Well we got back on Sunday night about 6:30. It's amazing how much ground you can cover when it's all highway. We only ran into one accident that slowed us down. Riding I-74 across Indiana is pretty easy. Now, I-465 around Indy is just ridiculous. That part drags and you feel like it's never going to end.

I rode with my helmet on the entire trip until the last stretch. When we got to Shelbyville, IN at around 4:30, it felt like 150 degrees in my helmet. I asked Tom to house my helmet for the last stretch so I could cool off. It was nice to see some bike club members and spouses there when we rode in. A celebration drink was shared by all. Total mileage on my odometer was 6360.5 miles. John says Garmin thinks it was 5892 miles.

It feels good to be home. The only areas I feel the trip are in my hands and feet. I wore gloves the entire way also. I have good shoes, but the road just hums under your feet. My two and a half weeks of facial hair growth is not very impressive. It's time to clean up myself and get back to work. I'm not cleaning the bike until after bike night this Wednesday. Then that long process will take a couple days I'm sure.

This trip was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. I can't thank John enough for throwing it out there. I only hope I held up my end and didn't drag him down too much. I'll post pictures to the past blogs and let you know when I get that accomplished. RIDE SAFE!!!

Today will be the shortest blog since we did nothing but ride major highways to get as far as possible. We fell short of our goal to get to Davenport, Iowa. The total mileage to get home is 477 miles. We did like 420 today. If I get within 100 miles of home, I am not stopping to camp. I will ride from Indy in the dark just to get home.

I saw corn fields, soy bean fields, cows and windmills. Iowa is flat and windy. They also have noticeable flood damage still. We thought we were slowing down for an accident and it was actually people looking at the high waters. We saw a couple vans and some mobile homes floating up next to the road. I can only imagine what it's like around this area with the amount of rain they have gotten.

My Honda speedometer is not accurate with its speed. I have to go 80 to actually go 75. That puts my mileage off from John's Garmin. I'm approaching 6000 miles for the trip. I expect my mileage will be closer to 6500 at the end of this trip. John will have the actual numbers!!!

Now we have the big move to try and get home. Our goal is to get across South Dakota in a day. We are riding west to east. It's very windy up here. The plains are teaming with hay fields and cows. I saw several sunflower fields. I'll have to check the next time I see sunflower seeds where they came from.

I played a golf course in Las Vegas called the Badlands. It's no comparison. You get up in these mountains that are only 2500-3000 feet and see what the high plains looks like. Several prairie dog mounds exist. Then you see the way the glaciers carved out the the canyons and look down into the lower plains. The mountains have various colors from the differing rocks in them. Now that was truly the Badlands. Make sure to check John's blog, he is eventually going to put up a video he shot with his camera from his bike while riding through the mountains. It's about a minute long and very awesome.

We drove all day, but fell short of getting across South Dakota. We camped in Mitchell at about 8:30. The crickets were unbelievable. So were the mosquitoes. We didn't have it this bad in Canada. Hurriedly, we made it downtown to a bar for some food and ESPN. I haven't seen any sports in over two weeks. If you know me, that's a big deal. The place was called Dr. T's lounge. It was actually pretty cool. They had like 15 beers on tap. 70-80's rock music filled the room. The wings were pretty good.

When we got back to the campground, we started planning out routes home and checking the weather. The Midwest is hot and stormy. We expect to get wet at some point. The mileage is 5000 down and 900 to go. We will see how many days that will take us to get home.

Sturgis. What can I say about Sturgis. Jay took us on a ride through the Black Hills to Mt. Rushmore. Along the way you stop at small towns that have the population of like 909 and Jay had advised us that he was not going any father than Mt. Rushmore. He has ridden these roads several times. I did not have the cell numbers of the others who had gone with us. Jay got me to Mt. Rushmore with no problems. Shockingly, the monument isn't really that big or imposing. Super cool details on the faces, but just not that big. I had been forewarned about this fact and it was true. It's very cool that after you leave the front of the monument, you can get a profile of Washington as you go around the mountain.

Alone, I continued on through Custer National Park to ride Needles Highway. Again, it's a narrow winding road up through the park. The curves are very sharp (like 10 mph), but the ride itself is very slow. Great views in the park keep you busy. The road has some tunnels they made out of the mountains that you must pass through. These tunnels are only wide enough for one vehicle. Cool short tunnels, but very narrow. Buses actually go through these things. I didn't meet any of those until I got out of the park. You have to have nerves of steel to drive something big through there.

Figuring I may never be here again, I took a route to the Crazy Horse monument. It's not very big either. I didn't go into the park, but everyone says you should see the movie. I knew a little about the guy who started it and his family already. There are pictures of Crazy Horse and his family from way back. I hear he was not a handsome man. What I heard they had that really interested me was something you could look through the super imposed the final creation onto the mountain itself as it stands. That way the final outcome is there for you to see since it will take hundreds of years to finish this thing.

I went through Deadwood on my way back to Sturgis. I don't watch the show on HBO or Direct tv, but the town has lots of history. The only history I saw was tons of bikes and bikers walking around. Deadwood is a bigger city around here and many bikers go there to see vendors and party during this week. Out of Deadwood I followed a bout 70 bikes back to Sturgis through another famous parkway.

Our plan for the night was to hit Full Throttle. This bar is only open one week out of the year. If go early enough, you can park you bike right in the bar. The bar is made of wood and has multiple levels. The live music for the night came from several heavy metal bands finishing with Jackyl. They provide several contests and other activities throughout to keep everyone interested. The staff is encouraged to dress appropriately and pose for pictures. It pretty much lived up to expectation. Thank God buses take you from the campground to the place. Believe me, they are packed and everyone is screaming or dancing or anything you want to do or need.

We spent the night in a hotel knowing it was our last good night of sleep and shower for awhile. We were up and ready to go before 9 a.m. which was a miracle for our group. Today would be straight highway riding until our final destination. Just as we were ready to leave some guy wiped out his SUV into the metal guard rail outside our hotel. The sound of the multiple sirens brought out a young black bear to see the commotion. It didn't stay long.

We saw Little Big Horn Park and decided to stop. The sight is hilly, not mountainous. There are long valleys and normal hills along them. You could imagine Little Big Horn and his troops looking down on Custer as he moved his troops along the valley. The amount of head stones is amazing. The total slaughter is represented clearly. I mean even the drummer went down in the battle. It must have been total arrogance on Custer's behalf to explain why he would even take on anybody with those topography issues.

We drove by Devil's Tower. This rock formation in the middle of of valleys and prairies clearly stands out. There are several stories as to how this formation was created. Lots of motorcycles stop to take take pictures. We are close enough to Sturgis that all you see is motorcycles.
We stopped at Hullet, Wyoming to see their Wednesday Festival during Sturgis' Bike Week. The streets are lined with bikes when you show up. The population is a little over 900 until this week. There were at least 250 bikes. Several shops sold souvenirs. Food and beer was abundant.An accident took place between some motorcycles on our way out. One biker died and 5 wer injured. The road was closed for about 2 hours. We finally got through and on our way to Hog Heaven.

The road to Strugis had several deer in the fields along the road. We were seeing some wildlife in America again.

Hog Heaven is a camping area were we met other people from HVL. The camping area has live bands every night and its own bar and food. It's quite an established area to stay and see the sites around Sturgis. Thanks to Jay, Annie, Steve and Stacy for their hospitality.

We left the Tetons park to get to Yellowstone just in time for Old Faithful to have completed her show. We stunk around for the next hour and half to see it blast. You can watch other geysers in the area give off steam too, but none gush up like Old Faithful. A small chipmunk entertained us before the show. Old Faithful arrived right on time. We enjoyed the show, but we had to get on the road.

It takes 4 hours to get out of the park from Old Faithful on the southwest side to Bear Tooth highway on the northeast side. We got to see our first bear. It was a small black bear. John was admonished by the ranger for trying to get too close to get a picture. LOL

We saw some female elks and their babies. We saw more bison. Only this time, we saw an entire canyon bottom full of several different herds. You can only dream of the times when that space was covered in bison. With a stream running down the middle and high sides on both sides of the road, I thought of the Indians living there in peace with all they needed at their disposal. A little while later, we saw another bear. This time it was a grizzly bear. He was much bigger and a different color. A ranger was also at this site monitoring the bear and the humans.

Heading out of the park. we started into the Bear Tooth Highway. This highway climbs up one side of a mountain and then back down the other side. The road here has been under construction for 3 years. It was drawing to a close. The signs stated they had put down oil on the road and it would be very slippery for bikes. That's great news since this road is nothing but switchbacks going up and down the mountain. The corners on top are 20-25 mph. The corners at the bottom are 35-40 mph. You ride and ride until you reach 10,947 feet. I actually missed the sign as I was paying attention to the road. The decline down the other side took 16 miles. There was actually a lake at the top. There are no trees at that elevation. It's definitely a top 10 ride of any one's lifetime.

We are now in Red Lodge, Montana. It's actually kinda of a happening town. I ate another buffalo burger at a nice restaurant. It was much better than the first one I had. I also had the 13 year running famous clam chowder. It was good. We have along day of highway riding in front of us as we head to Sturgis tomorrow.

We left Pinedale for Grand Tetons National Park. It was to be an easy day of riding through the national parks. We looked like a three ring circus trying to get organized with our park passes and getting gas. The park has a couple road construction sites that have up to 30 minute delays. Riding amongst the mountains and lakes, experiencing the changes and temperatures and smelling the pines as they grew close to road was what the day was to be about.

We made a decision to camp at Grand Teton instead of going to Yellowstone. We knew it would put us behind schedule, but the weather looked bad. We barely got to the camp site when the rain started. We hustled up our tents and hankered down for one heck of a storm. The storm had lots of lightening and thunder. It clattered and rang amongst the mountains. The rain fell fast and loud on our tents. We sat in our tents until the rain had stopped. You can tell because the birds let you know by chirping it's ok. Waiting out a large thunderstorm like is actually very cool.

The park supervisors came by to tell us that just yesterday they had a bear encounter right where we had set up our tents. It appeared that some Japanese tourists got a little surprise from the bear. They said the bear was not afraid of the humans. The park rangers finally got the bear to leave. Every tree in our area had bear marks. GREAT. I think we all slept on pins and needles that night expecting something. Luckily, we had no bear sightings. At breakfast the next morning, our waitress told us about how the rangers had relocated bears from surrounding ranches to the area we camped in. No wonder sites were available late in the day.

They talk about how the mountains create their own weather. We entered the park in sunshine. We drove around the mountains to a storm. After the storm, we got a cold wind. The storm had cleared the skies and you could see lots of stars. I think everyone slept with all their clothes on to stay warm. We woke up to about 35 degrees and sunny skies. It looked like a long day was ahead of us.

Today was all about Evil Kneival. We left Butte, Montana and went to his grave site. We had a hard time finding it. you would think it's some large garish thing in a small town graveyard, but it's not. It's up front next to his parents. The tombstone was about 4 feet high. It made John's day.

Leaving Butte, we went on the highway to Idaho and down to Pinedale, Wyoming. We were in the plains region of these states. 75 was the speed limit. I was leading John and actually got up to 85 and 90 mph. At that point, I thought about seeing if my bike could go 100 mph. I decided it wasn't worth it since I still had numerous miles to ride.

We saw several large ranches and lots of cows. They have free range cows, too. We saw a herd of white cows being led by a large black bull. In farms, the bulls are usually kept separate. I saw a ranch for sale, 1052 acres. I didn't ask because I know I can't afford it.

Going to Idaho we were in a head wind. My mileage suffered considerably. I went to reserve at 118 miles. We got to the last gas station on the border just in time. We met two other bikers we had met at the prior gas station. They complained about getting bad mileage, too. The winds died as we got closer to Wyoming.

Like I said, the day was about Evil. We went down the Snake River gorge. We didn't go by his site of his infamous jump, but saw quite a bit of the river. Lots of canoeing and rafting were taking place.

We actually met everyone else at Pinedale. It was good to see the other 5 riders safe. This city was our highest elevation to date, 5700 feet above sea level. After dinner, we went to the world famous Corral Bar across the street from where we ate. What do you mean you have never heard of this bar? It was a throw back to dark wood and dingy conditions. When the pool table is up front, you know what to expect. I actually thought the trough urinals were outlawed, but I guess not.

If you can't tell, our Internet service is tough at times. When I get a chance, I'll go back and post pictures to each blog. I'll let you know in a blog note. Having a blast. Today we meet our other guys from HVL.

We camped at West Glacier National Park. We tried to get up early, skip breakfast and get in the park before the crowd. That ride is a trip. When riding on the bike, you can feel the temperature changes. We started up Logan's Pass on a sunny morning. Suddenly, the sun disappeared. I feared the worst, rain. NO, it was just a 10,000 foot high mountain. It felt like Shaq standing over you and blocking the light. We rode through tree lined roads then up the side of the mountain. We rode with the mountain on our right at first. Then the road switches in a tight right turn to put you against the unprotected side of the road all the way up the mountain. Logan's Pass only takes you up 6000 feet. It's enough, believe me.
We left the top to road repairs. Dirt and rocks on the way down. Yuck!! We ate at the east side of the park. I had a buffalo burger. It was o.k.
From East to West we tried to make some good time. That came on a road with numerous sharp curves. The turns rated from 25 to 35 mph. A great road, but not one we could make good time on.
We took a break when we arrived back at the West side of the park, then headed out for Missoula. We stopped only to gas and get a drink. We made it in good time. The festival we attended was for biker's. Most were on their way to Sturgis. I guess it was a warm up for Sturgis. I had two tacos for dinner, not the specialty of the festival.
We headed for Butte late in the day. Once again, planning for gas is important. Several exits had no services. When we stopped, it had gotten dark and looked like rain. Serious rain!!! We checked into a Motel 6 to remain dry. Numerous bikes are here. We got to watch television. The internet was not good.
We traveld over 400 miles again today. It helped that you can go 75 mph here. Not much to talk about on scenery after the park.

Ok so the bears didn't eat us. John and I talked about how cheap we feel. In Fairbanks, we went to Wal-Mart looking for bear repellent. We thought $30 seemed too high and we passed. Last night we would have paid about anything for one.
My sister asked if we were really camping. Yes we are. Man it was 30 degrees this morning when we woke up in Prospect Mountain. Cold Cold and more Cold. Our camp ground had no shower so we are going to be smelly today.
Without this step we got on the road early for us. At breakfast we got water in some fancy bottle. Oh goodness, I don't like to pay for water at breakfast. I drank the whole thing. As I was drinking, i noticed that the bottle had writing on it. It said that the bottle was a green thing and they filled it from the tap. Their water is pure from the mountains. It was pretty good.
We walked out of the restaurant and it had rained. I swear it was snow that had already melted. Since it was over, I didn't put on my rain suit. Wrong, it wasn't over so I put my suit over my wet jean legs. I used some surgical gloves under my riding gloves to keep my hands dry (thanks babe). I actually warmed up. I looked like the michelin man with everything on. The ride got better
We started by going up a mountain to the highest part of our ride yet. We were in Bampf National Park. The ride down the other side was an 8 degree slope. That's actually pretty steep. Since the road was wet, it was even more exciting. The road ended by going between two mountains. They must have blasted a hole out between them. Then we we went through a rock archway to a resort that has hot springs.
As we got closer to the border, we saw more golf courses and casinos. Things were more American like restrooms were not washrooms. Towns were closer together. Oh yeah and Canada was saying goodbye by raining on us some more.
I had to decide whether to get gas at the last stop in Canada or try to make a run across the border. John said it was 15 miles to the border and another 10 to gas. I wasn't on reserve yet, but knew I was close. I went for it figuring if I pushed across the border the customs agents might give me a standing ovation. We didn't calculate idle time at the border. It didn't go fast. I eased to the guard and answered more questions than ever. I guess I got them right because he waved me on. Within 3 miles I had to switch to reserve and made it to gas. I couldn't stand it if I got humiliated again.
We took a break for 45 minutes at the border. It turned out to be wise. We missed massive rain and hail the size of quarters. Being just behind it, we rode with sunshine into Glacier National Park. We had a home cooked BBQ dinner here at the camp ground. For $20 t camp, this place rocks. It feels like another cold nigh though.
We are pretty much back on track for mileage to reach our destination on Sunday. Tomorrow its our ride on the road called Road to the sun. We will reach 10,000 feet and come back down. We changed our route to go through Mizzoula, Montana. There is a festival there we want to check out.

A change in the trip planning occurred today. The original plan had us going to Edmonton, then to Jasper National Park. We went a more direct route. We left Grande Prairie and headed to Grande Cache. It's not a primary road, but a secondary road. It was 110 miles of joy. We were riding out of the plains and back towards the mountains. We passed the Windall Source Station. Any engineer could run this power plant. The plant was on our left with rail tracks and water behind it. To the right was a mountain of coal they trucked over top of the road to the plant. Those boys didn't want for nothing.


There is alot of logging along these roads. I saw a sign that you should not pass the logging trucks as a log may roll off and hit you. This signs smells of Insurance companies and defense lawyers. Are they saying if a log comes off the truck you had best not be passing the truck at the time or no liability? WOW!

The entire turned out to be a day of extremes. We had extremely long climbs, descents and curves. We rode back up into the mountains in Jasper National Park. Previously we rode on one side of the mountains. Now we rode between them. The tops of the mountains were chilly and so were the canyons. At one point I felt the temperature drop significantly and felt a cross wind. When I looked over my right shoulder, there was a glacier. The wind swept right over it and down to us. It was instant air conditioning.

Entering the north end of Jasper National park, we instantly saw animals. The elk grazed right up by the road. I can't believe the stupidity of some people who got really close to get their picture taken. Not this guy, I stayed 4X away. We saw more mountain goats, but a different type. Lots of people stopped and got in the lake at the beginning of the park. It didn't look thrilling.

Upon arriving at the camp grounds at Lake Louise, we were informed that all 206 tent sites were full. We were directed to a secondary site to stay for free. As we picked our site, John took a relief break on a tree. Having finished, he called me over. Yes, that's bear scratchings on that tree. We also saw some hair in the pine tree branches next to the tree. The supervisor bicycled over to confirm bears are in the area. We have no food so we should be good. Right?

Got wish my sister happy birthday today. All you need to know is she is older than me.
Tomorrow we cross the border. Glacier National Park is up next. We are only 50 miles short of the prior planned course of action. Stay tuned, we have other planned route changes coming.

I thought my arms and feet felt bad yesterday. Today was even worse. Those roads took their toll on me. I'm looking forward to black top.

Leaving Fort Scott, we saw the new ice rink and curling expedition center. Now I know why they won at the Olympics. I can't say I've seen many curling centers in America. They had also constructed a new play ground and ballfield next to our campsite. They do things right up here when they build them.

I experienced the longest straight stretch of road in my life. Out of Fort Scott you go straight for 50 miles. I can't imagine the speeds people reach on this part. There are absolutely no police up here on the roads. The way we got passed by BMW's going south, I have to believe they really wound them out down through here.

The landscape changed today. Now we are riding through farms and pasture land. We saw bison on a ranch, lots of horses and a deer farm. The road is back to blacktop. Whenever you ride up on construction, you have to think the worst. Sometimes it was oil and rocks. Sometimes it's just rocks laid down with this high pressure hose. The speeds change considerably when you see these signs. We also experienced our longest delay from construction today. We had to wait about 15 minutes for the lead truck to come down this hill and get us. While there we met a guy from Blue Ash on his BMW. He was coming back from Prudhoe Bay by himself. You meet about everybody on these roads.

We diverted off the new Alaskan Highway to the old part to ride across the last bridge made out of road that still exists on the highway. The last kilometer to bridge was down hill, curvy and all rocks. The bridge is made from the timber cleared to make the road. Think of the wooden roller coasters at King's Island but thicker. The planks are laid diagonally. I figured I Had ridden across nearly everything at this point so why not. John went first since he was excited to go over this bridge. I followed and found the surface very drivable.

When we got back Fort Scott I got cell service. My phone was going off like crazy from text message and voice mail I had not received the last two days. I've got some work to do tomorrow morning.

We got to Dawson Creek which is mile marker 0 of the Alaskan Highway. You can believe it that we have memorabilia signifying our accomplishment. We rode the entire 1422 miles from end to beginning. The end part is way worse than the beginning. I can imagine the workers who did the first part thought the job was going to be easy. Not so fast my friend.

We finished at Grande Praire, B.C.. This town is really growing. The have horse racing and slot machines like the tracks in Ohio and Kentucky want. We finally saw stores with names we recognized. Ah, it's nice to see a little civilization again.

You need to check the prior two blogs as I had to update them. The wifi we had was not good. I still don't have cell service. This plan isn't working out too good for me.

On to the good stuff. We put up the Hidden Valley Lake license in the Watson Lake Sign Forest. It's quite an amazing site. It forms a circle with numerous posts. Looking at the varied amount of signs was quite amazing. We proudly placed the HVL license in a prominent place up front. John and I are very proud we got to place the sign there. Big hats off to Bruce for the free sign.
Off to the Hot springs!!!!!

OH MAN!!!!!!! As we are leaving the gas station in Watson Lake and going down an access road, a lady pulled out in front of John. He locked them up, but he still made contact with her driver side rear door. The lady was a nurse from London who had moved to Watson Lake many years ago. I'm going into any details, but the damage to John's bike is in his left rear saddle bag. He was really mad. I would be too. A three day old bike now has it's first damage. Not good. It's still drivable so we are off. Don't text or call John until Sunday when we get to the lower 48.

We stopped at the Liard Springs hot springs. The water temperature ranged from 126 to 106 degrees. The naturally fed pool cooled from the top to the bottom of the three sections you could wade in. We tried the hot side, but it was really hot. The hot feeling is only in the first 6 inches of the water. The bottom levels are like normal water temperature. You can only stay in about 20 minutes then they recommend you get out. For $10 for the both of us, I thought it was worth it.
The ride to Fort Nelson turned into a bunch curves. You don't really feel like you are riding up the mountains like the previous climbs. I didn't realize we rode up to 4200 feet of elevation. The turns were tight as rode around the mountains. The lakes ran right up to the road. Muncho Park Lake is at the bottom of the mountains. Summit Lake was at the top of the mountains. There were giant swales of rocks coming out of the gorges toward the lakes. I'm sure when the snow melts these swales are filled with water. The sides of the road have no guard rails. The speeds got as low 30 mph to manage them. The temperature dropped significantly depending what side of the mountain you were on. Ask John if not wearing his leather jacket was a mistake.

We had our 100 miles intervals planned again. This time they had electricity, but no gas. We asked about the next city and they didn't have gas either. Now I'm getting nervous. Everyone was pretty sure that the third city had gas. We took off like everyone else racing for gas. Because the road was so bad all day, I went to reserve at 148 miles. We made it to gas before I ran out. Surprise! Gas was $1.59 a liter. $.50 higher than anywhere else we had bought gas. You had to walk inside and tell them the amount of gas you took. They hand calculated your total and the remaining amount of gas they had. John decided not to get any gas due to the price. By the time we got to Fort Nelson, I swear I saw fumes coming from his bike. I'm sure he was gliding to a stop at the gas station. He crowed that he had 1 gallon left despite what his bike told him he had. He knew the grief would have been unbearable if he had run out of gas.

We saw many different animals. The bison along the side of the rode is breath taking. We got to see a mountain goat which is rare in the summer. We also saw a female mule deer or elk depending on who you ask in our group. We saw the blood spot from where someone hit a moose early in the day.

Lets review driving conditions. It was sunny or partly sunny most of the day. We saw some haze from the forest fire which is taking place up here. The roads were chip and tar or just plain rocks. The chip in the tar was very rocky too. I thought I felt vibration yesterday. Hah!!! It's even worse today.

In the last two days we have ridden by some acreage of forest devastated by fires. The damage is amazing. After seeing the destruction from a forest fire, I'm totally on Smokie's side now.

Day Two of the big long rides out of Canada. If you can't tell I'm doing two days in one writing setting. We had no time when we got to Burwash Landing nor when we got up because we had to go. I also have no cell service.

The roads on the list say unpaved roads. They are paved, but its mostly chip and tar. I can feel the vibrations from the road up through my feet. It can't possibly be good on your tires either. We have our stop destinations planned and away we go.

We got to experience cross winds. The glaciers paved out huge expanses of flat land between the mountains. The winds come from everywhere. When riding around Lake Kluane, you feel these winds at different times.

The mountains in this part are made of sandstone. They don't seem as tall. They also seem to have more slide areas marked along the roads.

Out of Destruction Bay we discussed stopping in Haines Junction to fill up. You know best laid plans must always be subject to change. They had gas, but no electric. Lots of Europeans were pretty pissed with their RV's and campers. It was a 170 mile trip, but we were trying to be smart. Thank goodness Otter Creek, the next city had gas and electric. We got to meet our first rude Canadian there. We left our bikes at the pump to go in to pay. It must have been taking too long because he came in to ask us to move. They also pump your gas for you still in Canada if you are driving something other than a bike.

We stopped in Whitehorse so John could get a t-shirt from the Harley dealer. Yeah, they were closed. We ate lunch and got back on the road. You could see rain in the air. We ran into some spotty rain. We were ahead of the heavy stuff and making good time. We stopped to get gas and a drink and we got overrun by a shower. We waited out the brief rain. Wet, we got going again to immediately be presented with a metal bridge. Going slowly and on pace, I held on and prayed for the other side to appear quickly. It did. Yet another first for me on my new bike.

We rode some tough roads under construction. When they lay down rocks for the traffic to mash down into a road, it can be tough. I saw John enter a stretch of gravel about 400 yards long going down hill. His path took him lef to center. My path had the back of my bike moving, but it did not come out from underneath me. It might have been the one time overpacking helped.

We got to Watson Lake late at night. We found a camp site for $10 canadian. We pitched our tents and hustled to the only diner open. John tried to order a chicken pot pie and the waiter just shook his head no because there was no time to make it!

I had to ask John for a reprieve from the 400+ mile rides for a day. My feet and arms are tired from the roads we have ridden. Tomorrow is the posting of our sign at Watson Lake.

OK we are ready to start our first long ride from Fairbanks to Destruction Bay. Well over 400 miles. John announced that I brought too much stuff. REALLY!! Now is not really the time for that since I have no choice but to haul it all back. John helped me with formation number 3 on the packing. Ready too go, I go back to check in our cabin for any left behind stuff. That's when I realize that I don't have my key. AGGHHH!!!! Desperate, I go to the bike to fish out key #2 when I realize I have left my key in my bike all night. I guess nobody wants a honda. LOL We go to McDonalds to grab breakfast and I left my key on my seat. Damn, this is not going well for me.

Riding along the bays and across the flatlands, we were rolling along. The water was brownish, but the smell of the seas brought out the best to that ride. When we got to Delta Junction, we stopped and took pictures. We also got pins to commemorate the end of the highway, but the beginning for us. Just outside of Delta Junction, the beginning of our ride on the Alaskan highway, we rode on construction roads again, It was a great start to the Alaskan Highway. Dirt, rocks, dust, we had it all.

We have learned that most every city on the Alaskan Highway is about 100 miles apart. It fits to plan to get gas at every city. Fairbanks to Tok was an easy ride. Tok to the border was a little different. At 22 miles from the border, the road is being totally redone. It was a mix of loose gravel, compacted dirt and other assorted bad things. Following the control car for 14 miles, we got to go the last 8 on our own. We stopped to take our picture at the Yukon and Alaska signs. We got our bikes down to the Yukon sign and a bus full of octogenarians showed up. They were not happy with John when he rode his bike up to get his picture in front of the Alaska sign. The old ladies hated me worse cause I fit my bike back in the memorial site.

We made our way down to Burwash Landing. That's just short of Destruction Bay. The road was horrible. Frost heave is a bad thing. We saw a RV doing a hop out of one. We knew we were in trouble. John saw and earlier camp site and asked if we wanted to stop. I was full from dinner and had strength. The move resulted in us going five miles and putting on our rain suits. Frost heaves and rain for an hour. The rain filled the holes so they stood out. We had to ride the other side of the road for awhile to avoid some really bad parts of the road. Every 30 yards we start an orange flag signaling another.

We rolled into Burwash Landing very late. They let us camp for free. The bar was open. We got to party with the First Nation people who live there. They were celebrating their purchase of the camp ground. Our tents were next to a gentling rolling stream. I slept like a baby.



I have to tell you my gel pad, highway bars and cramp buster(thanks Jay for telling me about this when I first met you) are helping stay on the bike for long periods of time. These rides are taking a toll on me physically.

After that many events in one day, we had to find something positive to report home about. We went to the North Pole. They even have a post office. I'll only share with Marlee my conversations I had with Santa while there. Stay believers!!!!

We stopped on our way back down from the Dalton Highway by a stream near the road. John commented that he had seen little wildlife. An eagle and a rabbit was his two sightings. I had seen nothing. John went down the hillside to check the stream. I stayed on bear watch. LOL John saw no fish in the stream. The water temperature was reported at a chilly 40 degrees. Some people stopped and advised us if you go up and down this road enough you will see a moose. Whatever.

Remember that John lead back to Fairbanks. Well that was until we stopped. He asked if I wanted to lead. Why not. We took off down the road only to be surprised shortly thereafter.

On a flat chip and tar part of the road I saw a female moose and her baby pop up on the right side. Not knowing what it might do and praying it would just stay right there, I proceeded at speed (going about 50 mph). Nope, not my luck. Up jumps mom to cross the road. The baby was right behind. I veered left and applied the brakes hoping I would stop in time. I heard the rear brake eventually lock up as mama moose galloped in front of me. She ran in a diagonal path across the road thankfully. She was kicking up rocks from the road as she went. I finally came to a halt upright just as her back legs passed in front of me. I could literally have reached out and touched her. The baby must have returned to the right side of the road.

John rode up to me with the biggest grin you have ever seen. There must have been 2 million flies around me from the moose. He said my skid mark on the ground was about as long as the skid mark in my pants. He was proud I had kept it upright. He was also proud he got to see a moose finally.

We moved up the road a little and pulled to the side so I could check my bike and my wits. People started stopping everywhere. They must recognize the scared biker moose face. We could see the mama moose up the hillside calling for the baby. You just have to look for something brown in my picture to know that was my moose.

FAILURE. Yep, it was a complete let down. The sign clearly says the road is unpaved from here forward. You see 18 wheelers and trucks flying up the road. My bike is clearly not built to ride that far north. It was like riding on some one's unpaved driveway. Miserable is not even close to what its like to constantly find a clear path. We weaved and dodged for 3 miles. John was leading so he stopped and asked me if I wanted to keep going. I had just come from the longest, fastest, windiest ride. Total heaven. Now this crap for another 40. I said no thanks, I'd rather turn around. So we went back to the Dalton sign to review our plans. We checked our mileage on this tank of gas and decided to ride back to Fairbanks on the road we had just come.

As I was riding back, I thought about what a let down this was for the day. Some things in life are not meant to be. The road back was just awesome.

On the way out, I lead the way. John saw something come off my bike and stopped me. After a thorough inspection, we saw nothing missing. When we got back to town we started talking about packing my bike differently. When John touched my luggage rack it nearly fell off. Two bolts had worked themselves loose and fell off. Off to Lowes we went to get that fixed. Hopefully, I will experience no more of that.

OK, it's the big day as we head to the Arctic Circle. We didn't get up particularly early, but we did fill the tanks before we left Fairbanks.

It was over 70 miles of the longest straight a ways followed by big climbs and long falls. It's very curvy, but in long slow grades. The sky is the purest form of blue. It's also the most abandoned road you could find. You get to see quite a bit of the Alaskan pipeline. Really wild stiff.

About two hours later, we arrived at the Dalton Highway sign. The road to the north that takes us to our destination.

Then..........

Well, well well. We found out exactly how many miles I can go on one tank of gas. It's exactly 223 miles. That was 43 miles after I switched to the reserve tank. As John would say, it's 8 miles before the gas station. Standing on the side of the road as bear bait, I enjoyed the vast wilderness. This part of Alaska had very few trees and lots of green space. The bugs found me, but they were just annoying and not biting. Thanks to Jessica at Chevron in Cantwell for the free half gallon of gas that got me to the gas station.

While there we met one of the characters of Alaska. John, a tattoo artist from New Hampshire, relayed to us his stories of trying to ride to Prudhomme Bay. Nice to get road condition report from him, but wow, let it go bro. He didn't make it and we kinda know why.

Since we didn't start till 1, we now had lost some precious time in getting to Fairbanks. We called and reserved our hostel accommodations. We got in about 10. It was very light out still. Weird. Every place, short of fast food, was closed by the time we unloaded and got back out.

Everyone at the hostel is from Europe. I fully expected that to be the case. The couple from Germany who has finished their bicycle ride from Venezuela to Prudhomme Bay had plenty of stories. I believe this trip took them 17 months to complete. We just don't do that stuff in America. By the way, these people met John too in his pursuit to make it all the way north. They also know hwy he didn't make it. I think one guy said he went by him on his BMW going at least 100 miles an hour. NICE!

Ready. Set. Go. I thought I had a ride from the hotel to the warehouse, but the hotel had a line of demarcation that was 1.5 miles short. Declining their offer to call a taxi, I walked to the Harley dealer and they gladly gave me a ride.

It was great to finally meet Joni and see my bike. They had put the windshield and mirrors on. More importantly, they had hooked up the battery. That saved me serious time. I assembled the parts of my luggage on the ground. The picture is the final product. I was pointed to the nearest gas station and away I went. I met John at the hotel where he was finalizing his packing. I only had to make some final adjustments to the mirrors at the hotel. We grabbed some quick lunch and away we went.

I would like to say the ride towards Fairbanks was anything than a road surrounded by really tall trees and mountains, but that would be a lie. The scene is quite breath taking, but the same all the way to Denali Park.

I left Seattle for Anchorage around 5:40 eastern time. I got to Anchorage about 8:50 eastern time. It's been one long day of airlines. Did you know the Alaskan Sports Hall of Fame is at the airport? I found that quite bizarre. The walls are covered with dog sledders, skiers, hockey players and two former Duke basketball players. Just another reason to hate Duke. The best plaque belonged to some high school kid who the cross country championship for his school. They compared his feat to something like the movie Hoosiers. Dude looked like he was in serious pain running.

The scenery here has lots of mountains in your view. The temps are low 60s with a slight breeze from the south. That doesn't mean a warm breeze up here since it's coming off the ocean. My lined leather jacket is looking better as a choice.

They talk about how far out the tide goes when it's low tide. I took a picture from the plane to give a little example of the change. It's pretty significant.

Today I left for Anchorage. I really appreciate that you have to get to the airport two hours early to sit for an hour and half waiting for my flight. I asked a total stranger to take my picture for the blog. It's amazing that some people still believe you when you ask. Yeah, I'm still out their promoting Ray's business. If it's free, I'll wear it.

I first flew 5 hours to Seattle. Delta provided us with no sandwiches and no movie. They actually encouraged you to buy food for the flight from the vendors at the airport.

I had my first small world experience on the flight. I sat next to an elderly woman from Michigan. She kept looking at my book written by Stieg Larrson. She told me she had read it and was now on the second novel. When I got to Seattle, I met an elderly couple from Wisconsin and they were reading the same book. Who knew that when I bought that book at Sams that everyone around the globe is reading it.

The view as you fly over the mountains is pretty spectacular. I stared at the the mountains and didn't take any pictures. I reminded myself to just take them and worry about what I take later.

I talked to my shipper while on the ground in Seattle. I get my bike tomorrow at 9:30. John gets to go to Harley at 9:00. We hope to meet up and get on the road by 11:30.

WOW!!!! It's been a fast week finishing up the last details for the trip. I got the confirmation Friday that my crate had arrived at the storage facility in Anchorage. They said they are going to open it up before I get there. I asked if they could send me some pictures. Not much to do now, but ride it back now. We are down to just four more days before this whole thing begins.

I got a package yesterday from my college roommate. He sent me a really nice pair of riding glasses. Hey Kummy, look at the pictures I post in the future because I will definitely be wearing them. Thanks a bunch!!

I finally ordered my final items for the trip. I needed a second pair of gloves, a tank bag, highway pegs and clear glasses. With these items, I'm left with only needing a camera and possibly a video camera. I just don't want to miss on out on the beautiful scenery I believe we will be seeing.

My bike has arrived and passed through the Port of Tacoma and heading to the Port of Anchorage. My bike being there on Friday is comforting. Losing my bike for three weeks is not comforting. I think the people from the shipping company also can't wait to meet someone who would ship their bike to Alaska to ride it back. I'm starting to get a feeling of the enormity of this ride.

John and I finalized some plans for where we will be staying the first couple days. We are going as cheap as possible. Hostels seem to be readily available up north so we are going to try them out. Each one has wifi, water, etc. The weather forecasts for next week appear to be pretty good.

On July 13, I decided it was time to get a hotel room for the first night we will be in Anchorage. I have been on this task for three months. The hotels are not cheap there. The cheap ones have horrible ratings. All reviews say to spend a little more money or you will be sorry. I couldn't get Joni to give me any recommendations on a hotel choice. John got the local Harley dealer to recommend Holiday Inn Express. How about $209 with my AAA discount? I knew it was going to be up there, but that goes to show you what a room runs up there. I think John was in a little shock since we plan to use either hostels or camping grounds throughout most of the trip. He followed up with Holiday Inn to see if his H.O.G. membership got use a better rate. Damn if it didn't. Why would anyone give a Harley rider a better rate than a AAA member? Life is full of conundrums.

We are going to visit the Sign Forest at Watson Lake YT. If you don't know what this is, check out this website. John thought it would be a good idea to get a Hidden Valley license plate to hang at this site. I procrastinated until today to ask Bruce, the HVL POA manager, for a free plate to put up. Bruce couldn't have more responsive and as energetic as we are to put up our plate. A big thanks goes out to Bruce. Look forward to that picture also.

The first mad rush of adrenaline came at the beginning of July. I decide to use Custom Built Crates from Milford to crate and coordinate the pickup of my bike. I conveyed the address to Joni. She told me she would need my bike right after the July 4 holiday. Now the problem was that I didn't take my bike to Honda until the Saturday before the holiday. I now had to get my bike tuned up, packed and crated before July 9. Luckily in my line of work, I understand what the goal is and just put my head down to get it accomplished.

I started packing my bag on Tuesday July 5. I hadn't tried to put my gear on my bike yet. I had visualized it quite a bit since reading the book provided by my brother. I know the one tip I appreciated was to buy two and half gallon zip lock bags. You can pack different things in each bag. You separate out your clothes for an easy reach each day. Luckily, all my clothes fit in the bag John had let me borrow.

Honda got right on my bike and I had it back July 7. They asked me to scruff the tires before I crated the bike. I rode around a bit before heading home to pack my bike. I put all y gear on in my garage. Having assessed it's security, I took a ride around the neighborhood. All seemed to be in place.

I took off for Milford to drop off my bike on July 8. The first thing I noticed was that at 70 mph my bag on my passenger seat didn't want to stay in place. It's really quite concerning as you ride along pushing it back into place. Having gone 50 plus miles with everything still attached, I dropped my bike with Eric at Custom Built Crates. Their customer service is A+. This was not their first rodeo and you can tell. Eric assessed my bike for the height of my crate. He gauged the equipment I had brought. I advised him to take off my removable windshield and mirrors. With that evaluation over, I left my bike in his hands to get it ready for its trip. A full 20 days before I arrive I have had to release my bike for the days ahead.

R and L carriers came and picked up my bike. I asked Joni how many times she thought my bike might get docked between now and its arrival in Anchorage. We are guessing it won't be more than five or six times. That's just five or six times someone with a fork lift can shake my crate and attempt to move my bike. You have no control over this fact. You got to trust your craters that your equipment is in tight. You also have to trust your shipper that she picked a reliable carrier. I hope for a success story when I get to Anchorage.

It's now June, John is asking me where I might want to stop. Really, I have no clue. I had thrown out the idea of going to the Artic Circle since we are going to be so close. John purchased a GPS system to map the trip and made a calculation that we could get this accomplished while we are up there. Prepare yourself for my picture in front of the much noted sign welcoming you there.

I had discussed with Western Hills Honda that I would need there help in assessing my bike before I left for my trip. Greg, their service manager, couldn't have been more helpful. His only request was that I try to get it to him as soon as possible around the first of July.

I began to ride my bike more in June to get in some seat time. I tried to ride my bike at every opportunity. The one thing I couldn't fit in was the long ride. I could ride around for two hours at a time, but not four of those rides in a day. I know I'm in for a bit of trouble here, but when you're 4000 miles from home, you can't be crying about that.

I'm also getting some tips from other riders about riding in altitude and long distances. I got a book from my brother, Greg, about biking and camping. It had plenty of tips on packing your bike and other issues you run into while camping.

I decided now was a great time to break it out and see if it works. My sleeping was very warm and comfortable. The auto inflating air mattress looks like it's going to be well worth the investment. My two person tent assembled easily. Knowing that I can get that stuff up relieved me of some stress. Marlee seemed to enjoy my sleeping bag.

My next actions came in May. It was time to get that passport issue resolved. I have to admit the process is ridiculously easy. At the clerk's office across the street from the Hamilton County Courthouse, they took care of the whole thing. You only need a birth certificate, the application, two pictures and some cash. Three weeks later, I had that process completed.

I began to get together other paperwork like my bike registration and insurance card. I had purchased my flight on Delta in May.

In December, I began to do some exercising. I just wanted to do some core work to offset the vast amount of sitting I was going to do this summer. I stopped drinking soft drinks in January. Removing that one item from my diet allowed me to lose five pounds. It almost makes you wonder what you're doing by drinking the stuff anyway. I continued my exercising through March.

January began my search for items I would need for my trip. I tried to find some luggage to fit my bike. Instead of spending money on luggage, I borrowed a bag from John to sit on my rear seat. I purchased my sissy bar and luggage rack to hang more stuff on my bike. I thought about saddle bags, but I couldn't justify the cost in the grand scheme of things.

I had to buy a sleeping bag, air mattress and tent. I can't emphasize more that knowing someone who has experience in this area couldn't be more valuable. I fortunately met someone who had vast experience in this area. We traded emails from various web sites for the purchase of these three items. His choices wound up being right on point.

October 2009

John Gehlenborg is the President of the Hidden Valley Riders Bike Club. I joined the club in 2009. John presented the opportunity to all of the club to join him on a ride back from Anchorage, Alaska in August, 2010. John is buying his bike from the Anchorage Harley dealer. He has been working on this plan for at least two years.

I bought my Honda VTX1300R in 2009. I put on over 4000 miles in 2009. I passed along the opportunity to my family. We discussed how this could be a once in a lifetime experience. The trip would involve my being away from work for two consecutive weeks for the first time in my career. It also involved making sure I would be back in time for my daughter, Marlee's birthday. With all issues cleared, I assured John I would be going with him on the trip.

My participation in the trip would involve crating and shipping my bike to Anchorage. In talking to the Anchorage Harley dealer, they recommended using the business of Classic Motion in Anchorage. Joni from Classic Motion has been very helpful in getting various quotes and options in order to get my bike to Alaska. She has been in contact with me at various times over the last 9 months coordinating the shipping of my bike.

John has done all of the planning for the mileage and highways to be traveled on a daily basis. He also purchased The Milepost, an essential book for traveling back from Alaska.