Day 1 - Lift off.
"Every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end."
-Lucious Annaues Seneca
Long way home from here.
Wednesday August 24, 2011.
Departure day… well at least as soon as I got the half day of work over with. Oh, and after I go to the post office.. oh, and after I get everything packed on the bike. Urggh!
I thought I was a genius this morning when I woke up early and called the post office to see what time they opened. I didn’t really expect anybody to answer but was hoping for a machine to tell me. Imagine my surprise when a real live honest to goodness person answered the phone. I was amazed. This was at like 6:00 am. I asked the guy what time I could drop off a package. He said anytime if you use the automatic thingie. Automatic thingie? What the heck? That sounds awesome! I tossed the two boxes I needed to ship out on the bike and headed on over. There it was, all light up by spot lights like a beautiful Christmas tree, the automatic shipping center. I did my thing at that and got my labels all printed out and postage paid and was just about to send them down the shoot when I noticed a sticker on the shoot. “Packages over 13 ounces must be delivered to a retail attendant before shipping for security purposes.” Oh crap! I called the number back I had called earlier and I could actually hear the phone ringing behind the wall. I actually heard the guy answer it. I asked him about it and sure enough… I couldn’t drop off the packages I had until 10:00am because they weighed over 13 ounces. Well what is the freaking point of this machine??? That’s all I wanted to say but as he was droning on about security and whatnot I knew it was a lost cause and told him thanks and went on my way back to the house and then left for work.
I got out of there around 1:15 and got back to the post office only to find out that I could have dropped them off because I was using the “if it fits it ships” containers. How that makes it any less of a security risk I don’t know, and I didn’t ask. I just smiled and said “oh, good to know.” and took off. Freaking post office.. it’s no wonder it’s going broke.
So I finally got loaded up. I’m not sure where I can put anything else on the bike. The weight concerns me because it is significant. I know it’s going to cause the rear tire to wear faster which is something I’m already concerned about. You can see the pics to get an idea of whats on there. The two tires are probably going to be ditched somewhere in Canada after I get back to something like civilization other than that everything will have to stay though. Mostly because I didn’t want to pay to ship it all back. 2 boxes cost $30 and I could have easily filled 5 more of those little boxes.
I desperately wanted to get to at least Tok before I gave up for the night. That’s roughly 350 miles away and I did get to within ten miles of it before I hit a campground and just chilled out around 11:00. I cooked a little food – mountain home chicken and rice. I like this one OK, but it needs more chicken and less rice. Not as good as the others. I built a little fire but ran out of wood only to find tons of wood about 20 yards away cut and stacked just for the purpose of campfires. Dangit! Oh well, it’s bed time anyway. Tomorrow I have to decide whether to do top of the world or not… I’m leaning toward not since I was supposed to be at least to chicken on the first day and that’s still 2 hours away.. plus I have to get through customs into canada, across the Yukon river on a ferry and from Dalton to Whitehorse on the Yukon highway before I call it quits tomorrow. That would get me pretty much back on my schedule and I would be very happy. We’ll see how it goes.
The ride was really pretty though. You can check out the pictures below. At times it felt like I had the world to myself. It was really fantastic to set the throttle lock at no particular speed, lean back on my pack, and just watch the landscape roll by. I could do this for a very long time and be perfectly happy with life.
One of my other favorite things has been to just stop by the side of the road and find a nice place to sit down and just look around. I know what you're thinking. "Isn't that what you do when you camp?" Not really. I normally throw the tent up, cook, sit by the fire a bit, and then crawl in the tent and start typing and go to sleep shortly after that. Riding down the road isn't the same either. The view is constantly changing and the small details get missed. Like the moose pictured below. I saw him while I had stopped to pee and do one of these "just chill" things. I would have never seen him if I had been riding through. He never even realized I was there and I watched him for at least 15 minutes as he was browsing for food. Ahhhh, I don't know. Call this my "I know it's almost over" funk and let me ramble a bit I guess. Back to the point. . .
Traffic was really rare after I got past Glennallen. It was a lot flatter than I expected but there are always mountains in the background. I really enjoyed the ride this afternoon. I'm pretty bummed to be leaving Alaska. I have my regrets of course. I am having those "I could have went there, or I could have spent more time here" kind of thoughts. My brain keeps telling me it's OK and I'll be back. I sincerely hope that turns out to be true but lets be honest here.... how many times in your life do you have a reason to be somewhere for a month and then come back to reality?
I remember a couple of years ago a friend and I had traveled to the dragons tail (Deal's Gap TN/NC) and started talking to a guy on a BMW that was all decked out for touring. After talking to him a bit he explained he had been riding for the last 2 months. Both the friend and myself expressed our jealousy of being able to do that. The guy explained it was easy if you wanted it bad enough. What he was doing would be amazing but there has to be an "in between" possibility. The way he is doing things is that he works maybe 9 months a year and spends the rest of his time exploring. This wasn't a young guy, but he wasn't old enough to be retired either. I assume he wasn't married or at the very least had an extremely understanding wife. Bleh, time for bed.
Mileage (according to google maps)
Anchorage - Tok - 318 miles.
Departure day… well at least as soon as I got the half day of work over with. Oh, and after I go to the post office.. oh, and after I get everything packed on the bike. Urggh!
I thought I was a genius this morning when I woke up early and called the post office to see what time they opened. I didn’t really expect anybody to answer but was hoping for a machine to tell me. Imagine my surprise when a real live honest to goodness person answered the phone. I was amazed. This was at like 6:00 am. I asked the guy what time I could drop off a package. He said anytime if you use the automatic thingie. Automatic thingie? What the heck? That sounds awesome! I tossed the two boxes I needed to ship out on the bike and headed on over. There it was, all light up by spot lights like a beautiful Christmas tree, the automatic shipping center. I did my thing at that and got my labels all printed out and postage paid and was just about to send them down the shoot when I noticed a sticker on the shoot. “Packages over 13 ounces must be delivered to a retail attendant before shipping for security purposes.” Oh crap! I called the number back I had called earlier and I could actually hear the phone ringing behind the wall. I actually heard the guy answer it. I asked him about it and sure enough… I couldn’t drop off the packages I had until 10:00am because they weighed over 13 ounces. Well what is the freaking point of this machine??? That’s all I wanted to say but as he was droning on about security and whatnot I knew it was a lost cause and told him thanks and went on my way back to the house and then left for work.
I got out of there around 1:15 and got back to the post office only to find out that I could have dropped them off because I was using the “if it fits it ships” containers. How that makes it any less of a security risk I don’t know, and I didn’t ask. I just smiled and said “oh, good to know.” and took off. Freaking post office.. it’s no wonder it’s going broke.
So I finally got loaded up. I’m not sure where I can put anything else on the bike. The weight concerns me because it is significant. I know it’s going to cause the rear tire to wear faster which is something I’m already concerned about. You can see the pics to get an idea of whats on there. The two tires are probably going to be ditched somewhere in Canada after I get back to something like civilization other than that everything will have to stay though. Mostly because I didn’t want to pay to ship it all back. 2 boxes cost $30 and I could have easily filled 5 more of those little boxes.
I desperately wanted to get to at least Tok before I gave up for the night. That’s roughly 350 miles away and I did get to within ten miles of it before I hit a campground and just chilled out around 11:00. I cooked a little food – mountain home chicken and rice. I like this one OK, but it needs more chicken and less rice. Not as good as the others. I built a little fire but ran out of wood only to find tons of wood about 20 yards away cut and stacked just for the purpose of campfires. Dangit! Oh well, it’s bed time anyway. Tomorrow I have to decide whether to do top of the world or not… I’m leaning toward not since I was supposed to be at least to chicken on the first day and that’s still 2 hours away.. plus I have to get through customs into canada, across the Yukon river on a ferry and from Dalton to Whitehorse on the Yukon highway before I call it quits tomorrow. That would get me pretty much back on my schedule and I would be very happy. We’ll see how it goes.
The ride was really pretty though. You can check out the pictures below. At times it felt like I had the world to myself. It was really fantastic to set the throttle lock at no particular speed, lean back on my pack, and just watch the landscape roll by. I could do this for a very long time and be perfectly happy with life.
One of my other favorite things has been to just stop by the side of the road and find a nice place to sit down and just look around. I know what you're thinking. "Isn't that what you do when you camp?" Not really. I normally throw the tent up, cook, sit by the fire a bit, and then crawl in the tent and start typing and go to sleep shortly after that. Riding down the road isn't the same either. The view is constantly changing and the small details get missed. Like the moose pictured below. I saw him while I had stopped to pee and do one of these "just chill" things. I would have never seen him if I had been riding through. He never even realized I was there and I watched him for at least 15 minutes as he was browsing for food. Ahhhh, I don't know. Call this my "I know it's almost over" funk and let me ramble a bit I guess. Back to the point. . .
Traffic was really rare after I got past Glennallen. It was a lot flatter than I expected but there are always mountains in the background. I really enjoyed the ride this afternoon. I'm pretty bummed to be leaving Alaska. I have my regrets of course. I am having those "I could have went there, or I could have spent more time here" kind of thoughts. My brain keeps telling me it's OK and I'll be back. I sincerely hope that turns out to be true but lets be honest here.... how many times in your life do you have a reason to be somewhere for a month and then come back to reality?
I remember a couple of years ago a friend and I had traveled to the dragons tail (Deal's Gap TN/NC) and started talking to a guy on a BMW that was all decked out for touring. After talking to him a bit he explained he had been riding for the last 2 months. Both the friend and myself expressed our jealousy of being able to do that. The guy explained it was easy if you wanted it bad enough. What he was doing would be amazing but there has to be an "in between" possibility. The way he is doing things is that he works maybe 9 months a year and spends the rest of his time exploring. This wasn't a young guy, but he wasn't old enough to be retired either. I assume he wasn't married or at the very least had an extremely understanding wife. Bleh, time for bed.
Mileage (according to google maps)
Anchorage - Tok - 318 miles.
|
Day 2: Chicken! (and Oh! Canada!)
"Canadians are generally indistinguishable from Americans, and the surest way of telling the two apart is to make the observation to a Canadian."
-Richard Staines
Ptarmigan!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
It got cold last night, very cold. I stayed mostly warm but I could tell it was chilly outside. No worries. It should start getting warmer from here on out. This should be the furthest North I will camp. I left out this morning from that campsite around 9:00 am and was happy about that. I’ve figured out it takes me anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half from the time I wake up to be rolling again. I’m sure I can do it faster but getting everything back in bags and back on the bike takes some doing.
I stopped for gas and breakfast in Tok. The weather was already warming up and it was a beautiful day. I just now realized that I didn’t take a single picture of Tok which bugs me. Not sure why I didn’t.. I guess I was just in a hurry and the camera was in the tank bag. I normally keep it out and wrapped around the tank bag so It’s right there for easy picture taking on the fly. I decided to skip Taylor/top of the world/Yukon and just hit the Alcan to save time… until I got to the turn off. I made a split second decision to go for it. It’s one of the things that I’ve been looking forward to doing so I decided even if it did mess up my schedule I was still doing it. I just gotta go see Chicken Alaska!
The road was pretty and not too bad condition wise. I expected worse after Hatchers pass. It had pot holes sure but not like HP did. I took some pictures along the way but I really pushed pretty hard because I knew it was 300 more miles than the other route to get to Whitehorse. I did stop in Chicken at the saloon and “downtown” gift shop. Downtown is 3 buildings and that’s it. A café, a saloon, and a gift shop. There is one other gift shop about a mile down the road.. and that’s it. Nothing else in town. Awesome. Pop: 8 in the winter, 15 in the summer not counting the three legged dog that lives there. The whole town is just a cool little place. They sell bumper stickers that say “Where the hell is Chicken Alaska?” and I really wanted one but they only had them in jumbo size so I could never put it on the bike anyway. I should have gotten one and put it on Tonya’s car though. I love the story of the town too. They originally wanted to call it Ptarmigan because they are common there and they eat them a lot, or did in the past anyway. Nobody knew how to spell it correctly though so they just called it Chicken. That is just hilarious to me.
After that I went on my way and found the customs checkpoint into Canada. I was sitting there expecting some burley looking customs agent to walk out when this stunning redhead came sauntering out the door asking me for my passport with the sweetest French-Canadian accent ever. It’s a good thing I had my helmet on so she couldn’t see my slack-jawed “uhhhhh….” expression. ***added later*** This girl haunts me! She has taken on "girl of my dreams" status. I wonder how much my mental picture of her and what she actually looks like have in common at this point. Gorgeous! ***end of addition***
I got all checked out there and went on my way. The road in Canada turned back to pavement and I was happy about it. The dirt wears on me after 50-60 miles. I was a bit surprised to find about 5 miles down the road that Canada had long stretches of dirt as well. Most were no big deal but a few I hit had loose gravel on them like they had just put new stuff down. That is terrible news on a motorcycle. Loose packed gravel is about the worst thing, outside of ice, that I can think of for a motorcycle. The front wheel is constantly shifting directions and digging into the loose gravel. I hate it.
Once I got past all of that I was just bee-lining for Dawson. I got there and basically pulled right on to the ferry boat. Just good timing! Once I got over the bridge and my luck ran out. It started raining and I stopped to get gas and my card was declined. My Visa == everywhere you want to be == checkcard was declined… there I said it twice so you can understand my surprise. I called my bank a month ago and told them I would be in Canada down to the exact date! They said "no problem, we've got it taken care of." Luckily I had some American cash. My $20 worth of gas and $5 worth of snacks magically turned into $30 due to the exchange rate. Yes, I know it’s not even remotely close to accurate they just gipped me but what was I going to do? I said thanks and left. (just so you know 100 canadian is equal to ~95 american so you can do the math. I got ripped for about $4 roughly)
I decided I should probably call the credit card company and see what was up. No cell signal.. that’s odd. I expected cell signal in Dalton. It’s a pretty busy place population wise.
Oh well, I got gas and I guess I’ll get up with them later.
To make the long story short. My phone refuses to get a cell signal even when I know damn good and well there is a signal there. I talked to a guy at the next gas station and he showed me his phone had signal. I checked all the settings and no dice. I’m gonna try and call them tomorrow using a wifi signal .. same thing with my bank. I am about 50 kilometers outside of White horse in a campground.
I had my first experience with trying to buy a pack of cigarettes in Canada here as well. There was a young girl behind the counter when I went in to pay for my gas and grab a pack of smokes. (yeah I know.. pharmacist that smokes.. WTF?) My first thought was "great, she's going to have to find somebody old enough to sell them." due to the law in the states that prevents anybody under 18 from selling ciggies. I looked up behind the counter to see if they had my rather obscure brand of choice and realized they may not even have cigs. All they had was a black curtain hanging up behind the counter. Very odd. I asked her about cigarettes and she looked at me like I was an alien. "Yeah, they are right there." and pointed at the curtain. Odd. I tried to act cool about it and was just said.. "Oh, I need a pack of marlboro's" assuming that was pretty much a universal brand. I know they have them in Europe so surely Canada has them. The only reply I got was "What?" Then I gave up trying not to seem like a tourist and just laid it all out. "I have no idea what kind of cigarettes you have but I want some. Just get me a pack of whatever you sell the most of ok?" I feel like I should clarify I didn't say it with an attitude. It was just a honest request. She reached behind the curtain and pulled out a strangely shaped box and handed them to me. "Most American's buy these." hahaha I have been outed! I didn't even look at them and just agreed to it hoping it wasn't some kind of weird clove cigarette or something. It turns out they are about like any other cig. Not that I expected it to be different really. The packaging was odd though. Instead of the normal 20 count this had 30 cigarettes in 2 15 count slides sitting beside each other. So put two packs of cigarettes beside each other and thats roughly what it looked like. The shape isn't very "pocket friendly" which didn't matter to me as I keep them in the tank bag anyway. The whole experience was just odd. The price was quite disturbing as well. $12 for 1.5 packs of cigs. Ouch! That is even worse than in Alaska! So I bought a pack of cigs from a 13-14 yo sight unseen from behind a curtain like I was getting porn or something.
I had the mountain home buffalo chicken tonight and used some tortilla wraps with it to make tacos. It was goooooood stuff but I’m happy I brought Rolaids. I’ll be buying more of that for sure. I’m gonna try making wraps out of some of the other stuff too just to add some more flavor to the food. I got some apple sauce things that are going pretty good as well.
So I’m mostly still on schedule (not counting the 300 miles I was behind from day 1) and I did the Top of the world/Taylor & Yukon highway. Tomorrow I will officially be on the Alcan and most likely start on the Cassiar highway…. After I adjust the headlight. I thought I did but I didn’t do enough. The highbeams are still too high. The low beams are more like the highbeams right now but they don’t have the long distance punch.
The ride today wasn't all that interesting once I out of Dawson. It reminded me a little of being in Tennessee. Lots of pine trees, rolling hills, and plenty of going about 2x the speed limit. The only difference was I'm used to being on an interstate highway and this was just a 2 lane road. The speed limit is 90kmh but most of the time I was running 80mph.. which is way over 90kmh and people were still passing me. I could get used to this! I understand it though. The distances between towns is so long that it just takes forever and the traffic is light plus you never see cops so why not hammer down?!
I ended up riding pretty late tonight. I finally gave up and hit this campground about 11:00. I feel like I should have covered more ground than I did. The best I can tell I didn't even cover 500 miles today but I feel like I rode a 1,000 miles? I did an odd thing tonight though. I stopped around 9pm to watch the sunset at a rest area and ate dinner while I was there. It was a nice change. I had a view and a picnic table. Plus I didn't have to figure out what to do with trash and all that. I could just toss it in the can and go on. It made setting up the tent and stuff easier too. I didn't even need to open the "food" box on the bike. Just toss the tent up and I was good to go. Of course I ended up breaking into the food box for a snack and water but eh.. whatever.
Good night!
Mileage
Tok Ak - Fox Lake YT CA - 473 miles (google maps)
+318 = 791
It got cold last night, very cold. I stayed mostly warm but I could tell it was chilly outside. No worries. It should start getting warmer from here on out. This should be the furthest North I will camp. I left out this morning from that campsite around 9:00 am and was happy about that. I’ve figured out it takes me anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half from the time I wake up to be rolling again. I’m sure I can do it faster but getting everything back in bags and back on the bike takes some doing.
I stopped for gas and breakfast in Tok. The weather was already warming up and it was a beautiful day. I just now realized that I didn’t take a single picture of Tok which bugs me. Not sure why I didn’t.. I guess I was just in a hurry and the camera was in the tank bag. I normally keep it out and wrapped around the tank bag so It’s right there for easy picture taking on the fly. I decided to skip Taylor/top of the world/Yukon and just hit the Alcan to save time… until I got to the turn off. I made a split second decision to go for it. It’s one of the things that I’ve been looking forward to doing so I decided even if it did mess up my schedule I was still doing it. I just gotta go see Chicken Alaska!
The road was pretty and not too bad condition wise. I expected worse after Hatchers pass. It had pot holes sure but not like HP did. I took some pictures along the way but I really pushed pretty hard because I knew it was 300 more miles than the other route to get to Whitehorse. I did stop in Chicken at the saloon and “downtown” gift shop. Downtown is 3 buildings and that’s it. A café, a saloon, and a gift shop. There is one other gift shop about a mile down the road.. and that’s it. Nothing else in town. Awesome. Pop: 8 in the winter, 15 in the summer not counting the three legged dog that lives there. The whole town is just a cool little place. They sell bumper stickers that say “Where the hell is Chicken Alaska?” and I really wanted one but they only had them in jumbo size so I could never put it on the bike anyway. I should have gotten one and put it on Tonya’s car though. I love the story of the town too. They originally wanted to call it Ptarmigan because they are common there and they eat them a lot, or did in the past anyway. Nobody knew how to spell it correctly though so they just called it Chicken. That is just hilarious to me.
After that I went on my way and found the customs checkpoint into Canada. I was sitting there expecting some burley looking customs agent to walk out when this stunning redhead came sauntering out the door asking me for my passport with the sweetest French-Canadian accent ever. It’s a good thing I had my helmet on so she couldn’t see my slack-jawed “uhhhhh….” expression. ***added later*** This girl haunts me! She has taken on "girl of my dreams" status. I wonder how much my mental picture of her and what she actually looks like have in common at this point. Gorgeous! ***end of addition***
I got all checked out there and went on my way. The road in Canada turned back to pavement and I was happy about it. The dirt wears on me after 50-60 miles. I was a bit surprised to find about 5 miles down the road that Canada had long stretches of dirt as well. Most were no big deal but a few I hit had loose gravel on them like they had just put new stuff down. That is terrible news on a motorcycle. Loose packed gravel is about the worst thing, outside of ice, that I can think of for a motorcycle. The front wheel is constantly shifting directions and digging into the loose gravel. I hate it.
Once I got past all of that I was just bee-lining for Dawson. I got there and basically pulled right on to the ferry boat. Just good timing! Once I got over the bridge and my luck ran out. It started raining and I stopped to get gas and my card was declined. My Visa == everywhere you want to be == checkcard was declined… there I said it twice so you can understand my surprise. I called my bank a month ago and told them I would be in Canada down to the exact date! They said "no problem, we've got it taken care of." Luckily I had some American cash. My $20 worth of gas and $5 worth of snacks magically turned into $30 due to the exchange rate. Yes, I know it’s not even remotely close to accurate they just gipped me but what was I going to do? I said thanks and left. (just so you know 100 canadian is equal to ~95 american so you can do the math. I got ripped for about $4 roughly)
I decided I should probably call the credit card company and see what was up. No cell signal.. that’s odd. I expected cell signal in Dalton. It’s a pretty busy place population wise.
Oh well, I got gas and I guess I’ll get up with them later.
To make the long story short. My phone refuses to get a cell signal even when I know damn good and well there is a signal there. I talked to a guy at the next gas station and he showed me his phone had signal. I checked all the settings and no dice. I’m gonna try and call them tomorrow using a wifi signal .. same thing with my bank. I am about 50 kilometers outside of White horse in a campground.
I had my first experience with trying to buy a pack of cigarettes in Canada here as well. There was a young girl behind the counter when I went in to pay for my gas and grab a pack of smokes. (yeah I know.. pharmacist that smokes.. WTF?) My first thought was "great, she's going to have to find somebody old enough to sell them." due to the law in the states that prevents anybody under 18 from selling ciggies. I looked up behind the counter to see if they had my rather obscure brand of choice and realized they may not even have cigs. All they had was a black curtain hanging up behind the counter. Very odd. I asked her about cigarettes and she looked at me like I was an alien. "Yeah, they are right there." and pointed at the curtain. Odd. I tried to act cool about it and was just said.. "Oh, I need a pack of marlboro's" assuming that was pretty much a universal brand. I know they have them in Europe so surely Canada has them. The only reply I got was "What?" Then I gave up trying not to seem like a tourist and just laid it all out. "I have no idea what kind of cigarettes you have but I want some. Just get me a pack of whatever you sell the most of ok?" I feel like I should clarify I didn't say it with an attitude. It was just a honest request. She reached behind the curtain and pulled out a strangely shaped box and handed them to me. "Most American's buy these." hahaha I have been outed! I didn't even look at them and just agreed to it hoping it wasn't some kind of weird clove cigarette or something. It turns out they are about like any other cig. Not that I expected it to be different really. The packaging was odd though. Instead of the normal 20 count this had 30 cigarettes in 2 15 count slides sitting beside each other. So put two packs of cigarettes beside each other and thats roughly what it looked like. The shape isn't very "pocket friendly" which didn't matter to me as I keep them in the tank bag anyway. The whole experience was just odd. The price was quite disturbing as well. $12 for 1.5 packs of cigs. Ouch! That is even worse than in Alaska! So I bought a pack of cigs from a 13-14 yo sight unseen from behind a curtain like I was getting porn or something.
I had the mountain home buffalo chicken tonight and used some tortilla wraps with it to make tacos. It was goooooood stuff but I’m happy I brought Rolaids. I’ll be buying more of that for sure. I’m gonna try making wraps out of some of the other stuff too just to add some more flavor to the food. I got some apple sauce things that are going pretty good as well.
So I’m mostly still on schedule (not counting the 300 miles I was behind from day 1) and I did the Top of the world/Taylor & Yukon highway. Tomorrow I will officially be on the Alcan and most likely start on the Cassiar highway…. After I adjust the headlight. I thought I did but I didn’t do enough. The highbeams are still too high. The low beams are more like the highbeams right now but they don’t have the long distance punch.
The ride today wasn't all that interesting once I out of Dawson. It reminded me a little of being in Tennessee. Lots of pine trees, rolling hills, and plenty of going about 2x the speed limit. The only difference was I'm used to being on an interstate highway and this was just a 2 lane road. The speed limit is 90kmh but most of the time I was running 80mph.. which is way over 90kmh and people were still passing me. I could get used to this! I understand it though. The distances between towns is so long that it just takes forever and the traffic is light plus you never see cops so why not hammer down?!
I ended up riding pretty late tonight. I finally gave up and hit this campground about 11:00. I feel like I should have covered more ground than I did. The best I can tell I didn't even cover 500 miles today but I feel like I rode a 1,000 miles? I did an odd thing tonight though. I stopped around 9pm to watch the sunset at a rest area and ate dinner while I was there. It was a nice change. I had a view and a picnic table. Plus I didn't have to figure out what to do with trash and all that. I could just toss it in the can and go on. It made setting up the tent and stuff easier too. I didn't even need to open the "food" box on the bike. Just toss the tent up and I was good to go. Of course I ended up breaking into the food box for a snack and water but eh.. whatever.
Good night!
Mileage
Tok Ak - Fox Lake YT CA - 473 miles (google maps)
+318 = 791
|
Day 3: Laundry list of stress causers.
"Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy."
-Leo Buscaglia
A pot of gold would solve a lot of this.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Today has been both good and bad. I made up some time today. I’m only 450 miles behind at this point. I’m at Muncho lake in BC Canada. I left behind the Yukon and did a few hundred miles of the Alcan and hit the end of it in Dawson's Creek in Canada. I’m having a couple different problems. Some are very concerning, others are less concerning and some are extremely concerning. I’ll go with increasing level of stress. I wanted to go further today but my last gas stop changed my mind. I talked to a lady there and she told me that the next 200 miles were full of wild life and that they had a lot of accidents with people hitting animals. I looked at my book and the map and decided I would go about 70 more miles and hit this campground before it got dark. It worked out pretty well.
1. I am behind. I made up 150 miles today. I ended up running right about 750. I really could have went on but the lady at the last gas station said the next 200 or so miles were full of animals and “The most common place to see animals anywhere.” I decided to trust her and pulled into a camping place about 70 miles later.
2. Gas mileage/cost of gas. This is really bugging me. Canadian gas must suck or something. I normally get close to 50 mpg.. it’s not happening here. It’s more like 40. Every 100ish miles is costing me close to $20. The budget can’t take that. I expected to start finding Esso’s (Exxon in Canada) and be able to use the credit card to avoid using my available cash. I still haven’t found one. Do the math.. I did 750 miles today. The budget is destroyed.
3. Tire wear…. The rear tire is wearing at an alarming rate. I thought I might have to break down somewhere in the states and get a new tire. I may end up having to get a new tire before I leave Canada. That’s how badly it’s wearing. I can’t figure out if it’s weight, speed, road conditions, or a combination of them all that’s causing it. Either way, it’s not good news. I am hoping it lasts the weekend and I can deal with it when I get back in the states either Sunday afternoon or Monday morning. I am confident that’s going to happen.
4. Chain is failing. I keep having to adjust the chain. This bothers me very much. If the chain breaks I am in deep doo. I have no spare. I knew I should have replaced it. I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. Please hold on baby!
5. Burning oil. I am assuming this is due to crappy gas and high speeds all day long. I had to put a few ounces in this morning. It doesn’t sound like much but the bike only holds 2.3 quarts total. No big deal you say… freaking oil is 8$ per quart… so yeah.. it’s a big deal. Plus the bike shouldn’t’ be burning oil. **update.. it only happened this one time on the whole trip. I blame the gas I got in Dalton.**
The lady that said there was a lot of animals ahead wasn't lying. In that last 70 miles I saw about 100 bison, 4 bears, a fox, and a moose. The bison were pretty wild. I was going down the road and saw something along the side of the road. "What the heck is that?" I started slowing down a bit and got close enough to realize it was some guys on bicycles standing by the side of the road and a bison running down the side of the road away from them about a 1/4 mile on up the road. Not sure what they did to cause it start running but it was moving along at quite a clip. I'm going to say 25-30mph anyway. I was really nervous about passing him. I could just see him bolting to the side as I went by and splattering me. I came up on him fairly slowly then got in the passing lane and gunned it. I looked over at him while I went by and his eyes were wild and his tongue was hanging out. He had been running a while. Even over the sound of the motorcycle I could hear him snorting/breathing and the "clomp clomp clomp" of his feet on the pavement. It was a pretty wild couple of moments.
Then there was a herd of them about 20 miles later. When I came around the corner they were all over the road so I slowed down and finally stopped. They slowly made their way out of the road and just sort of milled about not paying much attention to me. They did get totally off the road but just barely. Many of them were still standing on the shoulders. I wasn’t sure what to do really. I waited for a few minutes thinking a car would come along and I could see what they did and/or follow it through. I contented myself by watching the little ones playing and pushing each other around. I decided I needed to get moving and started to go just about the time two of the bigger ones ran into the middle of the road and just stood there. I couldn’t tell if they did it in response to me moving toward them or if they just did it for kicks. I became acutely aware of how exposed I was. I can’t just kick it in reverse and start getting out of the way after all. I've heard that Buffalo/Bison whatever you want to call them have quite the attitude and that thinking of them like cattle is a good way to end up with 2,000 lbs of pissed off hamburger stomping a mudhole in your face. After a few minutes they got back out of the road and I drove through the middle of a bison herd with no problems.
I went on past that for about 20 miles and started to stop and camp but changed my mind. While I was there I talked to a guy on a bicycle who was camping there and I mentioned the other bikers and the bison I had seen earlier. He mentioned that he had talked with those guys earlier in the day but didn't know them. He said he had also had an experience with a bison. It was on the edge of the road and he thinks it didn't realize he was there until he was very close. When it saw him it took off running and just kept on running. I'm going to guess that's what happened to the other one as well. I think if I was on a bicycle I would yell at them or something to keep from startling them. They are pretty damn fast and huge. A human on a bicycle wouldn't stand a chance when you think about how far they can run before they tucker out especially as fast as the one I saw was running along.
The reason I didn't stay at this campsite was that there were a lot of people and after I consulted the mile post book I found a campsite near a lake about 20 miles up the road so that's where I am now. I’m about 430 miles from dawsons creek so that will hopefully be a good place for a late lunch and HOPEFULLY an Esso finally.
Total mileage right now is 1,350. I’m trying to get back what I got behind on days 1 and 2 gradually. It should be pretty consistent mileage days now if nothing else. Dawsons creek marks the official end of the Alaskan Highway. Can’t wait to see it. I’m ready to be back in the states. The gas and overall high cost of everything in the Yukon and British Columbia has pretty much turned me against Canada. The people have been super friendly though.
Oh, I meant to type about this last night. I heard an authentic “Eh” last night. I was talking to a lady and before she left the rest area she wished me luck and told me “Watch out for the critters Eh!” I know the Canadians don’t like it when we poke fun at it but it made me smile to hear it.
Hopefully tomorrow goes as well as today and some of the stress factors are gone.
Oh, the chain had to be adjusted again. When this started it was at the '5' mark on the adjustment notches on the swing arm. It's now on 3. This chain is stretching like crazy. this has got to stop or I'm going to have a serious problem by Monday or Tuesday.
My camp site tonight is kind of odd. I'm beside a lake and I seem to be the only tent here. There are tons of campers up the road about 1/4 mile.. but nobody around me. Some kind I saw walking up the road (hiking I guess?) walked past my tent about 15 minutes ago and it sounded like they were setting up camp beside me but I haven't heard a sound since so I assume they moved on as well. I'm on my lonesome I guess.
Nite!
** added later** - I didn't take many pictures today for some reason. I blame it on a mostly same old - same old landscape. Rolling hills covered in pine trees that's what Yukon looks like for the most part. Plus it was on/off rain through the middle of the day. The animals I saw were pretty shy plus it was dusk so it wouldn't have made for good pictures anyway.
Fox lake to Muncho Lake BC CA 483 miles
+719 = 1,202 (according to google maps) 1,350 showing on odometer.. how this happened I'm not sure? I did a little backtracking and some off the main road riding but not 150 miles of it for sure.
Today has been both good and bad. I made up some time today. I’m only 450 miles behind at this point. I’m at Muncho lake in BC Canada. I left behind the Yukon and did a few hundred miles of the Alcan and hit the end of it in Dawson's Creek in Canada. I’m having a couple different problems. Some are very concerning, others are less concerning and some are extremely concerning. I’ll go with increasing level of stress. I wanted to go further today but my last gas stop changed my mind. I talked to a lady there and she told me that the next 200 miles were full of wild life and that they had a lot of accidents with people hitting animals. I looked at my book and the map and decided I would go about 70 more miles and hit this campground before it got dark. It worked out pretty well.
1. I am behind. I made up 150 miles today. I ended up running right about 750. I really could have went on but the lady at the last gas station said the next 200 or so miles were full of animals and “The most common place to see animals anywhere.” I decided to trust her and pulled into a camping place about 70 miles later.
2. Gas mileage/cost of gas. This is really bugging me. Canadian gas must suck or something. I normally get close to 50 mpg.. it’s not happening here. It’s more like 40. Every 100ish miles is costing me close to $20. The budget can’t take that. I expected to start finding Esso’s (Exxon in Canada) and be able to use the credit card to avoid using my available cash. I still haven’t found one. Do the math.. I did 750 miles today. The budget is destroyed.
3. Tire wear…. The rear tire is wearing at an alarming rate. I thought I might have to break down somewhere in the states and get a new tire. I may end up having to get a new tire before I leave Canada. That’s how badly it’s wearing. I can’t figure out if it’s weight, speed, road conditions, or a combination of them all that’s causing it. Either way, it’s not good news. I am hoping it lasts the weekend and I can deal with it when I get back in the states either Sunday afternoon or Monday morning. I am confident that’s going to happen.
4. Chain is failing. I keep having to adjust the chain. This bothers me very much. If the chain breaks I am in deep doo. I have no spare. I knew I should have replaced it. I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. Please hold on baby!
5. Burning oil. I am assuming this is due to crappy gas and high speeds all day long. I had to put a few ounces in this morning. It doesn’t sound like much but the bike only holds 2.3 quarts total. No big deal you say… freaking oil is 8$ per quart… so yeah.. it’s a big deal. Plus the bike shouldn’t’ be burning oil. **update.. it only happened this one time on the whole trip. I blame the gas I got in Dalton.**
The lady that said there was a lot of animals ahead wasn't lying. In that last 70 miles I saw about 100 bison, 4 bears, a fox, and a moose. The bison were pretty wild. I was going down the road and saw something along the side of the road. "What the heck is that?" I started slowing down a bit and got close enough to realize it was some guys on bicycles standing by the side of the road and a bison running down the side of the road away from them about a 1/4 mile on up the road. Not sure what they did to cause it start running but it was moving along at quite a clip. I'm going to say 25-30mph anyway. I was really nervous about passing him. I could just see him bolting to the side as I went by and splattering me. I came up on him fairly slowly then got in the passing lane and gunned it. I looked over at him while I went by and his eyes were wild and his tongue was hanging out. He had been running a while. Even over the sound of the motorcycle I could hear him snorting/breathing and the "clomp clomp clomp" of his feet on the pavement. It was a pretty wild couple of moments.
Then there was a herd of them about 20 miles later. When I came around the corner they were all over the road so I slowed down and finally stopped. They slowly made their way out of the road and just sort of milled about not paying much attention to me. They did get totally off the road but just barely. Many of them were still standing on the shoulders. I wasn’t sure what to do really. I waited for a few minutes thinking a car would come along and I could see what they did and/or follow it through. I contented myself by watching the little ones playing and pushing each other around. I decided I needed to get moving and started to go just about the time two of the bigger ones ran into the middle of the road and just stood there. I couldn’t tell if they did it in response to me moving toward them or if they just did it for kicks. I became acutely aware of how exposed I was. I can’t just kick it in reverse and start getting out of the way after all. I've heard that Buffalo/Bison whatever you want to call them have quite the attitude and that thinking of them like cattle is a good way to end up with 2,000 lbs of pissed off hamburger stomping a mudhole in your face. After a few minutes they got back out of the road and I drove through the middle of a bison herd with no problems.
I went on past that for about 20 miles and started to stop and camp but changed my mind. While I was there I talked to a guy on a bicycle who was camping there and I mentioned the other bikers and the bison I had seen earlier. He mentioned that he had talked with those guys earlier in the day but didn't know them. He said he had also had an experience with a bison. It was on the edge of the road and he thinks it didn't realize he was there until he was very close. When it saw him it took off running and just kept on running. I'm going to guess that's what happened to the other one as well. I think if I was on a bicycle I would yell at them or something to keep from startling them. They are pretty damn fast and huge. A human on a bicycle wouldn't stand a chance when you think about how far they can run before they tucker out especially as fast as the one I saw was running along.
The reason I didn't stay at this campsite was that there were a lot of people and after I consulted the mile post book I found a campsite near a lake about 20 miles up the road so that's where I am now. I’m about 430 miles from dawsons creek so that will hopefully be a good place for a late lunch and HOPEFULLY an Esso finally.
Total mileage right now is 1,350. I’m trying to get back what I got behind on days 1 and 2 gradually. It should be pretty consistent mileage days now if nothing else. Dawsons creek marks the official end of the Alaskan Highway. Can’t wait to see it. I’m ready to be back in the states. The gas and overall high cost of everything in the Yukon and British Columbia has pretty much turned me against Canada. The people have been super friendly though.
Oh, I meant to type about this last night. I heard an authentic “Eh” last night. I was talking to a lady and before she left the rest area she wished me luck and told me “Watch out for the critters Eh!” I know the Canadians don’t like it when we poke fun at it but it made me smile to hear it.
Hopefully tomorrow goes as well as today and some of the stress factors are gone.
Oh, the chain had to be adjusted again. When this started it was at the '5' mark on the adjustment notches on the swing arm. It's now on 3. This chain is stretching like crazy. this has got to stop or I'm going to have a serious problem by Monday or Tuesday.
My camp site tonight is kind of odd. I'm beside a lake and I seem to be the only tent here. There are tons of campers up the road about 1/4 mile.. but nobody around me. Some kind I saw walking up the road (hiking I guess?) walked past my tent about 15 minutes ago and it sounded like they were setting up camp beside me but I haven't heard a sound since so I assume they moved on as well. I'm on my lonesome I guess.
Nite!
** added later** - I didn't take many pictures today for some reason. I blame it on a mostly same old - same old landscape. Rolling hills covered in pine trees that's what Yukon looks like for the most part. Plus it was on/off rain through the middle of the day. The animals I saw were pretty shy plus it was dusk so it wouldn't have made for good pictures anyway.
Fox lake to Muncho Lake BC CA 483 miles
+719 = 1,202 (according to google maps) 1,350 showing on odometer.. how this happened I'm not sure? I did a little backtracking and some off the main road riding but not 150 miles of it for sure.
Day 4: Wow, Canada is colder than I thought.
"I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth."
-Steve McQueen
Check out the road. What a ride.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
What a day!
I woke up this morning about 7 am and it was cold, very cold. I knew it was going to be chilly since I was up in the mountains and right beside a lake; which was beautiful. The water was the same greenish-blue that I had gotten used to seeing in Alaska. It was so cold that as soon as I woke up I knew going back to sleep wasn’t going to be an option. I pulled the “mummy” cord on the sleeping bag as tight as I could so basically only my face was showing and curled up in a fetal position for about 10 minutes to get warmed back up then unzipped the sleeping bag with a groan and a dread for the cold. I checked the temperature on the bike’s thermometer. 35 degrees F. Brr! I am quite impressed with the sleeping bag and the tent. To be able to sleep and get warmed back up reasonably well with that outside temperature was pretty impressive.
I loaded up all the stuff as quickly as possible and by 8:00 I was on the road. I went full on against the cold. Plugged up the heat, cranked up the heated grips, put on the big gloves and light weight bacalava. I left the heavy one in Anchorage. It was took thick to use under the helmet anyway and was very uncomfortable to wear. To be honest I think the light one works just as well and it very comfortable. I was really amazed at how warm I was. The thermometer kept beeping to remind me that black ice was possible and the temperature kept hovering around 36-38 degrees. My feet got very cold, actually numb is probably a better description but aside from that I was pretty good shape. I should point out that I was on a mountain road so I wasn’t travelling at very high speeds. 40-50 mph was probably about the max. I stopped in Toad River at a little diner and grabbed some breakfast. Ham and Cheddar Cheese omelet.. yum! I love these little tiny places with populations in the teens. I ended up sitting and having a conversation with the cook/owner/bar tender over breakfast. She moved from Vegas to Palmer (outside Anchorage) and then ended up here about 20 years ago. She hasn’t been back to Vegas or Palmer since. She loves that she meets new people who are doing something exciting everyday. I assume she means travelers and hunters such as myself when she says this.
I guess I should talk about the actual riding since that’s what the trip is about right? The longer I ride the more I wonder about that. Yes the bike is a big part of it.. so much so that I have conversations with the Vstrom on a regular basis. I ask it’s opinion about whether we should stop for gas or food or whatever, I am constantly alerting it to things I see “Look at that!” , or “Holy crap, do you believe this?” over one of the many truly beautiful things I’ve seen. It goes further than just being a bike ride though. Everyday I have met people who seem to genuine and real.. it’s an odd change compared to being in the civilized world. I would like to be able to say I learned some great personal truth or some other epiphany but I haven't. I've just see a million beautiful things and had the chance to let my brain wander where it wants without any niggling "life" issues getting in the way. Yeah I've had things to worry about but worrying about Bison getting out of the way or where to camp aren't the same.
But the ride… oh the ride today. After breakfast the temperature starting warming things up back into the 40’s which is perfectly fine with me at this point. At 50 degrees I start thinking it’s warm. It’s amazing how fast the body adjusts to new temperatures! The road though, you are down in the canyons with the mountains all around you. They aren’t big enough to be snow capped, well not in August anyway, but many of them soar high enough to be devoid of trees and bushes. Just sheer rock faces and wildlife everywhere. I literally lost cost of the Elk, Bear, and Moose I saw. I even got a picture of a bear finally. Every bear I had seen up to this point was high tailing it out of there as soon as he saw me. This one little guy just kind of sat there on the edge of the road eating whatever it was he was eating. I stopped a few hundred feet away and whipped the camera out and he started walking away but I still got a picture of him. I can’t wait to show Chloe!
This lasted for about 80 miles and culminated in Summit pass. Right over the top of the mountain. I did not take a picture and I have no idea why.. I didn’t take many pictures at all today to be honest. I can see it in my mind and it’s still beautiful though. Like being in a low flying plane instead of being on a road. From there the road started back down and kind of up/downed for a little while and road along the sides of the mountains. I did get a few pictures of that. I saw some type of goat/sheep things. I forget the name. I never got a good picture.. they kept their butts to me. When I finally gave up and went on one of them sort of trotted up the side of the road and I passed her. As I went by I looked over at her and she sort of had a look like “whats up.. stop following me" and I went on.
After that I was just on the Alcan hauling ass at about 90 mph. Nobody up here even pretends to pay attention to the 100kmh speed limit. Which I don’t blame them. I have only seen 2 mounties on the road since I got in Canada and both of them were going faster than the rest of us. I got to Dawson’s creek and got my picture at the Alaskan highway sign.. it’s funny that it says it’s the starting point… It was the ending point of the alcan for me. Momma always said I was special I guess.
Anyway, I’m about 80 miles north of Jasper and about 450 miles north of Montana. I should be there easily by tomorrow assuming everything on the bike holds up. The tire is still looking OK, the chain had to be adjusted again today. I’m thinking that is a lost cause and I need to make plans to find one as soon as possible. The tire, I’m going to try and replace in Kalispell Montana before I go through Glacier park and do the going to the sun road. That should happen sometime Monday I hope.. that’s assuming they have a tire and can put it on for me that day. If that doesn’t happen I will be calling around to see if I can find anybody with a tire that can put it on that day.. if that doesn’t happen… I’ll hopefully just buy a tire and spend the rest of the day trying to figure out how to get the new tire on with no center stand. Note to self… CENTER STAND!!!! Oh.. and while I’m writing notes to myself… check on getting a different sprocket for the back so you can carry more speed without revving the engine so high. Gas mileage goes to crap running 90mph and 6,500 RPM”s for hours at a time.. not to mention it’s just hard on the bike in general.
Cheers- Eh!
Oh, mileage is now something over 2,100. I’m still about 300ish miles behind but I made up another 150 today
Oh! I’m back in the land of ESSO! I found the first one at mile marker 101 on the Alcan, in the town of… not kidding… Wonowon. Get it? I didn’t catch it till I actually got to the town. 101 mile marker.. won – o – won is the town. Cute stuff Canadians you cheeky bastids! I’m finding Esso’s everywhere now. I’m back in civilization.. even have cell phone service most of the time. ** there is cell phone service everywhere.. I just mean one that works with AT&T.
The sad part about this is that once you get back to civilization you are back. There is no changing it. My cell phone works, I got 100 text messages, 200 emails, and all the stuff that goes along with that.
**** added later**** The mindset changed on this day. There is a larger sense of adventure when you know the cell phone is useless. Another odd thing. I cannot remember where I camped this night at all. Not one recollection of it. I remember Dawson Creek and leaving the town... but not one thing after that?***
*>*>*>>*>*> added again.. MUUUCH later..
I remember where I stayed now. It was a LOOONG way off the highway and it seemed to be an area where a lot of snow mobiles, four wheelers, and dirt bikes come to play in the woods. It took forever on a dirt road to find the place. Once I got there it was fine. Lots of RV's and people around and a pretty stream running by. Everybody there had 4 wheelers with them and there were trails going everywhere.
**Motorcycle shops are not open on Mondays. Why can I never remember this? I only know of 1 that is and that's because it's closed on Saturdays and that is back home anyway.
Muncho Lake BC CA - Jasper AL CA - 680 miles
680 + 1202 = 1,882 (google maps) Odometer is 2,1xx.
What a day!
I woke up this morning about 7 am and it was cold, very cold. I knew it was going to be chilly since I was up in the mountains and right beside a lake; which was beautiful. The water was the same greenish-blue that I had gotten used to seeing in Alaska. It was so cold that as soon as I woke up I knew going back to sleep wasn’t going to be an option. I pulled the “mummy” cord on the sleeping bag as tight as I could so basically only my face was showing and curled up in a fetal position for about 10 minutes to get warmed back up then unzipped the sleeping bag with a groan and a dread for the cold. I checked the temperature on the bike’s thermometer. 35 degrees F. Brr! I am quite impressed with the sleeping bag and the tent. To be able to sleep and get warmed back up reasonably well with that outside temperature was pretty impressive.
I loaded up all the stuff as quickly as possible and by 8:00 I was on the road. I went full on against the cold. Plugged up the heat, cranked up the heated grips, put on the big gloves and light weight bacalava. I left the heavy one in Anchorage. It was took thick to use under the helmet anyway and was very uncomfortable to wear. To be honest I think the light one works just as well and it very comfortable. I was really amazed at how warm I was. The thermometer kept beeping to remind me that black ice was possible and the temperature kept hovering around 36-38 degrees. My feet got very cold, actually numb is probably a better description but aside from that I was pretty good shape. I should point out that I was on a mountain road so I wasn’t travelling at very high speeds. 40-50 mph was probably about the max. I stopped in Toad River at a little diner and grabbed some breakfast. Ham and Cheddar Cheese omelet.. yum! I love these little tiny places with populations in the teens. I ended up sitting and having a conversation with the cook/owner/bar tender over breakfast. She moved from Vegas to Palmer (outside Anchorage) and then ended up here about 20 years ago. She hasn’t been back to Vegas or Palmer since. She loves that she meets new people who are doing something exciting everyday. I assume she means travelers and hunters such as myself when she says this.
I guess I should talk about the actual riding since that’s what the trip is about right? The longer I ride the more I wonder about that. Yes the bike is a big part of it.. so much so that I have conversations with the Vstrom on a regular basis. I ask it’s opinion about whether we should stop for gas or food or whatever, I am constantly alerting it to things I see “Look at that!” , or “Holy crap, do you believe this?” over one of the many truly beautiful things I’ve seen. It goes further than just being a bike ride though. Everyday I have met people who seem to genuine and real.. it’s an odd change compared to being in the civilized world. I would like to be able to say I learned some great personal truth or some other epiphany but I haven't. I've just see a million beautiful things and had the chance to let my brain wander where it wants without any niggling "life" issues getting in the way. Yeah I've had things to worry about but worrying about Bison getting out of the way or where to camp aren't the same.
But the ride… oh the ride today. After breakfast the temperature starting warming things up back into the 40’s which is perfectly fine with me at this point. At 50 degrees I start thinking it’s warm. It’s amazing how fast the body adjusts to new temperatures! The road though, you are down in the canyons with the mountains all around you. They aren’t big enough to be snow capped, well not in August anyway, but many of them soar high enough to be devoid of trees and bushes. Just sheer rock faces and wildlife everywhere. I literally lost cost of the Elk, Bear, and Moose I saw. I even got a picture of a bear finally. Every bear I had seen up to this point was high tailing it out of there as soon as he saw me. This one little guy just kind of sat there on the edge of the road eating whatever it was he was eating. I stopped a few hundred feet away and whipped the camera out and he started walking away but I still got a picture of him. I can’t wait to show Chloe!
This lasted for about 80 miles and culminated in Summit pass. Right over the top of the mountain. I did not take a picture and I have no idea why.. I didn’t take many pictures at all today to be honest. I can see it in my mind and it’s still beautiful though. Like being in a low flying plane instead of being on a road. From there the road started back down and kind of up/downed for a little while and road along the sides of the mountains. I did get a few pictures of that. I saw some type of goat/sheep things. I forget the name. I never got a good picture.. they kept their butts to me. When I finally gave up and went on one of them sort of trotted up the side of the road and I passed her. As I went by I looked over at her and she sort of had a look like “whats up.. stop following me" and I went on.
After that I was just on the Alcan hauling ass at about 90 mph. Nobody up here even pretends to pay attention to the 100kmh speed limit. Which I don’t blame them. I have only seen 2 mounties on the road since I got in Canada and both of them were going faster than the rest of us. I got to Dawson’s creek and got my picture at the Alaskan highway sign.. it’s funny that it says it’s the starting point… It was the ending point of the alcan for me. Momma always said I was special I guess.
Anyway, I’m about 80 miles north of Jasper and about 450 miles north of Montana. I should be there easily by tomorrow assuming everything on the bike holds up. The tire is still looking OK, the chain had to be adjusted again today. I’m thinking that is a lost cause and I need to make plans to find one as soon as possible. The tire, I’m going to try and replace in Kalispell Montana before I go through Glacier park and do the going to the sun road. That should happen sometime Monday I hope.. that’s assuming they have a tire and can put it on for me that day. If that doesn’t happen I will be calling around to see if I can find anybody with a tire that can put it on that day.. if that doesn’t happen… I’ll hopefully just buy a tire and spend the rest of the day trying to figure out how to get the new tire on with no center stand. Note to self… CENTER STAND!!!! Oh.. and while I’m writing notes to myself… check on getting a different sprocket for the back so you can carry more speed without revving the engine so high. Gas mileage goes to crap running 90mph and 6,500 RPM”s for hours at a time.. not to mention it’s just hard on the bike in general.
Cheers- Eh!
Oh, mileage is now something over 2,100. I’m still about 300ish miles behind but I made up another 150 today
Oh! I’m back in the land of ESSO! I found the first one at mile marker 101 on the Alcan, in the town of… not kidding… Wonowon. Get it? I didn’t catch it till I actually got to the town. 101 mile marker.. won – o – won is the town. Cute stuff Canadians you cheeky bastids! I’m finding Esso’s everywhere now. I’m back in civilization.. even have cell phone service most of the time. ** there is cell phone service everywhere.. I just mean one that works with AT&T.
The sad part about this is that once you get back to civilization you are back. There is no changing it. My cell phone works, I got 100 text messages, 200 emails, and all the stuff that goes along with that.
**** added later**** The mindset changed on this day. There is a larger sense of adventure when you know the cell phone is useless. Another odd thing. I cannot remember where I camped this night at all. Not one recollection of it. I remember Dawson Creek and leaving the town... but not one thing after that?***
*>*>*>>*>*> added again.. MUUUCH later..
I remember where I stayed now. It was a LOOONG way off the highway and it seemed to be an area where a lot of snow mobiles, four wheelers, and dirt bikes come to play in the woods. It took forever on a dirt road to find the place. Once I got there it was fine. Lots of RV's and people around and a pretty stream running by. Everybody there had 4 wheelers with them and there were trails going everywhere.
**Motorcycle shops are not open on Mondays. Why can I never remember this? I only know of 1 that is and that's because it's closed on Saturdays and that is back home anyway.
Muncho Lake BC CA - Jasper AL CA - 680 miles
680 + 1202 = 1,882 (google maps) Odometer is 2,1xx.
Day 5: Jasper & Banff Parks in Alberta Canada.
"I had no idea Canada could be so much fun."
-Bruce Willis
Jasper National Park in Alberta. A MUST see.
Sunday August 28, 2011
Wow, Canada is pretty awesome. Not so much the Yukon part.. I found that pretty boring. British Columbia and especially Alberta have some beautiful sections though. Specifically Jasper National Park, Banff National Park, and that whole area in general. I’m mainly going to let the pictures speak for themselves. That place was amazingly pretty. I wasted A LOT of time here. I've never seen anything like it. at least 100 miles of just beautiful scenery. Lots of traffic though. It is, rightly so, a major tourist destination. I would bring my family here for sure. It's gorgeous. Really gorgeous.
After I got out of there. I pointed the Vstrom’s ugly nose towards Montana and hammered it… for a little while.. then I stopped and adjusted the chain.. again. This chain is crapping out. The tire on the other hand is tough as nails. I expected to be on chords by now and it’s hanging in there like a trooper. I’m pushing 8,000 miles on this tire with a LOT of weight on it, crappy roads, and high speeds and it’s still hanging in there. I’m starting to think this thing may go the distance. I’ve only about about 2,500 miles left.
I planned to get into the US tonight and stay somewhere in Eureka but after all my goofing off in Jasper/Banff it was going to be close to 12 when I hit the border so I decided to spend the night on the Canada side. I was about 10 miles from the Border and saw a sign for camping and hit the blinker. I expected a kilometer or two off the road like what I have seen everywhere else. Wrong… after about 10 miles of dirt road I was ready to turn around but didn’t have another good option. Another 5 miles and I finally found it. I got settled in and was making sure I had everything I wanted off the bike and in the tent and I happened to look up. Holy Christ! The sky was so clear and there was virtually zero light pollution. The stars were amazing. I’ve never seen the “milky way” when looking at the stars but I did this night. I just stood there dumbfounded, slack jawed, staring straight up for at least 5 minutes. So pretty. I started to try and take a picture but I knew it would be a waste of time.
Now I’m sitting here finishing this up and plan on looking out the tent window at the stars some more.
Next stop, Eureka! .. then on to Glacier Park and the Going to the Sun road then try to get to Sturgis.. or at least close.
Jasper - just outside eureka Mt. 450 miles. (google maps)
450 miles + 1882 = 2,332 - didn't check the odometer.
Wow, Canada is pretty awesome. Not so much the Yukon part.. I found that pretty boring. British Columbia and especially Alberta have some beautiful sections though. Specifically Jasper National Park, Banff National Park, and that whole area in general. I’m mainly going to let the pictures speak for themselves. That place was amazingly pretty. I wasted A LOT of time here. I've never seen anything like it. at least 100 miles of just beautiful scenery. Lots of traffic though. It is, rightly so, a major tourist destination. I would bring my family here for sure. It's gorgeous. Really gorgeous.
After I got out of there. I pointed the Vstrom’s ugly nose towards Montana and hammered it… for a little while.. then I stopped and adjusted the chain.. again. This chain is crapping out. The tire on the other hand is tough as nails. I expected to be on chords by now and it’s hanging in there like a trooper. I’m pushing 8,000 miles on this tire with a LOT of weight on it, crappy roads, and high speeds and it’s still hanging in there. I’m starting to think this thing may go the distance. I’ve only about about 2,500 miles left.
I planned to get into the US tonight and stay somewhere in Eureka but after all my goofing off in Jasper/Banff it was going to be close to 12 when I hit the border so I decided to spend the night on the Canada side. I was about 10 miles from the Border and saw a sign for camping and hit the blinker. I expected a kilometer or two off the road like what I have seen everywhere else. Wrong… after about 10 miles of dirt road I was ready to turn around but didn’t have another good option. Another 5 miles and I finally found it. I got settled in and was making sure I had everything I wanted off the bike and in the tent and I happened to look up. Holy Christ! The sky was so clear and there was virtually zero light pollution. The stars were amazing. I’ve never seen the “milky way” when looking at the stars but I did this night. I just stood there dumbfounded, slack jawed, staring straight up for at least 5 minutes. So pretty. I started to try and take a picture but I knew it would be a waste of time.
Now I’m sitting here finishing this up and plan on looking out the tent window at the stars some more.
Next stop, Eureka! .. then on to Glacier Park and the Going to the Sun road then try to get to Sturgis.. or at least close.
Jasper - just outside eureka Mt. 450 miles. (google maps)
450 miles + 1882 = 2,332 - didn't check the odometer.
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Day 6/7 - Death of a chain and who needs sleep?
"Midnight bugs taste the best!"
-Unknown
Day 6 & 7
Monday/Sunday August 29/30, 2011
The day that refuses to die.
I did the glacier national park thing. That was really pretty. It’s like a miniature Alaska up there only you can get closer to the mountains.. because you are driving on it. It’s not as pretty as some of the places I saw in Alaska but it’s close and well worth the $12 they charged me to do it. Check the pics. The only drawback to this is the constant construction work. It really gets old sitting there for 10 minutes at a time every 8 miles for about 20 miles. They say they try to minimize the time spent sitting waiting to 40 minutes. The road is only 50 miles long.. yeah you see the problem. I ended up being in there for at least 4 hours which threw my whole day off. Not to mention I hit a new time zone and didn’t realize it. At some point so it was pitch dark at 8:30 and I was like WTF?
Montana is pretty to drive through. Very rolling hills kind of scenery. The road was surprisingly fun to ride on. They just seem to put curves in it for no real reason but it keeps it more interesting. Don’t misunderstand.. this is not a curvy road.. but it does have decent curves every mile or so to keep you from just sitting there staring off into the distance.
I just kept going. I was behind and it pissed me off so I just kept riding all the way to Sturgis. I got here around 6:00am. The overnight ride made me feel about as alone as I have ever felt. I don’t know why but there was NOBODY on the road. I could literally ride for 10-15 minutes and not see another car. This was an interstate highway not some side road. I stopped at the Wyoming border to take a picture of the sign. I jumped off the bike and turned it off and it was just dead silent and pitch black. Not even bugs. It was surreal. I got to see the beautiful stars again but it wasn’t the same. It was just creepy. This was easily the most alone I have felt on this trip and probably ever in my life. I just think about it and it makes me feel weird.
I just kept going though. I would stop about every 150ish miles for gas at some of the bigger towns I went through that had 24 hour gas stations. It got even weirder at that point though. There were people driving around in the towns.. it was like any other town, but as soon as I got back on I-90 I was all alone again. That sort of freaked me out because I figured it must be because of animals in the road or something. I did see a few elk or mule deer or something but they were all off the road. I never had a problem with them.
It was extremely rare to see another car though. I saw some 18 wheelers but that was all. I caught up with one and just followed him for about 200 miles. I think he finally got fed up with it because he slowed down to 45mph until I passed him. It didn’t matter at that point because I needed gas anyway.
Anyway, I rolled all night and I’m going to pay for it today. I did well over 1,000 miles in 24 hours even giving back 4 hours that I didn’t use. That’s actually got me thinking that I may try to print out the forms for iron butt and do that on the way back. I’ve decided I’m going to get home by Wednesday instead of Thursday so I have a day to rest and hang out with the family before I start the next rotation. I regret doing it now. I'm positive I drove through some beautiful scenery and never saw anything but the little sliver of road that the headlights brought out of the dark. I should have camped somewhere around Billings MT. Oh well, whats done is done and I need to get this tire/chain thing lined out.
My chain is toast. I am scared to ride with it at this point. I adjusted it twice in the last 24 hours. It’s going fast and sounds like a train starting up when I pull out. I am waiting in a Mcdonald's in Sturgis for the local Suzuki shop to open up at 8:30 to call and hopefully get a new one, along with a new tire, installed early today so I can get on to the Badlands this afternoon then find a place to camp and hit the bed early. I'm in Sturgis a few days before the huge motorcycle rally. I expected more motorcycle stuff going on. There are a few bikes but it's not nearly as packed as I figured it would be. I expected a lot of people would show up early but I guess not.
The tire is at the wear markers so I could keep going on it but if I replace it now it will make a great spare tire for the rest of this trip and wherever I go on the next one.
Fingers crossed that this day ends soon!
Tire - $173 + $50 mounted/balanced at the Suzuki/BMW shop in Sturgis SD.. they didn’t have a chain.
Chain - $106 + $66 for installation at Rice motorsports in Rapid City SD about 50 miles down the road. They didn’t have the tire I needed.
All of that took till about 12:00pm. Both of the dealerships were very friendly. I was just happy they got my bike in and fixed for me so fast so it didn’t waste the whole day. I got rolling around 12:30 and then did something really stupid.
I had planned on riding through the badlands park. I let my Dad talk me out of it. Everytime I mentioned it he just said it was boring and not worth the time. Well, I was sleepy and irritated and wanted to get going so I skipped it. I can’t believe I did that. I could see it from the interstate and just didn’t turn off for some reason. I’m going to regret it for a long time I’m sure.
The interstate going through South Dakota is super boring. Avoid it at all costs. It is literally just a straight line across the state. It lasts forever. I just kept going and going and everything looked exactly the same. At times my eyes/mind were playing tricks on me. Maybe because I was tired or maybe because the land is so foreign to me. I am from the Appalachian Mountain range so I'm not used to flat land. I felt like I was in a snow globe at times, or at the beach. I can't explain it but it was so odd to look out and see nothing but fields and sky. It was almost like a curtain was hanging down from they sky that just cut off the horizon. So boring. About 5 pm I was so sleepy I had to stop or die. I hit a rest area and took a miniature nap laying on a picnic table bench about 20 yards from the bike. I felt much better after that and kept on trucking.
I ended up in Sioux City South Dakota. I had planned on finding a camping site around 8pm but the weather looked so terrible as I was coming into the city I decided since I didn’t camp last night I should reward myself by staying indoors tonight. I called a few hotels but they were all $100+ per night… nah, that’s not happening. I called KOA Kampgrounds and their camping spots were $23 or I could get a cabin for $44.. I went with the cabin.. mainly because it looked like it was going to storm badly but partly because I had planned to hit hotels once I got back in the states. I had decimated the budget so I compromised on the kabin. I didn't camp last night so that saved $20 and if I camped tonight it was gonna be $20.. so for $40 I could have a roof over my head and a bed.. and electricity.. and internet. It was nice to sit on a bed and watch tv and eat. That was the first time I ever went to a KOA and I recommend it for sure. It’s no frills but they have WiFi, showers, and all that jazz so it was a great deal for $40 I think.
I can barely keep my eyes open at this point so I’m going to go on to sleep and get up early and hit the road and see if I can’t get home a day early.
Eureka MT - Sioux Falls SD
1,233 miles + 2,332 = 3,565(google maps)
Monday/Sunday August 29/30, 2011
The day that refuses to die.
I did the glacier national park thing. That was really pretty. It’s like a miniature Alaska up there only you can get closer to the mountains.. because you are driving on it. It’s not as pretty as some of the places I saw in Alaska but it’s close and well worth the $12 they charged me to do it. Check the pics. The only drawback to this is the constant construction work. It really gets old sitting there for 10 minutes at a time every 8 miles for about 20 miles. They say they try to minimize the time spent sitting waiting to 40 minutes. The road is only 50 miles long.. yeah you see the problem. I ended up being in there for at least 4 hours which threw my whole day off. Not to mention I hit a new time zone and didn’t realize it. At some point so it was pitch dark at 8:30 and I was like WTF?
Montana is pretty to drive through. Very rolling hills kind of scenery. The road was surprisingly fun to ride on. They just seem to put curves in it for no real reason but it keeps it more interesting. Don’t misunderstand.. this is not a curvy road.. but it does have decent curves every mile or so to keep you from just sitting there staring off into the distance.
I just kept going. I was behind and it pissed me off so I just kept riding all the way to Sturgis. I got here around 6:00am. The overnight ride made me feel about as alone as I have ever felt. I don’t know why but there was NOBODY on the road. I could literally ride for 10-15 minutes and not see another car. This was an interstate highway not some side road. I stopped at the Wyoming border to take a picture of the sign. I jumped off the bike and turned it off and it was just dead silent and pitch black. Not even bugs. It was surreal. I got to see the beautiful stars again but it wasn’t the same. It was just creepy. This was easily the most alone I have felt on this trip and probably ever in my life. I just think about it and it makes me feel weird.
I just kept going though. I would stop about every 150ish miles for gas at some of the bigger towns I went through that had 24 hour gas stations. It got even weirder at that point though. There were people driving around in the towns.. it was like any other town, but as soon as I got back on I-90 I was all alone again. That sort of freaked me out because I figured it must be because of animals in the road or something. I did see a few elk or mule deer or something but they were all off the road. I never had a problem with them.
It was extremely rare to see another car though. I saw some 18 wheelers but that was all. I caught up with one and just followed him for about 200 miles. I think he finally got fed up with it because he slowed down to 45mph until I passed him. It didn’t matter at that point because I needed gas anyway.
Anyway, I rolled all night and I’m going to pay for it today. I did well over 1,000 miles in 24 hours even giving back 4 hours that I didn’t use. That’s actually got me thinking that I may try to print out the forms for iron butt and do that on the way back. I’ve decided I’m going to get home by Wednesday instead of Thursday so I have a day to rest and hang out with the family before I start the next rotation. I regret doing it now. I'm positive I drove through some beautiful scenery and never saw anything but the little sliver of road that the headlights brought out of the dark. I should have camped somewhere around Billings MT. Oh well, whats done is done and I need to get this tire/chain thing lined out.
My chain is toast. I am scared to ride with it at this point. I adjusted it twice in the last 24 hours. It’s going fast and sounds like a train starting up when I pull out. I am waiting in a Mcdonald's in Sturgis for the local Suzuki shop to open up at 8:30 to call and hopefully get a new one, along with a new tire, installed early today so I can get on to the Badlands this afternoon then find a place to camp and hit the bed early. I'm in Sturgis a few days before the huge motorcycle rally. I expected more motorcycle stuff going on. There are a few bikes but it's not nearly as packed as I figured it would be. I expected a lot of people would show up early but I guess not.
The tire is at the wear markers so I could keep going on it but if I replace it now it will make a great spare tire for the rest of this trip and wherever I go on the next one.
Fingers crossed that this day ends soon!
Tire - $173 + $50 mounted/balanced at the Suzuki/BMW shop in Sturgis SD.. they didn’t have a chain.
Chain - $106 + $66 for installation at Rice motorsports in Rapid City SD about 50 miles down the road. They didn’t have the tire I needed.
All of that took till about 12:00pm. Both of the dealerships were very friendly. I was just happy they got my bike in and fixed for me so fast so it didn’t waste the whole day. I got rolling around 12:30 and then did something really stupid.
I had planned on riding through the badlands park. I let my Dad talk me out of it. Everytime I mentioned it he just said it was boring and not worth the time. Well, I was sleepy and irritated and wanted to get going so I skipped it. I can’t believe I did that. I could see it from the interstate and just didn’t turn off for some reason. I’m going to regret it for a long time I’m sure.
The interstate going through South Dakota is super boring. Avoid it at all costs. It is literally just a straight line across the state. It lasts forever. I just kept going and going and everything looked exactly the same. At times my eyes/mind were playing tricks on me. Maybe because I was tired or maybe because the land is so foreign to me. I am from the Appalachian Mountain range so I'm not used to flat land. I felt like I was in a snow globe at times, or at the beach. I can't explain it but it was so odd to look out and see nothing but fields and sky. It was almost like a curtain was hanging down from they sky that just cut off the horizon. So boring. About 5 pm I was so sleepy I had to stop or die. I hit a rest area and took a miniature nap laying on a picnic table bench about 20 yards from the bike. I felt much better after that and kept on trucking.
I ended up in Sioux City South Dakota. I had planned on finding a camping site around 8pm but the weather looked so terrible as I was coming into the city I decided since I didn’t camp last night I should reward myself by staying indoors tonight. I called a few hotels but they were all $100+ per night… nah, that’s not happening. I called KOA Kampgrounds and their camping spots were $23 or I could get a cabin for $44.. I went with the cabin.. mainly because it looked like it was going to storm badly but partly because I had planned to hit hotels once I got back in the states. I had decimated the budget so I compromised on the kabin. I didn't camp last night so that saved $20 and if I camped tonight it was gonna be $20.. so for $40 I could have a roof over my head and a bed.. and electricity.. and internet. It was nice to sit on a bed and watch tv and eat. That was the first time I ever went to a KOA and I recommend it for sure. It’s no frills but they have WiFi, showers, and all that jazz so it was a great deal for $40 I think.
I can barely keep my eyes open at this point so I’m going to go on to sleep and get up early and hit the road and see if I can’t get home a day early.
Eureka MT - Sioux Falls SD
1,233 miles + 2,332 = 3,565(google maps)
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Day 8/9: Going Home.
"No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow."-Lin Yutang
I-Oh-Whaaaa!
Wednesday/Thursday August 31 & September 1, 2011
Well, I didn’t get up early. I remember the alarm going off at 6:00am but that was just too ambitious for a guy who hadn’t slept in 40 hours. I actually woke up at 9:30.. which was really 10:30 due to another time change that I never noticed. I finally got moving around 11:00am.. after I picked the bike up off the ground. Freaking great! How did I manage to do that you ask? Well it’s because I’m a freaking idiot. I had just loaded everything up on the bike and was sitting on it with it running in neutral. Well I realized I left the key to my “Kabin” in the cabin so I went to hop off the bike to run back in and get it and … no kickstand. The bike is so heavy with the stuff loaded there was no chance of keeping it up. It didn’t hit the ground hard or anything but it was enough to break the turn signal.. again. What a bonehead move. Oh well, no harm no foul I guess. Only I couldn’t lift the bike back up again. Haha I was getting ready to start taking stuff off so I could get it up when my neighbor gave me a hand. That just added to the embarrasement but I was still happy to not have to unload all the stuff.
I got all that lined out and got rolling. I went into Minnesota for about 50 miles then turned south in Iowa and found it to be at least moderately interesting. Much improved over the South Dakota snooze-fest of yesterday.
About halfway through Iowa I started looking for gas. I was really hoping to find an Exxon or a Mobile because the Chain/tire thing from yesterday really screwed up my budget. Imagine my surprise when I realized Iowa has no Exxon or Mobile gas stations. How does that even happen? I even broke out the exxon mobile fuel app to verify it. Nope, not one exxon or mobile in the entire state of Iowa.
I finally had to break down and spend $20 of my few remaining dollars to get gas and get into Illinois. Once I got that lined out I was making good time and debating between riding until late into the night to get home early or finding a camping site. I decided to just ride it out and get on home.
Then I did some checking and it turns out that Indiana doesn’t really have Exxon or mobile either. I’m just not believing this! Haha I planned this one out a little better though. I hit the last Exxon in Illinois and the first Exxon in Kentucky so I avoided having to spend any more cash.
I did end up riding through the nite again. I don’t feel like I missed much. I’ve been in these two states before so no big loss. On the plus side I missed the traffic in the bigger cities I went through.. Indianapolis for example. I blasted through there at about 2 am and never even had to slow down. I hit Kentucky shortly after the sun started coming up and made pretty short work of Lexington and Louisville. Before I knew it I was on the Bert Combs expressway and getting close to home. I got sleepy on the expressway and hit a turnoff and just took a nap sitting on the bike at a wide spot. It was actually more comfortable than the picnic table. I just put the kickstand down and put my head, helmet and all, on the tank bag and feel instantly asleep for about 20 minutes. When I woke up I was good to go. I cruised on into Virginia and road across the mountains that separate my home from Kentucky and got into my hometown around 1:00pm. Then I took a nap and woke up around 8:30, went and got my daughter, then sat down to type this.
I didn't take many pictures. My mind was just in "Go Home!" mode and I have been in these area's plenty of times before. Illinois/Indiana are mostly boring anyway. Kentucky is pretty if you like mountains but it just looks like home to me so I kept trucking.
So that’s it. My trip is over. There are things I would have done differently, and I learned some stuff about long distance riding. I’ll just list a few of them here before I forget.
My headlights aren’t adjusted too high… the weight is squatting the rear end down. Duh.. tighten the rear shock like you would if you were going to haul a passenger and the problem is solved.
Hauling extra tires is not a hassle at all. I still have my two tires and would take them with me on any longer trip just because it’s not an issue. I actually used them for storage. You can put drinks/rain suits/misc stuff inside the tires and then when you bungee the tires down it “clamps” down on the stuff and it stays put. Brilliant!
Whatever you think your budget is… double it.
Cash is king! Take plenty and don’t use it unless you have too.
When travelling in Canada or Alaska you don’t need a plan for camping. Just keep driving and camp when you want to. Camping sites are plentiful and cheap.
When travelling in the states. Have a plan. Camping areas are much harder to find and when you are ready for one you will undoubtedly be 100 miles from the next one.. then you will just ride all night. ;)
Do stick to your plans unless there is a serious reason not too. I had plenty of time to ride through the Badlands, and Yellowstone… but I skipped them both saving me maybe 6 hours total. The trade off isn’t worth it. I don’t think I would ride back through South Dakota to do the Badlands which makes me wish I had done it when I had the chance even more.
Taking a smoke shield and a clear shield for your helmet is a great idea… but sunglasses take up less space and don’t require a major “unload” to get them out.. plus if you forget to change it you don’t end up riding 200 miles in the dark with your visor up because you forgot to put the clear one back on.
Nothing is water proof except rubber. if it rains enough you WILL be wet with anything else. At the first sign of rain go full on hardcore. Once you get your gear wet.. it’s wet for at least a day. I put my rubberized rain suit over my normal riding suit and basically left it on for the last week I was in Alaska and all the way down to Montana when it just got too hot to wear it anymore. It keeps more heat in the suit when it’s cold and actually keeps you dry when it’s raining… plus it packs small and doesn’t cost much.
Heated grips are amazing.
Heated suit is amazing.
Throttle lock is amazing. (I won’t ride a bike without one again)
Invest in a CENTER STAND and complete set of tools!
I had most every tool I would need… but I had no center stand so I ended up paying $50 to change a tire and all I could do about the chain was give up and pay $66 to change it. I had no chain replacing tools. Next time I will have both, and a chain.
Slime tire pump is amazing. I never actually needed it on the side of the road but it worked great to seat the tires I changed in Anchorage so I have no doubts it would have worked just as well on the side of the road. I bought this thing at $20 at Walmart. came with a tube of slime to seal a tire and the pump. I added some tire plugs and plugging tools. The whole thing is about 3 lbs and fits anywhere. Very cool.
Bungee chords are capable of tying anything down. Carry plenty of them.
Take your time. Big miles everyday (well big for me).. I averaged over 550 miles per day over 9 days with 2 days being over 1,000 and one that didn’t have many at all. It sounds good on paper to me but I really think the ideal length would have been 400 miles per day and try to average about 40 mph and take your time to check things out. I really didn’t stop much for anything other than gas or pictures.
Avoid the interstate. I couldn’t really do this because I had to get home and had to do the miles. From the interstate most states look mostly like the next. Get off the superslab and explore the local roads. That’s where the real drive is.
Oh, and buy plenty of stickers along the way because it makes your bike look cool to have lots of stickers.
Sioux Falls SD - Honaker VA - 1,138 miles.
1,138 + 3,565 = 4,703
Odd, I've lost 300 miles somewhere. The really weird part is if I tell google maps to go from anchorage to honaker va the way I went it comes up 5,5xx for the total if I do it all at once. Oh well.
Total on the odometer for the bike was 5,012 miles.
Well, I didn’t get up early. I remember the alarm going off at 6:00am but that was just too ambitious for a guy who hadn’t slept in 40 hours. I actually woke up at 9:30.. which was really 10:30 due to another time change that I never noticed. I finally got moving around 11:00am.. after I picked the bike up off the ground. Freaking great! How did I manage to do that you ask? Well it’s because I’m a freaking idiot. I had just loaded everything up on the bike and was sitting on it with it running in neutral. Well I realized I left the key to my “Kabin” in the cabin so I went to hop off the bike to run back in and get it and … no kickstand. The bike is so heavy with the stuff loaded there was no chance of keeping it up. It didn’t hit the ground hard or anything but it was enough to break the turn signal.. again. What a bonehead move. Oh well, no harm no foul I guess. Only I couldn’t lift the bike back up again. Haha I was getting ready to start taking stuff off so I could get it up when my neighbor gave me a hand. That just added to the embarrasement but I was still happy to not have to unload all the stuff.
I got all that lined out and got rolling. I went into Minnesota for about 50 miles then turned south in Iowa and found it to be at least moderately interesting. Much improved over the South Dakota snooze-fest of yesterday.
About halfway through Iowa I started looking for gas. I was really hoping to find an Exxon or a Mobile because the Chain/tire thing from yesterday really screwed up my budget. Imagine my surprise when I realized Iowa has no Exxon or Mobile gas stations. How does that even happen? I even broke out the exxon mobile fuel app to verify it. Nope, not one exxon or mobile in the entire state of Iowa.
I finally had to break down and spend $20 of my few remaining dollars to get gas and get into Illinois. Once I got that lined out I was making good time and debating between riding until late into the night to get home early or finding a camping site. I decided to just ride it out and get on home.
Then I did some checking and it turns out that Indiana doesn’t really have Exxon or mobile either. I’m just not believing this! Haha I planned this one out a little better though. I hit the last Exxon in Illinois and the first Exxon in Kentucky so I avoided having to spend any more cash.
I did end up riding through the nite again. I don’t feel like I missed much. I’ve been in these two states before so no big loss. On the plus side I missed the traffic in the bigger cities I went through.. Indianapolis for example. I blasted through there at about 2 am and never even had to slow down. I hit Kentucky shortly after the sun started coming up and made pretty short work of Lexington and Louisville. Before I knew it I was on the Bert Combs expressway and getting close to home. I got sleepy on the expressway and hit a turnoff and just took a nap sitting on the bike at a wide spot. It was actually more comfortable than the picnic table. I just put the kickstand down and put my head, helmet and all, on the tank bag and feel instantly asleep for about 20 minutes. When I woke up I was good to go. I cruised on into Virginia and road across the mountains that separate my home from Kentucky and got into my hometown around 1:00pm. Then I took a nap and woke up around 8:30, went and got my daughter, then sat down to type this.
I didn't take many pictures. My mind was just in "Go Home!" mode and I have been in these area's plenty of times before. Illinois/Indiana are mostly boring anyway. Kentucky is pretty if you like mountains but it just looks like home to me so I kept trucking.
So that’s it. My trip is over. There are things I would have done differently, and I learned some stuff about long distance riding. I’ll just list a few of them here before I forget.
My headlights aren’t adjusted too high… the weight is squatting the rear end down. Duh.. tighten the rear shock like you would if you were going to haul a passenger and the problem is solved.
Hauling extra tires is not a hassle at all. I still have my two tires and would take them with me on any longer trip just because it’s not an issue. I actually used them for storage. You can put drinks/rain suits/misc stuff inside the tires and then when you bungee the tires down it “clamps” down on the stuff and it stays put. Brilliant!
Whatever you think your budget is… double it.
Cash is king! Take plenty and don’t use it unless you have too.
When travelling in Canada or Alaska you don’t need a plan for camping. Just keep driving and camp when you want to. Camping sites are plentiful and cheap.
When travelling in the states. Have a plan. Camping areas are much harder to find and when you are ready for one you will undoubtedly be 100 miles from the next one.. then you will just ride all night. ;)
Do stick to your plans unless there is a serious reason not too. I had plenty of time to ride through the Badlands, and Yellowstone… but I skipped them both saving me maybe 6 hours total. The trade off isn’t worth it. I don’t think I would ride back through South Dakota to do the Badlands which makes me wish I had done it when I had the chance even more.
Taking a smoke shield and a clear shield for your helmet is a great idea… but sunglasses take up less space and don’t require a major “unload” to get them out.. plus if you forget to change it you don’t end up riding 200 miles in the dark with your visor up because you forgot to put the clear one back on.
Nothing is water proof except rubber. if it rains enough you WILL be wet with anything else. At the first sign of rain go full on hardcore. Once you get your gear wet.. it’s wet for at least a day. I put my rubberized rain suit over my normal riding suit and basically left it on for the last week I was in Alaska and all the way down to Montana when it just got too hot to wear it anymore. It keeps more heat in the suit when it’s cold and actually keeps you dry when it’s raining… plus it packs small and doesn’t cost much.
Heated grips are amazing.
Heated suit is amazing.
Throttle lock is amazing. (I won’t ride a bike without one again)
Invest in a CENTER STAND and complete set of tools!
I had most every tool I would need… but I had no center stand so I ended up paying $50 to change a tire and all I could do about the chain was give up and pay $66 to change it. I had no chain replacing tools. Next time I will have both, and a chain.
Slime tire pump is amazing. I never actually needed it on the side of the road but it worked great to seat the tires I changed in Anchorage so I have no doubts it would have worked just as well on the side of the road. I bought this thing at $20 at Walmart. came with a tube of slime to seal a tire and the pump. I added some tire plugs and plugging tools. The whole thing is about 3 lbs and fits anywhere. Very cool.
Bungee chords are capable of tying anything down. Carry plenty of them.
Take your time. Big miles everyday (well big for me).. I averaged over 550 miles per day over 9 days with 2 days being over 1,000 and one that didn’t have many at all. It sounds good on paper to me but I really think the ideal length would have been 400 miles per day and try to average about 40 mph and take your time to check things out. I really didn’t stop much for anything other than gas or pictures.
Avoid the interstate. I couldn’t really do this because I had to get home and had to do the miles. From the interstate most states look mostly like the next. Get off the superslab and explore the local roads. That’s where the real drive is.
Oh, and buy plenty of stickers along the way because it makes your bike look cool to have lots of stickers.
Sioux Falls SD - Honaker VA - 1,138 miles.
1,138 + 3,565 = 4,703
Odd, I've lost 300 miles somewhere. The really weird part is if I tell google maps to go from anchorage to honaker va the way I went it comes up 5,5xx for the total if I do it all at once. Oh well.
Total on the odometer for the bike was 5,012 miles.