit. It basically all began with someone accidently knocking over a post and being ordered to fix it. Then he did a little custom work and it’s has been snowballing since. Click this to read more.

Tomorrow is going to a short ride by the standards I have set so far. 386 miles to reach Tok, Alaska and like I said, the border is 298. So for you East Coasters, I would estimate a border crossing between 3-4pm your time. I may not have cell service so notification might have to wait till I reach civilization. My Spot Tracker should be able to show when that happens also if you must know.

Pictures of the Day

End of Week 1 and what a day it was!!!!!

Where do I begin? It didn’t start off all that great, but what a change by the end of the day. I was up early, 5:30am and this is getting to be routine. I knew I had a lot of miles to put down today, so I wanted an early go. As I said yesterday, when I filled the motorcycle up, I also filled my reserve 4 gallons this time for me and anyone else that might be desperate for gas. Pulling out of Valleyview it was 50 degrees and overcast and no rain in the forecast. What the hell do they know. It rained off and on for 75-100 miles but not heavy enough for me to cover my tankbag or put my Farkle over gloves on. It was just enough to be irritating. I was pretty determined to lay 300 miles down before lunch so the rest of the day could be on cruise control. What I didn’t count on was that the last 125-150 miles was in the mountains and curvy. Well I can’t do 75 mph in the mountains with all the crap I’m carrying, plus watching for animals, trucks, and cars, more on that later. Plus, I was trying to take pictures while moving. Did I ever mention I hate stopping?

I took my first stop in Dawson Creek for a minute stretch among other things. Yes the same Dawson Creek the show was based on. Small but lot’s of traffic and lot’s of lumber. I mean raw lumber as in trees stack 3 stories high waiting to be processed. I should have stopped and taken a picture, but driving was more on my mind. As I was leaving town, I could swear I just saw snow covered mountains in the background but just couldn’t quite make them out. Up and down the small hills I went trying to peek above the tree tops but nothing. Another hour slipped by before I got a full on view of those mountains and yes, they were snow capped. Beautiful is all I can say.

It was an interesting ride I had looking at those mountains getting closer and closer. I was looking at the GPS and it looked like I was never going to cross them or ride through them. The roads also changed dramatically. I went from 4 lane highways to 2 lane highways. No speed change and that is because in the beginning they were hilly but long and straight. I measured one visually at 7 miles visibility. Hard to explain, but I could see the curve in the distance, so I looked down and waited till I got to the curve and did the math. I really started to worry about my next fuel stop for the first time. Why? Not much in front of me with the search feature of my Garmin. I can force it to scan everything on my route in front of me and it was sparse. I picked one of 3 that was 100 miles in front because it had a name, Husky. The station before it just said Gas Station in my GPS. Really? The one I picked was closed, but when I passed the one 4 miles behind me, it was open. Reversing course now!!! My normal fill up in Virginia on this bike when I’m almost empty is $26 dollars, it cost me $48 dollars to fill-up in no man’s land.So, 28.481 liters is 7.52 gallons and I spent $48.39, that’s $6.43 a gallon. Damn! As my Dad use to always say, “Beggars can’t be choosey!!” Yes I had my 4 gallon reserve, but I do not want to use that until I get in trouble. Right across the road was a decent looking restaurant that actually made a killer sandwich. I could not finish the meal, to much food. Definitely hit the spot. Picture of the inside of the restaurant, will be in the pictures of the day.

I have to back step just a little bit to tell this next story. When I was in Dawson Creek, a man approached me to talk about the motorcycle, where I was from, and where I was heading. He left me with this knowledge. About 40 clicks down the highway, you will see a mandatory brake check area for trucks. When you pass through there  the road has a 8% grade, take it easy because I lost my best friend there. I will not give certain details. But he hit a snow heave in the road and lost control. Second the bridge is metal graded and half mile long. Keep you speed at 30 and you’ll be fine. I told him thanks and we parted. Everything he said played out, but because I was following trucks, speed was not an issue. Dirt in my lungs was, gross! The bridge? Well it wiggled the bike but the gyro effect of the tires spinning keeps it going pretty much straight, so I didn’t get that. Now, if one was to brake fast when it was wet, that would have given me a pucker factor 7. Scale 1 to 10, 10 being the worse. Don’t make me explain pucker factor. Gary Mace, I’ll let you have this one if anyone ask. Did I say big oil in Canada? Damn stuff is everywhere. The ratio of Truck washes to car washes is 20 to 1. You’re screwed if you have a car. Did that make you smile?

Finally I got to use the curved side of my tires today. I didn’t forget how to lean but when I saw that first real corner coming at me, I thought for a second it was a mirage. Hey, it has been almost 2000 miles without a serious corner to navigate. I can prove it. I’ll take a picture of my tires and you will see a flat spot on both front and back. Back is normal, but the front? Not so much. I did have to take it somewhat easy though for many factors. One, I’m 3000 miles from home. Two, if I did something dumb in a corner, a 5’2” monster would be in my stuff. Three, animals! Today I got the pleasure of seeing (1) Moose, (2) Black Bears, (2) Rams, and (2)Caribou. I used my camera so much in the earlier part of the day, I had no battery left except for shot of bear 1.

I saw a lot of snow laying on the side of the road and according to some of the locals, it is only a week old. Sorry I missed that snow event. Once again those same locals confirmed for me that most of May and all of June is their driest time of year. I hope that holds true for a couple more weeks. This morning the temperature was 55 but the high for the day was 77 and partly cloudy. It was overall an awesome day that I’m very thankful for.

Today officially ends week 1 of my trip. Today I burned another 554 miles on the Canadian Asphalt. 3386 miles to date and averaging 483 miles a day. Tomorrow’s weather is looking as good if not better than today but it should be a little cooler. Two days away from the border and I’m looking forward to full filling this goal because of all the time I spent planning and all the miles I have laid down to date.

Lastly, in the picture of the day, I have 3 pictures that I hope play in series with the Redhead. First it shows just how nasty my windshield got after just one days worth of travel. I cleaned it before I left this morning. Then we see Redhead trying to clean it. The last we see Redhead at Toad Road, British Columbia with an awesome background of a lake and snow capped mountain. Enjoy the shots.

Pictures of the Day

Day 6 was another awesome weather day.

Nothing special happened today which means life is good. If there is no drama with roads, weather, body aches, and or breakdowns, then life is good. I was up by 5:15am local time because I would assume that my body is still functioning on East Coast time. I laid there for about 5 or 10 minutes and just decided, let’s get this thing going. So I showered, ate breakfast, packed the bike, fueled the bike, and off I went into the wild blue yonder. That was fun. I’ve never really had a chance to use that saying, so there it is.

Like yesterday I awoke to low 40’s which soon were reach the 50’s and beyond. By the time I reached my one night destination, it was 70 degrees on the button. There is not much here in Valley View, but all human needs can be found. Have you ever eaten at a Tim Horton’s? Not bad. Their online so I will let those that are curious, Google away.

I do not have the exact figure, but I laid another 535 miles down today which caused my motorcycle to flip the odometer over 29,000 miles. The R1200GSA will need every fluid dropped by the time I get home, because in case you forgot the number, I should be laying down a minimum of 16,500 miles on this trip. After I run tomorrow’s leg, this trip will be over 3000 miles in a week. Yep, tomorrow will end week 1 and I’m not in Alaska yet. To put these numbers in your mind. If I would have started this trip with the destination of Los Angles, Ca., I would have arrived 300 miles ago. That is about a 2600 mile trip and I did that in 6 days. I still have about 1400 – 1500 miles to go. That is just to cross the Alaska boundary. To get to Anchorage, well let’s just not worry about that right now. Mission one, cross that border.

My views today was much like yesterday, flat and not much to report on. Someone at work wondered if I had been through a particular city and today I passed through it. Lloydminster, was the entry point into the province Alberta. Lloydminster was big enough to warrant a Wal-Mart. I just can’t get away from that store. They taken over the world. Did I mention that Canada is so much like the United States, that I can hardly believe I’m in another country. Yea, they say some thing's differently, but overall everything is the same. They have every store we do plus a few others. So now my question is, why does Chris Lloyd know about Lloydminster, Alberta, Canada other than the obvious? Did he visit here? Is it named after him? Someone start quizzing.

I only took a few pictures today so enjoy what little I have to offer today. Tomorrow I expect the landscape will be changing into a more mountainous terrain. Once I cross into British Columbia I will turning almost due north most of the day. Then hard west the last 120 miles. I plan on making the extra length tomorrow so the next two days will be shorter and easier on me. 552 is what I must ride tomorrow and it will be the longest leg to date.

One more little story and I will close this post with my pictures. Tomorrow I will top of my built in fuel tank before leaving, but this time, I will fill my 2 Red Reserves. Things are getting more and more spread out and then there is this reason. Today I saw a motorcyclist pulled off on the side of the road and even though I was not a local, I stopped. He was talking on the phone a few hundred feet away from the bike. With all the wind noise and highway noise, he didn’t even hear or see me stopped. I blew my horn and got his attention. He waved me off letting me know all was good, so I pulled away. What if he was out of gas? I would not have been able to help and I really didn’t want to at that point, offer my remaining fuel. I had tools to fix almost anything, but that was not needed. So tomorrow I fill the tanks.

In my pictures of the day, the train trusses were very well built and cool to look at in person. Resemble an old woody roller coaster. I should have known Canada was an oil producer, but I forgot. Long range views straight down the road. Lastly Red Head was helping me pump gas today and told me when she batted her eyes, we’re full.

Pictures of the day